World Seed: Game Start (24 page)

On
the body of the wolf, I was pleased to find that the lights weren’t
shriveled up or fading like the snake scales. Though it was missing
the extra level of detail since I wasn’t actually touching the
aura, I could still clearly see it. Only.. I wasn’t sure how
long it’d take me to study even one small portion of it from
this perspective.

As
I dismissed the Aura Sight, I began to wonder something else. Just
how had I managed to activate it in the first place? The system has
never really assisted me in the activation of skills before in this
game, so maybe Aura Sight is a common skill that anyone can do by
passing mana into their eyes, and the game took pity on me to let me
know? If so, that’d make me feel like a real idiot…

Well,
that might have been the point. I mean, I never did try to sense
things away from myself, even though it seems like an obvious thing
to do now. Anyways, back to the wolf! There were a couple of things
that I wanted to get from the wolf, primarily their claws and nose. I
didn’t need to be able to turn fully into a wolf, but if I
managed to learn the entire aura by then, I wouldn’t be one to
complain.

Thinking
about it like that made me a bit depressed, because I probably don’t
have enough mana to shift into a wolf form, seeing as it took
practically all of my mana just to turn into a bird. As such, I’d
have to increase my intelligence stat a bit more to get more mana.
And to do that, I need to level up!

Back
to the wolf… again. I first focused my mana on sensing its
paws, and looked at the structure of the lights within. While the
composition of an aspect can be determined by what colors and
patterns the lights are, the form of it is determined by the shape of
those lights. So… the wolf’s furred skin is an
interwoven gray and purple light, but I could just as easily replace
that with the pattern of the snake’s scales. What I needed to
focus on was the shape that those lights made.

I
can’t wait to get back to leveling, and selling the bodies to
earn money. Then maybe I can get another kind of magic. What would
compliment my Nature Magic well? Summoning? Eh, I already have to
deal with more animals than I’d like to, and anything my
summons could do, I could do eventually. Gravity, then? It’d be
nice, but not necessary. I almost dismissed Technomancy outright,
since it would conflict with the druid image and Nature Magic, but
then I realized something… If I was able to store information
like a computer, or have mental access to such, then memorizing mana
signatures would be far easier! Not only that, I might be able to mix
and match configurations to make ‘preset’ forms.

Alright,
that’s decided, once I get another five silver, I’ll
learn Technomancy. Wait, I was trying to focus on something, wasn’t
I? Dammit, this is why it takes me so long to do things, I keep
getting bored and distracting myself! Wolf, wolf, study the wolf!
Come on, Falenel, you can do it!

Roughly
half an hour later, I had finally managed to memorize the pattern of
the wolf paws. Taking a look at my own hand, I made sure I was doing
this right before I started. I didn’t want to edit the wrong
part of my mana signature, and have the paw coming out of my elbow!

But,
with a fair amount of caution, I shifted the mana signatures in my
hand to match that of the paw, complete with its claws. It felt
weird, seeing my thumb melt into my hand, while my fingers thickened
and reshaped themselves, my fingernails growing out into thick claws.
But, since I didn’t copy the fur of the wolf over, my hand was
still bare.

Alright,
good. Now, for the nose. I looked up, and saw Sharon staring at me.
And not in the happy way, I’d like that a bit. This was the
‘what did you do to that dog’ stare. “Uhm…
something wrong?”

She
just kept staring for a moment before speaking. “That puppy…
did you kill it..?”

This
is going to go bad no matter how I answer, so… I nodded my
head, and could see her clenching her fists. “Not like I had
much of a choice. It attacked me on my way here.” That seemed
to placate her a bit, but she was still looking angry. Guess that
she’s the kind that loves animals, and would rather befriend
them than kill them, even in a game. “I only fought as much as
I had to, until they started to run away. This one just didn’t
make it that long.”

That
seemed to help a bit more, and she pulled a wolf of her own close to
her, hugging it like a giant stuffed animal. Surprisingly, it did not
really resist her at all, and even nuzzled closer. “Okay…
as long as you aren’t bullying them…”

Seriously,
what is with her? I know this game is a bit too realistic, but still…
Guess that means I won’t be taking her with me when I go to
grind levels, but it does explain why she took so long to get her
class, and had so many animal companions.

Even
Jarl was shaking his head, seemingly disappointed with Sharon’s
actions. The animals of this forest kill each other more in a day
than I could if I stayed here for a month, maybe even a year.
Refusing to accept that fact for her might hurt later on, when she
comes across more powerful creatures that she can’t tame.

Shaking
my head again, I looked over to Jarl as I remembered something,
completely by random. Though, it might help me make money in the
future if it works. “Jarl, I was told Alchemy and Nature Magic
mixed really well. Is it possible to use Nature Magic to help make
the potions themselves, rather than just copying the effects of
them?”

Jarl
seemed about as surprised by my question as I was by the thought of
it. However, if this worked, then I would no longer need to
constantly hunt for familiar herbs. After a moment, he nodded his
head slightly. “I guess it would be possible, just not easy.
Just like how you can change your aura to match that of a beast, you
can do the same thing for plants. If you bleed a little into a
bottle, but changed the signature of your blood to match the
combination of herbs you use to make the potion, then your blood
would become that potion.”

I
nodded a bit, though winced as I imagined how much I would have to
cut myself to make a profit like that. “What if I copied an
animal that constantly produced a liquid, and changed that instead?
Like the venom sac of a poisonous snake?”

Again,
he nodded his head. “That would also work, though would take a
bit more practice. You’d also need an easy way to extract it
from yourself, which could be with a snake’s fangs. Most druids
don’t go down that route, since it is rather difficult to get
right. If you mess up, you could accidentally fill your body with a
deadly poison, and die on the spot. If that happens, then even
resurrection magic would not help you, unless someone managed to
remove all of the poison from your body and replace it with normal
blood.”

That
made me wince even more as I pictured that kind of failure. “Well,
I need some way to make money. Not that good at hunting, next to no
skills when it comes to making items, and I don’t know
enchanting. I can cook, and I can do alchemy.”

Jarl
thought it over for a moment longer before speaking, an interested
look on his young face. “Well, if you had a personal garden,
you could grow your own herbs. There is an advanced druid technique
that would help, and it’s actually something Sharon would need
to learn eventually if she hopes to advance to become a Colony
Druid.”

Seeing
that I was interested, he spoke with a slight smile. “If you
train your affinities and Nature Magic to a certain degree, you can
make an ‘internal world’ within yourself. That’s
how a Colony Druid stores their animal army inside their body. It’s
also where many druids cultivate their grove. But, in order to
achieve it, you need all of the necessary affinities at at least 5%.
That means water, earth, fire, wind, and light all need to be at 5%
to start it. Without one, you will be missing a key element to
sustain life inside your grove. And, if you plan to have any
nocturnal herbs, you’ll need Dark Affinity as well.”

I
blinked, taken aback by this new option. “You mean… once
I get all of that… I’d actually be able to have a
garden… inside my own body?” The implications of this
were huge. If it was a part of my magic, wouldn’t it carry over
when I logged out?

“
In
a sense. You’ll need to care for it like normal, and can only
bring in plants you assimilate on the outside. But once you have it,
you’ll be able to take any plant from your grove, and bring it
out into the real world. Normally, this isn’t talked about
until you grow a bit more powerful, but I figure telling you now will
give you some motivation in your training.” He winked jokingly
to me, and laughed.

Suddenly,
I remembered the various forests I had seen when I flew into the air
before. “Then, this forest..?”

“
Right,
this is my grove. Most forests on this planet are maintained by a
druid, who allows others to create cities within them. But, don’t
think that your grove will be this big when you first make it. You’d
be lucky to have it even one percent of the size. The size of the
grove will grow gradually over time as you continue to absorb the
mana of the various elements that compose it.”

Well,
this opened up a whole new path for me to make money. I still had
several herbs left in my inventory that I could plant once I managed
to make what he was talking about. But first, I needed to get the
nose from this wolf, and then cultivate the last few elements that I
need!

Chapter 22:
Training Montage

Analyzing
the wolf’s nose was surprisingly difficult, as a sense organ is
far more complicated than something like a paw or wings. Still, about
an hour and a half later, I had managed to memorize the pattern. With
a bit of hesitation, I gradually applied to spell to unlock the next
Aspect for my magic.

I
wasn’t really sure what I had been expecting, but a massive
overflow of vivid smells still managed to catch me off guard, to the
point where it was almost nauseating. In order to save my aching gut,
I hurriedly dismissed the spell, letting my nose return to normal.
After taking a moment to recover, I saw the window that had appeared,
and was honestly disappointed. Maybe senses are considered a pure
utility effect, and thus aren’t ranked very high, but still…
only being worth half a star frustrated me.

Either
way, I had my collection complete for the wolf. Next thing I did was
to fully memorize the creature’s aura so that I could add it to
my collection of shapeshifting forms. That part took a bit longer,
nearly three full hours. However, once I had it, and memorized it, I
didn’t bother trying to shift into a wolf. I figured it
probably cost at least 500 mana, so it’d be best to wait until
I hit that.

Looking
over towards Sharon, a thought occurred to me. “Celeste…
you can still measure my affinities, right?”

The
holographic girl appeared above my wrist, nodding obediently. “That’s
right, Falenel. Want me to take a look at them again?”

Her
constant change in attitude confused me, but maybe that was just her
personality settling in, or she was doing it on purpose to be
playful. “Yeah, is there one listed as an Animal Affinity?”
I asked curiously. Since there was a Plant Affinity, maybe there was
also one for animals. And if that was the case, the manipulation
skill would likely have a similar effect as the one I have for
plants.

“
Hmm…
yup! There is one listed as a Beast Affinity. Currently, your rating
with that is only a single percent. Why, you don’t feel like
training it, do you?” She asked, seemingly surprised. She
likely knew my thoughts regarding the birds, so cultivating this
affinity would be weird for me.

“
Not
just yet. Was only curious.” It’ll probably be something
that Sharon gets fairly early on. I’d wager it was likely one
of her top three starting affinities.

Hearing
my reply, Celeste let out a sigh of relief, before her hologram
vanished back into the bracelet where she dwelled. Now, it was time
to start cultivating the remaining elements I needed in order to
establish my inner grove. Out of the three remaining affinities I
needed, water was currently the highest at 2%, so I started with
that.