World Seed: Game Start (27 page)

A
few hours slowly passed before the small pellet gradually formed in
my hand, with varying shades of green. If I had to describe it, it’d
be like someone painted a classic camouflage pattern on it. Shrugging
my shoulders, I popped it into my mouth like a pill and let it
dissolve with my Nature Magic. I think by this point I had the
process worked out pretty well. Even though I was essentially just
doing the same thing I had spent a few hours on, but in reverse, the
effect was still clear.

In
order to introduce a new element into the world, rather than
gradually letting it pour in over time, you had to shock it with a
large amount all at once. Doing so would force the world to adapt in
order to accept this new element. To my pleasant surprise, my grove
actually expanded a full meter in radius after I put the plant mana
into it. Then, I pulled out a few of the herbs I had gathered so far.

Starting
with the most rare plant I had acquired to date, the mushroom, I
planted a total of four herbs. First was that mushroom, second being
blood Weed, then fireflower so that I could make health potions
whenever I wanted. Finally, I decided to plant the mushroom that said
it was a component in mana potions, spider cap. I still needed to
learn what other herbs go with it to make the mana potion, though.

This
process went fairly smooth, since I had previously pulled the entire
plant out of the ground in case the roots might be an ingredient of
their own. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to have withered away
while in my inventory, so replanting them was not an issue. Now I
simply had those four herbs planted at equal distances around my
small globe, with only that single blade of grass breaking the
pattern. And, when I concentrated, I was even able to sense that
several other blades had appeared around it beneath the surface, just
unable to break through yet. Must be because of the plant mana.

Now,
I had a few options. I could either cultivate Dark Affinity to have a
day/night cycle in my grove, or I could cultivate one of the elements
already present to expand it. However… I chose neither option
for now. I still needed to advance my other class skills,
specifically my shapeshifting. In order to do that, it was time to
begin a leveling frenzy!

Thanks
to my flight a couple weeks ago, I now knew that this pond was at the
center of the forest, meaning that the strongest animals should be
directly around it. Looking to the two lovebirds that were just
coming back from getting themselves a meal, I instructed them to stay
behind mentally. Rather than it being because I cared about them, it
was more because I didn’t want them getting in my way. However,
they didn’t seem to get that part, and only happily agreed,
thinking I was doing so for their sake.

God,
I sound like one of those cheap characters from an old story. What
were they called? Tsunders? Thundere? It doesn’t matter, either
way I focused for a few moments to activate my Aspect of the Armored
Beast, covering my entire body with snake scales as I stood. Sadly,
it took a bit longer than normal to activate, and there was a bit of
pain suggesting that I didn’t get it completely right. I really
needed to hurry up and get Technomancy. Maybe with that I’d be
able to solve the issue of memory.

Although
I had taken the precaution to equip my scales, I did not intend on
playing the role of the brute melee fighter again. My vitality was
not nearly high enough to do that if I ran into a bear. Rather, I
planned to try out some of my new magic abilities instead!

Guiding
a bit of mana into my eyes, I activated Aura Sight, and my vision was
bathed in various lights. I had a theory that this skill could be
used for more than just failing to memorize auras, and as I set out
into the forest my hunch was soon proven correct. I mean, why would
there be an entire skill that just covered such a small purpose?

After
I was about twenty meters from the clearing, I began seeing
irregularities in the aura of the ground. At first, I was able to
overlook them, but then they turned into a pattern and my eyes were
naturally drawn to them. Specifically, the pattern was as if
something had walked by, a sort of magical footprint. Kneeling down
next to it, I decided to study the pattern for a few moments, to see
if I could gain a new skill or ability. However, the only thing I was
able to determine was that it did not match the aura of the wolf I
had killed previously.

Knowing
that, this should be a different animal. With the track being on the
ground, it obviously wasn’t a bird. They were clearly not snake
tracks, so it eliminates that as well. The most likely option, then,
would be a bear. At least, I hadn’t seen any other animals this
close to the clearing besides those.

Either
way, I had a target. Comparing what I knew from other games, if a
wolf was considered level 10(and I hoped they were, given the
difficulty I had in killing them), then an average bear should be
level 15 or 16. That would put it at the same tier of difficulty as
the Great Boa. However, each had their natural weaknesses. The snake
could only attack in one direction at a time, but had incredible
strength if it got ahold of you, and its defense was likely among the
best in the forest. As for bears, they were typically known for
strength as well, and while their thick hides were weaker than a
Great Boa, they were more versatile while attacking.

By
the way, I’m sure there are some people wanting to know why I’m
not simply using my Light Manipulation to bend the light around me
and make myself invisible. To be honest, that was the first thing I
did after I gained the ability. And yes, it even worked. However,
there was an inherent flaw with that technique. If all light is
bending around my body, that means that it is not being directed into
my eyes to be processed by my brain. In other words… light
bending invisibility blinded me.

Maybe
if I got a higher affinity, I’d be able to selectively make it
so that light can hit me, but passes through? But that is way beyond
what I can do now. As such, I was left stalking through the forest,
my dagger at the ready. I had a feeling that I was getting closer to
the source of these aura footprints, but if Celeste didn’t keep
interrupting me I would have already found them! Why does an AI need
to clear her throat anyways?

“
What
is it?” I asked as quietly as I could manage, looking down at
my wrist. When I did so, I saw a rather timid looking hologram slowly
pointing in front of me before vanishing. Following where she had
pointed, I was reminded of an ancient saying, passed down from
generation to generation. Such a wise saying had saved many lives,
and ensured the continuation of the species to this day. However, I
seemed to have forgotten it until now. Always watch where you’re
going.

Ahead
of me, staring in a rather upset manner, was a bear. A rather big
bear at that, easily as big as I was while still on all four legs.
Oh, hey, look, it has a friend… make that friends. Three
bears. Three, really big, really brown, really angry bears. I
suddenly felt like a sudden blonde girl who had stumbled into a
dangerous cabin. His teeth are too sharp, her teeth are too dull, but
his teeth are just right to bite me in half.

Okay,
I can do this. This is just like that time against the snake. No,
wait, bad example, that time there was only one, and it ate me. I
crouched down, planting one hand against the ground while the other
held the dagger in front of me in what I assumed to be a defensive
posture. If I was going down, I was at least going to look cool doing
it!

Gathering
the earth mana below me, I prepared to make the ground suddenly rise
in order to launch me at the pack of bears. A dumb idea, which is
exactly why it will catch them off guard! The three bears slowly
walked towards me, which I took as my sign to begin. Suddenly lifting
the ground with my Earth Manipulation, I launched myself towards them
like a catapult, aiming my dagger towards their vitals!

Yeah,
since when has that ever happened? “Waaaah!!” I screamed
as I tore through the air, faster than expected, my arms flailing to
either side. Thankfully, I managed to keep a grip on my dagger,
because I felt it sink into something soft, which made my flight path
change from a straight line into a sideways arc. Next thing I knew, I
collided head first into something not as soft, and heard a dull
cracking noise. However, it also made me black out for a moment.

When
I woke up, I saw one of the bears staring rather dumbly at the scene
before it, not even paying me much attention anymore. For some
reason, one of the bears had a giant gash straight down one of their
sides, with their entrails spilling out. Obviously, it was already
dead. Then, some distance away on the other side of it, another bear
was lying limp on the ground, blood coming from a wound on the side
of its head, right behind its eye.

Did
I just… no… that’s not possible, right? I took a
quick look, and saw that Wild Luck had surprisingly gained two full
levels, while my luck stat even increased by a point. Apparently,
snake scales beat bear skull, and chain dagger beats bear hide…
However, I had also lost half of my health, by what the message
window labeled a ‘head on’ collision. I seriously wanted
to smack the developers of this game.

Looking
at the last remaining bear, I decided to go back to my original druid
fighting plan. Drawing a bit of fire mana from my body, I amplified
it with wind mana, while pulling out any water mana from nearby it.
Although it took nearly all of my concentration to simultaneously
command three elements, it was not nearly as difficult as it had been
to form that cursed pellet. And the result was quite satisfying, an
intense fireball forming in my hand. However, my hand was starting to
blister just from being so close to the burning flame, so I quickly
threw it at the distracted bear, setting its fur on fire.

Well,
that didn’t kill the bear, but it certainly got its attention,
as the beast was flailing its arms angrily to try to put out the
fire. It even laid flat on the ground and rolled around, which would
have proven successful if I wasn’t still feeding it fire and
wind mana to keep it going. Eventually, it simply stood up, and
charged at me. At this point, I was perhaps more terrified than when
I was facing three bears at once. I mean, now I was facing a giant,
angry, FLAMING bear.

So,
doing the only thing I could, I charged at it as well. No longer
feeding the flames on the bear, I instead switched to Light
Manipulation, and performed the equivalent of shining a bright
flashlight in the animal’s eyes. Although this didn’t
stop it, or even slow it down, it made it close its eyes. Hoping to
take advantage of that, I lunged at the charging bear, preparing to
sink my blade into its flesh.

Have
you ever seen what it looks like when a ragdoll is hit by a speeding
car?

I
have! Sadly, my dagger didn’t even find its way to the bear’s
throat, and stabbed uselessly into its shoulder while I was launched
several meters into the air behind it, collapsing into a broken heap.
Thankfully, the bear died a few moments later from the flames, but I
was left crying out in pain from what felt like every bone in my body
being shattered. Thanks to the lesson I received from the snake, I
instinctively cast Alchemic Heal as soon as the pain arrived, which
only made more pain come as my misaligned arms and legs forced
themselves in the proper position. Another spell took care of the
bleeding and started the process of mending my arms. A third, final
spell fixed my broken bones, but still left me missing some health.
Sadly, between the three heals and all of the magic I had thrown
around to fight the bears, I was now running on empty.

Moving
over to the dead bears, I winced slightly with every step. It seemed
that last bit of health missing made my bones still sore, so every
movement caused a bit of pain. Once I got to the bodies of the bears,
I put the burnt one, and the one that I headbutted into my inventory.
As for the one who was painting the forest with its intestines…
it made me sick just to look at, so I left it alone and went on my
way towards somewhere I could rest. Once I had the mana, I would fly
towards town to sell the bears… after thoroughly studying
them.

Chapter 25: Bending
Genders No More!

I
hadn’t walked more than ten steps when two tiny forms barreled
into me from behind, knocking me over and making me groan in pain. At
the same time, a series of agitated chirps came from those forms, and
I recognized them as the lovebirds Yin and Yang. Somewhat to my
surprise, I was able to understand a bit of their chirping, in one
way or another.