Rupegia Chapter 30: The Tree in our Yard

Today is the 24th.

It's over. Another crisis, another nightmare, another fight. It's over and now we are safe.

I wake up to a very smug Alissa slowly licking my frenulum. When she sees I'm awake she swallows my mber. Her head slowly moves downwards until she reaches the base. Her eyes staring deeply into mine. Her tongue caressing my skin all the way.

She slowly moves back and I shiver in pleasure. She decides to lick my balls and suck on them. I shiver harder, it's a very sensitive place, it's a mix pleasure and almost pain.

To continue her job Lina swallows my mber. She tries to make the sa movent but barely swallows two thirds. Yet her tongue still moves skillfully around the head. Lina does not need the skill, she's eager enough she can learn it the hard way, by sucking my dick so much she becos an actual expert on it.

My vision gets dark as Ciel smothers with her breasts. With one hand I search for a nipple and guide it to my mouth and with the other I search for her pussy so I can have my revenge.

It seems Ciel likes when others bury their heads on her breasts. Specifically, she likes it when or Lina do it.

I push Ciel away but continue to play with her nipple. I want to watch Alissa and Lina taking turns. It's so fucking sexy knowing they are indirectly kissing through my dick. I'm still not sure if Alissa is bisexual, I think she's being borderline just to satisfy my fetishes.

"I'm coming," I say.

Alissa sucks harder and suddenly releases my dick. She points it to Lina and I plasters her face. Lina frowns and starts to clean herself.

"Clean her, Alissa," I order.

Without skipping a beat she licks the entirety of Lina's face, even sucking on her lips. Lina fidgets but does not resist.

I pull Ciel on top of and she yelps. Her black hair falls on my face and tickles , her large nipples rub on my chest. Her bright smile lts my heart.

"I love you, deeply," I say.

She blushes and smiles wider. She gives a peck on the lips.

"I love you more," she says.

"A competition? If my mory is right you do not have [Enhanced Sexual Stamina], it wouldn't be wise to compete with a God of Sex like ."

She scoffs.

"God of Sex? Old man now you are being arrogant," she looks at smugly, her fleshy lips makes her pout so much more cuter.

"Oh yeah? Oh yeah!?"

Now you have done it.

I put on [Massage], [Oral Technique], [Hand Technique], [Enhanced Strength], [Enhanced Endurance], [Enhanced Speed], and [Enhanced Genital Control]. The last one is quite the interesting skill, it gives more control over the muscles of my penis. With it I can rub on her G-spot if I angle it right.

I grab her and roll over. Alissa and Lina strip so they can more comfortably masturbate to the show.

I start with her ear lobes, they should be a slightly erogenous zone. I suck on them, lick them, and nibble on them, [Massage] also works with the mouth.

She chuckles at the tickly feeling but it quickly dies down and she starts to fidget. I massage her breasts and nipples with both my hands. I send her jolts of pleasure as I slowly increase the strength of my grip, mixing rubbing and pinching.

Her fleshy mounds are delicious to grab. I want to defile them again with my sen. I want to defile all her body with my sen.

I lower myself. My tongue traces her neck bones. I nibble the nape of her neck and she giggles again. I lick her nipples, I suck on them strongly and she moans. But this isn't the main al.

I lick her abs and kiss them. I trace my tongue lower and reach her trimd bush. I play with them and caress it with my hand but I skip her pussy. I lower my head even further, tracing my tongue on her inner thigh.

She shivers and looks at with disappointnt. Soon, my lewd priestess, soon.

I start working on her feet the way she loves so much. I suck her toes and press the sole. I grab warm lotion and spread on her feet, it's a special one from the high elven goods we got yesterday. It slls and tastes like mint.

Ciel moans as I massage her feet. Such cute little toes, well trimd nails, and a softness that rivals her hands. What a cheat being able to use [Heal] to keep your skin soft.

I spread her toes and lick the sensitive skin in the middle. She giggles again but now they are mixed with moans.

I get the feeling that this is enough.

I start to massage her further upwards, licking again her inner thigh. I slow down my advance, little by little I inch closer to her slit. She breathes quickly in excitent.

I finally spread her brown lips and they are drenched in her wetness. I push my tongue inside her and she imdiately cums. I take my tongue out and finger her.

"I made you cum just with a single lick," I say.

She doesn't say anything. She turns her head away and see the girls masturbating, then she looks the other way, blushing.

"Do you want more?" I ask.

She purses her lips and keeps quiet. I slow down my fingers.

"If you don't say anything I'm gonna stop."

"No..." She mutters.

"Tell what you want."

"Continue," she mutters again.

"Huh? I couldn't hear you."

"C-continue! I want more!" She turns to with puffed cheeks.

"Is that how you ask sothing?" I smile sadistically, I slow down my fingering even more.

"Please..."

"Louder, please."

"Please continue!"

"Continue what?" My smile grows wilder, I remove my fingers.

She groans.

"Fuck ! Please, fuck !"

"As you wish."

I put two fingers in and rub her G-spot.

She instantly cums again. Her back arches and her breasts jiggle.

I suck the top of her lips and expose her clit. I use my tongue to [Massage] it, compounding it with my [Oral Technique]. I use my [Hand Technique] to stimulate every inch of her pussy.

She moans louder and louder.

I don't even know what I'm doing anymore, I'm just pressing buttons, I'm just letting the skill take over. I'm a conductor to the symphony of moans coming from her, I simply go with the flow and improvise.

Sohow it works. She grabs the sheets and nearly rips them from the bed. Her head shakes and her voice fades out as she seems to be on a constant orgasm.

Her mouth hangs open as she drools, her eyes lose focus, her expression goes flat as she seems to be unconscious. Her breath slows so much her chest barely moves.

My hand hurts, my tongue hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts. I'm not supposed to be able to do this, I'm breaking my own limits.

The sheet is drenched in her own fluids and my drool. I put 3 fingers in, then 4, then 5.

Then I suddenly penetrate her with my dick.

Her back arches and keeps like that. I pound on her with all my strength, all my speed. I control my own dick to rub on her G-spot.

I feel it coming. I pull it out and cum a huge thick load on her face, mouth, belly, and breasts. Then I collapse on the bed.

Alissa cos up on Ciel. She licks her face clean, then she sucks on her lips. Slowly Alissa's mouth covers Ciel's and her tongue enters. I see Ciel react, their tongues touch and feel each other for a few seconds as they share my cum.

Alissa breaks the kiss. She starts sucking my cum from Ciel's body, she sucks on her nipples and rubs them just like I did. Ciel moans again.

Alissa lowers her head, she licks the abs, then Ciel's bush.

Alissa repositions herself. Her tongue lowers and she licks Ciel's wet cunt. She fingers Ciel and scoops out a small amount of cum, then she plays with Ciel's clit. Ciel moans and Alissa giggles.

There's still so cum on Alissa's mouth. She goes over to Lina and kisses her. Lina is still masturbating, she doesn't stop and receives Alissa's kiss. Lina sucks on Alissa's tongue and drinks up all the cum. A white trail escapes Lina's mouth, Alissa catches it before it gets wasted on the sheets.

My dick is hard again. I fucking love you Alissa. I. Fucking. Love. You.

I flip the still catatonic Ciel over. I push my finger on her asshole and cast [Clean] on her. Then I push my tongue inside her asshole, I go in circles and then penetrate, circles then penetrate. With a continuous [Regeneration] I push my finger deep, then two, then three. She screams but they die down as the spell takes efffect.

I reapply lube and push my dick on that huge ass. The perfect heart shaped ass. Brown buns for my white hot dog.

Ciel yelps again and regains so of her consciousness. She bites the pillow but does not stop . I repeatedly cast [Heal] on her so she does not bleed. Alissa reaches over Ciel and fingers her. Ciel moans and yelps with every thrust of my dick.

So tight, so hot, so sexy.

"Ciel, you are mine! Your body is mine, your heart is mine. I love everything about you! Rember, you are mine!"

Her breath is so haggard all she can mutter is a weak "yes".

Lina starts playing with Ciel's breasts, she copies my massage style. She scootches besides Ciel and sucks on her earlobes. Ciel's throat is so dry she can only moan hoarsely.

I feel it again and I let it co. I fill up Ciel's asshole and it overflows.

Alissa quickly cleans my dick and goes for Ciel's ass. She tongues her deeply just like I did. With a single finger she scoops out any remaining cum.

This ti Alissa swallows it all.

We spend a few monts catching our breaths.

"So..." I flip Ciel and kiss her, she's almost fully awake again, "Who's the God of Sex?"

"Wha..." Her eyes move about in confusion, "Oh..."

A smile slowly grows on her face. She sighs and closes her eyes.

"You are the cheating God of Sex," she says.

"Good enough for . A God of Sex is a God of Sex."

I pull Ciel to lay down on my chest.

"Alissa, you turning bisexual now?" I ask.

"Hm..." She tilts her head sideways, "I don't know, I just wanted to make Ciel moan. I don't find won particularly attractive."

Lina fidgets and looks down. Ciel is quiet, she seems to be processing what happened.

"I think that..." Alissa grabs her chin in thought, "I want you to use . Use more, use like the ti when you tied down. Use to fulfill your fetishes," she licks her lips and talks almost on a growl, "I'm yours forever."

I shudder at her words.

"And I'm yours too. So was our vows," I say.

"But I'm yours... Harder," she chuckles.

"Hah. You want another competition?"

"Don't think this one will go the way you want."

My anus dislikes this conversation.

I lean back and pull her on a hug with my other arm.

"Well, if you want to fulfill my fetishes then prepare yourself," I lean close to her ear and whisper, "Because you will beco everyone's fuck toy."

Alissa bites her lips sensually and rests her head on my chest. Both girls are facing each other quite closely.

"Just rember that you are only a slave to my fetishes. In everything else you are my companion, my wife, not a slave."

She turns her head to and smiles. "I know, I know," she says.

Ciel turns around and pulls Lina in a hug, burying her on her chest.

I know Ciel likes Lina a lot. But what kind of "like" is it? Lina is very receptive of attention from anyone, so I'm not sure what she truly feels for the other girls. Though Lina did live with only won for a few years.

The amount of sa-sex couples on the streets is much higher here than on Earth, I just wonder how many are actually bisexual.

"If any of you want to experint more then say so. Just rember to talk to each other," I say.

Ciel turns her head towards Alissa then looks away with a hint of embarrassnt. Alissa notices it and simply smiles smugly at her.

Alissa's ears flicker.

"The other two are awake, I'll go prepare breakfast," Alissa says.

She casts [Clean] on her mouth then moves out of the room, still naked. Her cute ass and orange tail swaying sensually.

"It felt nice," Ciel mutters, looking at Alissa's ass as she leaves.

I completely corrupted the priestess. I fucking love this world.

Roxanne gained [Mana Overuse Resistance] with 1 point. Now she's just one point short from [Ice Lance], though she used that spell so many tis she knows how to chant it and cast it quite easily. She also increased her "Speed" by 1 (now 9).

Ciel leveled up to 32. She increased her [Wind Magic] by 2 (now 17) and her [Light Magic] by 1 (now 25). She has 5 skill points left.

Alissa leveled up to 30. She increased her [Illusion Magic] by 1 (now 3).

Ciel is acting awkward around Alissa, it's so entertaining I want them to keep like this for a while.

"I'm feeling so tired," I recline back on my chair.

"You don't tell , I had a headache the entire night," Roxanne says.

"I don't want to leave the house this break," I say.

"Oh let's go do sothing fun then," she claps the tip of her hands in excitent.

"Sure. Anyway, how about you all? Feeling okay?"

"Well I'm fine, my sense of sll is still dampened due to the horrible sll of the husks though", Alissa says, "The fight was nerve-racking but we didn't get hurt so I'm just feeling a little tired."

"I'm pretty good. If it's only husks then I can deal with it," Hana shrugs and then her eyes turn sharp, "But we are done with Vanea now, right?"

"Yeah, we are done," I answer her imdiately. I won't make a deal like that again.

"We don't really have to worry about Darean anymore. Whoever his backer is might end up killling Darean himself, he lost a lot of money yesterday," Lina says.

"Good," Hana reclines back on the chair and smiles.

"I just don't want to fight husks again. My clothes are slling putrid," Roxanne says.

"It will get off, don't worry," Alissa says and grabs her hand, "Well I guess it's expected of you to be more worried about clothes than your life," Alissa slaps her hand lightly and smirks.

"Hey!" Roxanne pulls her hand away and pouts, "Now with instant cast I'm not really afraid of anything besides invisible assassins."

"And the undead," I add.

"And the undead," she smiles bitterly, "I guess blowing them into small pieces didn't work."

"Well, I will give you sothing to be afraid of," Hana says with an evil grin.

"Try , bitch, I will rub my own tail," she narrows her eyes in defiance.

"That's not what I was thinking about but okay," Hana chuckles.

"You, not thinking about sex? Ciel, [Diagnosis], quick!"

"Oh you want to be fucked?" Her eyes narrow, "Okay then."

Hana sweeps the breakfast away, forcing us to pick our plates off the table. She pulls Roxanne out of the chair and drops her on the table, then she lifts Roxanne's dress, pulls down her panties, and starts to eat her out.

I turn my head to Ciel.

"Well I'm doing fine," she says, "I dealt with husks before, it's not a big deal."

"I'm more worried about how you did as a leader," I say.

Hana lifts her head and cleans her lips. "She did fine!" She says then starts using her fingers. "Though I wouldn't recomnd her doing it often, she looked very nervous."

Ciel laughs awkwardly.

"I-I never had much experience with leadership," she lowers her eyes, "But I think I can at least keep everyone alive."

"That's all we need and all I try to do," I say.

I'm not deluding myself in thinking I'm a great leader, I know that at least I'm enough to keep us all safe.

Now I look at Lina.

"I feel okay..." She talks lowly yet high enough to be heard on top of the moans. "I just don't want to rember those things anymore, they make feel sick."

"Kweh! Ded, dis-gus-tin'!"

She's mostly sad she couldn't eat anything.

"I think we all feel the sa way," Alissa says, "Just make sure you keep your energy up so you can still fight alongside Wolfy."

Lina nods with vigor.

"You had to kill so people, didn't you, how you feeling about it?" I ask.

For most people who died weren't really my fault so I'm using it as an excuse to distance myself from yesterday. I'm simply running away from responsibility.

"I will... I will kill anything that tries to hurt us," her eyes flicker with anger, "I will never stand still and let them hurt us."

I feel like sighing.

"Just, just keep a level head and rember my two rules," I say.

She nods once with resolve.

Gify pops into my shoulder.

"Guuh, geh guh gih!" He says, "Balance is everything, but you all did well".

"Thanks Gify," Alissa smiles.

I barely finish my breakfast before it's ti for my [Godly Language] lessons again.

"Good morning, Mr. Ryder. I heard you had quite the interesting evening yesterday," he gives a calm smile.

"Good Morning, Mr. Kyros. It was a nightmare," I sigh and drop my shoulders, "Crazed n and hundreds of husks. Never again, please."

"The entire town is talking about it. A necromancer attack, the rumors say."

"Heh, almost. Good thing Da Vanea was ready for it, otherwise it would be a massacre."

Kyros reclines on his chair and smiles to nowhere in particular.

"Wouldn't be unlike her. Anyway, let's continue our lesson. I will teach you your first words, we have to speed up your training."

I got you a surprise, old man. I put a point in [Godly Language].

I sit on my usual chair and close my eyes, focusing on his demonstration.

I can feel two mana vortexes. One is on his throat and the other is slowly spinning around it. The spinning vortex picks up so much speed my senses blur.

Suddenly the first vortex vibrates.

"Beco stronger!" He yells.

I feel a wave shake my bones, sending a chill through my spine. I feel my muscles bulge and slowly return to normal.

Dayum son. If I master this maybe I could play Hulk.

"Beco stronger!" He yells again.

This ti I notice the wave is directed solely at .

"Beco stronger!"

I feel how Kyros is unaffected by the voice.

The second vortex increases its spinning radius.

"Beco stronger!"

The sound wave goes much wider this ti.

The second vortex disappears.

"Beco stronger!"

Now this ti there was barely a wave front. I felt only a small circle of the wave hit my heart and it still affected my entire body.

"You noticed the three different ways I used the voice?" Kyros asks.

"Yes. The first way was a normal sound wave directed towards , the second way the wave got much wider due to the spinning vortex's radius increasing. Both didn't affect you. The third way it was directly sent to only without the need for the spinning vortex."

"Correct. We call the spinning vortex the 'shield vortex' and the other vortex the 'voice vortex'."

"Quick question. Does the language that I use influence the effects?"

"No. It's all the sa to our spirits."

Interesting. Though it behaves quite oddly. Why would the spirit of soone who never heard Andraste react to a mana wave?

"Can I create a language and use it with [Godly Language]?"

"Create...?" He frowns in puzzlent then shakes his head, "You have to use a language that belongs to the skill system. Using codes won't work."

Aw shucks.

"Now," His tone turns more stern, "Recreate my voice."

I close my eyes and focus. The vortex creation is much easier than before, I could even try to start a shield vortex but I will leave it for later.

I move the vortex towards my throat and grunt. I feel the shaking of my vocal chords and the vortex following it. There's a slight delay on the vortex, which made it sound like two grunts at the sa ti. Felt good enough for a proper try.

"Beco stronger!"

I feel my muscles bulge for a few seconds. Much shorter than Kyro's voice. After the strength is gone I feel a chill running through my body and heavy nausea.

"Ooh, very good," Kyros says, then he notices my frown, "I was expecting you to puke on your first try. It seems you do have a small talent for it."

"Told you... So," I mutter, keeping my breakfast down.

"You did," I open my eyes and he's caressing his goatee, "Now, try to focus on creating two vortexes, they will shield you from the feedback of a bad word."

Easier said than done. Even with the skill I need many more points on it to properly control both vortexes. If you take your attention off from one the other dissipates, it hurts my brain.

Hm... I have an idea. The dissipation is not instantaneous, so what if I keep switching my focus from them in quick succession? Just like how a computer processor works.

Bad idea, now I'm nauseous and suffering from strong mana-radiation sickness.

This is too hard, I wanna cheeeeat. I want to put more points on the skill. Yes Ciel, I'm a filthy, filthy cheater.

Back at ho I have such a bad headache that even [Heal] is not having much effect. It does not work well when you don't know much about the damage being healed.

I keep [Regeneration] on and it seems to work, although slowly.

"Roxanne, how did you learn to manipulate two spells at once?" I ask.

Her glasses glint in the shadows and her smile turns smug. So smug I feel like teaching a bloody lesson to her ass.

"Think it like this. Can you write two different words with each hand?" She asks.

"I can only write with one hand," I smile cheekily.

"Har har, you get what I ant?" She narrows her eyes in annoyance. Her serious face is so sexy.

"Yes, yes. I can't write it."

"But you can move your arms in different ways, can't you?"

"So it's only a question of finesse?"

"Not really. You have to morize the movents, it's like a dance. They should co naturally to you. You don't separate your consciousness, you treat both movents as one."

Simple enough, I guess.

"Careful not to mix the spells. They are one movent, but separate," she adds with a wry smile.

Okay, maybe not so simple.

[Blessing Magic] class is noisy, everyone is talking about the necromancer attack. I heard no rumors about Ziny or Burky so I can assu the knights are keeping their mouths shut.

"In the middle of the Crafter's Corner!" Lyle exclaims, "What was a necromancer doing there? I would assu he would prefer the slums to hide himself."

"Why would he need to hide, specifically?" I ask.

"Hm... Perhaps he needed a safe place to experint?"

"Then the slums would be better for this," Garanae says.

"Then he just wanted a safe place to hide," Lyle says.

"Living on a residential area would be easier then," Hatara says.

Considering how ghastly that man looked I think he would be conspicuous there.

"Then he was protecting sothing," Lyle says.

"At the Crafter's Corner? Not the Bazaar or the Gambler's Den? Even the Guild's Corner would have sothing valuable stored."

The Crafter's Corner is basically the industrial area of Rabanara.

"There are warehouses in the Crafter's Corner," Lyle says.

"They just store raw material and so finished products. None of them store sothing so valuable they need hundreds of husks to guard," Garanae says.

"Then... He was hiding sothing illegal. Sothing that needed to be stored on a warehouse but couldn't be shown in plain sight that it is valuable."

It's so amusing seeing them get closer to the truth. Lina would be pleased to hear this conversation, she seems to like mind gas.

The bath was slling absolutely pretty. The girls were debuting the high elven products.

There's a liquid that they put on the bath that made it bubble and sll good. There's a shampoo type of liquid that made red bubbles that slowly turned green when the hair was "done". And finally we all turned into living hugging-pillows as our skin softened with a body oil that made and Roxanne focus our [Sense Mana] on it because how the hell is that not magic?

I noticed that Ciel is definitely avoiding looking at Alissa's naked body.

"Wolfy," Ciel calls to .

"Yes, my love?"

She squirms at my sudden attack.

"How about we spend a night at the wet cave in the Wisps of the Proud? The temple already killed the undead so it should be safe."

"Sure. I will open a [Gate] and send Holly first."

The cave is empty, not even a dragonoid there like last ti. I send Holly over the crack on the cave and there's not a single dragonoid down there. The temple did a complete sweep on the dungeon.

"This cave is a healing place. Just close your eyes and enjoy the sounds," I say.

The constant dripping and trickling of water is a massage for the brain. A single [Spirit Light] outside makes pretty reflections on the wet stone floor. I let myself enter a trance while we all watch the lights show.

All the carnage in the world is worth it if I can safeguard monts like these, spending a healing ti with the ones I love.

Eventually we move inside the tent but keep the flaps open so we can see the show outside.

Lina and Roxanne are playing Civil War. The more complex chess-like ga that we bought. The two don't talk much to each other but over the ga they seem to be bonding. Aoi seems interested in the ga, her eyes are glued to the pieces and she's rooting for Lina.

I'm more of a Risk or Settlers of Catan player. I like when gas give more freedom of play, chess is so limiting compared to VR. Maybe I should introduce Dungeons & Dragons to this world.

I spend my evening with Alissa on my lap. I love brushing her fluffy orange tail. Gify spends all the ti on her bosom, being hugged by her. If he so much as hints he's being lecherous I will force him out of existence, I'm not being NTR'd by my own pet.

Gih.

If you are not a pet then what are you?

...

I knew it.

Ciel and Hana alternated as my breast pillows. Both of them taught wrestling to Ted and Suzy, Ciel is coaching Ted and Hana is coaching Suzy. Hana's style is not working well due to the lack of strength the little golems have, Ciel ends up winning 3-2.

Before bed I have Alissa give scratch marks on my back. She gets more feisty when there's an audience.

Today is the 25th.

I wake up to a hungry Hana, she needs double servings of her al.

Roxanne starts the cleanup while and Alissa prepares the breakfast.

Lina and Ciel are sleeping so deeply they don't wake up. Their noses are touching and their hair is tangled on each other. What a sight. Having everyone sleep naked is the best idea I have ever had.

Alissa prefers so hot soup with tea and so grilled at. The Misty Low Forest is quite chilly during morning so she likes hot things.

Hana and Roxanne were born on hotter tropical climates. They prefer so fruit or fresh sandwich. Roxanne has a thing for spicy food due to the large amount of spices on her continent.

I like so hot coffee with so bread. Sweetened coffee for bread with smoked at and cheeses. Bitter coffee with milk for chocolate spread on bread. I still didn't get a whiff of coffee outside of the Morning Dew so I substitute it with tea.

Aoi likes at, that's it.

Gify eats anything so we generally copy one of the breakfast soone is having and give to him.

Ciel likes jam or butter on her toast accompanied by tea while Lina prefers to eat cold cuts of cheese and smoked ats, though she has an occasional urge to eat mushrooms. Lina had enough of simple toasted bread during her life with Hilde.

I put each of their preferences on platters. and Alissa bring it over so the two naked sleeping beauties can have breakfast on the bed.

"Wake up, my love," I say.

Ciel groans and pushes Lina into her chest, suffocating her. If you are being cuddled by Ciel you should always have your back to her, she likes to hug things.

Lina wakes up quickly due to lack of oxygen and pushes her away. Her droopy eyes extra droopy due to sleepiness.

Lina finally notices us standing there with the platters and her eyes widen. She shakes up Ciel to help her wake up faster. Roxanne and Hana co back to bed with their own platters.

We have a sexy, naked breakfast on the bed as we watch the Dripping Cave again.

My [Blessing Magic] increased by 1 (now 4 19).

We go back ho and I spend this morning coaching and Hana on [Godly Language]. I have her practice the sa routine as I did. She has much, much more difficulty than in maintaining the vortex. She also has so problems actually sensing the vortex, her low "Perception" and [Sense Mana] are not helping her here.

Her control is much sloppier so I keep healing her often. Not that she would easily get dizzy due to her "Endurance" but I would rather save her from the discomfort.

On [Reduced Mana Cost] class I focus on my own thod of replacing the reality of magic to obey to my own conversion of mana. I have been getting quite good at ditation and placing myself on a trance. I don't know if it's self-delusion but I can "feel" the way I convert mana change.

Could I be changing my soul with so form of primitive [Alteration Magic]? I don't really know. Deviating from the system could have unknown effects. These things scare a little.

and Alissa made a super fluffy pie, it was so delicate it felt like your tongue was being caressed.

"Eat your veggies," Ciel says.

"Kweh..."

"Gify is eating his," I say.

"Gih!" He raises his head proudly before quickly lowering it again to dig on his food.

"He, no, du-ragon."

"I am and I eat my veggies," Hana says.

"Muuuh..." Aoi groans, her nostrils light up.

"Hey! No fire on the table," Alissa chastises.

"So-ry," Aoi hurriedly apologizes with her eyes wide open.

"Control your anger, little one," Hana says, "This is how dragons rise above animals and monsters."

Aoi shyly nods her head in acknowledgnt. She always listen to Hana.

Dragons are omnivores, they have molars and incisors at the back of their mouths. They eat anything that could give energy to sustain their high-maintenance bodies.

We are about to finish eating when Gify licks his plate clean and jumps into the middle of the table.

"Gih, geh guh gih-ga go gih."

He wants us to go into the Sea of Trees.

"Weren't we going to relax this half-cycle?" Roxanne asks.

"Gih, gih!"

He really wants us to go sowhere.

"Hmpf" Roxanne pouts.

Alissa leans forward with curiosity.

"But why do we need to go there?" She asks.

"Gih."

"You are being awfully cryptic. I don't like it," I say.

"Gigigih!"

I sigh and massage my eyes. He really wants us to go but is being very scarce on details.

"Les, go!" Aoi says.

I pet her sleek head and she lets out smoke from her nostrils in satisfaction. She trusts Gify unconditionally.

"Alright... Does anyone do not want to go with Gify?" I ask.

"I'm never leaving you," Alissa shrugs.

My own foxy stalker.

"I an, do you want to go?"

"Yes. It will at least be interesting," she smiles.

"Well, this is really suspicious but I won't let you investigate sothing without ," Ciel says.

Knowing her she's conflicted over the suspiciousness of his request but her curiosity tips her over.

"I wanted to relax too but if it's sowhere dangerous I want you to help keep you all safe," Roxanne says.

"Awn..." Hana pulls Roxanne into a bear hug, "There's no question about , I will go where danger is."

"Help, breathe!"

Hana smirks and releases Roxanne.

I look at Lina and she shrugs.

"Why ask ? Gify could be taking us sowhere interesting and I won't leave you," she squirms over her own words."

"Just making sure," I smirk at her.

I was going to put a request to add an ellanat lining to all our shields but it will have to wait for another ti. There's also the bent enchanted shield but due to damage it's not working, it will take so ti for Lina to reverse-engineer it.

Ciel manages to speak to Alissa normally but during bath she becos awkward, even Roxanne noticed. I feel like I'll have to push Alissa onto Ciel again so she stops being like this but I think I'll tease her a little more.

On the bed I'm used as a sex doll by the depraved duo. First I'm used as a board for the two to get off while they kiss. Then Hana picks up and we have a vertical 69. The blood goes to my head and makes very dizzy. Orgasming this way was a weird experience.

Today is the 26th.

Roxanne casually uses her tail to get off while Hana keeps her mouth open for the shot. This was turning into a contest of creativity but I think that the creativity is running out.

My [Reduced Mana Cost] increased by 1 (now 6 5).

We leave quite early, there's still a faint mist around and the guards are just starting their rounds.

Gify takes us to the western gate. Outside we see squads of guards accompanied by priests lining up. They are going to start a purge on the Sea of Trees. If only we were a day later.

I will have Holly and Alissa help us avoid monsters. I don't want us to waste energy on trash mobs when we don't know how deep we are going to go.

Gify tells us to continue west along the road until the road curves northwards. We get off our flying dinghy and enter the Sea of Trees and move south-west.

We encounter a bloody battle between naked goblins and Mossy Fangpines. The Fangpines have the upper hand and shred the goblins. There was so much blood even I could sll it. We stood clear of that ss.

A few minutes later we regrettably had to avoid a Grey Berserker that ca running to join the carnage. We haven't sold the duplicate gnomic magic tools yet but once we do we won't have money problems for a while. There's also the large amount of ellanat that we have so we don't really have to fight that Grey Berserker.

But still, money.

Noon cos and we take our lunch break, a hearty aty soup with garlic bread.

The terrain has slowly begun to get hilly. We are approaching Rakontagne, the western mountain range. It's odd to think that Alissa's holand is on the other side of those mountains. There's a long way until the mountain range, but still, so close yet so far.

I really want to et her parents. Not just hers, though, everyone's.

We reach a cave and Alissa reports wyverns in there. Specifically, there's a huge Hooknose leading other smaller wyverns. We should report this to the guild when we co back.

The sun starts to fall and I see a familiar sight with Holly. A huge and dark tree covered in a large amount of vines. I saw it when we were approaching the goblin village.

We go down a hill and find a secluded nook filled with huge roots around it. The ground is perfectly flat and dry. Quite the snug place for us to make camp.

Through a gap in the crown of the trees I look at the moon and mutter a curse. The brightest moon is the indigo one, the one who represents the aspect of otherwordlyness. Tonight and tomorrow is bound to be weird.

Now that I think about it, Gify is leading us straight to that tree. Ominous.

Nature spirits aren't evil or murderous, so I don't think we are in the danger of death. I just believe that tomorrow will be unpleasant.

"Did you hear that?" Roxanne asks.

"Kweh?" Aoi questions with her head tilted.

"I heard nothing," Alissa says, her ears flickering repeatedly.

Roxanne groans and shrinks on the bed, shivering a little.

"C're," I pull Roxanne's head to my lap and caress her hair.

Now with the elven products everyone's hair is so silky and soft. The perfu of the shampoo makes it sll so good, even though my hair slls flowery I love it.

Ciel offers Ted to her, she accepts it and hugs it close to her chest. The little golem accepted that he is fated to be hugged and smothered in won's breasts. It is a sha for n around the world how he does not realize his luck.

Oh wait. I better not change this nature of his, I already said to myself I won't be NTR'd by my pets. Maybe if I put a pink bow on him and say he's a lesbian the girls won't mind.

Since my lap is occupied, Lina pulls Ciel to my side and has Ciel spoon her.

Alissa, Hana, and Aoi are acting casual, they do not feel anything.

I think I feel so form of pressure on my chest, it's a feeling difficult to describe. All I know is that it gives anxiety.

The forest is unusually noisy. I hear a lot of rustling and scratching. This part of the forest is more lively than the rest.

I hear a seductive female moan followed by a giggle. I look around in surprise but nobody is reacting to it. Alissa glances at , noticing my unease.

"You also having a bad feeling?" She asks.

I nod at her.

She tilts her head in thought and worry.

Aoi repeatedly jumps from Hana's head and glides down to the floor. She's trying to focus mana on her wings, flapping them will do nothing due to lack of aerodynamics.

At the fifth failure she huffs, smoke and embers leave her nose.

"Patience, little one," Hana says.

When Aoi cos to crawl up on Hana again she holds down the little dragon.

"Kweh! Fly, fun!"

"Yes, flying is fun but don't get mad that you can't fly yet."

Aoi tilts her head in confusion.

"Get mad when you have to fight. Use anger only when necessary, getting angry at yourself won't help you fly faster."

Aoi absentmindedly looks up while showing her belly to Hana for petting. I always see Hana wince at the cuteness whenever Aoi does that.

"An, ger..." Aoi mutters while thinking.

After a while Aoi resus her flying trials, she still didn't have much success.

Gify calmly sleeps on Alissa's lap. He remained in high-spirits during the whole trip yet talked very little, or rather, chirped very little. He only chirped when he needed us to correct course.

Alissa's ears flickers.

"I heard a woman moan," she says.

"That's what I heard too!" Roxanne exclaims.

" three," I say.

Wait, that didn't work in Andraste.

"I an, too," I correct myself hurriedly.

I hear a thunder in the distance and cold air blows in. I pull out a gnomic heater magic tool, it even has a thermostat.

We all huddle together. Things are getting creepy.

Ever since I t with Alissa I never had nightmares anymore. My dreams were simple, sotis they were painful mories of Earth, sotis they were random nonsense, sotis they were happy mories of Rupegia. This ti my dream was a completely weird experience.

I feel a storm ravaging the land. An island suffers with huge waves that wash away anything above ground; tornadoes move dust and sand, slowly grinding away the stone; lighting strikes explode any protruding rock; the earth cracks with constant earthquakes; lava pours out of the cracks continuously, it solidifies on the constant rain only to get broken down again.

I feel this is one of many. One of countless islands where the storm ravages and rebuilds the land.

Today is the 27th.

Alissa and Lina wake up. I open my eyes to see Alissa sharing half the bounty with Lina.

I smile at them and once everyone uses [Clean] we share our usual morning kiss. I turn my head to the side and kiss the nose of the sleeping Ciel, who decided to use my arm as a hugging pillow. Her arms are like tentacles. Not saying I dislike it, though, on the contrary.

Alissa gets up and opens the ice box. She picks up a cut of deboned fish. With a poof she pulls out a grilling grid and a heating magic tool. She turns on the tool and seasons the fish with so herbs and salt.

Soon the sll awakes Aoi.

"You want one too?" Alissa asks the little blue dragon.

Her nostrils flare and she gives a smile full of sharp fangs. Dragons don't smile so she's copying us, to slightly frightening results. She nods and Alissa picks another cut of fish.

Gify stops pretending to sleep and the other girls slowly wake up, they all get up and sit at the table. I'm the last one up.

That dream is making feel weird, I felt like my body wasn't my own anymore. The pressure at my back increased and my heart aches for sothing.

That was the Everlasting Storm. Outside of the 3 continents there's nothing else out there, there's only the Storm, the remnants of the fight between the Gods. This Eternal destruction that ravages most of the world.

"You feeling okay, Wolfy?" Alissa asks as I sit to eat.

"I had a weird dream. I'm feeling odd."

Ciel uses [Diagnosis] and casts [Purify Body] but nothing happens.

I take a look at Gify but he's ignoring the situation. His face buried in a soup he's slurping.

I let a sigh escape my lips.

"It's just an uneasiness, if I get worse I will tell. Ciel you are second-in-command if anything happens," I say.

"Y-yes. I don't think anything will happen, though," she answers.

No one besides is experienced in leadership but she's the one with the most level head here so she's the best for it.

We pull out our cloaks and leave in the light drizzle.

Slowly the drizzle turns into rain that turns into a thunderstorm. The light of the sun is almost put out, forcing us to cast our [Spirit Lights]. The forest looks extraordinarily depressive in this low light.

I swear I'm hearing giggles, it's not the wind.

The gnomic personal heating tools work to keep us from freezing, but they are costing too much mana and they don't stop the water from seeping into our bones.

"Just endure it!" Hana yells.

I barely hear Roxanne groan. Lina and I say nothing but our mood is horrible. Alissa and Ciel are a little more used to rough tis. Aoi puffs smoke and keeps her own body warm with little effort. Gify is a cheater and he doesn't even get wet.

Gih.

Yeah, spirit body is cheating, you only feel temperature if you want to.

I feel Gify shrug inside my head.

Hana, Ciel, and Alissa are the ones with the most energy so they keep us moving at a steady pace.

The storm lightens up and Alissa stops us.

"Four large animals are coming!" She yells over the rain.

Animals? Hardly any exist in the Sea of Trees due to orcs and goblins. Now, four large ones? This ain't good.

I summon 3 water elentals. I can't use [Electric Magic] because I don't have enough control over it to not shock myself. I take my points off of it and put it all on [Earth Magic], now I can use [Dust Storm].

Due to the light rain we see them before we hear them, but I think that even without the rain we would never hear them coming. 4 large black panthers with long, muscular legs and huge paws. Their claws are thicker than my thumb and look extrely sharp. Their mouths show impressive teeth while their yellow eyes and facial expression show unbridled anger. They growl wildly like panthers.

Gatun's, the mounts used by the high elves of the High Forest.

They walk low on the ground. Their long limbs move quickly while their heads move smoothly without bobbing. An eerie sight.

They split and circle us, their gaze never wavering.

"What are they doing here?" Alissa asks, clear surprise on her voice.

"They are not running away, they are ignoring my [Intimidate]. They are trained" Hana says.

"Then they belong to soone. Don't attack unless attacked, they might be protecting sothing," I say.

They suddenly pounce towards us.

"Uah!" Roxanne yells.

Mana runs through Lina's body and she counters with a shield bash. Her shield diverts a paw away and she parries the other paw with her axe. The mouth of the Gatun continues down but it is thrown sideways as an [Explosion] gouges out a small chunk of his ribs.

Hana imdiately counters, before the Gatun can dodge her spear shoots forward. The enchantnt and her thrust results in an incredibly fast strike, the spear gets lodged on it's throat. The Gatun extends it's long limbs and rakes her shield. A [Water Blade] splits its snout in two, exposing the bone.

Ciel is not so fast with the counter, her glaive gets stuck on the ribs of the Gatun. Both paws strike her flank, its claws sink on her armor and stop at the fur lining. The Gatun receives a [Torrent] on the face and is pushed back. It pulls Ciel down as it claws are stuck on her armor.

I cast a desperate [Earth Bullet] on the face of the Gatun. Its face tilts upwards due to the spell but it barely loses montum. One paw strikes my shield and the other hits my sword arm, one claw sinking into my armor and shallowly breaking my skin. The force of the animal is so strong I feel like I'm getting crushed. An arrow pierces its throat and a [Torrent] pushes it back. The claw on my arm pulls forward, making stumble.

The Gatun falls to the ground and swipes at Lina's legs. Its claw pierces her leg armor and breaks her skin.

"RAAH!" Lina yells.

She strikes with her axe and it cuts off the leg of the Gatun, the blade went clean through the bone.

Hana's spear shortens and she spews fire. The fire doesn't go far due to the rain but it's enough to burn the face of the Gatun. The breath and a fireball Aoi threw burns his eyes, blinding it.

The Gatun pulls it's claws in. It opens it's mouth and bites into Ciel's head, its steel jaw muscles bend her helt. She drops her glaive and grabs the throat of the Gatun. She fires multiple [Air Blades] point-blank on its throat. Blood flies as the Gatun nearly gets decapitated. It spits her in surprise and pain.

I stumble forward and strike its snout with the brim of my shield. The Gatun opens its mouth in pain and to bite at , the bad sll of animal breath fills my nose. Another arrow enters its throat and I fire an [Earth Bullet] after it. The arrow pierces through its throat and it chokes. I remove my arm from its claw and slice with my sword, splitting his snout.

The claws on Lina's leg dislodge, leaving a thin trail of blood. Another paw cos down, the claws break the scales and bend the tal of her shield. With an overhead strike she hacks at the attacking paw, forcing the elbow to point at the wrong way. It's roar of pain is interrupted by it's head exploding like a waterllon.

Hana's Gatun retreats in pain. She strikes again at the neck and tries to keep it in place by using the spear with both hands.

Ciel staggers back and points her finger forward. Aoi spews a fireball, the Gatun jumps upwards and the fireball explodes right under his chin, forcing his head upwards. From Ciel's finger an [Air Hamr] invisibly flies forward and hits its chin, forcing it backwards. A [Torrent] hit its chin again, forcing the head to an impossible position, breaking the neck. The Gatun collapses.

I cast [Dust Storm], a large amount of dust gets lifted off the ground and surrounds the head of the Gatun. He swipes at it, confused. I fire an [Earth Bullet] at its body, making it roll on grass. Now he's completely disoriented. He stands still for a second and an arrow pierces his eyes. He falls limp.

A thin [Ice Lance] pierces the skull of the Gatun Hana is holding. It collapses imdiately.

An arrow pierces the eye of the paralyzed Gatun.

"What the fuck!" Hana exclaims, "The hell are these things doing here!"

Ciel spits blood and heals herself. I instantly heal myself and Lina, our wounds were shallow.

I check on Ciel. We needed Hana to pull her helt apart so we could heal her. We both use multiple heals on her until she's back in shape. Lina spends so ti reshaping her helt with [Manipulate tal].

"Gify..." Alissa says, a hint of anger on her voice.

All this ti the little griffin was just laying still on my shoulder like he's glued. Normally he dematerializes whenever we fight but now he looks around casually, as if nothing happened.

Don't tell this is a fucking test.

I kiss the drenched faced of Ciel and she smiles weakly. Her helt is now misshapen.

I store the bodies and dismiss the elentals. I feel even more sadness at killing animals than I do at killing monsters. What a sha to kill them because croikey, what a beauty they are.

Then we huddle together under a huge snaking root to give us a small respite from the rain. We briefly warm ourselves with the [Warmth] magic tool.

"Everyone okay?" I ask.

"Yeah..." Roxanne answers faintly.

The others nod. Everyone is taking a look at Gify on my shoulder.

The first-class actor does not show a single reaction.

"It's a test," I say.

Alissa nods in agreent. "Whoever protects this forest wants to know who you are," she says.

"I would rather not do this through deadly tests," I say.

"Nature shows no rcy."

"Next animal we attack on sight," Hana says.

It certainly is like how the Gloomy Pervert said. I hope we didn't screw ourselves over due to the moon aspect.

We continue our way forward. The rain turns back into drizzle, allowing us to finally warm ourselves again.

The landscape changes slowly. We see patches of brightly colored trees and moss increasingly often. The bushes grow in size, forcing us to trudge through them with so effort. The mushrooms beco more nurous and more eye-catching. The huge roots are a constant sight.

"Do not touch any of these," Roxanne warns, "Many of them have poisonous spores and the rest I have no idea what they are like."

"If I don't know the poison [Diagnosis] then [Purify Body] won't work," Ciel says.

This is getting dangerous. No wait, this is already dangerous.

"Form a line behind ," Alissa says, "I will make sure we avoid anything dangerous."

Our traveling speed reduces but we avoid any danger.

I start to see small amounts of suspended dust particles. After a while I realize they are colored and that they are spore clouds.

The mushrooms start to pulse and glow. They co in many weird shapes, they resemble morels, brains, beards, skinny umbrellas, blood clots, or even underwater corals. Thinking of them as alien dicks lightens my mood.

We find a skeleton of an adventurer sitting down with his back laying on a large root. At his feet there are multiple sinister looking glowing mushrooms.

"Why did no monster eat his body?" I ask.

"Monsters easily identify poisoned at," Roxanne says.

"The Mossy Fangpines use poison," I say.

"But the Fangpines know the taste of their own poison."

"So adventurers use an Escape Bomb on themselves so their bodies are not eaten after they die," Ciel says.

"Why?"

"They believe it protects their soul," she shrugs, "I think it only delays reincarnation."

"If you et sothing like an undead then this might be a bad idea," Alissa says.

"Or any monster that can manipulate the soul," I add.

"Can we cremate him?" Ciel asks, "It's a sha to leave this corpse like this."

"Wolfy. Can you lift him with [Telekinesis]?" Roxanne asks, "Nobody should ever be getting anywhere close to a glowing mushroom."

"Stand back," I say.

I focus on every bone that I can see. I have to be really delicate here, can't let a single bone fall.

I start lifting him up. His leather and cloth armor rips even further but fortunately it doesn't fall down.

Sothing shifts inside him and a leather bound notebook falls off his jacket. It opens into ruined pages and I catch a glimpse of Andraste.

*FUSHH~* A black cloud erges from the disturbed mushrooms. I drop the bones and run. The skeleton breaks into hundreds of pieces.

We run with an increasing amount of spore clouds erging from behind us.

We reach an area clear of mushrooms and Ciel stops.

"Leave it to !" She yells.

We stop and cover our noses. Ciel hurriedly chants. The spore cloud gets closer.

"[Wind Storm]!"

We are assaulted by mildly uncomfortable wind bursts. They sting my cheeks every ti they hit my face.

The wind around us calms but our surroundings get enveloped by a rainbow of spores. The tornado intensifies and slowly the spores are sent back to where we ca, clearing our surroundings.

"Gihihihih."

The little shit giggles even though he receives glares from all of us, even Aoi.

"Sorry. It wasn't a good idea," Ciel says.

"It's okay," I say.

"I apologize for disturbing his rest but our lives must be preserved," Ciel prays.

Since we are already on a clearing we take this opportunity to have another hearty hot soup for lunch followed by hot tea. Comforting warmth fills our insides as the cold was starting to seep through our bones.

Our soured mood abates for a good half hour of relaxation. But when we pick up our pace again the anxiety cos back.

The hills start to increase in height, we are near our target. I feel the pressure in my back increase.

There are barely any trees left. Only a ss of roots, glowing mushrooms, and rainbow patches of moss.

"This is certainly a weird place," Ciel says.

"You never heard of it?" I ask.

"No... This is the weirdest part."

Her mood slowly improves as the mystery thickens. But it's hampered again by Alissa.

"Two large animals are coming. They seem rather humanoid," she says.

Fuck , again.

The terrain is in our disadvantage, we are on a slope.

"Form a line over here. We can't disperse due to the mushrooms."

The wind rustles again and the drizzle quickly turns back into rain. The cloak protects us from the rain but we have to pull the hood down when fighting. The wetness and the cold is getting on my nerves.

The wind picks up speed and Alissa frowns. This amount of wind is unnatural and will divert her arrows. I can hear the giggles again.

Out of the woods co floating two hulking figures, at least 2 ters tall. The head is made of a conical dark cloud, the neck is represented by constant lighting, the chest is composed of mossy rock, the arms and legs are tornados of dust. Wild storm elentals, magical beings, extrely rare.

Lina's axe switches to a hamr. Hana stores her sword and shield, she pulls out Lina's old war hamr and her ellanat sword. and Ciel take a step back from the line. I switch to my ellanat sword.

"Give a point into [Earth Magic]!" Alissa yells.

" too!" Ciel follows.

I quickly obey.

"[Explosion] will be very ineffective!" Roxanne yells over the rain and wind.

"Use anything blunt!" I yell.

I summon two earth elentals. I don't want to waste mana, I hope this is enough.

Roxanne points her staff and I hear her chanting. Aoi is also concentrating her mana, she's trying to sohow improve her own fire.

The storm elentals float forward. One points his arm forward and a lighting bolt hits Hana's sword. The second raises his arms upwards and a tornado starts to imdiately form in the middle of us, it almost topples us over due to the sudden wind. and Ciel imdiately interrupt it.

Both elentals reach us. Hana fires an [Earth Bullet] into the shoulder of the first storm elental and follows with a strike. A considerable chunk of stone is pulverized. He swipes with one of his arms and a large gust of wind hits her. She has to summon her wings to not be swept away.

My earth elental punches the first enemy. The storm elental simply raises his other arm and the fists of the earth elental stop in the air.

Lina strikes the second elental in the chest and I see it float back a few centiters. I follow with an [Earth Bullet] and rock pulverizes.

The elental swipes just like the other and Lina is thrown back into . I grab her and we roll a few ters down the slope, drenching us in mud. Choosing this a part of the slope with no mushrooms behind us was good thinking on my part.

Alissa and Ciel fire pathetic [Earth Bullets] at the second elental, they only make it sway a little.

Lina quickly gets up and starts to charge.

"RAAAH!" She yells in anger.

Hana strikes at the elental repeatedly. It returns with more and more gusts of wind. Small cuts appear on her skin and along her armor. She uses the ellanat bastard sword on the limbs of the elental, giving her small reprieve from the storm of cuts.

Lina strikes the elental and buries her hamr on his chest. He swipes her again but she remains in place by griping her hamr.

"KWEH!" Aoi yells, fire dangerously escaping from her mouth and nostrils.

"Lina! Get down!" I yell.

She dislodges her hamr and literally throws herself on the ground.

A fireball flies and explodes in the chest of the second storm elental. It loses a large chunk of stone and staggers backwards. The earth elental is blocked no more. It punches at the storm elental repeatedly, both losing large chunks of stone.

"[Earth Bullet]!"

"[Earth Bullet]!"

"[Wind Hamr]!"

, Alissa, and Ciel fire our spells. Alissa used much more mana on this one, it breaks a chunk of stone. Ciel's do little damage but dissipates part of one tornado arm for a few seconds.

"OH!" She squeals, "[Wind Storm]!"

Hana staggers back while the storm elentals shudder. Their arms and legs dissipate and struggle to reform. After a few seconds they finally turn their chests towards the middle of the [Wind Storm] and interrupt it.

"Wow!" I let it escape my lips.

"HANA!" Roxanne yells.

Hana ducks and rolls sideways.

"[Ice Lance]!"

A 50-centiter thick lance flies out of her staff and gets impaled in the chest of the first storm elental. It's chest cracks and glows for a few seconds, then it explodes in a shower of sparks and large chunks of rock.

The other elental turns into a tesla coil as hundreds of sparks leave his body. Lina is unnaffected due to her ellanat shield.

We take a step back and both earth elentals start pumling it, barely feeling the electricity. I feel a "path" forming behind . I dash towards Roxanne. I hold my sword upwards and a lighting strikes it from the skies. My sword gets so hot I drop it to not burn my hands. The sparks subside and the storm elental holds both earth elentals away with its tornado arms and legs.

"[Wind Storm]!"

"[Earth Bullet]!"

"[Earth Bullet]!"

"[Earth Bullet]!"

"[Earth Bullet]!"

"[Fireball]!"

And another unstable fireball is thrown at it.

The tornado limbs dissipate and the elental is hit by all spells at once. His already battered body is broken down in a shower of sparks and large chunks of rock.

The stormy wind subsides and the rain goes back to a drizzle.

Ciel, Aoi, and Roxanne are panting with pain from overuse. Alissa and Lina have little mana remaining from putting it all on their spells. Hana is okay but she's physically tired.

"Who would have thought... That storm elentals are... Vulnerable to [Wind Magic]," Ciel says between breaths.

"Only instant-cast spells. If you chant they could have a better chance to prepare," I say.

"Perhaps... But [Wind Hamr]... Is still powerful..."

and Lina use a potent [Clean] gnomic magic tool and the mud disappears from our clothes and armor.

I turn to Aoi and grab her from Roxanne's shoulders. I hold her on my arms. She's quite warm, or maybe I'm just very cold right now.

"Your fireballs were very useful," I rub her nose. She closes her eyes in happiness, she's feeling very proud of herself. "But be careful with it, though. They seed unstable."

She huffs smoke but nods to . She knows she would disappoint if she hurt herself.

"Giih."

He doesn't want us to stop.

"Is it over?" I ask.

"Gih."

"Okay, just a five minutes break."

We collect the stones and I store them. They are charged with mana and could even be used as gems for wands and staffs.

We move on and the landscape changes again. The mushrooms die out, the trees disappear, all are substituted by the roots. The roots are so thick they almost form a wall of mossy wood. We shimmy our way through them and notice that the drizzle disappears.

Suddenly the wall of roots opens up and we reach dry grass. There's not a single cloud in the sky, our first real sun light in two days.

In the peak of the hill in front of us is the biggest tree I have ever seen. It might be bigger than a castle. Full of branches and leaves, it's a vertical pillar of dark green leaves. Hundreds of vines hang from the branches, visible from the few spaces you can see through. The bark is much darker than any tree on the surrounding, it's almost a creepy black.

We stand still for a good minute admiring this ginormous tree.

The thing that stands out the most is the quiet. Barely a wind, barely a ruffle, this place feels special. I don't really feel tense anymore, the pressure on my back finally released.

"Two, uh, people, are coming," Alissa says.

"Not sure?" I ask.

"Yeah, weird souls."

We stand in our battle formation but trying not to look too threatening. The encounter with the Gatuns made be slightly wary.

Behind one of the few roots in the way to the tree cos out two nature elentals. A man and a woman, both naked.

Actually, if Alissa said they are not animals then they must be dryads. When they get close enough I can make up the details of them, too much detail.

The woman has long hair made of heart-shaped yellow leaves that reach her hips. Her face has round lines with very full lips. Her skin is light green and seems rough like moss. Her torpedo breasts jiggle in an impossible way, they are far too long for them to sustain themselves, they should be sagging heavily. She has an exaggerated hourglass figure with thickness that makes Ciel blush. Her bush in the middle of the legs is made of four-leafed clovers, I wonder if they signify luck in this world.

The man has short black grass as hair that curls in a spiral. His face is chiseled and handso, coupled with his smirk and he looks like an action hero. His skin is the sa as the woman's. His body is more defined than a weight-lifter, I feel like starvation survivor near him. The worst is that he has a literal horse dick dangling about up to his knees.

We all uncomfortably look away from the two shaless dryads. The footsteps stop for a few seconds and then resu. We glance towards them and thankfully their sexes are being covered by palm leaves growing out of their bodies. The bulge in the man is still ridiculous, though.

"We are sorry for making you feel uncomfortable," says a slightly coarse female voice, "We rarely get visitors looking for sothing else than having so fun."

"You are dryads, I assu?" I ask.

"Yes...?" The man lifts a handso eyebrow.

"Gih."

The dryad duo turns their heads to Gify and their eyes slowly open wide as realization sinks in. Their deanor suddenly takes a change to a much more stiff and formal posture.

"Oh my. Please co forth, you are guests of our Lord," the woman bows lightly and motions us to towards the tree.

"I am Pallido and this is Camassia. We are the Speakers for our Lord," says the male dryad.

Alissa, Ciel, and Roxanne stiffen up, their mouths hang loose in surprise.

I only heard a passing about Speakers. It was only a very distant legend from the High Forest. This is certainly interesting.

"Please follow us," Pallido says.

I see the three girls are surprised but relaxed, I sheathe my sword and follow the dryads. I see that they do not trample the grass, wherever they set foot the grass actually grows a centiter or so.

"So what are Speakers, exactly?" I ask Alissa.

"T-this must be the Lord of the Forest. A legendary being that existed before humans were created. A Speaker is soone who translates the language of the Lord to us, humanoids."

Oh boy. I only heard that there's a theory that the high elves might have gained their knowledge to manipulate the High Forest from trading with a Speaker.

"Are they dangerous?"

"I... Don't think so."

I will reserve my judgnt then.

We reach the base of the huge tree and the musky sll of nature becos stronger. It has a calming effect on .

At the bottom of the tangled ss of roots we reach a doorway carved on the wood. Inside there's a cozy room with heating magical tools on the walls, multiple colored wool cushions, a low table with a beautiful porcelain tea set, and multiple twinkling crystals on the ceiling that illuminate the area.

"Please take your boots off. You can spend so ti here to warm yourselves," says Camassia.

The wooden floor is warm to the touch. We take our armor off and huddle around the tea table. Alissa pours tea for us, it tastes like hibiscus. The porcelain is decorated with flowery patterns all over it. There's even a pot with sugar cubes.

The two dryads stand by the doorway to the corridor deeper inside. They remain motionless like two status looking forward.

Ciel sighs and massages her eyes.

"Now this is unexpected," she says.

Small vapors co out our bodies as the gnomic personal heather does its work.

"I just... Can't believe it's really the Lord of the Forest," Alissa says lowly, her eyes barely focused on her tea cup.

"Gih!"

I guess that now that we are finally here there's no point more in him hiding it.

"Okay, okay. I believe you." she says to Gify, "I just can't believe that I am going to et the Lord."

"I'm more surprised I never heard they were so close to Rabanara," Ciel says, "I an. The temple hears everything the common folk talk about. It's hard to think nobody would try to explore this place."

"We did have quite so trouble coming here." I say, "We even found a skeleton."

"Forgive for interrupting but we do have a lot of secrets that keep other people out," Pallido says, "Very few people know about our existence."

"I wonder why," I say.

"You will know about it when you et the Lord," he smiles faintly.

Well, whatever.

"What exactly is the Lord of the Forest?" I ask.

"This tree," Ciel says, "Tree of Mana, Lord of the Forest, Symbol of Nature. Those are the nas it is known as. A being of legend that has been reincarnating ever since the war between the Gods of Change and Order created this realm."

"They say the Lord of the Land lives inside the Wild Steppes, this is why the empire never invaded the Steppes," Lina says.

"So, there are more than one?" I ask.

"Theoretically. It is said they are the incarnation of the 10 elents," Ciel says, "Though we only know of the Lord of Storms, who lives beyond the sky lands of the chiras."

"How trustworthy is it? Could it harm us?" I ask.

I do not care whether it can hear us or not. Gify is already kind of a spy for it, anyway.

"Well..." She taps her cheek, passing through her mories, "It's a rather neutral figure. It never got involved in the matters of the humanoids unless we threaten it."

"Gih gih."

Harmless. On the contrary, it wants to help us.

We are all in a kind of stupor. How do you react when a being much bigger than you offers their hand?

I dismiss Holly but keep Shad on Roxanne. I'm not 100% comfortable yet.

After a few minutes getting warm we stand up with regret. Those cushions are really comfy.

"Ready to et our Lord?" Pallido asks.

"Yes, please," I say.

"Follow us, then."

We can all stare in silence as our brows are perpetually lifted in surprise.

The halls are filled with ivies and other leaves even though there is no sunlight here. Flowers scent the air with their sweet perfu. Slugs, snails, and a small hermit-crab-like animal moves about, thankfully they are found exclusively on the ceiling. Small children that look like bulbous roots run around giggling in a very high pitch, they are the non-monster version of mandrakes, the Children of the Forest. Amber fireflies twinkle about, mostly resting near the ceiling crystal lights, those are Manaflies.

There are slow moving human looking people with bark or leaves for skin. Curinds and Cublends, respectivelly. They grunt and nod at us in greeting, the leaf ones make a lot of noise when the move.

We pass through dozens of rooms. Inside there's simple furniture like beds, cushions, shelves with leather-bound books, and counters that look like our kitchens with magic-tool stoves.

In many of these places there are assorted animals not found here. Deer, dogs, wolves, cows, bulls, turtles, sheep, Gatuns, and a few more magical animals. A few snakes lick the air when we pass.

There are plenty of Ronti, the mount of the Imperial Lancers. They are sothing like a mix of a mouse and a horse. Their rib cages glow with flashes of lighting.

A few tis we see inter species mating. Surprisingly "civilized" instead of the rape-y kind you normally see in nature.

I even saw herbivorous animals eating cooked at. From my classes on [Nature Magic] I knew magic beings of nature could morph how animals behaved but this is on another level.

"Sorry about that," Camassia says with a slight cringe as we pass a wolf mating with a Child of the Forest, "I understand humanoids are much more reserved than our kind."

"It's no matter, I understand our differences," I wave at her.

I have a very good hunch that the animals are all sapient.

We finally reach a big circular hall. Leaf baskets are used as elevators, multiple animals, and people can be seen using them. The elevator continues upwards so high we can barely see. Every floor there's a balcony where we see more living beings passing through.

The dryads lead us inside a leaf basket.

"Take us to the Lord, please," Pallido says to a vine that looks like a snake head.

The snake/vine nods slowly. The leaf basket turns into cage as vines close down any escape and the basket moves upwards.

So floors have different layouts but they are all tall with wide corridors. Pack animals carry bags or pull wagons. I caught glimpses and the faint sll of stalls cooking food. This is simply a nature-thed town.

Eventually the floors end and we only see the heartwood of the tree. A little longer and we finally reach the top floor.

A circular room with tall windows let in large amounts of sunlight and a fresh breeze. The floor is covered in flowers and when our naked feet touch them we feel the softness of warm earth. It does not seem to dirty our feet.

A little ways forward there's multiple sofas in a circle surrounding a very large wooden head of a sleeping old woman.

The dryads lead us to the circle of sofas and motion for us to sit.

I stare at the wooden head and see it's moving slowly, the nostrils flare as if she's breathing in slow motion.

A branch that acts as hair for the wooden woman lifts up and snakes through the air towards the Camassia. It enters her ear and suddenly the butler-like deanor of the dryad turns into grace as the dryad's entire body seem to constantly move.

Camassia turns to us, her feet still but her arms undulate slowly.

"Welco, humanoids. Welco to my body," she says in slow and gentle tone.

I recover slightly out of my stupor and speak.

"H-hello, uh, Lord of Nature. I am W-Wolf Ryder," I speak.

"Lord of the Forest, Symbol of Nature," she corrects with a giggle, "But call Gecynd. No need to add Lord, too."

"Pleasure to et you, Gecynd."

"You too. And you, Alissa, Roxanne, Hana, Ciel, Lina, and Aoi," she gives a light bow to us all.

The girls tense up and return the bow. Aoi is the only one who's composed.

"It seems you know us well," I say.

"Yes. And I could have known a little bit more, but you refused to get close to that tree in your house. A small sha," she smiles faintly.

I blink in surprise.

"What would warrant such surveillance?"

"It is not everyday soone appears out of nothing inside my forest, realm traveler."

Now that is surprising.

"Is there sothing you know about how I appeared?" I ask expectantly.

"No. This is one of the things that interest . There was no mana, no spell, no traces. You weren't there and the next mont you were. After that the Threads of Fate slowly changed."

Oh. This dampens my mood. I would rather not get reminded of Earth or even if there's a way back.

"Wait..." Ciel ekly raises her voice, "You said the Threads of Fate changed?"

"Precisely. I can see them just like, well, what do you imperials call it?" Gecynd closes her eyes in thought.

"Oracle?" Ciel says.

Gecynd slowly opens her eyes and smiles again.

"Yes, that is the word. After a long ti observing the world I started to see what was 'underneath'," she smiles proudly. "I can see his soul just like your Oracles can. And let us say that his soul is very different from the norm."

Alissa frowns. "His soul is normal to ," she says.

"To you. I can see deeper than that. His soul is..." She slowly turns to and smirks, "Bizarre. It made question if you were a human when you ca."

"Hey... I'm surely a human, the system says so," I say, a little offended.

"Yes. But all I could see was an aberration without a Thread of Fate suddenly appear in my forest."

I don't like being called "aberration", justified or not.

"Do you know the anings behind his soul's... 'Diffferences'?" Ciel asks.

"No," she slowly shakes her head with indifference and then continues, "You would need to go to your Oracle for that. What I do know is that his Thread is very... Unusual."

"What are these Threads?" I ask.

"They are the bonds that tie us," Ciel says, "The fate of every commoner is already set. Who they et, who they fight, who they love, when they die. Very few people can change their Fate, they are the heroes, people who can beat the odds and rise above all others."

"So this confirms he's going to be a hero?" Alissa asks, hopeful.

"It would, if his Thread was usual," Gecynd answers.

Alissa turns her hope into thought. She tilts her head and puckers her lips.

"What do you see of his thread?" Ciel asks.

"It is a... Stormy sea, a constantly morphing plane of endless possibilities. Slowly I see the storm recedes."

"Then he's adapting," Ciel says, her legs crossed and her hand on her chin, deep in thought, "Since we know he's from another realm it's plausible that he wouldn't have a Thread. When he ca here his Thread would be uncertain but slowly settle down."

"Yes, I believe it is so," Gecynd says, "Though now that I see him close I can see the sea starting to move on a single direction."

"You are like an Oracle, you have a lot of influence over his Fate," Ciel says.

"Oh," Gecynd slowly claps her hands, "Then it is good that we t, an unstable fate is a dangerous thing. For him and for the world."

"I hardly believe I would be able to change the world," I say.

"Considering your powers, it is certain you could, given ti," she answers with amusent.

"Don't underestimate yourself, Wolfy," Hana says.

I frown again.

"The monsters you sent to us were a test of my powers?" I ask.

"Yes," she replies imdiately.

"Why send your subjects to death when you could have asked for a demonstration?"

"It wouldn't have shown your personality the way the test did," she answers flatly.

"I dislike being put into danger like this. Such tests are unnecessary," I scowl to clearly show her my displease.

"You are an interesting one," she smirks.

"Please forgive Gecynd's bluntness," Pallido interjects with an apologetic frown, "When you live long enough the lives of others lose aning."

"I do not live forever, I die often. I only recover most of my mories through my roots," Gecynd says.

"You still retain most of your personality in every reincarnation," Pallido smiles wryly.

"Fair enough," she closes her eyes slowly in mild annoyance.

"Didn't Gify tell you all about ?" I ask.

"He told much, too much, actually," she glares at Gify and he puffs his chest in answer. "I would rather confirm them with my own eyes. So spirits can sotis, brag, too much."

"Gih."

"Yes, I know," she rolls her eyes, "But how could I believe he had such incredible powers?"

Gify's beak deforms as he pouts. Gecynd scoffs at him.

So I guess he's not her underling, just soone who respects her a lot.

Gih.

"Why now?" I ask, "Any reason to wait so long?"

"You seed like a busy person. Only now you had a free half-cycle to co visit," she shrugs, then her expression turns serious, "Would you let observe your Thread more closely? I feel it is starting to entwine with my own."

"How would you do that?" I ask.

"Let touch you close to your heart."

"Sure..."

The voluptuous dryad cos dangerously close to my face and puts a hand over my chest.

I'm staring at myself, my old self, dressed in a tuxedo. I can also see myself, my current self, dressed in my erald scale armor and with my fang sword in hand. I know I am the one dressed in armor, yet I can still see myself, looking forward with grief stricken on my face.

My old self is cold. His heart burns in pain. Pain and longing.

The hand pulls away and the dryad looks at with surprise in her eyes. I feel sothing change within . I feel weird, like my body was not my own anymore.

"Did you see sothing?" She asks.

"Yes, I saw myself and my old self from Earth. Like I was looking at the mirror."

"Curious," her constant movents slow as she thinks, "I also saw sothing, it was rely a wooden door with the word 'Legado' on the fra."

"Legacy" in Portuguese?

"What does this an?" I ask.

"Who knows? Your Fate is strong, so is mine, we are bound to influence the world and each other."

Oh, that weird feeling is familiar.

"Wait, there also was this dream, when I woke up it felt just like I feel now. I dread of the Everlasting Storm."

"Oh? I rember you were sleeping near a bundle of my roots," Gecynd taps her chin slowly, "Perhaps your Fate interacted strongly with your soul just like it did when I touched you. Or it could be one of my mories."

"Why would I see a mory from you?" I ask.

"Perhaps one of my birth places? I have died more tis inside the Everlasting Storm than anywhere else. These mories are strong inside ."

"Why would you die there?" Alissa asks.

"I am always reborn so place randomly," she lowers her eyes in sadness, "I do not know how to fully control my reincarnation so I often end up reviving on a place only to quickly die. I have found many of my roots all over the world with painful mories of such deaths."

"Perhaps. But I only saw the storm, I didn't see you anywhere," I say.

Gecynd closes her eyes in thought. Ciel sighs and holds her head.

"Cryptic prophecies. I am back into a hero story," she says.

"Why are you pouting?" Roxanne asks, "You are the one who wanted an adventure the most."

Ciel shrugs and holds back a chuckle.

"I just like to travel," she says, "What annoys is why couldn't a hero's destiny not be cryptic for once?"

"It's always back to being called a hero," I sigh.

"Well, you have the markings of one," Gecynd says, "One just does not get sent into this world with your abilities simply to do nothing."

"It even extends to us," Alissa says, "Clearly there's sothing he's ant to do here which needs a team."

"A team composed of people very close to him," Lina shyly raises her voice.

"Didn't you say you can see our status and the na of the screen is nad 'Followers'?" Roxanne asks to .

"Oh?" Gecynd grins at , "What a suggestive na."

"Alright, alright," I lift my hands in defeat, "I'm sent here for so reason. But what is this reason? I never had any guidance, all I ever got was a ssage from 'God' saying 'I'm sorry for this, but there's no way for you to go back'."

"'God'?" Gecynd questions, "Which God?"

"That's the thing, it was only 'God', no more information on it. It could be the 'God' of my original realm, since most religions there are monotheistic and the God there is referred that way."

"Monotheistic?" Alissa asks.

"A religion with only one god, as if only the Overseer existed," I answer.

"Oh, I see."

Gecynd takes a look at all of us with a kind smile.

"Whatever it is the reason you are all together know this," she says, "Your Threads of Fate are all deeply entwined. Do not stray from each other and your life will be what it is ant to be. Your Threads are strong, your future is important."

Hana smirks and shares a look with all of us. "That much is obvious," she says, "We are all bringing sothing to Wolfy and he's bringing sothing to us. We are stronger together."

Gecynd smirks for a few seconds and then her expression turns sorrowful.

"There's sothing I must say to you, dwarf Lina," Lina nearly jumps out of her skin from being addressed directly, "The ancient dragon who killed your previous master was my responsibility. I am sorry for failing on this task."

Gecynd bows apologetically and Lina's mouth opens wide.

"T-that's no-not a problem. I-I understand that-that mistakes h-happen," she hurriedly stutters her words out.

Gecynd straightens and smiles with her eyes.

"You may be far too flustered to understand but I am truly sorry for your loss," she says, "I hope you will truly forgive one day."

Lina's mouth opens and closes soundlessly for a few seconds. Her embarrassnt catches up to her brain and she blushes heavily. She finally closes her mouth and nods to Gecynd.

"You are responsible for the monsters of the forest?" Ciel asks.

"Yes. It is a treaty with Rabanara. I keep the worst of the Sea of Trees away from the Shore of Leaves and they allow to live in peace and quiet."

"But what about Hiyoku Hara?" Hana asks.

"That place is under the influence of the Monster King," she shakes her head with a frown, "I cannot stop the monsters from appearing along the Rakontagne mountain range."

Lina's Trivia: The dragonkin losing that stretch of land is what spurred the expedition into the Sea of Trees and the creation of the Shore of Leaves. Now Hiyoku Hara is an eternal battlefield for the empire.

Hana sighs in disappointnt.

"There is one more thing. I wish to give sothing to you, Aoi," Gecynd says.

The little dragon tilts her head.

"Kweh?"

"If you would allow , I wish to bestow upon you a gift that will be very useful as you grow."

Aoi turns to and I feel she's asking my permission. I truly do not wish to control her too much but I guess I am the one with the most life experience so she's asking for advice.

"What is this gift?" I ask.

"The ability to change the size of your body," Gecynd answers.

That's interesting. When Aoi grows too large she would be difficult to have around, I guess this is sothing very thoughtful of Gecynd.

"Why are you gifting us this?" I ask.

"I an no harm to you. Think of this a gesture of good faith, I wish to have a good relationship with all of you in the future," she answers.

Alissa's eyes nearly pop out of her skull, Ciel chokes on her spit, and even Roxanne looks impressed.

I look at Hana and she shrugs.

"Well, go ahead, then."

A branch enters the ear of Aoi and she closes her eyes in pleasure. I feel a small amount of anxiety coming out of her but it quickly goes away and the branch retreats.

Aoi opens her eyes and I feel mana circulating through her body. Suddenly she doubles in size then imdiately halves twice.

"Kweh!"

Aoi jumps in circles in happiness.

"Ohoh! That's wonderful. My shoulders were starting to hurt," Roxanne says, clapping the tip of her hands in happiness.

Aoi doubling in size makes her look slightly comical. The scales of a dragon do not grow proportionally to their size. So when Aoi increases in size she resembles sothing like a giant baby instead of looking older.

Gecynd seems to almost want to dance in happiness as she looks at the celebration of the little dragon.

"Now then," Gecynd slowly claps her hands, "That was all I wished to talk to you. Do any of have anything you wish to talk about?"

I'm feeling the tiredness of the repeated battles and this conversation. I just want to lay down and rest.

Alissa seems to want to talk about sothing but she eventually shakes her head.

"Please stay here as long as you like. You are all my guests so the others will receive you warmly."

The branch retreats from Camassia's ear and she stumbles forward. Pallido holds her and she slowly moves to a sofa.

"I will take you to your guest quarters. The bed of the main room should comfortably fit at least five of you," Pallido says with a grin.

With a little bit of embarrassnt we follow him back to the elevator.

"When Gecynd told about having a relationship with us why did you react like that?" I whisper to Alissa.

"Having a relationship with the Lord of the Forest is an amazing thing," Alissa whispers to , "Even the emperor would wish for such a thing. The neutrality of the Lord is sothing that vexed many emperors."

Huh. Hopefully word doesn't spread. Now this would be sothing that would attract a lot of attention.

As we go down the elevator I keep replaying the visions in my head.

, facing my old self? Why? How?

And then there's that dream. What would call to a place where only destruction exists.