Although Seth had set up his own little garden of special herbs, such as the euphorically addictive golden grass with healing properties, it was a relatively small garden. When it ca to the actual farming of their city, that had been a result of his most wondrous power of delegation.
Whether by utter coincidence or the fate of the gods, he happened to have his expert with them on this trip, so they were able to fulfil at least so of their obligation to the beast kingdom before they left.
They could have promised to co back and do it later, but there was no guarantee their protection would still stand as the beasts might have felt scamd by the whole idea. Of course, there was no real guarantee it would last anyways, but it was better to cover all bases and just be cautious nonetheless.
At least if it failed now, they would know it was down to betrayal rather than a sense of irritation at being scamd.
That knowledge was worth a little honest work, especially since Seth wasn't the one doing most of it. Although, he couldn't entirely get away from doing manual labour. Even if it was just clearing a portion of a field and preparing it for the future farm.
Alexandra had taken over when it ca to her area of expertise, as indeed the strong girl had spent most of her life on a farm, digging into the dirt with her bare hands. It made sense how she ended up with such a mutation, after all of that.
In her previous life, she would have tended to her fields with a tractor and a variety of tools that had been perfected over millennia of human innovation. But in this new world, with mana at their fingertips and nature bending to their will, Alexandra was a tractor all of her own.
All she had to do was plunge her hands into the dirt beneath their feet and the entire field would gradually plough itself into neat furrows.
Irrigation was also no problem at all, as a light shower of rain slowly spread across the freshly ploughed fields with nothing more than a wave of Erik's hands, as if he was conducting an orchestra.
The correct seeds were acquired by their newest mber, Juniper. Who else would know more about plants than a plant themselves? She had no objections to the farm raising of these plants either, not just because of the passive attitude of nature but also because, in her mind, they were inevitably going to be growing in better conditions than in the wild. Even if it was with the express purpose of consumption.
Such was life in nature, unfortunately. Everything fed sothing else, all that they could hope for was a good life until that fateful day. Even the humans had to learn this, as much as they didn't like it.
It was a process that was so surprisingly easy, especially compared to how difficult it used to be, that by the ti they had finished the sun had only just hidden itself behind the horizon.
What the beasts had struggled with for so long had been nothing but child's play to them, thousands of years of human history had simply been condensed into a few hours of work.
They barely even broke a sweat.
Using the sa abilities she used to plough the fields, Alexandra willed the dirt to churn itself into a line of respectable mud huts for the group to sleep in, as well as lifting it into a mud cave to shelter their beasts from any ill weather that might occur. Sothing that might as well be a foregone conclusion in the rainy country of Scotland.
Despite the rain pattering down on their mud roofs throughout the night, the expedition force actually got a good nights sleep for once, an unexpected surprise after all they had gone through so far.
Rising bright and early, they took one last look at the fruits of their labour before exiting the beast city, leaving their mud huts standing for whatever residents felt like taking them.
With the glowing prong of the Alpha's antler proudly displayed atop one of Snowballs head, making it look like it was part unicorn, the groups progress through the wilderness of the highlands beca less dangerous than a walk in the park. They were able to go full speed, without worrying about exhausting their mounts should they get attacked and simply let them run as fast as they could. Free as the wind.
It was so easy in fact, that Seth had plenty of ti to lean back in Olette's saddle and contemplate his evolution requirents, specifically focusing on one of them in particular.
He hadn't made much progress on his research into the 'Fruit of the Heavenly Tree', mainly because the so called research had solely consisted of asking one person and not getting a favourable answer. It barely deserved the na research.
But while he had failed to gain any information about the fruit, he had co to a revelation about another item. The Soul of a God.
All the talk of Lucifer, the ridiculously nad forr leader of the cult Seth once belonged to who was now going by the - just as ridiculous - na of Lightbringer, had gotten Seth thinking.
Much like before, this man was posing himself as a god, the Human God as the beasts had called him. And while Seth absolutely expected it to be as true as before, aning complete and utter bull, he did wonder if there was even the smallest sliver of truth to that na.
Mainly, could the soul of the so-called Human God, be fuel for his transformation? At first he thought it was a ridiculous notion, since the charlatan was definitely no God and thus wouldn't apply. But the 'Heavenly Tree' was unlikely to actually be from heaven, or have anything to do with it.
So what if the soul of this faux god would also be allowed? What if that was the intention?
It all seed mighty convenient, but then again he had no idea how the system actually worked. It could be that these materials were not the only possible ones, just the ones that were closest to him or the most readily available, hence the soul of a faux god that he had a personal relationship with.
A few other items, the Lightning in a Bottle for example, lent credibility to this theory. If he needed anything lightning based, who else could he turn to than the woman who had been by his side for so long?
Then there was the heart of a dragon. While it would be difficult to get, since people tend to be pretty attached to their hearts, he couldn't deny that he had already t a dragon that could be the perfect candidate.
He just hoped it wouldn't be taphorical, such as winning her heart. That would probably be even harder than beating her in a fight, and probably still led to his death considering her true form. Although... what a way to go.
Shaless thoughts aside, It was just a sha it didn't ask for the acid of a sli or the pure water, because then he would be able to bang it out with just his companions and rank up that way. But that would just be a bit too convenient.
Perhaps they too had, or would have, similar requirents. It was safe to say that if any of them had soul based requirents then he was going to be their man, even if they didn't quite know it.
"Woah, Hold up!"
Seth was brought out from his thoughts by a shout from one of his companions, although it sounded a little further away than he expected. Frowning slightly, he brought Olette to a halt and glanced down, checking to see if they had accidentally flown too high or too fast, but was caught with an unexpected sight.
Below them was nothing but water, a tranquil blue carpet that was glistening in the afternoon sun.
He had to fly back a few seconds before he found the rest of his party waiting where the water t the land, unable to go any further.
Landing Olette, Seth slipped out of the saddle and strolled over to the others. Astra was already waiting, arms crossed over her chest and an irritated scowl on her face. That's what it seed like to the others, at least, but Seth knew that was simply her resting face, with a slight raised eyebrow that was asking a silent question.
Turning away from them, Seth looked at their latest obstacle and let out a deep sigh. It was as if there was an uncrossable line that separated the two, a line that stretched to the left and right as far as the eye could see.
Before them was nothing but water, a massive lake. But not one they had to cross or go around. Unfortunately, it was sothing much worse.
"Dammit..."
"Care to share with the rest of the class, Silver?"
Glancing over his shoulder at Cynthia, who was completely imitating Astra in her cross ard irritation, he let out another sigh.
"I thought that we were almost right on top of our goal, with only a little more to go before we reached it. And we do... just over a kilotre in that direction."
A wave of mumbles and groans echoed throughout the group as Seth pointed out towards the seemingly endless body of water. They were all silent, until Cynthia asked the question that all of them already knew the answer to, but all hoped they were wrong about.
"How wide is the lake?"
"Nearly 3 Kilotres."
"So that ans..."
"Yup... Our goal is in the middle of the lake. The bottom of it, if I had to guess. Just wonderful."
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