Honestly, if there was one convenience the system had brought that Jake could not see ever living without again, it was the Self-Repair enchantment. That, and other enchantments allowing armor to repair itself, like the Shadow Mend on his chest armor, just made life so much easier when you were someone like Jake who was prone to having whatever he was wearing destroyed.
Still hidden deep underground and surrounded by not-so-friendly termites, Jake took nearly two full days to get back in his best condition again. It was a lot longer than expected, considering his potion usage, proving that he had truly taken a lot of damage. What is more, was how hard the wounds felt to heal… like the Hive King had infused some energy into every attack to make it harder.
The problem was that he felt no such energy, just that healing was more problematic. That is until Jake really looked and found what he at first had thought was just small pieces of stone or dust mixed into the wound. He was wrong, as it turned out to be minuscule black splinters. In the end, Jake had to focus a lot of energy to push them out and even used his dagger to pry a bit to speed up the process.
Jake felt how much easier the healing got after, and he soon recovered fully. With his armor also mostly repaired, he prepared to leave. Jake kept up his stealth technique without being discovered throughout this entire period, making him feel quite good about that part. The fact the termites had chosen to just outright bury him had also helped, though he did feel the occasional scan of a worker pass through where he was. Probably just maintenance work or something.
Mobilizing mana, Jake released a small explosion of arcane energy around him to destroy the soil, instantly getting some attention from nearby workers. He did not give them time to do anything as he fired a beam upwards through the soil to create a path up to the main tunnel network above.
Jake climbed up and began running through the maze of tunnels as he went upwards and out of the hive. A few termites chased him, but Jake just avoided them as he kept getting the fuck out of there. He didn’t know if the Hive Queen would call for the King again or something like that, and he had no desire to find out.
It took him hours as he made his way up. He was amazed at how many termites had already appeared again, as Jake began to realize how little of an effect his attack had made. Jake had killed tens of thousands of termites in E-grade, thousands in D-grade, and yet he had barely made a dent in their population.
How large is this hive? Jake questioned.
Moreover… how deep was it? The King dug downwards after it believed Jake had gotten away, almost as if it was in a hurry. Was there something going on down there that needed its attention? Also, if he was right, it was 220 or so; didn’t that mean it had likely killed a lot of enemies that gave experience? AKA other C-grades?
What if there are more Hive Queens… more Kings… he suddenly thought. What if the area Jake had invaded and wreaked havoc in was only the upper layers of their hive. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed possible and the scarier the thought became. He could only hope that other powerful creatures in the subterranean world would keep the Isoptera hive occupied or that whatever restrictions were on C-grades would remain active long enough for Jake to become powerful enough to kill them.Because for a hive such as the Isoptera to take over an entire planet was not something new to the multiverse: far from it. And Jake had no desire to allow Earth to turn into a termite colony. Not that he truly thought it was a possibility. He was there; other powerful factions existed, as well as many other scary things on their planet.
Soon enough, Jake only saw a few E-grade termites within the tunnels, and within a couple of hours, he found himself able to spot the surface through his Sphere of Perception. Picking up the pace, he zig-zagged through the maze of tunnels before finally spotting a hole with sunlight shining through.
Jake jumped and summoned his wings as he finally felt the warmth of the sun upon his skin. He had emerged a good distance away from where he had entered, by at least a hundred kilometers. He knew this due to still seeing the destruction left by him and the King of the Forest before he dove underground.
It made sense, though. Jake hadn’t exactly been the most aware after he made the cursed weapon and had spent weeks in a haze as he got the curse and his own emotions under control.
After basking in the sunlight with a light smile, enjoying being out of the stuffed underground – especially being trapped inside his own cloak for two days - he set course back to Haven once more.
Reika stood at the helm of the floating barge as they flew across the plains at a respectable pace. The entire vessel was as simple as it came in design and nearly thirty-five meters long and ten meters wide without any real construction on it besides a large engine and control room.
On the barge were close to a hundred members of the Noboru clan. About twenty of them were D-grades like herself, with the rest towards the peak of E-grade. The only thing nearly all of them had in common was that all of them were alchemists, with the only exception being seven D-grade guards who were there in case they encountered trouble and two D-grades in charge of flying and maintaining their transportation vessel.
They had begun the journey by teleporting to the city under their control closest to Haven, and using a spatial compass, had taken off. Reika would have left earlier, but her great-grandfather’s weakness after the Transcendent skill made her stay until he had stabilized and begun reclaiming his power. A part of her had feared the political ramifications of this weakness, but luckily none had dared make a move. This had been partly due to ignorance of how weak he truly was and, moreover, if he could somehow temporarily still display his full power.
Returning her thoughts to the present, Reika stopped dwelling on the past. He was better now and maybe even fully recovered. It had already been many weeks since they set off, with no one wasting any time as they all kept up their practice. They even stopped at a few minor settlements along the way.
One of the guards had a class called Pathfinder, allowing him to identify the best way to go and avoid areas and territories of dangerous beasts and monsters. Such a talent was invaluable for a journey like this, as without him, they risked ending up in the middle of the territory of powerful D-grades or, worse, a C-grade. Though the chances for that were incredibly low as one more or less had to go look for C-grades to find any.
That did not mean they had avoided dangerous situations, but they had been lucky so far. They had even met some interesting people on their journey and had some people travel with them between settlements. A few merchants, missionaries from the Holy Church, a party associated with Valhal, and even a solitary mage wearing a full-body suit of armor. Reika had not spent much time exploring the new world and had very much enjoyed this period and spoken to many of these travelers. A few of them had also given them things to bring to Haven. Mainly letters or magical letters to get in contact with the faction.
“Mistress, we are approaching the closest settlement to the place known as the Fort according to the map,” one of the guards said. He had likely been told by the captain of the barge, and Reika nodded in acknowledgment.
“ETA?”
“Four days till we reach the place known as the Fort at this pace, and from there, it should only be a swift teleportation using their internal magic circle,” the guard explained. The last part was a bit unnecessary, as Reika already knew, but she would not shame diligence.
Reika glanced out over the many alchemists, all working in different ways. Some used cauldrons, others used more scientific tools, and a few didn’t really use anything as they mainly worked on transmutations. A few had even walled off areas as they made magic circles to keep progressing during this period of travel. It was indeed lucky that the barge was so stable all of them could work undisturbed.
“Good, make sure everyone is fully rested and put on their best performance. This is not a play-trip but as much a diplomatic excursion as it is anything else. The way we present ourselves may as well be the basis of the future relationship between the Noboru clan and Haven, and our entrance will mark how the regular citizens of the city view us,” she said in warning.
She had spoken loud enough for a few dozen on the barge to hear her, and she was confident they would spread the word of her expectations.
Soon, Reika thought as she was both excited and nervous. A lot of weight was on her shoulders, and she would do everything to not disappoint. At the same time, she also really wanted to explore the opportunities Haven had to offer. As annoying as it was, she had to admit that the last truly thrilling and enlightening discussion related to the field of Alchemy had been months ago during the Treasure Hunt. That conversation had only made her problem of finding worthwhile peers worse, so her desire to discuss with the one other person on the planet she recognized as more skilled than her – at least in some areas – was exhilarating.
Something told her Haven would hold many learning opportunities for ambitious alchemists, and she and everyone else there were more than willing to learn.
Feeling stat growth was always fucking awesome. Jake didn’t usually notice it as everything was relative, if that made sense. You didn’t feel a lot faster when you fought foes who also got a lot faster. So to truly get a feel for growth was difficult even if you knew you got stronger.
While in the hive, Jake put many points into Agility. He had gained levels and put on new equipment giving him even more too, so when he finally got above ground and began flying, he felt the difference. He felt how he got further with every One Step Mile and how every beat of his wings gave him slightly more thrust than when he had left Haven.
This ultimately meant the return trip to Haven was several hours faster than the way to the Insect Plains. He soon spotted the outskirts of the forest far in the distance and knew he would soon be home. He flew up a bit higher than usual and, making full use of this Perception, got a good look at the massive forest before him.
How big is it? Jake wondered. It was larger than any other forest on Earth before the system, that was for sure. It was likely larger than any forest had ever been and most certainly larger than the majority of countries had been. It spanned into the horizon, where Jake saw trees reaching up further than he could even see, like grand pillars holding up the sky.
Larger than continents?” Jake questioned. It wouldn’t surprise him… the forest was just ridiculously massive. It was a lot like the underground of Earth and the entire world that existed down there. Jake knew that while he had gone a few thousand kilometers deep, he had barely scratched the surface of the subterranean world.
Needless to say, Jake was looking forward to fully exploring both the underground and the surface of the planet in due time. But for now, it was time to return home to his cozy little cottage. Jake already felt Sylphie was there, so that was a lucky coincidence as she was usually within the massive forest.
Jake flew down and over the trees as he spotted the valley. When he got closer, he felt the presences within the valley. He felt Hawkie and Mystie were there as well as Sultan and Miranda… but… there was also something else - a powerful aura that Jake recognized as he headed over faster, a bit excited.
“Are you sure it is a female?” Jake heard Miranda ask as he got closer.
“Seeing how it cares for the young, that would only make sense,” Sultan answered confidently.
“Fathers can also be responsible parents, you know,” Miranda countered. “It may be the mother died.”
Jake used One Step Mile as he landed and appeared nearby as he chuckled. “Or maybe Cave Trolls procreate through parthenogenesis?”
He had come with the intent to joke but did not get the expected response. Before anyone could say anything, the Undergrowth Cave Troll yelled and hid the small trolls behind its back in a panic as it tried to make threatening screams towards him.
Jake was taken aback but remembered that this was not the same troll… well, it was, but also wasn’t. It was weird, but he chose to just see it as the same one he had encountered, but with permanent amnesia. Its demeanor was exactly the same, and Jake couldn’t help but smile as he lowered himself a bit and controlled his aura to appear non-threatening.
“It’s okay,” he said to the troll many times larger than himself. It stared at him for a few moments as Jake got an idea and fished out a few vitality-giving elixirs.
The troll stared at them as Jake offered one. The giant creature just kept looking as Jake chucked one towards it. The troll managed to catch it and sniffed it before tossing it in its mouth, eating the bottle. It reminded Jake of the troll eating his health potion during the dungeon, making him smile even more.
“See? Friend,” Jake said as he stood up. Sylphie also flew over and made some “rees” at the troll, which it seemed to understand as it wobbled over and sat in front of him. The small trolls also came over and began bravely touching and poking him. The only place they stayed away from was his head with Sylphie on it, and from their reactions to the hawk, he had a feeling she had already established dominance before he returned.
“Have you ever considered beast taming?” Sultan asked off to the side. “It took us over an hour to make it calm down and trust us just a little bit when we first met, and it took me over a full day to convince it I was trying to help take it out of the dungeon.”
Jake shook his head as he threw the man a glare. “I think I made my stance on that subject clear.”
The merchant put up his hands defensively as he muttered something unintelligible.
Jake ignored him as he turned back to the trolls. One of the small Juvenille Cave Trolls plopped down right next to him as it began playing with the ground while the other was trying to climb a tree, having likely never seen one before.
The adult cave troll was looking up towards the sun. Jake just smiled as he noticed something. The grass around the Undergrowth Cave Troll had turned greener than it was before. Jake’s Sense of the Malefic Viper activated as he felt the potent life affinity energy coming out of the troll as he smiled even more. Looking at the large troll, he asked:
“Now, I may not be into beast taming, but how would you like to get a job?”
No one had said anything about beast employment.