Zeke's sleepy eyes opened to the sound of muffled cries and distant explosions. Just a few days ago, waking to such a scene would have been like a nightmare. Yet today, the sounds of battle only brought a slight smile to his lips. Instead of getting up, he stretched his arms and legs languidly before sinking deeper into his bed.
The mattress was made from white cloth and filled with a material he couldn't identify. By all accounts, it should have been uncomfortable. However, contrary to expectations, it was the most cozy bed he had ever slept in.
The fabric was soft—even softer than the pelts of those of the Nightstalkers they'd encountered. Also, whatever the stuffing was, it gave the mattress a wonderful elasticity that did wonders for his back. Neither his bed in Arkanheim nor the one in his estate in Tradespire came close.
Zeke rolled to his side with a content smile. For someone known to prioritize work over sleep, he had been spending a surprising amount of time lazing around lately. However, could anybody blame him?
Here, in this place, for the first time in a long while, he felt completely safe and relaxed.
There was no mission, no one to threaten him, no monsters that could sneak up on him, no scheming, no hidden objectives—no nothing.
After a particularly loud explosion that even managed to shake the walls of his room, Zeke found his curiosity piqued. Without bothering to put on a shirt, he got out of bed and approached the balcony of his room. As he opened the door, the sounds of fighting mixed with the ever-present noises of the jungle.
Stepping outside, Zeke immediately felt the touch of warm, humid air on his skin. While this tropical climate might have been unpleasant for a regular human, it didn't bother Zeke. In fact, he found the environment rather pleasant.
Approaching the railing, he grabbed the piece of vine slung around his wrist to tie back his hair. Ever since leaving Korrovan, he had not bothered to cut his hair, nor had he reapplied the brown dye. This had resulted in his original color shining through again, and with every passing day, the crimson became more pronounced.
Zeke didn't consider himself a particularly vain person. In fact, he had never taken much interest in his appearance. However, there had been a sense of wrongness whenever he saw himself in the mirror—sporting this unfamiliar, brown-dyed hair. Surprisingly, it had bothered him quite a bit, and Zeke found himself smiling every time he saw his original hair color these days.
Arriving at the railings, Zeke was just in time to see the conclusion of the fight raging in the clearing below. Gravitas, Vulcanos, and Ash were fighting Rhea, the Titan. The woman had not bothered to transform and was instead taking them on in her humanoid form.
Not that it did them any good. She dove through Vulcano's flames and shrugged off Ash's blows without breaking a sweat. Only Gravitas was able to pose any threat to her. They had discovered that her power to influence gravity was a surprisingly effective counter against the Titan. Even in her humanoid form, Rhea retained most of her mass, making her particularly vulnerable to the pull of gravity.
Zeke watched as the two men repeatedly threw themselves at Rhea, doing everything they could to slow her down.
This was the extent of their strategy. It consisted solely of keeping Gravitas safe, allowing her to tire out the Titan. As far as Zeke knew, they had not succeeded yet—even with Rhea pulling her punches so as not to hurt them.
Vulcanos burst into flames and shot a concentrated beam of molten stone toward the Titan. However, the attack left her largely unfazed, seemingly unable to hurt her in the slightest. It didn't matter; it was only a diversion anyway. The moment the flames let up, Ash materialized behind the woman and jabbed a spear into her neck without the slightest hesitation.
Zeke was surprised to see the weapon actually leave a mark. It was a remarkable achievement—an achievement that would have been impossible without Gravitas slowing the woman down significantly. Even so, it didn't mean that the Titan was actually slow. The air let out a shrill whistle as she lashed out with a backward kick.
Having expected the attack, Ash was already back in his mist form by the time her foot arrived. It didn't save him. His body rematerialized as Ash was launched with lightning speed, soaring through the air like a projectile. Blood spurted from his mouth as his back collided with a tree.
Zeke winced in sympathy. That must have hurt.
Now that the balance was broken, Vulcanos and Gravitas soon shared the same fate, lying face down in the dirt. While Rhea was laughing heartily, Snow was rushing between the three defeated Chimeroi, offering water and applying bandages. The young girl was far too weak to join the fighting, but she still did her best to support her friends.
Zeke grinned as he saw his team slowly return to a semblance of health. Despite their miserable defeat, they had made substantial progress since their first battle against the Titan. Of course, they had never even come close to winning, but that had never been the aim of the exercise anyway.
...Talking about making progress, it was time he got going.
Zeke returned to his room and put on the shirt that had been prepared for him. As usual, it fit perfectly and felt comfortable. He couldn't help but sigh as he traced the material with his fingertips. The shirt was made of a special cotton fiber that Cassius had grown especially for him and the mere act of touching it now brought back those memories.
It had been a surreal experience…
The elf had literally grown the shirt around his body, instantly encasing him in fabric. Within moments, Zeke had found himself outfitted with a whole new wardrobe, more luxurious and comfortable than anything gold could buy.
This had been just the first of many incidents that left Zeke absolutely baffled by Cassius' abilities. There seemed to be little the elf couldn't create using his Growth Magic.
At first, Zeke had thought that the restriction to natural materials would limit the usefulness of this school of Magic. However, Cassius hadn't been idle over the last centuries. His collection of seeds, saplings, or spores appeared limitless, giving him access to many materials to work with.
The most prized pieces of his collections were anything but ordinary: wood as hard as steel but as flexible as a willow branch; fabric as soft as silk yet as tough as leather. There seemed to be no end to the wonders the elf could create, and, as Zeke had learned, many of those plants didn't exist anywhere in nature and had been specially bred by the Mage himself. They were the results of centuries of research and probably more valuable than their weight in gold.
All the more shocking was the fact that Cassius could grow those resources instantly. Even the limiting factor of seeds was no issue, as each fully grown plant would produce an abundance of new seeds, leaving him better off than he started.
When Zeke had seen the man in action, an unfamiliar feeling had crept into his heart. Not once since meeting Maximilian had he ever wished to change his affinities—not until that moment. He was frustrated by the realization that this sense of raw creation and limitless growth was something he would never be able to achieve with his Magic. And, for the first time in his life, Zeke felt jealousy towards another's abilities.
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<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgba(236, 240, 241, 1)"> [Notice] </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgba(236, 240, 241, 1)">Host only has to say the word, and I will find a way to bridge that gap.</span></p>
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Zeke smiled bitterly at those words.
Akasha had immediately picked up on his sense of inferiority, and the Spirit had not taken it well. Zeke couldn't even blame her. His unconscious feelings of jealousy must have been like a stab to the heart for her. After all, she literally WAS those abilities he was complaining about.
With a sigh, Zeke let go of the fabric and tried to calm his mind. It was completely unfair of him to feel the way he did, after all that Akasha had done for him.
Zeke forced a smile and found himself surprised when it turned genuine a moment later. Akasha wasn't wrong nor were her words empty bluster. Was there anything he couldn't achieve as long as he had her by his side? Together, they had already done so much and even managed to create a Spell that gave shape to a Soul…
Zeke's smile turned wider when he remembered the look on Cassius' face when he had shown him the Spellform for his [Blood Manifestation]. The elven man had stared at it for over an hour before shaking his head with a defeated sigh.
He had then explained to Zeke that there was probably no problem if the spell became known to the public, considering it was highly unlikely anyone else could even cast such a complex spell. Even Archmage-level spells didn't match its sophistication. Zeke couldn't help but feel proud. After all, he could already cast such spells. Well, technically it was Akasha, but her achievements were also his, weren't they?
"Don't worry about it, Akasha," Zeke said, already in a better mood. "We'll create our own school of Magic soon enough. Let's see who is jealous then."
With those words, Zeke left his room and ascended the round stairwell that was carved alongside the outwall of the tree. He was due to meet Cassius again, who inhabited the highest floor of the massive tree fortress. A few moments later, Zeke was already at his door.
The heavy wooden construct swung open at his approach before he even had the chance to knock. Inside, Zeke found Cassius, pacing up and down while seemingly considering something.
"Everything alright," Zeke asked as he entered the room.
Cassius abruptly stopped and turned to face him. It took the elf a moment to recognize where he was and who had arrived. But when he did, a slight smile emerged on his face.
"Ahh, it is you, child. Good, good. I was just thinking about some of the things you've told me."
"What exactly?"
"…The Soul."
Zeke nodded in understanding. Since Khai'Zhar's existence had already been revealed, he had been forced to give a basic explanation of what he knew about the Soul, attributing all his knowledge to the Giger people. However, even that had been enough to rattle the elf severely.
"It is a fascinating subject, I admit," Zeke said. "However, there is little practical application for it aside from my [Blood Manifestation]."
Cassius eyed him for a long moment, and Zeke was almost certain it was a gaze meant to probe him. However, the man eventually relented, letting out a deep sigh. "Unfortunately, you are right. I had just hoped there might be more we could learn."
Zeke shrugged. "There are enough other mysteries to uncover and I don't feel like we'll be running out anytime soon."
This managed to draw a genuine smile from the elf. "Right you are, child. Do you want to see the result of our last experiment?"
Zeke nodded eagerly and followed the elf. They soon entered a secluded room that was completely dark. The moment they entered, the smell of damp earth assaulted his nose, mingling with the distinct aroma of fungi. It was an earthy scent, rich and potent, filling the air with a sense of growth and life. Shafts of soft, green light filtered in from above, casting an eerie glow over the rows of mushrooms stretching out before them, their forms shrouded in shadows.
Cassius came to a halt in front of a mushroom that was the size of a washbasin, its cap expansive and domed, with a velvety texture that begged to be touched. The gills underneath spread out like delicate lace, a network of intricate folds and ridges. Its stalk, thick and sturdy, bore a smooth surface, tapering slightly towards the base where it rooted firmly in the soil. The color of its cap ranged from a rich chestnut brown to a deep mahogany, with hints of golden undertones catching the light.
"This is it?" Zeke asked with slight disbelief in his voice. Before he went to sleep, the thing had been the size of his finger, if not smaller. Where had this monstrosity suddenly come from?
Cassius nodded, a pleased expression on his face. "It is everything you requested. Fast-growing, easy to raise, thrives on most soils, and, well… it is probably easiest if you took a whiff yourself."
Zeke bent down to sniff it. The mushroom released a faint, earthy fragrance, promising a savory taste that could rival even the most succulent cuts of meat. "What does it need to grow?" he asked eagerly.
Cassius shrugged. "The classics, I suppose: Moisture, darkness, and oxygen. As for the nutrients, mushrooms feed on decomposing organic matter in their surrounding environment. They particularly favor substrates rich in carbon, such as decaying wood, compost, or manure."
Zeke smiled widely. This was exactly what he needed, and he didn't regret for a second that he had shared some of his research in exchange for it. After all, he was responsible for a lot of people who lived in a very dark place—people in urgent need of a stable, independent food source. This mushroom was bound to save many lives…
"Are you satisfied," Cassius asked.
Zeke nodded eagerly. "This is even better than I expected. You are a true miracle worker, Cas!"
It was hard to tell in the darkness, but Zeke could have sworn he saw the elf blush a little.
"Pah. This was child's play to me," the man said. "It almost feels like I took advantage of you. Here." With those words, Cassius tossed a pouch toward Zeke that contained a few containers. Zeke opened one up and found that they were filled with spores, likely for the mushrooms. However, he was confused as to why there were several. He looked at the elf, waiting for an explanation.
"I made a few versions," the elf said by way of explanation. "One can't eat the same thing over and over again, after all. I thought you might appreciate a few different flavors."
Zeke glanced at the pouch. There had to be a dozen boxes, easily enough to eat a different flavor every day of the week. Zeke clutched the bag to his chest. No matter what Cassius claimed, this couldn't have been easy. "Thank you."
The man waved him off. "No need to thank me, child. Now, let us get back to it; there is much left to do before you depart."