They marched in silent formation the discipline brutally apparent making clear the absence of one of their number
But even more notable than the absence of one of his warriors was the midnight blue kitten that Dozer had cradled in his arms Daniel looked at it curiously and was surprised when it was dumped on him by Dozer who promptly walked over to Annie picked her up and carried her off
Daniel frowning opened his mouth to say something but Regina put a hand on his shoulder
Leave him be Glendel already reports that the monsters from that dungeon have ceased they have obviously won We don’t need to know the details until he is ready to tell them
But what about Daniel looked helplessly at the cat that seemed to suddenly come awake yawning It blinked violet eyes at him then gently gingerly raised its paw and placed it against Daniel’s face
Daniel couldn’t help but smile The cat smiled up at him it seemed and flexed its paw its claws sinking into his face
Daniel’s howls earned chuckles even from the freshly returned squad who collapsed releasing all the tension that had kept them wound through this journey They had made it home
Nathan frowned at his sister who was standing next to Arbor but also dangerously close to the strange thorny creature that now frequented the area by the tree Both of the strange plants were glowing slightly the thorn creature writhing on the ground and Arbor growing upwards fast enough to see with the naked eye
What’s going on Nathan asked
His sister smiled serenely at him The Ghosthound has willed it so they are changing
Nathan thought his sister was being weird but said nothing As he watched the light around Arbor dimmed but the thorny vine creature began to thrash more Watching closely Nathan could even see the thorns on the vines slowly growing more twisted longer sharper These weren’t the needles they were in the past but were more like hooks aiming to rip flesh
Why did Arbor stop growing if the other one still is Nathan asked but his sister just smiled and walked away back towards the village
Surprised but glad they could leave and go see the return of Dozer’s squad Nathan followed
They wound their way through the coffee farm and the banana farm moving quickly sticking to the shadows Although they hadn’t been forbidden from coming here per se it was getting increasingly difficult to do so
Then returning to the farming area proper they relaxed somewhat This was the area that it was relatively okay that they play in although not usually so late Farmers and Potion Makers walked back and forth discussing ratios and ingredients
But instead of turning upwards towards the Classer Compound Kiersty kept walking towards the middle of the valley where the mage battalion guarded the road coming through the mountains
Kiersty walked through the men sitting around taking breaks even while the sound of spell casting evidenced the proximity of the front lines They drew a few stares but mostly because of the presence of children not because any of them planned on stopping the two kids
Still Nathan was quite nervous To his relief they stopped almost directly next to the watch tower right behind the spot where the relief squad waited ready to assist their comrades Kiersty pointed and Nathan’s gaze followed her finger
Quickly erupting from the ground was a grey ashy piece of wood that looked like an exact duplicate of Arbor Faster than any plant had a right to move this Arbor clone grew upwards until this Arbor was the same size as the original Arbor’s new size back in the field about as tall as a grown man Then its branches began to spread curling upwards
Then four flaming leaves bloomed on the tree the relief squad turning to gaze at the tree with wide eyes
Notifications popped up in front of Nathan that he tried to read but made his head swim
You are under the influence of the skill Aura of Arbor This allows you to make use of a Gift of Arbor Regeneration is also passively boosted by 10%
Gift of Arbor The next active skill used will use 50% of the normal amount of mana or stamina Gift of Arbors grow at a rate of 1 per hour per sprouting As long as you are within the Aura of Arbor Gifts from any sprouting may be used
There might only be two now Kiersty said her voice loud and a little shrill But soon this place will be covered in them May the blessing of Arbor be with you all
Chapter 78
Randidly had spent the past hour carefully separating out the four different colored crystals he had refined creating 13 different recipes Ultimately Randidly had admitted to himself that he simply didn’t have enough of either the purple crystal or the green one to mix them with each other trying out all the possible combinations
The first 12 recipes were two groups of 6 First the purple with red 25/75 50/50 and 75/25 Then the same purple with blue
The second group of 6 was the green crystal rather than the purple one but otherwise the same
The final recipe the one that he would save for last was equal parts of all four crystals ground down and mixed
Randidly started with purple because honestly although he understood what the poison was generally he wasn’t sure what this crystal refined from the blood of monster would do and was more curious about its effects
His hands moved to the 50/50 mixture purple and red Careful to get every small ground up crystal he dumped them into a glass container The potion mixed and turned a dark maroon color Curious Randidly examined it
Lesser Potion of Health Lvl 18 Increases your maximum health by 180 for 20 minutes If after the time runs out your health is below 180 your health will be reduced to 1 and you will obtain the status effect Overdrawn which reduces regeneration by 90% for an hour
Randidly nodded slowly At his level it might not quite be worth it But as his potion level increases and he could raise the bonus
Curious Randidly did the same thing between purple and blue obtaining a Lvl 23 Potion of Mana increasing the mana pool by 230 for 10 minutes but otherwise largely the same
The current boost was about the same as his highest tier potions but they were made with the least refined ingredients After a bit of experimentation if he could obtain a Potion of Mana that increased his Mana pool by 460 for 10 minutes The increased spell casting burst would be highly effective
But the night was long and there were still more recipes to try
Derek straightened abruptly The change had come to the ants about an hour ago around 3 hours after the squad had trundled on down and into the ant warren Suddenly the ants began wandering away the once directed swarm lost and leaderless
Without a concerted attack the ants were quickly beaten back after all they were quite weak individually Even the volunteers let alone the Freedom Fighters regulars could handle a lone ant
But still for a long time there was no sign of the squad Had they perished in the attempt
Yet here they were walking casually back continually slaughtering any monsters that stepped in front of them like this was just another day at the office
When the group reached him for a long time Derek Quinn didn’t know what to say He had thought he had worked hard and found strength but
In his heart he knew that this was partially because of the classes that they had this advantages but at the same time
He had watched them They moved cleanly with a proficiency and professionalism that made him helpless It made him realize something
While Franksburg had tried to keep back the outside world maintaining the status quo these men and woman had gone out into the outside world and changed themselves to thrive in it They had forsaken their previous humanity and found a new strength through the new world was ruled by the system