Chapter 57: To Evolve or not to Evolve

We start walking in a random direction, the dry cold air making me shiver. I weave a small blanket of fire mana to help me keep warm, it always feels like it had just come out of a dryer. Chyzu has her Chayaotmo cloak wrapped around her.

Life is everywhere in here. Tiny souls everywhere around me, in the trees, in the ground, in the air. Insects and small rodent-like animals flits away from us. I continue scouting ahead with my [Sense Mana] until I found a large twelve-legged creature much like a spider. It spun webs from several legs as it rolls a stag-like animal, still squirming, up into a cocoon.

Web legged Arachnoid (adept) Net Runner (Adept)

Should I make it go boom and see if anything moves to its location? First I should make us invisible.

"I found a monster, can you tell me it's level Esofy?" I ask, my form of [Analyze] can't see level but Efosy's skill can

"Level eighty" Esofy responds

"Gonna kill it and see if anything comes to the location," I say, making us invisible and silent with [Echos of Reality].

I supercharge a fairy with empowerments and sent it off. A minute later a wild fairy appears and uses self-destruct, it was super effective! The sound echoes throughout the forest making most animals skitter away. The birds take off, the other small animals might as well have flown judging on how fast they disappeared and the insects just didn't seem to care.

We wait for anything to happen but nothing shows up.

"Well, at least it makes the animals go away," I say.

We walk to what's left of the monster and inspect it, what was left anyway.

"Your power went up, Aly, did you use some of your points?" Chyzu asks. I nod.

Esofy examines the blood of the monster closely, rubbing it between her fingers.

"Poisonous blood, so is the blood of the animal," Esofy concludes.

"It'll be safest to assume all things here are unsafe in one form or another." Kadona gave her assumption.

Just because the dungeon would make a training ground for us doesn't mean it'll make things easy for us. We should expect traps, snares roots, pitfalls, thorny poisonous plants, all manner of dangers.

{Follow us and attack all animals and monsters that seem to be hostile that is within thirty meters}

I summon twenty fairies as an escort, this is an unknown and dangerous place I can't be too wary of. Kadona gave me an approving nod.

We explore deeper, we find more monsters all between level twenty and sixty, all either minor or adept tier, the arachnoid seemed to be an outlier.

We'll need to make a map of this place, if only we had an auto revealing minimap like in video games. Actually, maybe we can. A spell crystal that senses the area around it, probably via echolocation or radio waves, perhaps both to get detailed information and have that displayed via illusion magic. A wind and light based spell crystal but how would the information get stored? Magic, obviously, but what's the medium that stores the memory? I should research this, perhaps there's a way to record the data. Now that I think about it such a device would help my race evolution for inventions and spreading knowledge.

{Explore and look for any points of interest, come back, and lead us to it if found. Wave arms if more than ten monsters are in the area}

A hundred fairies are soon spreading out in search of something interesting.

"let's take a break here, I have my fairies on scouting duty," I say and sat down on a fallen log.

"Can you make more of those blankets, Aly? It's too cold in this place" Esofy says, rubbing her arms, our skimpy clothes aren't made for this environment. I nod and weave four more blankets for everybody. I had to dip into my Kyhosa reserves but the comfort is well worth it. My Kyhosa had little reserves anyway due to my conversation with Kayafe earlier today.

A fairy soon came back, waving its arms. It led us back along our path to a large cave, a crack in the cliff. Webs lay everywhere but no monsters in sight. I scout the cave with my perception soon finding a nest of arachnoids.

"Looks like we found where those monsters are coming from," I say. Obviously a den maybe there's loot in there? That is how it works right?

Every spider monster ranged from level sixty and up I even found a large furry arachnoid, major in both race and class. The spiders often had earth type Bonds and easily uses them to dig and make a nest for themselves within the den.

All paths branching off within the den bottlenecking in two locations, the den entrance and another guarded by a massive fourteen-legged monster in a gargantuan room. Thick cable-like webs stretched throughout the room and covering the entrance that leads further down into the den. I analyze the obvious boss monster.

Champion Arachnoid (Major) Web Guardian (Major)

Going deeper reveals more monsters with a higher level, from the one hundred max, minus the outliers, to starting at one-fifty.

"It's a monster den, lots of monsters I only counted three monsters at major tier, the rest are adept," I tell my party.

"The large ones are level two twenty while the Champion at the back is level three hundred" Esofy supplies the missing information. "Let's not bother it this time, but let's see if there are other dens around," Esofy says.

We leave the vicinity of the arachnoid den and I send out more fairies. It took some time but soon we are at another den, this time a burrow. It's a little cramped for someone tall like Esofy. The monsters are large almost rat-like creatures ranging from level twenty and up.

The boss is a major tier level two-hundred three-headed rat monster. The next area beyond it is blocked by twigs and leaves made by the boss monsters, clearly, it's meant to slay the monster before proceeding. the area beyond has monsters at level one hundred and higher, with the first area maxing at level seventy minus the level one fifty minibosses.

"It seems like these high monster density areas are meant, and even built, in a way so one could go from one den to another with some overlap to level up, it shows clear intent and intelligent design, there are likely more dens out there," Kadona says.

"Yeah, but it's getting late, we should head back, we can meet back up here in a week," Chyzu says. We all agree and walk back to the dungeon entrance. With the help of my fairies, we quickly found it.

Stepping back through the arch and back in the nexus is like stepping into a sauna. It is comfortable but I hadn't noticed that we live in such a hot and humid place.

Uloru gave a deep sigh. "Feels good to be back, it's really uncomfortable there"

"Maybe that's the intent?" Chyzu says.

Stepping out of the temple, night had fallen. Most villages will be gone now, they have a long way to go. We made our way to the docks where only the members of a few islands are around, getting ready to leave.

"There you are, I take it you explored the dungeon a little bit?" Tusile asks.

"That we did," Esofy answers "It's mostly low level monsters and animals initially but there are dens of monsters. We did not explore much and would need an expedition in a week's time. Maps would need to be made too but for the area around the entrance it's fairly safe"

"That is good to know. More plans can be made tomorrow so let's return home" Yukika says.

We board the airship and return home swiftly. I am forced to tell of the dungeon to my family on the way back.

The next day I teach Yafel and Yafe how to use their bonds.

"Remember, only use your bond when Momara or I am with you, you can seriously hurt each other." to demonstrate I empower a fairy until it explodes.

I remember when I was their age. I was working hard on learning my bond and using it at every opportunity to try and level it up. I blazed my own path in many things and now many are following in my footsteps, from the storm wardens to enchanters and mana weavers. This must be what it's meant when it's said "to stand on the shoulders of giants" Trailblazers aren't afforded the luxury of being taught, they have to learn for themselves and that often means wasted efforts and time. Many people level up their [Sense Mana] much faster than I did, if I had that opportunity how far would I be now?

But in a sense I am lucky, not many can do what I did. Not one has surpassed me despite years of being taught and most are stalling out at level one fifty or even level one hundred, only one person has made it to the twentieth breakthrough.

The twins learn fast, only taking a few minutes to get it. It probably helped that they had sense mana and could see their progress. I first taught them water enhancement, it'll help them be hydrated but not much else for now, in this sense essences are better. Control water is something they easily picked up on. Water barrier and finally water jet helped bring their Bond level to ten. With their Kyhosa giving them a plus one and a quarter-thousand percent to their water magic they pack quite a powerful punch, enough to kill low level domrs. By the end of the training session they reached level twenty and I have several Domrs stored in my ring.

"Remember always stay away from monsters" It will take them a few months of periodic training to get to level one hundred in their bond. It's too late for them to get to two hundred but one hundred is definitely feasible. Simply killing level twenty to thirty Domrs will only go so far and it'll take progressively longer to do. At this stage, however, simply training the skills and using them in new ways will give a lot of levels.

I start making more spell crystals too, using my newfound technique of sending mana through my clone link. The spell crystal I am experimenting with is based on my [Fairy Strike] I want to see if I can crystalize my Bond skill so anyone can use it, and if so, what are its limitations. So far it's crystalizing normally. By morning I have a working crystal.

Bond Crystal:This mana crystal is a variant of spell crystals, made by using a Bond ability.

It has a battery covering the Bond Crystal that can hold about fifty mana. After morning baths I try out the bond crystal. It is just big enough to fit in my hand so the mana processing capabilities on it isn't great, but it has enough mana for one or two fairies in its battery.

It's almost like a poke-ball.

"Fairy, I choose you!" I say and use the Bond Crystal. A fairy materialized in front of me.

Over the course of the next week, I make the other airship control crystal for the Winamr, a much more efficient spell crystal to control and generate winds. In the meantime, more experiments are conducted for sail enchantments to see which one would work best. While enchanting the sails to attract wind works it still requires continuous mana from sail operators meaning that there needs to be a rotational shift to keep them constantly active. Instead, the enchantments are now to make wind spells more effective on it.

What this means is that since the pilot would have to keep the spell active the entire time anyway might as well just shift the entire responsibility to her instead of the sail operators. There is just one problem, however, and that is that a pilot has to always be channeling the spell. I have an idea, however, to hopefully reduce that, spell links. Much like my connection to my clone and familiar if I can make a link from the airship control crystal to the sails we can reduce the need for a pilot and only need to refuel the control crystal battery periodically.

It took three weeks of trial and error, eventually running out of ways to do it wrong, and I had to skip a trip to the dungeon but I finally figured out the spell crystal links. It works by forming multiple spell crystals at the same time and by having the spell mana include a link between the crystals. This is great in that mana can be funneled from central crystal and battery, bad as each set of sub crystals are unique meaning if one gets destroyed it can't be replaced unless you replace the entire thing. We can offset this by creating a set of backups, even backups to the backups, it's also impossible to automate with the current technology.

It took another week and a half to make the new airship control systems and its two backup sets. In all this time I had my clone piloted mind make the crystals while I went about my normal life, training my skills, helping my sisters train their bonds, helped the family business, and trained at Chyzu's Dojo.

"You've been working very hard, Alysara, I cannot thank you enough. This new control system is just what we needed." Tusile praises me.

Ting! Twin Minds has met the requirements for a breakthrough. Twin Minds will now continue leveling past level 60!

6th Breakthrough: You've done two different things in two different places at the same time, this will help you do so more efficiently

Ting! Twin Minds has obtained level 45->67!

Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 227->239!

Ting! Summoners Core has obtained level 33->51!

Ting! Mana Manipulation has obtained level 193->199!

Dangerously close to two hundred. If it does go past I might lose the evolution I am aiming for. Speaking of which I should see how those are going.

Two Tailed Runalymo Scholar:(Major) (Heirloom)Requirements: Two Tailed Runalymo, Have bond at level 200 before age 10, Have Sense Mana at level 200 before age 10, Have 20 or more breakthroughs in Sense Mana before the age of 10, Have 25 or more breakthroughs in Sense Mana before the age of 15, Have Mana Toxicity Tolerance over 100, Have over 10 breakthroughs of Mana Toxicity Tolerance, Have Mana Toxicity Tolerance maxed, Have Twin Minds at level 50 or more, Have five or more breakthroughs in Twin Minds, Have taught over a hundred people a high tier general skill, Have spread knowledge of Sense Mana to the Runalymo people, Have spread knowledge on how to improve enchanting, Have invented Spell Crystals for your society, have improved Spell Crystal design, Have invented Bond Crystals, Have invented Airships, Have improved Airship design, Have the knowledge of another realm, Have been taught by Safyr The Guardian of the East Nexus, Have learned from an ancient ancestor, Have learned of lost history, Marked by Venaro the god of Knowledge and Wisdom, Age of 10 or higher.

A scholar, a scientist, and inventor, this Runalymo revels in discovery, her ability to learn and memorize is second to none. This Runalymo can more easily spread knowledge of her discoveries and teach others. This Runalymo will seek out ancient knowledge and learn from ancient and powerful beings. This Runalymo's many inventions have already helped her people and will continue to do so, marking her race's place in the world's history.Note: As the progenitor of an heirloom race, the merged skill will normally continue to level and achieve breakthroughs. Take your race to ever greater heights, or burn to ashes trying.

Do I wait and risk corrupting this evolution? Or do I take it now? Strong chances are that if I go into the dungeon again I may level up in [Mana Manipulation] and have a high chance of corrupting this evolution, my only other option is the nurturer evolution and I'm not interested in that.

Should I try to get my [Sense Mana] to two-fifty? It's close and I still need to get the mana tracking breakthrough. I also have levels to get in my core sensing, studying the liquid mana, and studying vitality.

I'll get the breakthrough, it shouldn't be hard. Then studying the liquid mana should get me the rest of the way. Yafe and Yafel should be at the playground right now, lets see if I can track their mana back to them.

I locate a mana current that seems to be coming from the playground. Due to the mana sinking below the ground it's actually quite hard to track as mana doesn't last too long. I look for the trace mana signatures, finding them not on the current from the playground but on the currents leading from the island. I follow the trail and soon found Yafel and Yafe playing with their bonds with a few other kids unsupervised.

"Yafel, Yafe! What did I tell you about using your Bond without Momara?!" I shout at them.

"Eep! Runaway!" I let them run further into the orchard, I can track them easily enough now.

Ting! Sense Mana has met the requirements for a breakthrough. Twin Minds will now continue leveling past level 260!

26th Breakthrough: You've learned how to track magic items and materials, this will help you find the sources of mana signatures

Ting! Sense Mana has obtained level 240->244!

Now I just need to study my core and the liquid mana, I can do both at the same time.