World Seed_Expansion

by Justin Miller

  After we went a bit further, we stopped encountering cliff tigers altogether, and instead started finding other monsters. The first was a large lizard, roughly ten meters in length and two tall, which Celeste called a boulder lizard. It was able to blend seamlessly into the rock wall of the mountain, and was only visible if we were using our Aura Sight… or had a Deus Ex that was constantly using the skill.

  With Celeste around, we were able to easily spot the large boulder lizards. And apparently, their average level was over forty, but they typically only operated solo or with a single mate. The first time we spotted one, Celeste had us all stop climbing while silently pointing to a protrusion of rock nearby. Since none of us knew about it, she transmitted the information to me while charging her spear. Boulder lizards are slow, but strong. Their hides are incredibly durable, with their only weakness being their underbelly.

  The first to strike was Celeste, who lept up at the lizard that was still thinking it had been hidden, and swept her spear across its back. Although her weapon uses plasma to strike, it didn’t penetrate deep enough to cause a real wound. However, it was fully exposed now. Sharon was clearly able to see what was happening, and had her three wolves move in for the hit. “Don’t kill it yet~!” She shouted cheerfully as the wolves surrounded the giant animal, causing me to experience another chill.

  Since her lance didn’t work, Celeste landed on the rock in front of the lizard, clenching her fist and giving it an uppercut as it was preparing to fight. The strength she used shocked me, as it actually sent the lizard a few feet into the air while the wolves began scorching it with fire breaths. When it came back down, she punched the top of its head to send it into a daze while Sharon ran over. “Do you want to come with us?” She put her hand on the top of its head, likely trying to use her Nature Magic or Animal Affinity to communicate with it. As it woke up, it opened its giant mouth, revealing rows of jagged shark-like teeth.

  Before it could take a bite out of Sharon, her three wolves were by her side and sending a torrent of flame into its stomach. “Aww… Oh well, maybe the next one!” She shook her head, while I had Yo begin absorbing the boulder lizard. While being able to swim in the ground is great and all, Yo still needs to absorb more forms to increase his intelligence.

  Though, now we had a giant slimy lizard following us around. On the bright side, we all seemed to level up after that encounter. From then on, I started using my plasma rifle instead of the pistols, since the enemies after this would require more penetrating power to fight.

  Each time we found one, Celeste and Sharon’s wolves would beat it to within an inch of its life, and Sharon would try to make it into her companion. For the ones that refused, either the wolves dealt the finishing blow, or I did with my rifle. After fighting six of them, one finally agreed. She seemed to be able to tell their genders at a glance, despite this being her first encounter with the creatures, because from then on she only asked a few of the lizards we encountered. The rest were directly finished off.

  At this rate, it didn’t take long for me to reach level thirty, but the wolves were still a bit off from it. According to Celeste, they could evolve at any time, so we kept climbing higher and higher. After the second boulder lizard agreed to be her animal companion , we began killing them as soon as we saw them. Soon, we started coming across different creatures as well.

  Up next were smaller creatures, but I wasn’t too clear on what happened. I heard a series of chittering noises around us, and seemed to blank out. When I realized what was going on, we were surrounded by several craters that seemed to be melted out with extreme heat. Sharon and Celeste were looking at me with their eyes wide and mouths hanging open, and her wolves were hiding behind her. Hmm? Why is my mana almost depleted? I’m sure if it was important I’d remember.

  You gained a new title!

  Spider Slaughterer

  +20% Damage against arachnids. Stacks with Vengeful Heart

  You fear and hate spiders to such an absurd degree that you enter a berserk state when you encounter them, using any and all methods to ensure their swift demise.

  Oh, great, now the system gave me a berserk mode? And it’s triggered by--hey, what’s that? Another brief blackout, and I awoke to find a rather deep crater in front of me. Looking back to the others, I did my best impression of Sharon’s innocent smile. “Did I ever mention I really hate spiders?”

  The two nodded their heads quite energetically. Behind Sharon, even the wolves were nodding their heads.

  Chapter 4 - The Hunt Continues

  A bit curious about my ‘berserk’ state, I asked Celeste if she could show me what had happened. I had obviously used quite a lot of destructive force, and there was a chance that I did something in that state that I may not have considered doing normally. Knowing my reasoning, Celeste complied, but said that she was editing it so as not to set me off again. From there, it was like a video playing in my mind, more detailed than any other, more like a memory in real time.

  I could see myself, or Falenel as I was thought of in this case, standing a bit off to the side. My view was bathed in the familiar strands of light that show whenever I use Aura Sight, and I could faintly see indistinct figures approaching. By my understanding of the mountain here, these should be rock ******, similar to certain creatures found in John’s world shortly after the start of Genesis.

  I wanted to warn him, knowing how he felt about these creatures now, but my warning came a second too late. The first ***** broke through the ground, and as he spotted it, his expression changed rapidly. First it paled, as it normally would when encountering these creatures, and then it darkened ferociously. With my Aura Sight, I could see wisps of magnet mana flying out around him, forming various spheres. Then, plasma began to erupt within the spheres. Soon, there were dozens of red orbs hovering around him.

  Unfortunately, the ****** emerged closest to him, so Sharon and I were unable to react in time. As the first one launched at him, he sent five plasma spheres to meet it, reducing it to nothingness in an instant. Then, all of the orbs began lining up in a pattern, layers of various sizes forming a large ball. When the layers began rotating in opposing directions, at increasing speeds, it almost seemed as if they had merged into one giant sphere. “Fuck off!”

  As he shouted, the giant sphere descended on the hole where the first ***** emerged from. I knew that the sphere itself was hollow, but that did little to negate the effect it had. Within moments, there was a crater of molten slag where the ****** had been digging, and very few were left that had escaped the blast. However, that wasn’t the only ‘team’ that was advancing, and soon another one broke out of the ground near Sharon. This time, I had the chance to warn her. “Watch out, below!”

  She responded quickly by jumping back, and was about to have one of the wolves attack. However, the various smaller spheres that had created Falenel’s attack suddenly dispersed and reformed immediately in front of her before taking the same formation as before. I could see the shock on her face as she was just a few feet from being included in the attack. And, just as viciously as before, Falenel carved out another hole in the ground. But this time, he didn’t stop there.

  After the hole was created, the dozens of smaller spheres separated again, and burrowed into the ground. It looked like he had activated his own Aura Sight, and could now see where the rest of the ****** were hiding underground. The plasma spheres shot through the ground like torpedos, intercepting any ***** that he noticed. For the larger groups, several spheres would merge together and erupt in a blast of energy. However, from the surface, there was only a vague glow on the ground where the plasma spheres were traveling near the surface, and the occasional collapse when they erupted.

  Considering that he hasn’t been contributing much to the fights so far, this sudden outburst was a stark contrast. And I could feel the overwhelming hate that had boiled up inside of him, as if these ****** were something that he absolutely must destroy at any cost. From his perspective, he di
dn’t even see Sharon and I anymore, only the targets for his attacks.

  By the time all of his plasma spheres had been exhausted, his mana was nearly depleted. However, almost all of the ****** had been destroyed, and what remained were frantically scurrying away underground to escape the destruction. Panting heavily, Falenel began to calm down after a few more moments, but by now the damage was done. Sharon’s wolves were all hiding behind her, and the other woman could only stare dumbfoundedly at who she had likely assumed to be much weaker than her previously.

  From Falenel’s perspective, I could see as a new message appeared from the system, granting him a title based on the rampage he had just caused. Just as he was lifting his head to speak, he was distracted by another ***** that had its escape path cross one of his craters. When he saw it, his expression warped again, and he created a large magnetic sphere around the *****, before filling it with plasma. Thanks to that, there was no escape, and another crater was added to the mountain.

  “And, that’s pretty much what happened.” Celeste explained to me with a weak smile after the ‘recording’ ended. Well, that’s one way to have an out of body experience. Though, thankfully she blurred the figures of the spiders, so even though I knew what they were, it didn’t set me off. With great power, comes the great desire to crush creepy insects.

  “Huh…” I had never thought of using plasma in formations like that, but it obviously had impressive results. Though, at the same time, it had burnt through nearly all of my mana as well. I’d need to wait a bit before I could use my magic in another fight. I thought about passing the time by examining Celeste’s aura and trying to shift into a Deus Ex, but there was still a high chance of accidentally killing myself in the process.

  Though, that led me on an interesting train of thought. When I died, I didn’t really die, only this body did. My aura was then sent back to my main body in the past, while the Seed took one of my levels as a price to make a new body, similar to my Soul Arts. Then, wouldn’t it be possible to create a lesser version of the Seed, that only had the function of remote controlling a body that shared an aura with the user?

  Looking up, I saw Celeste grinning at me, and nodding her head. “That would be one way to do it, yeah… We’d have to make the clones ourselves, but if we make a controller like that, at least our safety would be somewhat assured.”

  Sharon looked curiously at us, so I decided to explain. “We’re thinking about how to make a substitute for the Seed on our ship. We won’t be able to come to the future with it, because time travel is still far far beyond us, and will likely always be. However, we should be able to use remote controlled bodies like this.”

  At that, she smiled brightly. “Oh? Awesome! But… would that still work for me? I mean, aren’t I a remote controlled body already?”

  I thought about it for a moment. “We’ll have to experiment. Worst case scenario, I’ll just have to fly the Seraglio to pick you up if it fails. However, there shouldn’t be a problem, I think. Celeste will have to be the one taking care of that, as she is our ‘Chief Science Officer’.” I smirked towards the Deus Ex, who giggled at her new title.

  “Ooh… do I get a title too?” Sharon’s eyes were wide, and I knew that she really wanted a title of her own. I was glad to see that, aside from her attitude towards getting new animal companions, she was still the same innocent girl she used to be.

  “Hmm… alright. You can be the ‘Tactical Officer’, since you seem so good at commanding your animal companions in battle.”

  At this point, Celeste playfully spoke up from behind me. “So, what does that make you?”

  I puffed my chest out proudly. “Obviously, I’m the Captain of the Seraglio.”

  Both Celeste and Sharon laughed at that for a few moments, before we got back to our hike. Though, neither of them disagreed with me claiming to be captain of the ship. I wasn’t really sure why, I mean I wasn’t exactly a great leader. Maybe they were just satisfied with their own roles, so they let me have the big chair? After all, Celeste would really be handling most of the work, so being the captain was more a figurehead position.

  As we got back to climbing, we soon came across more and more of the tiny stone spiders, though Celeste began blurring their figures in my vision so that I didn’t go on a rampage and accidentally hurt her or Sharon. With these fights, I just did my best to stay back out of the way while the other two swept through them. Delicious, delicious experience rained down upon me, and soon the moment arrived when Sharon’s wolves began evolving. As expected, they evolved at the same time.

  Mana began rushing into the wolves from the surroundings, and I watched as they each grew larger. However, that seemed to be the only visible change. When I used my Aura Sight, I could see seven spheres of energy within their bodies, each one tuned to a different base element. Likely, that was the source of their power, which would give them greater elemental control than they had as wolves. On this subject, Celeste offered some enlightenment.

  “Worldwolves are similar in appearance to dire wolves, but instead of a strengthened body they get stronger magic. When they evolve again at level seventy, they’ll be able to take on a human appearance at will, and their fur becomes green.”

  Sharon nodded her head as she listened, and in the next battle we began seeing the changes in these wolves. Before, they had simply been using breath weapons, or the occasional rock spikes. But now, they were able to more accurately control the elements. One seemed to favor fighting with the water element, by concentrating it to form multiple wolf bodies that could attack together, while another did something interesting with lightning. Through what I could only describe as impressive control, they created a small, controllable lightning snake that could strike on command.

  Finally, the last wolf did not favor any element, switching between all seven as the need would arise. With darkness, he seemed able to merge with shadows and use them to instantly move around, before slashing with claws that had a wind blade following them, and finishing the job with a fire breath. Our hunting speed increased significantly with the addition of these three upgraded wolves, and we soon came across the territory of the mighty stone wyverns.

  A stone wyvern could stand as tall as six meters, with a wingspan of over twenty. Rather than arms, they had giant wings made of stone coming from their shoulders, and I could only explain their ability to fly as being some form of magic. No creature made of stone like that should be able to fly naturally, not matter how big the wings were. Celeste confirmed my suspicion, telling us that the wyvern’s wings had a special magical property that let it repel itself from earth surfaces. In scientific terms, it was able to use the planet’s geomagnetic field to fly.

  I was definitely going to study this particular magic ability. If I could apply it to my body, I should be able to fly even without using my wings. By the time we had reached the first wyvern, Sharon and I were both level 36, though we hadn’t taken the time to spend our points yet. After taking the time to do so, this is how my status looked.

  Name

  Falenel Hulett

  Race

  Half-Elf(Woodland)

  Titles

  Vengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer

  Fame

  400

  Level 36

  40%

  Class

  Druid

  Advanced Class

  Xeno-Shifter

  Deity

  Malthan

  Health

  310/310

  Health Regen

  0.52

  Mana

  1250

  Mana Regen

  3.44

  Strength

  15

  Wisdom

  146

  Agility

  26

  Intelligence

  125

  Dexterity

  22

  Charisma

  15

  Vitality

  31

  Luck


  20

  Points Remaining

  0

  Earth 13%

  Fire 11%

  Wind 11%

  Water 12%

  Lightning 11%

  Light 11%

  Dark 12%

  Plant 12%

  Void 11%

  Metal 13%

  Magnetism 11%

  Plasma 11%

  With my improved wisdom, I was confident that I could do a bit better with my mana now, because I was regenerating faster than I had been before. Though, Celeste and Sharon had their own improvements as well. With Sharon, it was her physical abilities that improved. Since she commanded her animal army to fight, she was able to focus more on her own abilities, rather than magic. Especially now that I was here to act as a healer.

  As for Celeste, she had spent what level upgrades she had gotten to increase her mana. Doing so allowed her to summon up her two medium class pets. Each one looked like a robotic cat that stood three fight tall at its shoulders, with shifting metal plates along its skin. I wasn’t sure what abilities these robots had, but I found out when it was time to fight.

  Unlike our previous battles, this time it was the wyvern that made the first move, sweeping in from behind us so that we only saw a shadow descending. The fastest to react was Celeste, who spun around and slashed out with her plasma spear to meet the creature’s claws. Next came her pets, who leapt up onto the wyvern and had small streams of plasma coming from their claws as they slashed at it. Their attacks weren’t very deep, but they left long cuts on the creature’s stone skin.