After putting this new element inside my grove, a series of changes began taking place. The different planetoids inside the grove, which had all been immobile, began moving. The sun that had occupied the center of the daytime sky gained a large gravitational pull, and the other planetoids began to orbit it. Of course, when this happened I had to make some changes in order for the planets to not crash into each other.
Now, each of my grove planets were orbiting the sun within my grove. There was no longer a ‘night’ and ‘day’ side for me to play around with, as the light was emitted solely from this sun. At the same time, the void area increased explosively, as if feeding off some relationship between itself and the gravity mana to expand. I was not sure exactly how far it had reached, but I was confident in saying that the total radius of my grove, including the void area, was at least several hundred miles. At the same time, this message appeared for me.
Stellar Grove Unlocked
Due to possessing the Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Light, Dark, Plasma, Gravity, and Void affinities within your grove, it has upgraded from 'Primal' status to 'Stellar' status.
Stellar groves follow a system similar to solar systems. While passing through areas that have dense mana of a type within your grove, it is possible for an 'asteroid' of the element to emerge within your grove. This will not impact your cultivation speed, but will increase the rate at which your grove increases in size.
That was… not something I had expected. I mean, the message didn’t really have much impact, as the only thing it really meant was that I would randomly get a boost to the elements inside my grove. I had to wonder if adding in other elements would upgrade it again. Or maybe I just needed to expand it wide enough. If I make a few dozen other areas like the small solar system, it might upgrade to a ‘Nebula’ or something? Then, train gravity high enough and put a black hole in the center, maybe that would upgrade it to ‘Galaxy’?
I honestly had no idea, but I figured I would find out eventually. For now, I was simply absorbing mana passively while training my new affinity, hoping to get it to match with the others. Maybe Sharon would be able to unlock different combinations and upgrade her grove down a different path? Given the affinities I’ve seen her practice, maybe her grove would eventually become a living being with a mind of its own?
Anyways, once we got onto the ship, we immediately left the system. Unlock when we acquired the elves, these five Ha’vosh had no prior training that would grant them an immediate position on board the ship. As such, I had to assign them to different trainers in order to prepare them for to take on a post.
“That’s really all of them?” Sharon looked at me doubtfully. “You didn’t just forget to make a second trip, or something?”
“Nope.. that was everyone that wanted to leave their planet.” I shook my head, sighing again. “Apparently, the Ha’vosh aren’t that big on space travel right now. Maybe, if we hadn’t shown up, they might have never considered the possibility.”
“Well… that sucks. But, at least this way there won’t be too many running around that could potentially harm the crew, right?”
I nodded at that, agreeing. “Speaking of which, how’s Kismet doing?”
Sharon’s brows furrowed slightly at the question. “It’s… going slowly. He is not maturing as rapidly as Yang or Yo did at first, according to Celeste’s estimates. It might be because he didn’t evolve into this form, or because he’s always been alone, but he is honestly just a little kid.”
“A little kid with the power of a final dungeon boss…” I reminded her with a slight smile.
That earned me a laugh. “Right, how could I forget that part? I’ve started training his skills a bit, but mostly I am having him learn common sense, right and wrong and all that. Priscilla and the others are helping a lot with that, and he’s been making friends with them.”
I smiled, thanking her. Kismet could potentially be an extremely powerful ally if he was raised properly. I also took the time to tell her about my grove being upgraded from ‘Primal’ to ‘Stellar’, and how it happened.
“Huh… Maybe different systems get added to the groves based on the elements in them? Evolution might not be possible inside the grove without the Animal Affinity, for instance… I wouldn’t really know since I didn’t get a message, and I had that affinity before any of my animals were strong enough to evolve in the first place.”
I thought about that, and then suggested my own theory. “Maybe there are different paths of advancement for groves? Like, someone making a World Tree in theirs instead of a standard solar system.”
However, Sharon brought up a completely valid point that negated that theory. “Wouldn’t you have already gotten something like that since you had the Plant Affinity from ages ago? I’m sure people can probably make stuff like that if they want to, but it wouldn’t be how the grove evolves. Most likely the grove evolves strictly along the expansion of space, but more systems can be added in with different affinities.”
Thinking about it for a few moments longer, Sharon seemed to have an idea. “For example, what if you added the time element to your grove. Then, condense everything into one spot and make your own personal big bang. After that, accelerate time inside the grove until planets and stars begin to form. Worst case scenario, your grove collapses and you just have to make it again. But it might also be the secret to an endless grove.”
“Huh…” I never really thought about it like that. If I did it that way, there was also the possibility of various species evolving inside the grove. But before I even thought about doing that, I would need more of the advanced elements like Animal, otherwise the new ‘universe grove’ wouldn’t get very far. Though, this is for far in the future. Right now, even if I added the Animal Affinity, I don’t have enough mass in the grove to cause the kind of explosion I would need for a big bang. And even if I did, my Time Affinity is nowhere near strong enough to accelerate by the several billion times it would need in order for the universe to settle.
Though, maybe this was the start of a greater path? It would be ridiculous if we all just turned out to be living in a grove shared by a pantheon of ‘gods’.
Chapter 52 - You Monster
After leaving Alkrax behind, I decided that it was time to finish creating my own set of magic armor. I already had a few ideas for what I wanted, but I hadn’t had the materials to make them. Now, with Sharon and Yang working together, I just might be able to make it possible.
Calling the two of them together, I met them in the cargo bay. “Okay… I wanted your help with something, and before now I wasn’t sure it was possible with what we had. But now… it might be.”
“What is it, Master?” Yang looked at me curiously. Naturally, Yin was sitting on the bench near the door, watching over her ‘younger sister’.
“I want to make myself a set of armor. I want it to be made out of strong leathers if possible. Preferably, there should be enough for sets for Yin and Sharon as well, if they are interested.” I glanced back towards the distant Yin, who shook her head.
“I do not require armor.” Although she was a good distance back, her voice carried over splendidly.
“Well, I do.” Sharon said with a grin. “As for the leathers… I might be able to help with that.”
After saying so, Sharon closed her eyes and focused for several minutes, before a light emanated from her chest. In front of her, the light began to coalesce into ten strips of deep brown hide. Each strip was roughly ten feet wide and ten feet long, making the entire collection more than enough for what we would need.
“I haven’t tested their strength yet, but these are from the bodies of shield beasts, the evolved form of a giant armadillo. Only a few of them die in the generation battles, but it was enough for me to collect and improve the hides.”
I nodded my head, thinking about something. With a thought, I altered the palm of my hand into slime, and created my bokken. “This should be a good way to test their sharpness.” I smile
d, cutting down at the edge of the leather.
The first strip was cleanly cut through as the wind blade tore into it. However, the second layer withstood the wind blade, before finally succumbing to the actual blade of the bokken itself. By that time, the force behind the swing was pretty much negated, so the blade was unable to cut through the third layer. Going by that, the defense of this leather should be quite high. By usual standards in games I had played, leather armor would be able to stop a sword of the same level once or twice before it was cut through.
Sharon shook her head with a slight smile, reaching down and touching the pile of leathers. I felt a small surge of mana, before the skins began mending themselves. Did she have the Skin Affinity or something? I thought about it for a moment. Although these leathers were strong, they probably wouldn’t match up to my scales in terms of resistance to cutting attacks. If I was able to meet a shield beast myself, or even higher evolved forms, that would be perfect.
Thinking so, I looked to my girlfriend. “When we’re done with this, could I make a trip into your grove? Would like to meet some of your animals, and see if there were any with special traits I can copy.”
Sharon blinked at the question, as if confused. After a moment, she seemed to understand. “Ah, right. No problem.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I just sent the message in, so anyone that is willing should be gathered by the time we’re done. Just don’t expect too much. Most of them evolved by improving their magic, so there would only be a few that have strong physical traits.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle lightly. “I’m more looking for magic ones, anyways. Though if you get a dragon, I would be more than happy to study it.”
“Noted.” She said with a knowing smile.
Meanwhile, Yang had just been watching us. When she saw that we were done talking, she nodded her head. “Master, I think I’ll be able to use this to create armor sets for the both of you. Do you have any preferences on what you would like it to look like?”
I thought about that, and finally had the rare ability to use one of my oldest skills. Grabbing a notebook I kept in my grove, I began sketching the idea I had for the leather armor. It wasn’t much really, just a basic set of leather armor with two layers of leather covering areas like the torso, back, and legs. I decided not to include a helmet, because I did not want to obstruct my vision.
In total, the set included greaves, bracers, a jacket, boots and gloves. Although that would leave some exposed areas on my arms and legs, those would be covered by my snake scales. This armor was mainly for the enchantments and a secondary defense. And before you ask, I did check the leather’s aura, but it had been too long since the creature died, so I was unable to copy it down.
Yang looked at the drawing I made, and furrowed her brows. Then, she turned to look at Sharon. The other girl shook her head. “I can’t draw. Just make it like his, but give me a skirt.”
Yang nodded at that, and looked to the leather. “I should be able to get it all done within a couple of hours, I think.”
“Alright, that gives me time to plan the enchantments.” I smiled as I moved away to let her work. There was also one other item that I wanted made, but I already had access to the materials for that, since it was a simple medallion.
Gathering the metal ore from my grove, I quickly began refining it with my fire manipulation, and began shaping it while I waited for it to cool. The medallion came in two pieces, each shaped like a curved, flat tear drop. On each one, I put a single small circle on the broader side of the piece, so that they could combine to form the Yin Yang symbol.
Although they weren’t painted yet, I went ahead and began enchanting them. I was not positive that I would be able to put all four enchantments I wanted on a single piece, so I instead was enchanting the individual pieces before fusing them. Although this will likely result in overall weaker effects, it should be safer.
On the first side, the Yin side, I gathered darkness mana to enchant it with resistance to darkness. To my surprise, after receiving this enchantment, the silver color shifted to black. I had expected to need to paint the two halves in order to get the look I wanted for them, but this made it easier. Assuming that the next part worked right.
For the second enchantment on the Yin side, I gathered light mana, and imbued the amulet piece with the ability to project a blast of light. The power of the blast should be directly proportionate to the amount of mana I use to activate it. In other words, I’d have to use quite a lot to get more than a flashlight. As for the coloring from this enchantment, I did my best to attach it to the small circular area, hiding it inside the aura of the object.
Unfortunately, that failed, the amulet piece shattering, and I had to try again. And again… and again. After five attempts of modifying the enchantment slightly and shrinking it down, I was finally able to squeeze the aura of the enchantment into the aura of the item without causing it to break. As I had suspected, the small dot in the black piece slowly began to turn white, making it look fully like the Yin symbol.
Now that I had this first one out of the way, the second was naturally easier. This was because the second one had almost the exact same enchantments, just with the opposite elements. So, it brought a resistance to light magic and contained a dark blast. Although I still failed on the first attempt, I managed to place both enchantments within the item on the second try. Like before, the light enchantment turned the object white, while the dark enchantment made the small dot black.
Next came fusing the two pieces. This was actually a fairly simple step with my abilities. All I had to do was place the two of them together, and use both my Metal Manipulation and Fire Manipulation to weld them. Once that was done with, I had my yin yang amulet. All I needed was to make a small hoop at the top to run a cord through.
During this time, Yang was still working on shaping the stacks of leather with her magic. From what I could see, she already had both of the jackets done, and was getting started on the rest of it. That shouldn’t take too long, given her current speed.
So… what exactly do I want to enchant my set with? Naturally, I want a defense enchantment for extra protection, and adaptive shape. However, I also needed something to increase my abilities with magic. Although, from what I saw when I checked the aura of the leather, it does not seem like the best suited for increasing mana control. It’s not terrible for it, but I won’t get the best results like I will with the defense enchantment.
It would also be good to have some extra physical strength, given my low stats. However, I don’t want to take up the entire set enchanting that… Maybe I could enchant just the set with defense, adapting, and magic control, and then enchant each individual piece with something else…
On that note, it would also be good to get an intelligent item. I was debating between doing so with this set, or simply absorbing it with my slime to treat it like my bokken. On the one hand, I can never lose items I copy with my slime powers. However, I hadn’t tested what the rules are for leveling an item like that. I might need to give it my experience instead of accumulating it automatically. Dividing my experience by six times to cover all the equipment seemed a bit much.
Then a thought occurred to me. I could enchant an entire set at a time. Wouldn’t it be possible for me to enchant an entire set with a consciousness at once? I wasn’t quite sure how that’d work…
“I’m not giving you one of my babies to test that on, John.” Celeste said strictly, in my head. “You can have a blank slate AI for it, but not one of the developed ones. Those are off limits if you aren’t certain.”
I nodded my head slightly. I could understand her unwillingness, and really I didn’t need a developed AI for this. If anything, the simpler it was the better. Can you set up a protocol for the AI so that it optimizes its upgrades?
If she could do that, I wouldn’t need to add in the hearing and voice enchantments, because the AI would choose on its own what to get when it had the option. There was a brief pa
use before Celeste replied to that. “Give me a couple of days to work it out. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to track its new abilities if it gets any active ones. You’ll have to use an identify spell like Sharon has in order to get that information.”
That was fine with me. I’d probably need to get a couple more levels by creating and farming monsters, just so I could use my Awakening ability to grant a soul to the armor. You know, since I can create monsters with souls using mana, it would be so much easier if I could skip straight to the step of creating the soul energy.
No can do, Johnny boy. Souls aren’t made by the mana, we give them to the creatures. By the way, that makes it a real pain when you keep making them just to destroy them a second later! There’s already one cute little goddess pulling her own hair because she doesn’t like having to grant souls to something that people like you will just kill instantly. Do you want to make a loli goddess cry?! DO YOU!?
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