Author’s Corner: Finally at the elves! Now we get to see what would have happened to Earth if they didn’t have the advantage of the Seeds, maybe.

“So, what information do you have on this system?” I asked towards Celeste as we pulled out of subspace.

“From what I read of their history, and taking scans with the Seraglio, there are currently three inhabited planets within this system. At this point in time, elves have already mastered rudimentary terraforming, but their specialty is in genetic modification. The fact that there are so many elven races in the future is due to this, because they modify their bodies to adapt to specific environments.”

“Okay.. do they use any kind of wireless network that you can tap into and learn more?”

“I’m not picking up anything, but there are multiple satellites surrounding each of the planets. Once we get closer, I should be able to access whatever networks they use.”

“Alright. Well, once we are within range, we can get a scan of the planets to determine where we’re going. Then, Sharon and I can head on down.” As I said that, Celeste looked at me in confusion for a moment. “We don’t have a spare body for you, and can’t afford to lose the one you’re using. Not to mention, we need you here to watch the ship while we’re going, and make sure it isn’t attacked.”

“....Fine… but you have to be careful! I already set up clone controllers for Yin and Yang. I’m still researching how to set one up for Yo, so I’ll keep her back here with me for now. Deal?”

“Deal.” I nodded my head as we gradually drew closer to the first inhabited planet, which was the sixth planet from this system’s star. “Anything on the scans yet?”

“Not from the satellites. It’s possible that the planet-side communication towers were hit by monsters already. I should be able to start a more detailed scan of the planet in a few moments…” Celeste closed her eyes and focused. “Okay, pulling up the information now. There are life signs scattered all over the planet, some bigger than the rest. Those are likely to be the ‘boss’ class monsters. However, either through accident or a previous rampage, each of these three bosses are in an area where there are almost no significant signs of life within fifty miles.”

“Let’s avoid those for now… Celeste, while we’re gone, I want you to have your construction drones start working on making orbital weaponry. If they have anything like that around their planets already, prioritize fixing it..”

“Roger, captain. So far, all of their satellites seem to be focused on communication or deep space scanning. If they are still functional, then whoever is controlling them has likely detected our arrival. I’ll add stealth technology to the list of things you want for the next ship.” Celeste smiled at me, and I nodded with a sigh. I decided to take this moment to review my skills and status while Celeste got the scans for the nearest planet.

NameJohn HulettRaceWood ElfTitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider SlaughtererFame1000Level 4132%ClassDruidAdvanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthanHealth310/310Health Regen0.52Mana1300/1300Mana Regen4.92Strength15Wisdom166Agility26Intelligence130Dexterity22Charisma15Vitality31Luck20Points Remaining0Earth 15%Fire 15%Wind 15%Water 15%Lightning 15%Light 15%Dark 15%Plant 15%Void 16%Metal 15%Magnetism 15%Plasma 15%

SkillsMana Manipulation - Advanced Level 5: 1%Nature Magic - Intermediate Level 9: 49%Wild Luck - Basic Level 8: 33%Sketching - Basic Level 6: 60%Herbology - Novice Level 2: 1%Gathering - Beginner Level 9: 6%Alchemy - Novice Level 3: 2%Mana Signatures - Advanced Level 5: 0%Cooking - Basic Level 4: 10%Flight - Basic Level 1: 0%Aura Sight - Intermediate Level 3: 1%Technomancy - Intermediate Level 5: 89%Programming - Intermediate Level 4: 5%Enchanting - Basic Level 6: 30%Engineering - Novice Level 2: 18%Maintenance - Basic Level 9: 24%Dodge - Beginner Level 5: 24%Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 5: 29%Marksmanship - Basic Level 3: 59%Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 9: 42%Soul Arts - Beginner Level 8: 9%Psychic Power: Toybox - Basic Level 2: 9%Piloting - Beginner Level 5: 3%Navigation - Beginner Level 2: 12%Weapons Systems - Basic Level 1: 13%Shield Systems - Basic Level 1: 0%

A few things of note. First of all, after learning around twenty million runes or so, I was considered ‘fluent’ in the language, and it removed itself from my skill list. Secondly, there were four other shiny new skills at the bottom of my list that Celeste had been training me in. This was so that I could take over the Seraglio at important moments if she needed to focus on other things. I imagined that Sharon had a similar addition to her skill list as well. Finally, I had received an increase to my Fame stat… though I wasn’t really sure why. I had never gotten a message regarding it before.

“Okay, I’ve got a visual scan of the surface. It’s not looking good.” Celeste muttered out from her seat near me. “There are fights all over the planet, with elves against monsters. Their weaponry isn’t as evolved as Earth, since it seems like they had a fairly peaceful uprising. Their most advanced weapons appear to be tesla guns, and they completely lack any orbital or nuclear weaponry. As expected, there do not appear to be any elves wielding magic.”

“Alright. Get ready to set us down somewhere that we can make an entrance. I’ll get Yin and Yang ready to go.” After I said that, Sharon nodded and headed for the medbay to get into her own clone body. Meanwhile, I summoned the demi and the gustwing out of my grove. “Yin, Yang, we’re about to head down to the planet. Want to come with us?” I asked with a gentle smile, trying to reassure the winged woman who was afraid of space.

“Y-yes please… though.. can I stay in your grove until the fighting is over, Master?” Yang looked to me pleadingly, and I accepted. Even though we’re leaving the ship, she still wouldn’t enjoy being in a large fight. As for Yin, she simply nodded her head in approval. According to Celeste, she had already managed to cultivate her Wind and Water Affinities to the level needed to evolve, and was merely working on her Lightning Affinity now. Even that was not too far from the level needed. Heading down to a real planet could help her cultivate quite a bit.

“Alright, then let’s get the two of you suited up.” They appeared confused when I said this, but followed me to the medbay. There were two clones more than there had been the last time I was in here. One looked like a pure white bird with lifeless eyes, while the other was the same generic human clone that mine and Sharon’s had started as. Celeste helped them get strapped in while I put on the headset and logged into my own clone. After Yang was in her clone, I sent her into the grove so she could relax until it was safe.

Once we were all ready, we moved to the teleport bay, where there were a dozen small metal plates lining the ground. “Alright, just stand on any one of those and we can begin.” After Celeste spoke, Yin was the first to rush towards the plates, understanding that this was her way off the ship and down to the action. Yo, however, just looked at me with pleading eyes.

“Papa, can’t I come too? I promise I won’t get in your way..”

“Sorry, Yo. You stay up here and help Celeste for now. Once we’ve taken care of everything, we can bring you down to the surface and let you walk around. If you’re good and help Celeste with her research, then next time you might be able to come down and join us.” I offered her a bit of an incentive, hoping it’d encourage her to be helpful rather than sulking the entire time we were gone. Thankfully, the slime girl rapidly nodded her head, sending a bit of green slime splashing around before it began sliding back towards her body.

“I’ll be good, papa!”

“Alright guys.” Celeste spoke as she stood near a console. “I’m about to send you down to the planet. Once there, I won’t be able to connect with you for about five minutes, since this will drain a lot of the ship’s power. I’ll have to focus on refueling first, and then I will make contact. Until then, try to stay out of trouble.”

I felt an odd sense of foreboding from that. “Add a better generator to the list..”

She giggled slightly, nodding her head. “Will do, captain. If you’re lucky, maybe they’ll offer you a ship as thanks for saving them.”

“Since when do I get that kind of luck?” I sighed, shaking my head. “Well, beam us down.”

Sure enough, dozens of lights began surrounding us, and I got ready for the likelihood of appearing in a battlefield. After the lights briefly blinded us, there were shouts and various sounds of battle filling the air around us. Sharon quickly waved a hand, and pulled ten of her strongest wolves out of her grove. Three of them were naturally the worldwolves that we had previously evolved in NeoLife, but surprisingly four others had evolutions as well.

One had become a two headed diamondback wolf, fire emitting from its mouths. Another was a wolf whose entire body seemed to crackle with lightning, giving it a fearsome appearance. Finally, the last two each looked like larger, more ferocious versions of a lesser orthrus, each having two heads and black fur along their bodies.

Looking around, we were in a wide plains area, where the elves were shooting lightning from various sized weapons at swarms of goblins, minotaurs, and… giant walking trees. I’ll call them treants for now. Anyways, their weapons were moderately effective when they hit, but highly inaccurate. From my count, there were fifty goblins, twelve minotaurs, and five treants on the battlefield, against roughly two hundred elves. However, the elves were still being pressed back.

Seeing the number and type of enemy, I felt like it wasn’t even really needed for me to interfere. “Sharon, would you do the honors?”

“Yes, please~!” She said happily as she hopped onto one of the wolves’ back and had them all charge towards the battlefield. Fighting meant experience, and experience meant levels. Leveling up her wolves gave them the possibility to evolve, so no doubt she was eager to do that.

The elves paused briefly as they saw Sharon riding into battle, surrounded by several unnatural looking wolves. Flying above her was a large, powerful looking bird that shot lightning from its mouth at one of the treants, causing it to let out a cry of pain. A few elves seemed to think about attacking the ‘unnatural horde’, but were dissuaded from doing so when they began to show their power. First, the lightning wolf had its entire body turn into a single bolt of lightning that flashed across the battlefield, killing several goblins in its path and landing against a minotaur. Then, its body glowed brightly as it amplified the electricity within its body to electrocute the pinned beast.

The two headed diamondback wolf tore at goblins with its two mouths until it managed to get to a treant, and began tearing it to shreds with its razor sharp claws. Meanwhile, the two orthrus were releasing twin breaths of fire and water, wiping out anything in their path. There were still several elves in melee, but the worldwolves would quickly appear next to them and throw them out of the battlefield with a single push before moving out of the way of the impending attacks.

Within ten minutes, the battle that had looked like it would cost dozens of elven lives had suddenly ended. Likely because she didn’t like the looks of any of the monsters, Sharon hadn’t spared any in her slaughter. From beginning to end, she had simply ridden on the back of one of her wolves.

Once the fight was over, Sharon moved back over to me, and we were soon joined by one of the elven soldiers. Thankfully, the language appeared to be the same as it was in NeoLife, because I was able to perfectly understand him. “Thank you for your assistance, strangers. But.. how did you do that? You wielded the power of the cycle as if it were your own.” The awe in his words was obvious, and I was suddenly wondering what this ‘cycle’ was supposed to be.

“I’ve tapped into their network.” Celeste said a few moments later, being a bit late to contact with us. “The Great Cycle is the elven religion. All things come from the cycle, and in the end all things return to it. The bodies go to the earth, while the spirit goes to the flow. Likely, they see the monsters as beings born of the cycle, and thus their power is the power of the cycle. So, they mean magic.”

I sighed at the overly long explanation. “We are… not from around here. We’ve come to help you learn to wield the ‘power of the cycle’, and fight back against the creatures that threaten you. I take it all of you have seen the blue panels appearing at one point or another?” After I asked that, the man in front of me nodded. “We’re going to help you learn about that. In the meantime, could you take us to whoever is in a position of leadership around here?”

“Very well, follow me. I can take you to the Queen of the Woods.” The elf nodded, and gave what was likely some form of salute. His left hand was placed behind his back, while his right hand came up and did an action similar to Earth salutes. Surprisingly, though many of the elves looked in awe at Sharon for the power she had displayed, none of them seemed to look at her lustfully… Maybe having a large bust was not considered attractive among the elves.

And that, my friends, was how I came to meet an elven queen.