— POV Mathias —

“Hello there.”

..

And she is totally freaking out. Grrrreaaaaaaate. Maybe I should have waited? But then it would be even weirder later on - I mean I would freak out if I was living somewhere for a while when suddenly a grown man pops out of a wall saying “Hello there.” Damnit, maybe I should have chosen better words than those two stupid words. Ah! I definitely should have asked something like “Who goes there!?” or “Because I’ve saved your life, you now owe me your life!” or something along those lines.

Is she still freaking out? Yes? And I think she’s strangling Torgue and Jard. Fuuuuuuuuuuu, I guess I should try to explain myself before she freaks out even more. Hmmmm… How should I get her to stay here and help protect me, while also protecting her? I did use up a lot of resources to save her, poor child, and I have to recoup my investment somehow! Plus, I mean, she’s an elf! Hmmm… If I get enough followers here, they should mutually protect each other.

I’ve got it!

“Calm down young one, and stop strangling your brothers. I’ve just woken up after expending almost all of my power to heal you.”

“Brothers?”

“That’s right, these two cubs are called Jard and Torgue. Jard is on your left, and Torgue is on your right. Since you have come to my valley and I approve of you, you are now part of our family.”

“Family? Wait, what’s going on? Who are you? What do you want?”

“Well, again, I just woke up after healing you. I am the master of this valley, and the father of the two cubs you are holding. I don’t want anything, I healed you because I could see and feel the pain that you were in. You are alone, aren’t you?”

“Well… Yes, I ran away from home, I was unhappy there and no one cared about me.”

“Then this will be your home. These two cubs are my children, and you are now as well. You must take care of each other.”

“But where are you? Why can’t you take care of them?”

“My child, I am not who I used to be, nor what you think I am. You can feel me, but you can’t see me. I have lost much, and no longer can move as I used to be able to. I used to be a mighty being, but when I was killed by humans my body has become part of nature again. I am the tree, I am the grass. I am this valley. Eventually I will regain a new body, but that time is far from today. While I can provide food, shelter, and security, I have lost the ability to communicate to my two sons as I am communicating with you. They need someone who they can communicate with, play with, grow up with. They are young, and so are you. All three of you have potential to be strong and live a fulfilling life, so I hope you will stay here where it is safe. Jard and Torgue were just like you when I died, alone, hungry, and hurt. But just like you they’ve found their way to me. For them, we were reunited. For you, it could be called fate that we were brought together.”

There we go, I technically didn’t lie once! I just stretched the truth a weeeee bit, but as long as I don’t lie, I should be safe in the future. From personal experience lying to your close ones just gets you tangled up in a mess. It’s always easier to hold onto a lie if most of it is the truth.

“… Why did you save me? I never did anything for you before, and I don’t have anything to offer you…”

Poor child. I bet no one has ever been nice to her before. “I do not need a reason to heal a child, nor do I expect anything from you. Children are the future, those who do not cherish the young truly are a lost cause. I cannot sit idly by as an innocent is dying when I could save them. All I expect from you is to live happily here.”

Now that is true. I would always save a child if I could, as long as it was within my power to.

“What do I owe you?”

…

“… You owe me nothing. But if you do want to repay me, treat your new brothers well. Protect them when you can, and rely on them when you are in danger. Since I’ve invited you to our family, we will all treat you as our family fully.”

Stubborn one. It looks like she’s thinking about something.

“Why did you change my hair? And my body feels different.”

… Shit. That makes me sound like some strange man that touched her body. Haha, I was hoping she wouldn’t ask me about this stuff and just accept them and go with the flow. If only she were easy going like that, but I guess I can work on that over time. What to do? Plead the fifth, claim ignorance? I can also claim that I can’t see, or don’t know what she’s talking about? Best ignore my worst thoughts and treat the question seriously, but vaguely!

“What changes? I cannot see like I used to, explain the differences that you feel.”

“I feel… strong, light, fast, my hair color changed, and somehow I feel I have a deep well of magic inside of me. And I think I’m taller.”

“Hmmm… When I cast my grand magic to save you, I used my knowledge and deep memory of times of old to guide it. I cannot see color, only energy, so I could not tell anything about your hair. Your body I healed along ancient memories, leaving your major features intact, but much was lost. I made up for you lack of good food when you were young, and repaired or replaced a lot of your tissues. I apologize, you were badly wounded and your body was twisted, I am sorry for failing to heal you normally. The magic, or mana, inside of you may have been changed due to my magic spell I used as well.”

I hope she buys it, and doesn’t learn that I just royally fucked with her DNA.

“Nononononono! It’s okay, in fact, it’s better! I was just wondering! I’ve never seen someone with this hair color, skin tone, or anyone as light as I am! Thank you!”

Success! … Wait a second. “What do you mean? No one you know has gold hair or skin as white as yours? Not even in your old stories?”

“That’s right! I must be the first! It’s awesome!”

“Let me ask you a few questions. How old are you?”

“16”

“And how old is the oldest person in your village?”

“Hmmm… I don’t know, but the great elder in our village is 60.”

…

…

“Is something wrong sir?”

“You can call me father, dad, or papa like your two brothers. I will not accept sir. Let me ask you another question. What makes you different than a human?”

“Ummmm… our ears? We can also run longer than them by a little bit, but that’s about it! Though I’ve only seen one before.”

Oooops. I… need to check my logs. What in the heck did I do? Did Elves in the sense that I know them not really exist here?

“What is your name and where are you from?”

“My name is Taeya! I’m from a village over that way, I don’t know exactly how far it is, but I don’t want to go back! They are mean to me!”

“Don’t worry, you will never have to see them again. That is your past, you need to look to your future.”

“… Ok, I’ll try. I’m hungry, do you have something for me to eat?”

Dang, she’s really resilient.

“If you walk over to my tree, you will find a fruit that I will give you. They are extremely healthy, and can refill your mana well. Just reach up towards one of my branches and I will grow one for you to eat. Jard and Torgue also eat these fruits. If you need anything, just shout my name loudly in your mind. I need to sleep some more. Take care, my daughter Taeya.”

Ok, looks like I have some breathing room now. Down to my to check out what in the world I did.

Let’s see…

…

Started Primordial Generation Spell

Spell becoming unstable - lack of information on local species

Information filled

Body reconstruction beginning

Species Divergence - New Species, named High Elf

Long lived, Blessed by Magic, Loved by Nature, Slow Growth, High Elvish Bones, Fair Skin, High Elvish Mana Control, Improved Thought Bestowed

Species Protection enabled for High Elf

Small Divinity acquired

…

Yupp, that’s what I thought. Zzzzzzz. Well, it was worth it! True elves are here now! Every fantasy needs true High Elves! Hopefully I won’t have to make dwarves too… If I’m gonna live in this fantasy world, I’ll make it MY fantasy world!

I wonder what is giving me?

——————————————————————————————————————————————————

Small Divinity Rank X

Given when the being has accomplished an act only Gods should be able to do. The fate of this being is now unseen to other Divine beings. Curses or Blessings by lesser beings are ineffective. Further acts on the level of Gods will improve your divinity level.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sweet! Fuck you gods! I’m free (Mostly)! Ah, this is exhilarating! I still have the damned [Destined to Die], but I’m on my way to being truly free! I have a way! I’ve changed my mind - if I see a Dwarf, might as well try to increase my Divinity by upgrading them too muahahahaha!

And now back out of my . I can’t speak more with Taeya for now, I did just put forth that whole acting about falling asleep haha. It looks like the three of them are having fun though - Taeya is running around again, getting chased by Jard and Torgue. Ha! And she’s actually slightly more nimble than them, she cut sharply to the left and made the two cubs to run into each other! And now she’s running toward my tree. Oh no, brace for it!

OWWWWWWWW! Damnit! I knew it, Jard and Torgue ran after her, only to have her push off of my trunk to change directions again, while Jard and Torgue used their claws to dig in and follow her. Sigh, being a father is hard. It hurts, but I shouldn’t stop their fun. After what’s she’s gone through, she needs these happy days to put her past behind her. Thankfully she’s a resilient one, I probably would have turned into a murderous madman if my past was like hers.

I should start making her a lesson plan to teach her magic. Both types of magic, Inherent magic that doesn’t use spells, and External magic that uses spell circles. Too bad I’m a novice in both really. All I have is the basic 1+1 = 2 for magic, and when I tried to solve an advanced calculus equation, I got it wrong, but instead of accepting that I got it wrong, I fucked with the equation itself until it worked. I doubt I would be able to do that again.

Now what should I do? I’m still investing almost all of my Growth Points into digging deeper and wider with my roots to expand my range of nutrient extraction. I’ve kind of put that on autopilot, if my roots encounter a metal they wrap around it and slowly pass it up along my roots. Water sources are continuously invaded and conquered, and old corpses and bones are trapped and sucked dry. I still have a bit of extra energy to play with, I might as well start expanding towards the village this girl came from. I can’t understand what she says, but I can at least understand her thoughts when she’s speaking with me. This way I’m killing two birds with one stone. One, I can learn a language, and two, I can learn more about this world.

— POV Taeya —

Poor guy. He can’t even talk with his two sons! Even if he messed up healing me, he’s shown me kindness and offered me a place to stay. I really cannot repay him… Even if I could, I’m not able to right now. Maybe in the future I can make it up to him.

I really like playing with Jard and Torgue. They are so much fun! And these big bugs are flying all around us!

I try to swat at them a little bit, but even with my quick speed I can’t even get close to them. They fly away each time, and come back shortly after like it’s a type of game! I was getting angry at first until I saw one fly onto Torgue and removed another bug from his fur. I guess they are alright - they aren’t trying to bite me like fleas were back at my old house.

Haha, one of them landed in my hair and is now right above my forehead! Another couple are landing on my arms and now they are all over the place! Even some of them are shooting little balls of magic! I don’t know how, but I can see the magic they are casting! Little bursts of Wind magic are coming out of them as they turn sharply, if I do that too I should be able to run faster and turn quicker!

— POV Mathias —

Well, it looks like she won’t have any problems with inherent magic… Geez, she’s just throwing out all kinds of magic with abandon. It’s not supposed to be that easy! Come on… Ha! At least she doesn’t know how to use her Natural Energy! I’m still useful! I can’t have my future protection leave yet! With her racial protection in play, she needs to stay near me so that I can benefit too!