“Underneath the ground thousands of roots slither around like snakes. They weave together in an intricate net.”

“The sound it makes is giving me goosebumps, and not the good kind.”

‘My roots move the ground.’

“You can speak while doing this?”

‘This is as simple as moving any of my limbs, they are apart of my internal mana.’

“The roots sphere of influence hasn’t increased but the density of mana in each section of roots has increased.

How this increases its power is by being easier to manipulate. This makes it easier to strike with precision and in this way the power is increased.”

‘I am ready.’

‘I’ll start then.’

“Untold formations embedded into the fabric come to life again. The spell attracts nearby creators.

No stone unturned, so to speak.”

“Don’t try to be clever.”

“The fabric holds many spell formations, perhaps too many. It can take decades to know them all, and a lifetime to actively use them.”

‘They are coming.’

“I have the feeling that wind should work against these stone creatures. But I’m not sure why I think that.”

“Bound by tradition or lead by misinformation, our hero speculates.”

“It’s not?”

‘Are you both prepared?’

‘I am ready.’

“Ye.”

“It might be a comforting notion to believe that one element overpowers another, but these are not realistic believes.

As all elements share the same origin, their power is the same. They are only different, some would use the word, advanced or complex to describe variation of mana.”

“That does make some sense, I guess.”

“Some would argue that water can weaken soil, that wind can cut through stone and fire melt it.

In the same way soil can consume water, it can rebound wind and resist the fire. This is not a show of weakness or strength, but levels of personal power.”

“Okay, but there is still a way to make taking these things down more efficient.”

“Only after experiencing the uncomfortable feeling of losing control and nearly wasting all his mana reserve, does our hero think of efficiency.

Before he can further his ideas and find a proper path he is interrupted by the shaking ground, and the thundering noise that follows.”

“I’m feeling a strong case of Dei jaw wu.”

‘Is this an illness? Can you fight?’

“I can fight, I can fight.”

“The rock creatures appear as before, clustered together, some rolling other gallantly striding forward.

Unlike before, Ji doesn’t wait for the cascading rocktide to meet Tréjörð’s barrier and starts sending out sphere, they are sixteen in total.

Before they meet the tide, Ji let’s go of his control of the ambient mana spheres and creates new ones.

This action causes the concentrated mana to lose all stability and it violently burst apart. The pieces do not retain their former power.

The initial impact isn’t clear as the there are too many individual rocks and their momentum is hard to stop, if one falters there are two other to take its place.”

“Is it working?”

‘It is working. Tréjörð they are about to enter your range.’

‘I am prepared.’

“Unlike our oblivious hero, Wraps of sorrow and despair has the presence of mind to observe the information log at their disposal.

In it is clear that Ji’s attack have wreaked havoc. The attack recklessly squanders ambient mana, but this is not unexpected.

What is unexpected its the viability of the action. Hundreds of stone creatures are destroyed, not knowing what caused their death.”

‘Rise!’

‘Go!’

“A similar scene occurs, the roots meet the tide and the roots, instead of going against the tide Tréjörð allows them to rip of the roots.

The earth moves with it and the roots that are dragged out are thicker and thicker before finally a small hill of roots and soil form a wall.

The rocks are left to climb the roots and stumbled upon each other, some buried by their companions.

It is in the precarious situation that Wrap’s fabric expands and begins using its formations to disorient the creatures, the dissension is devastating.

All this happens and our hero carelessly summons sphere after spear and flings them towards the tide.

The fight, while starting out dramatically, is now without any suspense.

Like before, Tréjörð needs time to rest and so does Wraps but Ji, master of mana, destroyer of rocks is left to gather the loot.”

“This is so much. How did Wraps do this so quickly.”

“With Wraps of sorrow and despair’s soft control it is easy for her to manipulate her fabric to collect the remains of this massive slaughter.”

“That’s bullshit. This will take me half the damn day.”

“On sundown our hero has settled down in Tréjörð’s tree. While not exhausted, natural fatigue settles in and everyone enters deep sleep.

Upon waking up, the items so far is split evenly between the group, with Ji taking all of the living stone, as it is only him requiring it.”

| Ji Aleksy. Elementalist. Mana fiend: Level Four-hundred-forty-two |

|Quest log|

|Optional: The reformed city|

“The ancient city of Heo has been reformed, but by who and how?”

Travel to the free city Heo and find out how the city was rebuilt.

Location: Portal room.

Difficulty: Medium

Reward: Tier appropriate item.

|Optional: Back to the grind|

“The prophet said to the wanderer ‘Swim against the water or be swallowed by the tide.’ The wanderer took this advice and escaped drowning.”

Travel to the appropriate wildlands and cull the malignant fiends scouring the land.

Location: Portal room.

Difficulty: Medium.

Reward: Tier appropriate weapon.

|Optional: Camp Sharpstone needs|

“Help those about to fall, for when you descend, they will catch you”

Gather seven-hundred tons of |Living rock|: 268.7/700

Gather ten |Solidified fire|: 0/10

Gather two thousand tons of |Vitalizing soil|: 0/2000

Gather sixty thousand gallons of |Stale water|: 0/6000

Location: Mer-erk mer-Erk wildlands, Camp Sharpstone

Difficulty: Medium.

Reward: Temporary buff last four hours after leaving camp.

Reward: Beginner crafting materials of your choosing.

|Special – Optional: Dying Deliverance, stones to sharpstone|

“When the restless rest. The still, from the ground break.”

Set a up a revival shrine at Camp Sharpstone.

Requires the hearts of one hundred different species: 23/100

Two hundred kilograms of |Living stone|: 15/200

Location: Mer-erk mer-Erk wildlands, Camp Sharpstone

Difficulty: Hard.

Reward: In case of fatality, revive at Camp Sharpstone. Two additional |Life offerings|

Reward: Title that provides improved |Camp Sharpstone buff|.

“The two fights gave about the same amount. Living stone looks like a problem though.”

“Due to the trio’s lacking harvesting abilities, majority of the materials go wasted.”

“I can’t be blamed for that. No one said anything about mining primordial beings.

Just saying it out loud makes it seem far fetched.”

“A quest such as this, is dependant on many things, for the most part is relies on momentum.

Returning a handsome amount of building material back to camp will in majority of cases, allow them to deposit even more for further credit.”

“It doesn’t say that anywhere. Where are you getting this information?”

“Not only this, but returning back is also crucial, if our hero and his companions are late arrivals, the intangible rewards will be lacking.

In this way, taking too much time will be detrimental and taking too short will only allow for mediocre returns. As the a grand portion of the quest requires long distance traveling.”

“This doesn’t seem fair at all.

Hey, did you guys know we can return more than what the quest is asking for?”

‘Are you sure? I’ve read both mine and Tréjörð’s quest log.’

“I’m pretty sure, not hundred percent. But. Well I mean I guess I trust my spirit guide.”

‘It is called a spirit guide?’

“Yes. A spirit guide, an inherited ability of the Aleksy family.”

“Once again the deceptive nature of our hero crawls to the surface. It is not an unsurprising to see him weave such deceits.”

‘Then should be collect more than we need?’

“I’m not saying that, It’s just an option.

If we can, we probably should. But we also can’t take too long.”

‘With our pace, we should be finished within a week.’

“Their grand scheme of luring hordes to their location has indeed granted them incredible progress.

Their current weakness is stamina. The incredible mana consumption is not easily regained.

Perhaps if they organize properly, they might be able to manage two assault in a single day.”

“Did you have another location ready, Wraps?”

‘We have three potential locations. We scouted them yesterday before you came out from your ’

‘There are too many of them, no matter where he looked, there are herds of rocks.’

“A part of the reason why people are sent out to collect materials is to make sure they won’t fall to the wrong side.

Even though corrupting a person, to changing their alignment towards the undying is difficult, it is not necessary. They can still use low intelligent lifeforms in other ways.

Not a great threat from these simple lifeforms, it’s the quantity, they have been allowed to procreate here for centuries now, their numbers can be in the millions.”

“I’m been thinking about a better area of effect ability. The scattered mana spheres are okay but not good enough.”

‘It’s not normal to casually create abilities, Ji. Have you studied basic spell books?’

“There are basic spell books?”

‘Hundreds.’

“What the, no one told me.”

‘There are public libraries that have them.’

“The two people were somewhat shocked that Ji hadn’t even read a basic spell book. As is proficiency in all things mana seemed at least comparable to them.

It is too absurd. To them it was never eating. Not knowing the basic of basics sounded ridiculous.

What they couldn’t know is the origin of our hero. His time had imaginative books, tv show, movies and drawings. He didn’t lack direction so to speak.”

“That’s true.”

‘You know about them?’

“Ah, no I, never mind. Ye, so basic skill books, huh?”

“The group is cooking a meal, they do not look like they are in a hurry to start a third slaughter.”

“I think the problem with the area skill is that the mana isn’t very useful for it.”

‘...’

‘...’

“With our hero cooking a meal, the two only sat and listened. Their minds entirely on the meal, Ji’s cooking skill has won them over.”

“I think the key is conversion. Maybe I just can’t control enough mana simultaneously to cover a larger area.”

“It is true that conversion has its purpose. Whether that purpose is to increase offensive capabilities is questionable.

The purpose of mana has never been destruction. Mana is instead a pillar of creation, of life.”

“Maybe if just squish it into a thin blade.”

‘Hey, the food.’

“The food is fine! Don’t worry about the food.”

“Our hero summons a sphere, it naturally wants to be a sphere, it is a good shape.”

“Like this.”

“The spear flattens out, a great plate, a circular plate.”

“And then stretch it out.”

‘Ji.’

“What? Is this wrong?”

‘The food.’

“The food is fine! It’s just boiling. It will boil like this for a few minutes, relax.”

“The flattened circular plate stretches to the sides. It is no longer a shape easy to maintain. But it holds steady.”

“It is feeling a bit wobbly. But I think i can keep it like this.”

‘What are you going to do with that? Can that do anything?’

“Give me a moment. I’m trying something.”

“The edge of the circle, if it can be called that, begin to see edges.”

“Treantrths, do you have anything I can cut?”

‘...’

‘...’

“Trenth?”

‘It is Tréjörð.’

“Fine, Trjejarth.”

‘Close. Here.’

“A large sturdy branch grows from Tréjörð and splinters off. This is not normal wood, it should be sturdier than the rock beings.”

“Thank you.”

“The edged flattened sphere shoots forward, the wood is cleaved in two.”

“This isn’t bad. This might work.”