I activated the spell.

Five seconds later, all the ten monsters (counting the fused Skhites as single individuals) had turned into humans.

They laughed and yipped, touching themselves and their friends, shocked. Nora and Nadir and the other fused Skhites had turned into double headed humans. I realized that I would have to strictly use bachelor monsters in order to avoid arousing suspicion.

The other Skhites and Hornies who had been rejoicing the harvest too stopped dead and gaped at the small group of humans.

“You received some new ability?” Kiara said as she walked over to me, looking at the new humans.

“This one is the best I have received so far!” I said.

“Lucky you,” Kiara said. “All I have been receiving recently are lame abilities like changing my hair colour. What am I even supposed to do with that?”

“Save the money on hair dyes?” I said.

“That’s not funny!” Kiara said. “I am getting jealous of you and your spells.”

I shrugged.

“Tell that to the game world,” I said.

Inwardly I wondered if my staying in the game world for far longer periods than Kiara was the reason behind why I was getting the better spells. The best ability that Kiara had received so far was still her first one, the creature repelling spell.

“Um, Vicky?” Nora said. With all traces of her demonic truth gone, she could have easily mixed with the women walking in a busy street and I would have failed to identify her. “It’s definitely fascinating to turn into a human, but I would be happy to be a Skhite again.” The other monsters that had turned to humans expressed their agreement.

“Just give me a minute,” I said.

I then focused on Nora and Nadir to check their stats. What I saw blew me away.

Name: Nora and Nadir

Race: Human (fused)

Sex: Male and Female

Inclination: Players

So the new ability was so powerful that it could even change the inclination from Eviluns to Players? That was really surprising.

I stepped closer to the group of new humans. Being physically close to them, I could still sense an evil aura in them.

I rechecked the stats of the couple just to verify that I had not misread anything. I was in for a second surprise.

Name: Nora and Nadir

Race: Skhite (fused)

Sex: Male and Female

Inclination: Eviluns

Well, that was a disappointment. Had I read the stats wrong the first time?

I examined the details of the other monsters that I had turned into players. In a few minutes I realized that the new spell masked the stats of the monsters with fake information the first time I focused on them. But the second time the truth would be revealed.

Still it was a decent spell and would definitely come in handy.

Over the next few days it dawned on me that creating farms on the banks of the big river was the best thing that could possibly be done. No more farms would be built on the banks of the smaller stream.

The farms would be deep in evilun territory, to reduce the chances of players stumbling upon them. And on the rare event they chanced on the farms, my new spell would dupe them by fiddling with the true identities of the farm guards. That the players would double check the stats was unlikely. At least that much could be left to fate.

A single plant of the small farm had borne a black fruit, which had gotten us ten seeds. I took these to Queen Dieana. She was so ecstatic that she gave me two hundred seeds all for free.

But I noted a certain longing in the zombie queen’s eyes when she looked at me. A voice in my head advised that the queen’s intentions couldn’t be entirely trusted, and from the next time I should refrain from personally coming to ask for seeds.

In fact I hoped that my new farm at the big river would produce a surplus of black fruits, so I needn’t deal with the zombies again.

Intense work on the farm commenced. It was an obsession of mine. I would carry a pitchfork around, helping wherever I could, motivating my followers and getting tanned in the sun. My aspiration to return to the real world filled me with so much enthusiasm that I would hum tunes from favorite songs as the farm was being set up and the seeds were sowed.

The farm’s distance from the village was an issue. It was situated six kilometers away, and going there on foot took a lot of time.

Sometimes I would stay at the farm for weeks. It was simpler, even though I had to face the myriad of hiccups that came with a life out in the open. I slept on tree branches at night and dealt with birds dropping poop on my face multiple times a day. Let’s not forget mosquito bites. And the strong wind from the river gave me chills.

The days passed by. The Evil Crops shot up. The stench ridden stage came and went, so did the aromatic stage (imagine the sweet aroma of two hundred Evil Crops all at once! I was in Heaven!)

What was unbelievable most of all was that one hundred and ten of the plants were bearing black fruits! I was well aware that this scenario was an anomaly. A pure stroke of luck.

The day of reaping came. Half the populations of Skhites and Hornies came for the auspicious event. The monsters had never had so much Evilese in history.

I was certain that neutrality was just around the corner. Kiara and I leveled up. Her spell was pivotal for the farm’s success. She received an upgrade to the spell, which further lengthened the duration of its effect. She could now secure a farm once and needn’t bother again till harvest.

So what was next for us?

Another farm of course!

This time the monsters were as excited about farming as me, as was evident from the faith and trust levels which were soaring at an all time high.

This new farm was the first farm set up purely with homemade seeds The plants began to grow again. The stink abated and with great jubilation everyone welcomed the phase of honeyed aroma. It was also around this time that I left the village and settled at my new palace.

Everything was going fine.

But of course good times only last so long.

Disaster struck.