Under Mia’s continuous instructions, as well as the use of virtual projections she kept bringing up to confirm over and over again with the three newly appointed ‘officials’, the Monument began taking shape. Sort of…

“It literally looks like a child which used rocks and logs prepared for a Jenga game...”

I still wasn’t able to get used to the way buildings were supposed to work in this new world. However, this time the groundwork was a bit more complicated. The stone materials were used to surround the wooden logs that were placed in an octagonal shape, giving the impression of a flight of stairs slowly ascending. The wood was separated into planks and created the previously mentioned hexagon, which by my estimations, was at least three meters wide and two meters tall for each of its eight faces.

I became slightly interested in seeing how exactly is the building going to develop under the influence of the World Tree.

[Michael! Big sister said you were looking for me. Did something happen?](Alexa)

“Hey! How did it go with the exercises?”

[Great! Laurence took over your position and guided us through some joint hunting, before which we did some mock fights. It was quite interesting!](Alexa)

“Glad to hear that. Have the others already begun working?”

[Yes! Big sis also sent Andrea and another four people to prepare the lunch given that there are only a couple of other hours left. Also, she dispatched Denise to create something called a sundial…](Mia)

“Great to know we’re on the same wavelength… I forgot about talking with Denise about that. Right! I have some questions about your Status Page, can you show it to me first?”

[Sure… Here.](Alexa)

Name

Alexandra Greenwood

Name

Value

Name

Value

Job Name

Level

Progress

Race

Elf

STR

83

Magic

183

Hero

9

80%

Sex

Female

DEX

114

Charm

95

Age

12 day

AGI

123

Luck

135

World

Midgard

END

88

Free Attribute Points +45

HP

842/842(+24.2/sec)

INT

146

MP

1330/1330(+39.9/sec)

WIS

172

Skill List Name Level Proficiency Grand Mage (passive) 1 0% Guardian of the Forest (passive) 3 75% Wind arcane magic (passive) MAX MAX Water arcane magic (passive) MAX MAX Under the banner (active) 1 0% Soldiers of the Forest (passive) 4 59% Mana manipulation MAX MAX Probability manipulation (passive) 3 16% Agent of Chaos (passive) 2 69% Limber(passive) 1 26% Blessings granted by the world: Blessing of the World Tree Blessing of the God of Chaos

I thought I prepared myself mentally for the shock, but WTF!? Those stats are absurd! I opened my mouth to say something, but when I met her beautiful eyes looking back at me, the words stopped in my throat and my mouth mechanically closed. Then I began opening and closing it again, probably looking like a fish.

Judging from her smug reaction, she was expecting this to happen.

“Once a cheat elf, always a cheat elf!” – I complained

[Hehe!](Alexa)

“Yeah, yeah! Tell me, did anything happen once your Agility or Dexterity reached 100 points?”

[Hmm… Oh yeah! There was that notification about my physique improving when I got the Agility to 100, but once Dexterity also caught up, it became a passive skill. The Limber one.] (Alexa)

Limber(Basic) Lvl 1

Your body movement limits have been continuously stretched and due to it, the flexibility you show has drastically improved.

Benefits: 10% increase in Movement Speed; 10% increase in Evasion rate.

I considered carefully the skill in front of my eyes and its ramifications. Since she already has the Wisdom, Magic and Intelligence attributes over 100 points, she should receive similar skills. Nevertheless, given that she already received growth similar like in the case of Agility and Dexterity attribute points through workout and food, there must be a different type of trick to it…

“Alexandra, add 5 Attribute points to Wisdom, Intelligence and Magic each.”

[Uhm… are you sure?](Alexa)

“Nope.”

[…(⊙o⊙) …](Alexa)

“Just do it! When we go in the dungeon you will level up anyway, so the free attribute points shouldn’t pose a problem.”

[Okay…](Alexa)

I waited but… judging from her expression which was similar to someone swallowing a thousand bugs, nothing good happened. I found that intriguing, so I made another push.

“Is okay love. Add another 10 points in each!”

[!!!](Alexa)

“Trust me!”

[…if nothing happens you and me will go dungeon diving together to recuperate those free attribute points! These are the last ones I have…](Alexa)

“Agreed!”

I could see small traces of the forming yandere, so I decided to tread carefully. However, a helping hand descended once more.

*GASP*

“I will take that as a good sign. Show me!”

[There are two new passive skills and one active…](Alexa)

“What!? Bring them up, quickly!”

Thought acceleration(Basic) LvL 1

A passive skill improving your mind’s ability to process information.

Benefits: 10% increase in information processing speed; 15% reduction in mana cost for skills Mana control(Basic) Lvl 1

A passive skill derived from Mana manipulation (acquired when Magic reaches 100 point value), Mana control is based on both the Magic and the Wisdom attribute and function as a signpost advertising a mage’s true strength.

Benefits: 10% increase in mana related skills damage; 10% decrease in mana cost for any mana related skills Emission(Basic) LvL 1

An active skill created after achieving Mana Control. Your body becomes able to manipulate and emit mana short distances away from it. The mana nature depends on what type of element the user is able to control.

The cost of the skill depends on the distance and time the user is willing to use it for. The damage inflicted depends on the level of mastery of both the element and the Emission skill, as well as the amount of mana used.

Current elements available to use: Water and Wind

I tried to breathe in and calm down, however I found that impossible. MAGIC! This girl became able to use magic! If she was strong before, she will become an absolute powerhouse now that wind and water can be bended to her will. Shieeeeet! I need to calm down!

"Huuuuu! Alright... let's give this a go love. Try and use the emission skill."

[Uhm... how?](Alexa)

"Eh!? What do you mean how? Aren't you supposed to like... know how to use them just like you are breathing?"

[That sounds stupid...](Alexa)

"Ahem! W...well, try to activate it and see what happens..."

[Okay... hmm... it is an odd feeling.](Alexa)

"What is? You already activated it?"

[Yeah. It feels like there is mist all around me and also part of me.](Alexa)

"So not everyone feels the need to shout the name of the skill to activate it... thank Reaper!"

"Try and focus on the mana inside your body and move it around."

[Understood! I will try, but don't have any expectations...](Alexa)

"If it's you, you should be able to do it easily..."

And almost as to prove my point, a slight breeze could be felt around us. I looked at Alexa and her eyebrows were frowned, almost locked together. It was obvious she was struggling with something.

"Talk to me! What's happening?"

[I don't know how to describe it... is like there are two colors and they are mixed. Each time I try to move them together, there is only a slight movement. Is as if they are fighting back.](Alexa)

"What colors?"

[Green and blue. There's also a darker color...](Alexa)

"Hmm... try and move them one at a time. Focus on the green colored one first."

[Okay.](Alexa)

With a 'whoosh' type of sound the entire wind in our surroundings stilled. Then a sudden gust almost threw me off my feet, expanding from Alexa's surroundings to everywhere else like a furious gale. Seems like she was successful.

[It used almost 100MP in just moving it slightly!?](Alexa)

"That's a good sign. Now focus and try to do something else... For example, focus on the green type of mana and gather it the palm of your hand."

Following my instructions, the gale stopped thrashing about everywhere and instead started blowing upwards due to the palm of her hand facing in that direction.

“Great! Now concentrate and try to make the wind rotate in a small ball. Make sure you keep it in control and keep rotating it…”

Seeing that it was actually doable, her eyes were sparkling with excitement. On my end, beside envy there were also feelings of pride. Who knew that reading so many novels would come in handy in coaching newbie mages?

In addition, the progress she was making was utterly astonishing, probably because of the arcane mastery she has for the wind element. The rapidly rotating wind began to be visible to the naked eye, while its speed kept increasing as well. It was becoming slightly dangerous.

“Now pick a target and throw the wind ball at it. Please don’t pick people…”

[Alright! Hmmmmmm… There!](Alexa)

With a shout the wind ball, or rather, the wind bullet that was the size of a tennis ball was literally thrown towards a log about 30 meters away. I didn’t know if I should laugh at the fact that she took my instructions literally and threw the wind ball like you would throw a rock at someone, or if I should commend her for having an arm that would put good pitchers back on Earth to shame.

However, the moment of impact my smile was completely erased. Why? Because the log was pretty much disintegrated…

“New rule! Never use that inside the camp…”

[Agreed… Oh! The Emission skill proficiency increased!](Alexa)

“Great! You can go and hunt since you can take care of yourself and there aren’t things that can harm you, especially now that you can use magic as well. Your goal is to get accustomed to both wind and water magic, but even more important, create three type of skills: the ones meant for attacking, the ones meant for defending and the ones meant for escaping. Once you have one of which, you can focus on adding more diversity. For example, create attacking methods that deal heavy damage to only one target, or ones that deal damage to big groups. If not, focus on attacking skills which deal damage in one shot, or some that deal damage over time. The most important thing you can try is to combine the water and wind magic. Always be careful of your remaining mana and do not overexert yourself. Got it?”

[Yup! Can I go now?](Alexa)

“Ugh… sure… go ahead…”

I had a really bad feeling seeing her ran with such haste and even the image of half of the forest being destroyed in the process of her ‘training’ flashed briefly in my mind.

Shaking my head and hoping for the best, I saw 100 pairs of eyes looking at me with stupefied expressions.

“Right… they saw that happen…”

“Alright people! As you saw Alexandra is able to control magic and I will tell you tonight at dinner how that happened. For now, let’s focus on …”

[Michael… we should take a break for lunch.](Mia)

“Hmm? Already? Oh! That little dimwit just ran off without eating first. Anyway, she should be fine for now. Okay everyone, let’s …”

And just as I was prepared to announce the lunch break, a loud explosion silenced the entire camp. Must I always be right!? What is that knucklehead doing to create that sort of sound already!!!

“… Ignore Alexandra going wild and let’s grab something to eat.” – I said defeated

There were snickers here and there, which I ignored as well and began eating with great gusto. I had to hand it to Andrea and her group… the food was amazing.

+3 Magic attribute points received! +1 Agility attribute point received! +1 Strength attribute point received!

Just like the gains after eating were. During the lunch conversation with all the present departments, reports were being made one after the other.

The Homeland Security unit reported increased activity on the side of the wolves, the Woodcutting unit reported their resource gains so far and the Mining unit reported successfully starting the mining of copper. On Stephanie’s side, the potatoes planting came along nicely and I received a full inventory list of the current food available in the Granary.

I said that I want to have fewer responsibilities, but I didn’t expect such efficiency from them given that they are new to this. Anyway, the squad responsible for the building of the Monument also reported through Denise that we are about halfway through its completion.

Everything was on point and after the meal ended, I entered the Town Hall to take a look at the interface.

Unfortunately there were no changes anywhere, so I brought up the Soul Points I currently had available and tried to see if I could upgrade some of the ‘officials’ I have promoted so far.

Funds: 4631 SP

Souls are used as currency in the 'Afterlife' game. Due to the impracticality of the souls being directly handed over to the players, each soul is under a contract with the proprietor, making matters more simple.

Upon deciding to use the souls to purchase population, the available numbers will be directly teleported to your world coordinates, at a designed location of your choosing. If you use them as currency in purchasing other items, the contract with the souls handed over is terminated.

In order to make things fair, all souls will begin at LvL 0 and each one can be converted into population of each sex, depending on the requirement of the player.

Soul Points can be gained either through birth of new population based on sexual interactions, or through daily accumulations.

Each member of the population provides a specific number of points on a daily basis, as follows:

LvL 0 - 1SP/day; LvL 6 - 100SP/day;

LvL 1 - 3SP/day; LvL 7 - 250SP/day;

LvL 2 - 5SP/day; LvL 8 - 500SP/day;

LvL 3 - 10SP/day; LvL 9 - 1000SP/day;

LvL 4 - 25SP/day; LvL 10 - 5000SP/day;

LvL 5 - 50SP/day; LvL MAX - 10000 SP/day.

Current funds growth: 649 SP/day

Judging from the previous cost and the current daily growth, I can afford one Soul Upgrade to Tier 2 each four days or so. Right now, I can create one Great Person and do the same tomorrow…

“The problem is which one of the officials should I focus on?”

Nick the Lumberjack and Gabriel the Miner do not require such upgrade yet, so there is no point in wasting scarce resources on them. Simone was already upgraded once through her skill so there might not be any difference if I upgrade her to Tier 2, therefore I wasn’t willing to gamble my few points away. Claudia… Claudia might become a mandatory existence for dungeon raids, so she was a good candidate. However, I said that only after all buildings are completed and I have some metal casted weapons and armors, would I start the second expedition. That means that, since there isn’t an immediate threat to the camp, I can postpone her promotion for later…

“Then there’s Anne and Stephanie. Oh, right! And Alice… That girl has so little presence that I tend to forget about her…”

With Alice… there haven’t been any accidents so far and again, I will only go dungeon diving over a week later. Therefore, I will also postpone her for now as well. Between Anne and Stephanie, given how urgent the crop production is and how important its successful growth is, I would prioritize her. So I could go with Stephanie today and Anne tomorrow… Regarding Laurence, I feel it is safer to let him develop on his own rather than forcing him.

“So I should promote Alice then…”

Alice Greenwood is currently at LvL 1 in soul refinement.

Cost to upgrade to LvL 2 - 2500 SP.

Due to effect of the miracle cost is reduced by 50%!

Would you like to proceed? Yes No

“Yes!”

Confirmation received!

Upgrading soul refinement Tier of Alice Greenwood to level 2!

“… Eh!? What the fuck did I just do!? Why did I upgrade Alice instead of Stephanie? This… “

Remembering Mia’s words regarding my ‘chaotic disposition’, I realized that once again, something outside my scope of understanding occurred. After all the rationalizing that I did, I still ended up selecting something else entirely. I felt like tears were accumulating in the corners of my eyes.

“Do I still need a brain? If the choices are taken away from me? Fuck! What use is a Tier 2 healer when nobody is hurt!!!!”