Everyone continued chatting amongst themselves. Gavin was just like Eliquis and stuck with me no matter how far away from the group I got. I wanted to play around and see what they would do if I sprinted away full force, but something else caught my attention. There were slight differences to everyone since I placed a bran on them.

Wait a minute. I know I didn’t get a good look at everyone but, there’s no way in hell Rigurd was that jacked before. And did Gary always have that birthmark on his neck? Huh? Liora has horns? I mean, they’re tiny but clearly there’s horns there. What the hell? Wait a minute. Demi-humans are treated as humans in regards to corruption, and when a monster gets corrupted it changes race immediately. Does this mean people change races? What about Eliquis and Gavin. Well, I guess Gavin is acting more like a dog…. Ah, crap. So the recent change in Eliquis is because of the system? But what made her more clingy? Clearly cats aren’t like that...are they?

I scratched my head trying to figure everything out, but I kept coming up with blanks since I didn’t understand the whole corruption thing to begin with. I sighed and leaned back, filing this information as things to investigate later on.

“Baby steps, Garem. You don’t need to figure it all out in one day,” I reminded myself. “Okay, well the suns getting low, so if you guys wanna eat, now would be the time to cook. Otherwise, get some rest.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ok, what the hell just happened? How long was I out for? I thought to myself as I got up off of the ground. Apparently if my HP hits one I pass out? Good to know, but seriously, what he hell just happened? I kept trying to think back to the previous sixty seconds that had just passed, but it was all a blur. Ok so I watched Rigurd take on the slimes in a mock battle. He could take on seven as long as they didn’t transform to hinder him, but only four if they did. Then he explained that if the slimes didn’t transform, they were about half as strong as a soldier. Pretty decent information. So if I were to fight the army, I would need to pair three of them to beat one soldier. Then after that, he challenged me to a fight and… I lost. Horribly, at that. No matter which direction I attacked from, he was able to disarm my mana blades and kept whittling down my HP even as I was blocking and parrying. And then eventually I passed out. All of this took less than sixty seconds, but how long was I out for? Its pitch black out.

“Oh, boss man’s awake,” Gary said, getting the attention of Rigurd.

I groaned in pain as I sat up and looked over at Rigurd. “‘Kay. Who are you?”

“Nothin’ special. I used to serve in the army, though. However, my platoon lost a battle for the first time, and they put a collar on me, then sold me. All my time in the service until then meant nothing, I guess. Anyways, I’m a hell’ot stronger than when I was serving, now. So, feel free to rely on me.”

“Well, if you insist,” I looked over to where Josh and Alex were staring off into the distance. “You can take them under your wing and make them more alive, I guess. Oh, you should probably take a few others to keep raising your levels, I guess.”

“Yeah, I can do that. What about you?”

“I’ve got a few things to test out with this corruption ability. I’ll answer your question tomorrow, I guess.” I rubbed the side of my head and winced in pain. He got me pretty good, I guess.

I decided to take advantage of the time and made some more CMP before heading off to sleep. And when I awoke, I found an Eliquis next to me, curled up. Obviously, I woke her up by tossing her outside to the spider. Spider, you’re the best!

“You’re cruel,” Mary whispered from behind me, watching the whole event play out. But I didn’t really care. This was getting old and annoying days ago. At this point, It’s taking everything I’ve got to stop myself from ordering the spider to chase her around.

My CMP was gathering nicely. I had well over 200, and my black cloak was pretty full. So, now other parts of my body were being covered in the black solid-viscous-liquid- type of substance that CMP was. I had fingerless gloves, and a belt-like mask, as well as boots and a sleeve. Yes, a random sleeve on my left arm- not even a full shirt. What the hell am I turning into? And why is the sleeve forming before the shirt? Questions for later. Experiment time.

It didn’t take long to decide our marching order but before we did, I learned that I could send small messages to everyone the same way I could the monsters- and they could do the same! Oh, this was going to be nice and easy. The problem was they couldn’t send messages to each other. I really want to level my Fighter class, but Freelancer seems to be the only one that boosts my corruption-based abilities. I’ll have to stick to this for now and maybe I can find a way to have them communicate silently later on.

It was decided that Rigurd was not only taking Alex and Josh, but also Fayne, Gavin and Bellamort. They will be taking two amus and traveling by carriage to the forest that me and Eliquis came from. I also sent two slimes with them, just in case. I would be taking a carriage with two amus, K, two slimes, the dryad, Will, Gary, Luna and Eliquis with me to run some experiments. I handed over some money to Liora that wanted to go procure some supplies. She only took a single amu with her and left Mayrne and Mary behind to watch over the camp. For some reason, the spider headed off to the woods with four slimes. I guess it’s gonna try raising its level a bit? Or maybe it's just hunting?

Anyways, I traveled along the forest towards the theanthropic village that Ayesha had previously told me to avoid. Luckily, we didn’t have to get too close to the village. We found the end of the woods and in that area was a nice lush green-blue scenery with a brooke running through it. Off in the distance to my left, at about five hundred meters was the woods. Six hundred meters to my front was a cliff, where the brook ran from my right to right in front of me, then turning in that direction. I guess there was some sort of waterfall. And to my right was nothing for over three kilometers or so. We had traveled only about ten kilometers to this spot and it was empty of anything and everything.

So tranquil and peaceful here. ‘Kay, time to wreck it.

I took note of our current position according to the sun. The cliff was southeast, woods northwest, our camp due west, and nothing- absolutely nothing from west to northeast. Plenty of areas to test. I had the amus park the carriage a few meters north of the brooke and I traveled to the south a bit and then began testing.

“[Land Corruption I],” I said the name of the skill and five black orbs came from my belt-like mask and dropped onto the ground.

The orbs began circling outwards until they made a black flame-like barrier from their speed, in a ten meter circle, then wrapped the entire ground in black...liquid? No more like black slime material, but it also seeped into the ground. Huh? I wonder how deep the corruption goes?

As I was watching the entire scene play out, a menu came up in front of me. Oh? Initial Land Customization Menu? Let’s see, changing the shape costs nothing. Making it more fertile costs four MP. Oh, looks like I can only do that option twice at this level. Oh and it doesn’t take any MP until I confirm the changes? Ok, let’s remove that option for now and keep looking at what else I can do. OH?!?!?! I can make it float? Costs one MP per minute per meter. So I would need to have ten MPR per meter I want this thing at? That’s rough. Oh, interesting, Material composition? OH!!!!!! And here I thought we would be out of money in a few days. I’ll have to do this later. For now, let’s just test maximum fertilization, since nothing else can be done with my low MP. Ugh, maybe I shouldn’t have made so much CMP on the way here. Having three MP is kinda rough.

I leaned over as nausea took over, but the deed was done. The land was no longer surrounded by black flames, but instead, had a black heugh to it. It looked slightly majestic- to me anyways. It seemed like Luna was petrified of the look, but it's not like I cared what she thought anyways. So useless. Alright, let’s see what happens now. Dryad don’t fail me today!

I walked over to the corrupted land and let the dryad onto it. It took a lot of thought, but for the experiments, I figured there were only two kills that would suit it. The first was [Photosynthesis I]. Not only did it give the dryad experience points every six minutes it was in the sun, it also increased its MPR by two. And, eventually it would level up, so getting the base skill now was important. The second skill was obviously [Land Manipulation I]. This test proved that I only get one chance to customize the land. But the dryad would be able to manipulate it using MP afterwards.

Alright, so basically it can only manipulate one square meter at a time for three MP. That’s fine since it can recover four at a time now. I had Will and Gary plant a bunch of seeds in the soil from some vegetables that we had eaten last night and then had the dryad finish turning the land from a circle into a square. Alright, so once its MP is refreshed, I’ll have it try growing those seeds and see how far it can get in a few hours. So, onto the next project.

This time I created a square to start and did it about twenty meters away from the dryad, just so I can keep going without worrying about accidentally blocking some sunlight. However, this time I had the slimes and amus cut a few trees down and drag them over into the area. Now, let’s see. First, let’s change the shape to a cube. Alright, and now material composition. I see. So I can choose between different metals or stones and the amount created depends on what I’m trying to create. I guess there’s some sort of criteria to learn here. But now I know that I can manipulate anything on top of the square as well- i can create wooden planks.

Okay, Garem, focus. We’re going to need a base. I guess the best way to do this would be… heh, guess I’m going for it. I created lumber planks, some nails, and granite stone blocks as well as some lime. There wasn’t much and this was going to take well over six hundred CMP- but I could just go level up to increase my maximum MP later on. I was getting tired of sleeping in a cave anyways.

“So, guys. What do you know about making a fort?” I asked Will and Gary while pointing at the pile of materials that ended up next to a five meter ditch.

“A fort? Uh, I guess it can’t be that difficult…” Gary muttered. Will on the other hand looked in shock, like he wasn’t expecting to be forced to build something so difficult.

“No need to make it complicated,” I explained. Just make it so that there’s no basement- we can add that later on. Um… I guess also make it so we can add on to it later on if I want to- oh and make it have like a huge eating area and at least twenty rooms to sleep in.”

“Are you planning on building a kingdom here?” Gary asked.

“Nope. It’s just for experiment purposes in the future but let’s say um… Where the dryad is will be in the back courtyard, and the front on the opposite side. Oh, I guess I should do something about that ditch I created- wait what?”

Originally, my ability created an area of ten meters by ten meters by five meters. All materials created would be moved to the side of the area that was corrupted, leaving a five meter deep ditch in its place. But, when I wasn’t looking, the ground...replaced what was lost- perfectly too.

What the hell? Wait, so if I corrupt something that’s not living, it gets replaced? Who’s replacing it? Hold up. Hold up. It’s like...my corruption is taking things away from life and changing them, then the planet just replaces what was lost, as if healing itself. Does the same apply for living things? I think I will pretend to not notice this and observe for a while longer. Luckily, material composition only costs five MP and it takes a while for the slimes and amus to bring back materials.

But at some point I will have to go level up or something. I am going to run out of CMP before testing everything possible. Oh, and I gotta train and level up Luna as well? What a pain. Whatever, I’ll just threaten to feed her to the spider if she gives sub par results- and I’ll remind her that the bar is very low to begin with. Let’s see how she reacts to that.

It was just before midday when I had to stop making materials. I was laying on my back, panting. I underestimated the mental strain of using MP. Over and over and over again, I corrupted the land. Twenty-three times after my first two tests. I was beat. Eliquis and Luna had finished filling up our five ten liter water jugs from the brooke. But they had to go upstream where the current was much faster and the water was visibly cleaner. They also brought water to the field that the dryad was working on and we were able to harvest all but three sections already. But what I did find out was that the dryad was unable to manipulate any land that wasn’t corrupted by me, and once we harvested crops, the land was no longer corrupted. Lots of questions, but I’m just way too mentally drained to deal with them.

Well, at least I used enough CMP to get rid of that sleeve and mask. The only problem is that I also lost a decent chunk of my jacket too. I was actually enjoying that. I glanced over at my status and saw that my MP had recovered to eighteen, so I created two more CMP since I can make two with ten MP now. I’ve gotta do this another eight times to finish making my coat.

I sat up and watched Will and Gary direct the slimes in building the support beams and foundation of the fort. Yup, this is gonna take a few days at this rate. Better go level up. I pushed myself off the ground and told Will and Gary that I would be back in a few hours- once I was able to get back on my feet. Then I dragged the dryad, Eliquis and Luna off with me towards the woods. Like Eliquis, both Gavin and Luna had the rogue class. So, I decided that taking the amus would make up from the lack of damage that they brought to the fight. K also followed along. It was like he was determined to stay within a certain distance of me at all times- unlike Eliquis that couldn’t stay even one meter away.

“Let's try to not fight more than three monsters at once. Otherwise one of us is gonna die.” I said leading the march into the woods.

Three! Three monsters! Such a simple number. How did Luna manage to mess that up?!?!

We weren’t even in the woods for more than ten minutes when Luna somehow stumbled upon a fire ant nest. Fire ants- they literally breathe fire, they’re about half the size of the spider, and their colonies have about two hundred of these bastards underground. The only saving grace is that their fire breath only reaches about half a meter and they’re pretty slow.

BUT HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO MESS UP?!?!?! I thought to myself as I dashed to the side of a fire ant that shot out some flames, and chopped its head off lazily with a mana blade. There were currently only twenty or so of these things above ground, but every time we killed one, two more took their place. We were slowly being pushed back. However, back was further into the woods and I wasn’t stupid enough to keep going in that direction.

I began flinging my mana blades towards the ants on my right, and signaled for one of the amus to grab the useless girl, then the rest of us dashed towards the right, and prepared to put up a stand- being backed towards a different edge of the woods. I only killed three of the ants by throwing eight mana blades, but that was just enough to reposition ourselves.

“Luna, this is way more than three. I swear, I will feed you to the spider if any of my amus die from this!” I yelled as I thrust a mana blade into the first fire ant that came within range.

“I’m sorry!” Luna squealed, diving under two different fire breaths, then scrambled to her feet to stab a different one in the eye with her dagger.

“Sorry?!” Eliquis asked while jumping down from a tree, landing on the back of a fire ant, knife first, then quickly rolled off of it and stabbed another one before being pulled back to a safe distance by an amu. “Apologize with your life! These are almost as bad as the spider!”

“Oi! My spider is a beautiful and well behaved girl! Don’t go insulting her like that!” I took out my anger on three more fire ants, trying to imitate the foot work that Rigurd showed last night.

Position my feet inwards, lean, lift up one leg and slide. There. Oh, this is pretty simple when you get the hang of it. Makes dodging so much easier. Oh, this is how he got around my attacks so quickly.

We hacked and slashed, the amus kicked rocks and slowly we backed out of the territory of the fire ants without dying. However not all of us came out unscathed. K was wounded pretty badly and was barely able to keep his human appearance. I mean, he just looked like a watery silhouette of a human. And Eliquis had her tail singed in four places. She kept looking at her tail with tears in her eyes as we rode the amus back to the fort that was being constructed. We rode in silence, but the air was heavy and everyone’s frustration was directed at Luna.

“Alright. Tomorrow, Luna goes with Rigurd and Fayne comes with us,” I glared at Luna.

“I said I’m sorry.”

“And? I lost plenty of potential levels today because of your mistake. AND, we didn’t even get a chance to collect our spoils!”

“Well, I gained a few levels,” Eliquis said raising her hand.

“I don’t care right now. Luna probably leveled up too, but I only got one level. ONE!” I clicked my tongue and glared back at the woods. “Twenty-two of those bastards only give one level. If we want to experience that again, we’re gonna need like another ten of us. Anyways, how’s K?”

“He turned back into a slime. I folded his clothes and put them in the carriage with him,” Eliquis reported.

Damn. So when a slimes HP drops below five they lose the ability to use any of their abilities. He held out for a while tho, I’ll give him that.

I let the dryad plant itself at the fields it was working on before and sighed. Why is that forest so dangerous? I don’t understand. Everything in there is so vicious, yet none of the monsters attack each other. In fact, they help each one another attack us. What’s going on with that place?

“Some’n on yer mind?” Will asked.

I considered bouncing some ideas off of him, but instead, just answered him with a wave of my hand. Then I went back to making more materials from my land corruption ability. I can think about that later. Right now, I only have thirteen days to prepare to save what can be saved, then the rest will die. But their deaths are not my problem. I just need to focus on what can be done and ignore the rest. But even that’s difficult. Unless Rigurd can make Josh and Alex useful, there will only be seven of us and eleven slimes for the operation. The slimes may be useful, but they’re not strong enough to rely on for this. Wait, is that why the spider is trying so hard to level up the slimes? Whatever. I just need to focus on making enough materials so the slimes have something to do tonight.