Chapter 253: More Tree's

After recovering what beast cores and valuable body parts they could before they drifted too far into the depths of space, they turned their attention to the cracked-open asteroid. The interior was mostly hollowed out, revealing countless chambers filled with eggs. Aspected mana gems and ore lined the walls where the Viccai hadn't yet excavated, their nest reinforced by the natural sturdiness of the mineral shell.

"I swear, if it weren’t for all these gross eggs, this would actually be pretty beautiful," Alistair remarked, letting his senses sweep through the chambers as he explored.

"Uh-huh," Riseth murmured, distracted.

Alistair turned to check on her and found her staring up at an egg much larger than the rest. It was surrounded by several other oversized eggs, though none quite as massive as the central one.

"Another matriarch in the making?" he suggested.

"I think so," Riseth mused. "Perhaps we should gather up the eggs. We could resettle them somewhere we want them to be a nuisance."

Alistair hummed in consideration. "I think that's a good call. Maybe our beastmasters can find other uses for them—make it a more controlled threat."

"Our very own bio-weapons," Riseth mused.

"I don’t know… is it really our first?" Alistair questioned. "Some of the stuff our alchemists have been working on is about as sketchy as your cursed eldritch spike."

Riseth waved him off with a smile of her own as she began collecting the eggs. "We sold it, just let it go and help me collect our new bio-weapon."

Once they had gathered and consolidated the eggs into a single storage subspace, they turned their attention to the exposed ore and mana gems.

"This is a pretty good place to practice some of our gathering skills," Alistair noted. "Sotarr hinted we should get those sorted before our next grade, since we don’t have many good ones. I only really have Survivalist that could still be converted, and its suboptimal stealth aspects make it a pain to upgrade."

"Yeah," Riseth agreed as she stored the last of the eggs, a greedy glint still in her eyes. "Alright, let's get started then."

She stretched, casting a glance toward the horizon. "I'd like to make planetfall on that nice coastline on the western continent before nightfall."

"You got it," Alistair said with a nod.

Turning away, he made his way toward a thick cluster of gems in one of the smaller chambers. He had chosen not to pick up Survivalist, despite its potential to improve material gathering and reduce the risk of damaging the gems. It had been one of his earliest skill options—one he’d unlocked shortly before meeting Riseth—but he had never actually taken it.

While Survivalist could have been useful, its stealth and camouflage aspects made it a hassle to upgrade properly, and he saw no point in wasting skill points on something that didn’t fit his combat style.

Instead, he planned to acquire three specialized skills—one for gems and ore, another for plants and naturally growing treasures, and a third for monster cores and parts. While they would have some overlap, Alistair was satisfied with his approach. Even with a clan backing him, having expertise in these skills would allow him to determine which parts were worth salvaging. His Kinetic and Force-based attacks often left bodies mangled beyond recognition, and while most beast corpses weren’t particularly valuable, wasting potential resources still bothered him.

The last skill wouldn’t require much investment, as he had already begun refining it through the Core Collecting skill, which had upgraded a while ago from the Trash tier to Rare tier, causing it to rename itself to Beast Harvester.

Skills:

Tier: [Rare]

Skill Name: Beast Harvester

Description: When collecting cores from monsters and beasts, the user absorbs residual energies to enhance the core’s quality and size with moderate efficiency. Slightly reduces damage inflicted on valuable parts during combat.

He lamented the wasted skill slot—by now, they were far more valuable than the skill points themselves, as the system’s assistance was limited to skill options he had already obtained. Part of him even regretted merging Botanist Proficiency with Appraisal; he could have repurposed the former, and the latter would have eventually upgraded on its own.

Carefully, he used his Telekinesis and Force magic to extract the gems, relying on his senses and precise control to avoid cracking or damaging them as he pulled them from the asteroid’s walls. His gathering skills would be built around Telekinesis—it suited his affinities too well to ignore. He already envisioned the day when he could extract ores, gems, and plants en masse without damaging them, streamlining the entire process.

For now, it was a slow, meticulous task, but he found it was excellent practice for his Control statistic.

It took him and Riseth the better part of an hour to extract the ore and gems, but with each attempt, Alistair’s technique improved. He developed a better sense of how to feel out the materials—understanding how they were submerged in the rock and the precise way to extract them cleanly without fractures. Though it was still inconsistent, he occasionally managed to pull them free in a single seamless motion before storing them away.

"If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re being a bit extra using Telekinesis like that," Riseth remarked, storing another batch of ore. "But I get the feeling that once we reach higher grades, you’ll just sweep your hand and extract everything in seconds instead of us wasting an hour on this."

"That's the plan," Alistair quipped as he extracted the last of the ore.

With their haul secured, they flew clear of the asteroid belt and brought out the Artemis for the short trip to the planet—a lush green marble with vast oceans and a coastline lined with a striking mix of white and black sand beaches. They set down on one of the more open shores of the western continent, scattering a flock of large, bird-like creatures as they descended.

Once he disembarked, Alistair watched as Riseth pulled out a pair of padded sun chairs, setting them in the soft sand before dropping into one with a satisfied sigh. The sun hung low in the sky, the horizon tinged with warm hues.

Alistair smiled, welcoming the break as he settled into the other chair. Sunset was still a while off, and for now, he let himself relax—soaking in the rhythmic crash of the waves, the salty breeze, and the scent of the tropics.

Riseth flicked her hand, storing the Artemis again, though he caught the small frown on her face.

"Something bothering you?" Alistair asked.

"I smell a treasure nearby but don’t want to get up," Riseth muttered.

Alistair snickered, letting his senses sweep the area, but whatever she was picking up was outside his Conceptual Awareness range. He did, however, note the distinct pull of at least one dungeon nearby through his Dungeon Sense and could tell there were at least two more somewhere else on the planet.

"Can’t help your greedy ass with that," he said, leaning back. "Just relax—we don’t need to grab every treasure. If it’s lasted this long, it’ll last a little longer."

Riseth pouted, but Alistair reached out and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. She sighed, then smiled, finally settling in as they watched the sun sink into a breathtaking sunset.

They spent the next week scouring the planet, cataloging valuable treasures and beasts while honing their gathering skills. At the same time, they searched for the ever-elusive dungeons. The first they found turned out to be a rather dull, low-intelligence jungle dungeon—its only redeeming quality being that it was instanced, meaning they could harvest an entire forest’s worth of wood without consequence. Unfortunately, the wood itself wasn’t particularly valuable or high-tier, limiting its usefulness. Still, clearing the dungeon earned them a free skill point, adding to their growing reserve of unspent points.

It wasn’t until they found the second dungeon that things got truly interesting.

The first thing Alistair noticed upon entering was that Riseth wasn’t at the entrance—another instanced dungeon. The second was the mana density. Based on the [Rhokdall Boar - Lvl 149] he spotted in the distance beneath the colossal trees stretching into a vast forest, the dungeon's ambient mana was hovering at mid-grade 8. That alone made it a promising training ground for many of their up-and-coming elites.

Stepping back through the portal, he found Riseth already waiting outside.

"Another instanced one," she noted, arms crossed. "And this time, a decently strong one."

"Yeah, but it’s another forested dungeon," Alistair said, glancing back at the entrance.

Riseth shrugged. "At least the trees are huge and a bit higher tier. Depending on the monsters inside, it might be worth farming this place."

"Maybe," Alistair mused as he extended his hand for her to take, "The boars might taste good, and with their levels, they could make for solid training."

They re-entered the dungeon hand in hand so they wouldn't be separated again and found themselves back in front of the forest of humongous trees, the boars still idly eating and patroling the thick layer of leaves, trotting down paths of displaced and composting leaves that seemed to further nourish the growth of the trees.

Hunting the boars was a cinch, given the level difference, and as they continued exploring the forest, they stored the bodies while also going out of their way to capture a few breeding pairs—just in case.

"The dungeon doesn’t seem completely unintelligent. If it was staring at us any harder, we’d probably have a hole in the back of our skulls," Riseth commented over the Akashic Link.

"I dunno. Just watching us isn’t much of an indicator—it just means it’s aware of us and paying attention to our actions," Alistair replied through the Akashic Link. "I’ll stay skeptical until it throws something more interesting than boars at us."

As if it had heard him, Alistair’s head snapped up just in time to see what looked like a teddy bear—if teddy bears had shark-like mouths filled with glowing, razor-sharp teeth—plummeting toward them at incredible speed. He jumped back, letting the creature chomp down onto the leaf-covered dirt.

They hadn’t gotten much warning before more of the unsettling little beasts descended, dropping like meteors. What interested Alistair most, however, was their ability to not only shift their density but also manipulate gravity, allowing them to accelerate into devastating impacts. The ground shook as they punched deep holes into the earth, their tiny legs waving frantically as they struggled to free themselves from the craters they had buried themselves in.

Alistair stared at the silly yet unsettling creatures in mild confusion before catching himself and using Identify, which spat out [Mawling - Lvl 155]. Shaking his head, he stepped up to one of the brown-furred beasts that hadn’t buried itself too deep and grabbed it by its stumpy leg. The sheer weight from its increased density was incredible, but with his affinities, he managed to yank it free with a bit of effort.

The creature immediately began snarling and snapping at him, its shark-like maw lined with glowing, razor-sharp teeth. Unfortunately for it, its reach was just short, and Alistair easily kept it at arm’s length.

Riseth snickered as she eyed the flailing Mawling. "Maybe this dungeon has a good sense of humor?" she suggested, barely holding back her laughter.

Its small, beady eyes burned with hate and bloodlust—typical for dungeon monsters that prey on delvers—but Alistair still found it hard to take the creature seriously.

"Either way, these are great," he said over the Akashic Link. "Their cores are bound to hold density or gravity concepts, both incredibly useful. We should check out the rest of this dungeon and get some teams to start farming it."

Realizing that biting him was futile, the Mawling switched tactics, attempting to crush him with its Gravity magic. Alistair barely felt the impact.

Alistair tsked, slightly annoyed that he still lacked some of his weapons. With Denodia still busy working on Forging Tides and his new weapon-in-the-making, he was forced to rely on one of his spare blades.

In one swift motion, he beheaded the creature—though that did little to stop it from snapping at him. Before it could use gravity to move its severed head, he stomped down, crushing it completely, killing it, before storing the body.

Riseth raised her eyebrows as she looked at her blood-splattered boots. "Could you do it a little cleaner?" she requested before casually driving her blade into another Mawling still embedded in the ground.

"I’ll try," Alistair replied with a shake of his head. "But I already feel weird killing these things—it’s like massacring possessed teddy bears."

-----------

Index

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter