World Seed: New Rules

by Justin Miller

  No… My armor… was stolen… Nooo!! I clenched my fists tightly, I liked that armor! It was awesome! Though, if I wanted to, I could easily go kill another Great Boa with my current strength most likely. But, I wasn’t even sure if there were any on this planet, which made that I difficult challenge. “I see… do you happen to know somewhere I could get a replacement..? Would rather not wander around without any protection.”

  And note to self, from now on stick all important gear in inventory or grove before logging out.

  The woman nodded her head. “There are a few different shops you could visit to get gear in the city. Once you are discharged, you can find a terminal to view the map.”

  I nodded my head slightly. “Alright, and do you know anywhere I could access the online network? There’s some information I need to look up.”

  “If it’s just to look up information, any terminal would do. However, you should visit a software library if you’re wanting to download something for your companion.” The nurse smiled at me.

  “Thanks.. and, when can I get discharged?” I honestly didn’t want to look up new software for right now, but I did want to look up more information on slimes and elementals.

  “Normally, if someone was unconscious for over two weeks, we’d ask them to stay for a couple of days to monitor their recovery. However, it was almost like your body didn’t require any food or water, and is still in perfect condition. We couldn’t find the trace of any particular blessing on you, but it was still remarkable. Given that, I think the doctors will agree to go ahead and let you out.”

  I smiled and thanked her again, and she went to speak with the doctors. Within another half hour, I had been released from the hospital, and was even given a basic set of clothes to wear since my initial set had been practically ruined by combat, and my armor was missing. For the first time, I noticed that I was actually in shape now, and had entirely worked off the gut I had when I first started playing the game. Small miracles do happen..

  Once I was out of the hospital, Celeste appeared at my wrist, giggling slightly. “Well, should have expected something like this to happen. Though, now we know for the future, right?” She smiled up at me innocently, and all I could do was sigh in response.

  Moving over towards the nearest terminal, I did several searches to get information. I was tempted to use my eye and just record everything relevant, but trusting the terminal to decide what was relevant without asking for my input would be a bit much. And every second wasted trying to tell the terminal what to pull up would be precious mana wasted.

  First of all, I pulled up information regarding wind elementals so that I could help Tessa, in case it was impossible for her to change her race back the normal way. Aside from what I had already known, there were a few important bits of information.

  Wind elementals, like most, were incredibly difficult to kill because they could freely move their core around within their body and hide it from view. This meant that, at the very least, nobody should easily be able to hurt her. That part put me at ease a little bit while I continued looking for information.

  The next tidbit was about her creating a human body. Like my mom had said, at level thirty they are able to create a semi-solid form, like a mirage body. Aside from solids like earth elementals, I suspected that that was a universal trait. Once they reached level fifty, they could start practicing with making a fully solid body.

  Unfortunately, I had no intention of waiting for Tessa to level up to fifty. Who knew how long that might take? Weeks, months? If she wasn’t able to change her race, I’d train until I was able to do it for her.

  With my research on Tessa taken care of, I moved on to researching slimes, in particular advanced water slimes like Yo. From what the terminal told me, advanced water slimes were stronger, smarter, and pretty much better in every way compared to their normal version. They had a higher chance to evolve into a sentient race known as slime people, and even other cool evolutions. However, the only way to get an advanced slime was to have it take in the essence of a living creature as it is being born. I was rather surprised the drop of blood I used had such an effect.

  For example, the highest form of a water slime was known as an ocean slime. This was a rather terrifying thought, honestly, because a single slime could potentially control the entire ocean! Once in the water, they’d be able to control it as if it were their own body. I couldn’t imagine trying to take on something like that with anything short of planetary destruction. Apparently, when I had been fighting the water slime before, it had taken in the dark mana I was using to attack it, and forced an evolution in an attempt to save itself.

  On the path to sentience, they are able to turn into ‘mimic’ slimes, which can copy the physical shapes of objects or creatures. I asked, and they don’t make very good weapons. Can you imagine trying to hit someone with a sword made of jello? It’d be about the same thing. They do make great armor, though! And after they gain enough intelligence, they get their evolution to slime people.

  Finally, when looking up the special abilities of water slimes, I found something rather interesting. Similar to plant slimes, it is possible to create various potions by feeding the ingredients to a water slime, and having it secrete the finished potion. The amount of potion depends on the size and strength of the slime, but generally will not exceed medium quality. That means I could feed it some blood weed and fireflower petals, and have a walking(rolling) health potion!

  With that taken care of, I moved on to looking for information about my birds, and the evolution paths they could end up taking. For Yin, my ideal evolution would be achieved if she kept focusing on training her Wind Affinity before leveling up, because then she could evolve into a Windslayer. From what the terminal said, a windslayer is a powerful magical beast able to control the wind. However, it required Wind Affinity to reach 30% before level 20 in order for it to evolve that way.

  If it did evolve into a Windslayer, then it would gain other evolutions for either focusing on Wind Affinity, or branching out into other elements. I was really hoping to get this path, but I didn’t want to look up the information in case I wasn’t able to get it. That would just be teasing myself, which I have already done enough of.

  Now, if they got to level twenty before getting the required amount of Wind Affinity, but it was still their main ability, they would turn into a Gustwing instead. A gustwing was not as powerful when it came to manipulating the wind, but they were listed as a ‘low ranked’ monster, instead of a ‘medium ranked’ magical beast. Although their wind powers were lacking, they had a stronger overall combat power thanks to an enhanced body.

  With the information for Yin taken care of, I moved on to Yang. Her evolution path was pretty much set in stone, and she would immediately become a sentient creature when she hits level twenty. As long as she kept practicing Nature Magic, this was not something likely to change. The type of species she will turn into is known as a demi, which I guess is what they call evolved creatures. Specifically, a winged demi.

  A winged demi is a bird that has used magic, or had magic used on it, to bridge the gap between sentient and animal. Their exact form depends on the form they are based on, so they could become demi-human, demi-elf, or demi-dwarf, for example. In terms of potential, they possess all of their innate traits they had as an animal, but are capable of intelligent thought on a level of a sentient creature. If they trained to become a demi on their own, they will likely possess an innate talent for arcane magic. It would be really nice if this was the case, because another caster would help quite a bit.

  Finally, I decided to end my little study session by looking up information on element seeds. I still didn’t know how to refine higher quality ones, or why the slime’s core seemed to have two elements. The first question I had answered pretty easily. I just had to refine an element seed with a higher elemental purity. So.. the ones I was making right now should be around 25% pure, but I need 50% pure for it to be a medium quality seed
. As for my last question, the terminal informed me rather bluntly that an element seed, or the slime core created from it, can only have one element. This element can be a mix of other elements, but must still be an element of its own.

  So what element is water/darkness, then? I debated whether to ask the terminal, but decided against it. Instead, I walked off to find the armor shop that had been indicated on the map. Now I knew how I could evolve all of my animal companions, and what they could evolve into. I’d need to check what level the birds were at already before doing I went fighting again, but having a winged demi, a Windslayer, and a mimic slime would make for not only an epic fighting group, but also a wide range of traits to study for my Xeno-Shifter class!

  Chapter 7: The Trainer’s Talks

  On my way to the armor shop, I decided that the next element I would focus on cultivating would be water, due to the slime that had become my ‘animal’ companion. No matter what, having a high Water Affinity would be extremely good for me right now. As such, I began devoting a bit of my concentration to cultivating water mana while I walked.

  It wasn’t much later that I had arrived at the designated armor shop. Inside, there were several different types of armors, ranging from medieval knights, scale armor, flak jackets, and some more advanced tech armor. Thankfully, I didn’t see my old snake scale armor here, or I would have had to accuse them of stealing it from me.

  Though, their prices were a bit… expensive. Maybe I had just been spoiled with my old armor since I had provided the materials for it, but even an armor of similar quality would cost me roughly twenty silver now. I was sorely tempted to just forget about armor and use my aspect spell to defend myself. Then again, for now that was my only real choice.

  With a sigh, I left the store and went off to find another terminal. This time, I asked about the planet I was on, and if there was a nearby hunting ground suitable for leveling up. What I learned was the planet’s name, Gallen 4, and that there was a level forty hunting ground outside of the city. Level forty.. No wonder the armor was so expensive.

  “What are the available methods to level up?” I asked the terminal in resignation, knowing that I could not do so the old fashioned way while I was here.

  “The most common way to level up is to defeat enemies, taking in a bit of their essence after they lose a battle. You may also level up by increasing your own ability through training, improving your life skills, or various obscure methods such as absorbing the energy of certain powerful objects.”

  That last one is pretty much up to luck. Looks like it’s training for me. Though, what level have my birds gotten to from training in seclusion this entire time?

  “Is there a way to measure the level and skills of an animal companion?” The terminal should be able to answer this, so I might as well ask while I’m here.

  “The Identify software for a companion, priced at roughly five silver, is capable of determining an animal companion’s approximate level. Skill levels must be evaluated at a trainer, or by having the companion bracelet upgraded to more accurately read the mana of external sources.”

  I gave another tired sigh. “How much is that upgrade?”

  “One gold coin.” I swear, I almost coughed up blood when I heard that. I didn’t have half of that amount, and would likely not be getting it in the near future, either. Thankfully, I still had plenty to get myself a hotel room for a while, and hope that training my affinities would count as training to level me up.

  But first, I went to visit a trainer, following the map I had gotten from the terminal. It may have just been an idle curiosity, but I wanted to know how high Yin’s Wind Affinity and Yang’s Nature Magic had gotten. After that, I still needed to go see if my Technomancy was high enough yet to create the interface in my head that could hold Celeste.

  So, first stop, a beast trainer! When I arrived there, I found a single stall with a fairly attractive human woman standing behind the counter. She had all the right curves in all the right places, and a fairly revealing outfit to show them. “Hello there.” She smiled over at me. “Looking to get a new beast, or have one appraised?”

  I blinked, a bit stunned there for a moment before pulling myself together. Women really know how to use their assets to bring in business… “I’m looking to get my birds appraised. I want to see how close they are to evolving, and heard this would be the right place to find out.”

  The woman nodded her head, smiling a bit wider. “Yup, this is the place. Just bring them on out, and we can get started.”

  I nodded, remembering finally that Yin and Yang were both in my grove still, and retrieved them right away. They appeared as a stream of light emerging from my chest, and each took shape on my shoulders, claiming their usual perches. Well.. at least I’ll be able to tell the two of them apart after the evolve.

  “Oh? Lovebirds, huh? Not a very common choice for people looking for combat pets. Still, looks like you’re a druid, so they can be trained just like anything else. Their usual noncombat status actually lowers the requirements for evolution a bit.” She looked at the two birds, smiling as she explained. “Now, let’s get started with this one.” She pointed to Yang first, and her companion bracelet lit up. A deep male voice, like that of a butler sounded out from it.

  “Level eighteen. Most notable skill, Nature Magic at Basic Level 8.”

  Upon hearing the words, I was a bit shocked again, while the trainer simply nodded with a wide smile. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Now, as for the other one…” She then pointed to Yin, and the same voice rang out from her wrist.

  “Level fifteen. Most notable skill, Wind Affinity at 16%.”

  For some reason, I felt a bit defeated when I found out that my animal companions were each better than me in their chosen fields. However, the woman’s next words made me pause a bit. “Hmm, looks like she’s approaching the bottleneck. You’ll have to spend quite a bit of effort to get her to evolve with the affinity.”

  “Bottleneck?” I asked curiously, having not known that there was such a thing in druid cultivation.

  “Hmm? Ah, right. Your teacher must not have told you. Well, the standard cultivating method slows down drastically after 20%, and doesn’t advance it at all after 25%. At that point, the mana being taken in is no longer purifying your own innate mana, and you need to start refining medium grade elemental seeds, then absorbing them into your aura to advance. That should carry you through until 50%, at which point you do the same thing with high quality seeds until 75%, and finally top quality seeds take you up to 100%.”

  “So basically, I need Yin to start absorbing mana from medium-grade Seeds of Wind soon, in order for her to be able to reach 30% and evolve?”

  “That’s right.” She gave a quick nod. “Though, she might hit the level to evolve before that anyways. It’s pretty hard to get up to 30% in an affinity before hitting level twenty, unless you leave them with a trainer that can stop their level growth while they cultivate.”

  I thought about it seriously for a bit. It would really be nice to have a Windslayer pet, honestly. “How much would that cost?”

  She grinned slightly at my question. “Well, given her level, I’d say ten silver, plus the resources. If you can teach her to refine Seeds of Wind on her own, that would save you quite a bit of trouble. Otherwise, buying them myself would up the price a lot. As for the time, it would take about two weeks for her to advance from her current state to 30% with my help.”

  Why must everything good be so expensive? “Sorry, I can’t really afford that, since I haven’t even been able to refine a medium-grade seed yet. If I can, and am able to teach her how to do so before she evolves, I’ll come back.”

  The trainer nods with an understanding expression. “Yeah, it can be hard on lower level people to train up for a really good pet. Most people wait to get their ideal pet until they are able to afford it all in one go, and then leave their pet with a trainer until it evolves to the form they want. For birds, we get requests to evol
ve them into phoenixes all the time. But doing it yourself is better, I think. I mean, not to belittle my own business or the like, but leaving an animal with a trainer for a long period will really reduce its loyalty towards you. Especially a lovebird like yours, as they are really possessive, and can be quite sensitive towards their bonded partner.”

  My eye twitched as I heard that I could have had a phoenix. That was almost definitely a fire type final evolution, and something that I would never get with Yin. “I can see how that would be an issue. Wouldn’t be good to leave an animal with someone, then come back and have it attack you, right?”

  She nodded her head again as I said that. “Exactly. There are some species that will stay loyal even if left alone for a long time, but those are typically more of the canine races. A few feline races are like that, but they are rare. As for birds… I’ve yet to meet one personally that was still willing to show the same loyalty after being left alone for a full evolution process.” She shook her head with a somewhat sad expression.

  “I see… I’m sorry for troubling you, then.” I was about to turn to leave when I looked back curiously. “What about slimes?”