Chương 372: Four Hopes for the Future

The day after the battle ended, I spent a few hours checking over my own gains during the fight. I hadn't managed to identify any weaknesses in the flesh-clouds, unfortunately. They weren't like the giant sky-leviathan, where it had obviously struggled to counter one of my primary combat abilities. Thus, I had decided to act as support during the battle.

I healed people and used my spatial rifts to save people who were on the verge of getting hit or killed by enemies, coupled with the occasional use of tools like acid jars and lightning blasts to keep people safe from the swarm of ground-based insects. I had also sent out my clone to help other nearby houses, since there was no reason to hide it and the people of the city were in genuine danger.

Even if Eldritch Soul needed a long time for me to be able to reuse it, and it only 'created' a bit more essence, every bit helped when people were at risk. I couldn't help everyone, but at least the people near me didn't die during the battle. I also got a nice harvest of Achievement. A big part of that was also from the information I had shared with the city through Felix, leading to a nice amount of Influence Achievement.

Slaughter: Kill a Relay of the Great Mind for the first time, Assist in killing a Relay of the Great Mind for the first time, Assist in killing a Relay of the Great Mind for the fifth time Influence: Contributed to the defense of the Sanctuary by a negligible amount Achievement +2, 000, Achievement + 500, Achievement +700, Achievement +2, 000 This gave me a neat sum of 5, 200 Achievement for the entire battle - a number that really highlighted how much of a gold mine this world was.

It brought me from 27, 281 Achievement to 32, 481 Achievement. With such rich rewards, I could almost understand the temptation of creating a garden world. The amount of effort it took to create one was mind-boggling, but the rewards were exceptional. The variety of monsters, the unusually high Achievement rewards, and the ready-made roles for members of the Market were incredibly valuable. Even one of these things would have made a world a pretty good landing spot for a member of the Market.

To get all three in the same world… well, even if we utterly failed to accomplish our long-term objectives in this world, we would STILL walk away with a huge amount of Achievement. After even a hundred more years of this, I suspected all of us would be able to start our return to the Market by bumping every Ability up to Grade 3, and then we would need to find some grade four soul fragment dispensers to keep spending.

Of course, the actual act of creating a Garden world still felt so monstrous to me that I would never really consider it. Even if I had the power one day, I would never make a nightmare world like this, where the natives were basically forcibly conscripted as props to help boost the earnings of the Market. But the fact that I could still feel the temptation, despite being so repulsed by the idea, was testament to our rich rewards.

I had initially been worried that Anise would have a hard time creating new spell maps in this world, because she needed to spend a substantial amount of Achievement on every single spell she created. However, at our current rate of earning, she would probably still have a net positive income even if she spent every waking moment creating new spell maps. After I looked through my rewards again, I also checked the Ability I had gotten from the flesh cloud.

I had hesitated over whether to slot it in at all, since it could also screw me over if I wasn't careful… but I could also see a situation where it was useful. I wasn't against the idea of sacrificing my life to help my friends or to accomplish something amazing. After all, even if I died, I could stick around in hibernation mode until I stopped getting rewards for the my actions.

It would be boring, to be stuck in the void for years while I collected Achievement - but I would happily accept being bored if it made my friends and I more likely to survive. Besides, if I felt the skill was likely to screw me over, I could always delete it before it activated. This made it just barely worth including in my build. Endless Hunger of the ocean has Devoured a Relay of the Great Mind for the first time.

New Skill created Death Rage: Whenever your body is placed in a state where death within 30 seconds is highly likely, or whenever your life force is below 20% of its total, activate Death Rage. Death rage restores your body a moderate amount, increases your Agility by 3 Grades, and restores 30% of your essence total. This effect lasts 30 seconds. After this effect ends, your body will rapidly deteriorate until it collapses.

I was a bit leery of an automatically-activated skill which could kill me, but I felt the risks were manageable. Shortly after I finished looking through my gains, I heard Felix's mental voice. <Miria! The elders are taking Sallia and I to meet you 'officially.' Though, since they now know we've been talking to each other for a long time, their attitude towards it seems… weird. In fact, my father is giving me the stink eye. I think he noticed that I was chatting with you just now.

> If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. <Your facial expressions are changing a bit. It's hard to notice, but if you know what to look for… > said Sallia, with a gentle, teasing tone. <Is it something we should be worried about? > I asked. <I don't think they're that upset, > said Sallia. <More a mixture of amusement and irritation, if anything. Elder Veridian might talk your ears off though. > Anise and I looked at each other and sighed.

Elder Veridian hadn't had a reason to give us a long-winded lecture yet, but it seemed like this might be the first time she scolded us a little. I felt that our actions were reasonable - but I also understood that the elders were probably a bit frustrated that we had hidden two of our members for almost a year. About half an hour later, Sallia and Felix showed up, along with Felix's father and Elder Veridian. Elder Veridian did not look pleased, which made me swallow nervously.

"There were two other heroes, and you knew this whole time?" She asked as she looked at me. I grimaced, before I nodded.

"How did you know? How did you meet?" She asked. I wondered what to say. Telling these people about the Market might result in some sort of justice, where they would at least know of the Market and the wrongs that had been committed against the original people of this world. However, it would also make them distrust us, and right now, that would be deadly. I didn't see any path forward for this civilization besides my plan for a new sun.

This world had reached a dead end, and was probably only a millennium or two from fading completely. I had a plan to turn things around for this civilization - even if it wasn't certain. Also, my friends and I needed this world - as much as I hated to take advantage of the wrongs committed here. I also didn't want my friends and I to die. Was it cowardly, to hide things? It might have been. I admitted that I might just be hiding from uncomfortable conversations and facts.

I didn't feel very good about keeping the Market secret. But I also didn't want my friends to be exposed to abuse, either verbal or physical, for things we had never done and actively disapproved of. I didn't want my friends to die permanently. They were precious to me, and I would do anything to keep them safe. That meant minimizing risk to them - and that meant keeping some secrets. But I also didn't want to completely run away.

Never telling this world the truth about the Market and heroes might have been the right thing to do… but it also might not have been. On my deathbed, or in a letter that could only be read after my death, I decided that I would tell this world the truth, if circumstances allowed for it. I wasn't sure if it was the wise thing to do, but I felt like it was the right thing to do - even if I was also running away from any personal consequences I might face by taking this route.

It was a hollow comfort, and I might not even be able to act on that wish - but it was the best thing I could do for this world without putting the lives of everyone here in danger.

"When I was young, I remember always feeling like there were three… links? Tethers? I felt like there were three other people calling to me," I said.

"As I got older, I started to realize that I could talk to them - and that they could talk back to me. We got to know each other, and realized nobody else could hear us the same way. It took us a while to connect ourselves with the stories of 'heroes,' but once we realized what we were, we started making plans," I said.

"We experimented with our unique magic systems, and got to know each other, and tried to figure out what we could do. The result… well, you can see it with your own eyes. Anise and I exposed ourselves first, while Sallia and Felix took a little longer, to make sure we knew what we were getting into." Elder Veridian didn't seem to know whether to fully believe me or not, but she sighed, and then let it slide.

"Forget it. What's done is done. I suppose that, at the end of the day, the four of you still stepped up to help the city. I suppose it would be petty of me to resent the fact that you hid some details until you were more certain of our stance," she said. Then, her smile turned wicked.

"That being said, I'm going to make your training extra hard for the next week. Don't think I'll go easy on you." Then, she sighed, and turned towards Felix and Sallia again.

"Now that there are four of you, I'll have to introduce even more magic systems - but maybe one of you can really fix one of those old magic systems and turn things around. Miria, you keep working on sunlight - I still have high hopes for it. Anise, see if you can figure out how to transform your illusions into reality. I'll teach Sallia and Felix the more unique absorption and binding magic systems, and by the time the four of you master them, you'll probably be around 20.

Also, Felix, if you want to, you can train with your father while I work with Sallia first. I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping an old lady with her work - right? After somehow failing to notice that one of his children was a hero, I'm sure he's more than happy to make it up to a poor old lady who already has too much work to do," said Elder Veridian, as she gave Felix's father a playful mock-glare. Felix's father gave Elder Veridian an awkward grin, before he nodded, and pulled Felix to the side.

Elder Veridian pulled Sallia aside and started introducing absorption magic systems, while Anise and I moved to the side and kept working on our own magic systems. I felt a bit nervous about the 'extra hard' lessons that Elder Veridian would prepare for us - but more than that, I was excited. All four of us were together again.