Chapter 83: First Mana-Tech Experiment

Eren wanted to try using those little mana stones came from dungeon with electronic or other Earthern items. Maybe they would combine and it would create an enchantment right?

Nop! He wasn’t that hopeful.

The lighter experiment happened in the afternoon after he showed Rosa some areas of the Village.

Rabbu-i had asked Eren about combining Earth tools with Evon energy after seeing the lighters yesterday. So their first experiment would start with her.

She was a Forest Weaver and her class let her sense and redirect mana flow through organic materials if they stretch the idea of her class a bit.

“If the fire tool makes flame from these metal parts,” she said while standing way too close to Eren for Emily’s and Rosa’s comfort. “And I can push mana through living material, maybe I can make the parts hold mana instead of fuel and this would still work with mana huh?”

It sounded smart and logical to all of them, the kind of logical that usually blows up.

They set up in the clearing behind Selena’s restaurant. Rabbu-i held a lighter in one hand and a small mana crystal in the other before closing her eyes and starting to channel.

The lighter started heating up and glowing before the plastic casing turned soft and started bubbling because plastic was never designed to hold magical energy. It finally popped with a loud crack and a flash of green light.

It wasn’t a dangerous explosion, no- it was just usual lighter bursting. Like kids do all the time.

It was just louder for some reason than Eren remembered and it was enough that every elf in the area ducked or jumped. Mel even screamed from somewhere near the barricade area which was pretty far away.

She seriously acts more and more like a cat…

Rabbu-i looked at the melted remains in her hand with a visible shock then gave a heavy sigh.

“This pl- plas – plastic shell can’t hold energy. But the parts inside are interesting. Give me a few days and something to work with that isn’t this weak material.”

“A few days,” Eren repeated. “Sure.”

He also got an idea. Maybe an actual high quality metal zippo would be better for her needs.

Rabbu-i smiled at him in that way she had where it looked professional from the front but Emily could swear it was something else entirely from her side.

She didn’t say anything but her hand moved to her katana and stayed there for about ten seconds.

Emily felt like this one was more dangerous than Earth girl or Selena…

..

That evening Eren found Rosa sitting alone behind the house on a flat rock.

The sun was going down and the sky in Evon did this thing where it turned three different colors at once because the atmosphere was thicker or something. There was no scientist in the village.

He came back from hunting duties and actually found some trolls and kobolds fighting againts each other then killed them all.

It wasn’t a tense situation but he was all alone for this.

He didn’t get much exp too.

Now he saw Rosa by herself, Eren felt some guilt for leaving her alone.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

She looked at him completely exhausted. “I spent eight hours watching people have conversations I can’t understand while sitting alone on various places. How do you think I’m doing?”

“Fair point.” He sat down next to her. “Tomorrow I’m taking you outside the village. There are some creatures called slimes in the forest. They’re like jelly monsters. Not very dangerous but enough for you to start with.”

“Start what?”

“Leveling up. Getting stronger. If you want to survive here or just feel a lot safer, you need the system to recognize you and that means killing something.” He sounded like it was a casual thing but knew Rosa didn’t believe him.

Rosa stared at him for a long time. She looked scared for a second before her natural stubbornness took over. She finally just accepted that her life was totally insane now.

“A slime,” she said.

“A slime.”

“And you’re sure it won’t kill me?”

“Ninety-nine percent sure.”

“That’s not-”

“I’ll be right there. Nothing will touch you. I promise.”

She looked at the alien sunset and pulled her knees up to her chest. “Fine.”

Later that night Fury came back from patrol.

He moved quietly out of the dark and sat down next to Eren who was cleaning his kobold scimitars on the porch.

[The roots are moving at night.] His voice was calm but his ears were angled back. [Slowly. They look like they are stretching after sleep.]

“Roots? What roots?” He asked in Beastin.

[The tiny tree’s roots in the ground around the village. Rury noticed first. I checked and she was right.]

Eren put down the scimitar and looked toward the center of the village where the totem stood in the darkness with its branches barely visible against the night sky.

He walked over to it. It was a little and pretty tree with probably thick bark and branches that spread over under the village over a long time but nothing looked different or strange outside.

He reached out and pressed his palm against the bark.

It was warm but not from the air or the wood. Something deeper was pushing heat through the trunk like pressing your hand against someone’s chest and feeling their heartbeat.

It lasted two or three seconds before fading and the bark felt like normal wood again.

Eren pulled his hand back and stared at it. His grandfather used to talk about trees talking, bloody walking monsters and some other things to his family in the past.

Now this felt creepy for some reason.

But the actual scene was calm and serene. The totem stood silent while Eren stood there for another minute waiting for something else to happen but nothing did.

He walked back to the house and Fury was still sitting where he’d left him in the garden.

“Keep watching the roots please.” Eren said. “Tell me if they do anything else.”

[They won’t hurt us right.] Fury tilted his head.

Eren looked back at the totem side of the village, which was pretty far away from the house before going inside.

Emily was already in bed with one arm draped over her belly while breathing softly. Rosa was curled up on the living room floor with his old jacket pulled over her like a blanket.

Two women in his house. One carrying his child and one who he’d abandoned for a month without a word.

He lay down next to Emily in the bedroom and she pulled his arm around her waist without waking up. Her skin was warm and smelled like the floral soap Rabbu-i made from forest herbs and gifted him today.

She smelled amazing.

God, I love her.

But even with Emily pressed against him and the house quiet and safe, Eren kept thinking about the warmth in that bark. It had felt like something saying hello.

Trees, even if they were Totems of a magical village wasn’t suppose to say hello according to Emily and her mother’s teachings.

He closed his eyes but it took a long time to fall asleep.

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