"Senior, is there a problem?"
"I thought we had been spotted but I was just imagining things."
The man then turned around and pointed at two of the other people hidden in the trees and spoke.
"The two of you, go scout the cave. Be careful and don't get too close or the girl might sense you."
"Really? Are her abilities that good? Even if she's genius for becoming a superior Master at her age, she should not be able to s-"
"That girl, according to the last message that Sir Velak sent before he perished, is the one who possesses the 'Child of Life' Series skill.
Now shut up the fuck up and carry out your orders."
As the man spoke, he glared at the two underlings and they gulped nervously when they saw his red eyes, before nodding their heads and flashing over to the cave.
'Hey, do you think he knows we're here?'
[I have a feeling he's somewhat suspicious.
He nearly caught on to one of those foolish underlings of yours last night, so if he's half as smart as they say, he should be suspicious of being followed.]
'Somewhat suspicious, huh? I really hope that's the case.'
The man replied to the being contracted to him as he stared at his two subordinates who were entering the Cave after Evan and Eliza.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, Evan and Eliza were moving through a mystical garden, where the grass stretched out like a lush carpet, inviting one to step into its verdant embrace.
The air was perfumed with the sweet fragrance of luxurious hedges and flower bushes, their vibrant colours a feast for the eyes.
Mystical stepping stones, adorned with ancient runes, beckoned visitors, leading them on a winding path through the enchanted garden. Each stone revealed a new wonder, from the vibrant blooms of the fairy flowers to the shimmering waters of the beautiful underground lake.
"It's beautiful…"
Eliza spoke with an absentminded tone as she took in the sights around her, of which words could never be enough to describe their natural beauty.
Nearby, Evan held up a camera and took a photo of Eliza, the shuttering sound attracting her attention as she turned towards him.
"Did you just take a photo of me?"
"Yep."
Evan answered as he took out the photo printed by the Polaroid, before shaking it till it became clear enough to see.
"Wow…that's actually nicer than I expected. And where did you get this strange camera from?"
Although cameras existed in Aidos (An obvious fact given that they were capable of live magic projection calls), the kind of Polaroid camera Evan had was certainly not the kind she was familiar with.
"Artemisia got it for me."
He answered her before turning to another part of the garden and taking another picture of the moosewood trees in the distance.
Those moosewood trees had been there for centuries, and although they were nearing the end of their lives at one point, they were nurtured back to health and are now the focal points of the garden.
The hedges and shrubs ensured that the flower beds are seen as well, but the moosewood trees were so massive that they always steal the show.
As for who nurtured these trees back to health, it was the previous owner of the Child of Life skill, the former Matriarch of the Laneford Clan.
'Is she really the 'former' though?'
Evan asked himself that question, sighing softly as his knowledge of the Lanefords from Aidos Online was not correlating with what he had discovered so far.
"Hey, Liz.
Try infusing and spreading your Life Essence across the entire garden. Use a single charge of your skill."
"A Single Charge? That's a lot, no?"
"You'd like the result."
"Hmm…okay."
Eliza acquiesced to Evan's request and activated her skill, consuming a charge and condensing all the life essence she could manipulate before releasing half of it as a bolt into the air, and another half as an omnidirectional wave of energy.
The bolt released into the air, diffused into several different beams of green light that showered down a rain of life essence onto the garden below.
The life essence seeped into the bodies of all the plant life and small animals that lived in the garden.
The animals felt energized and came running over to where Eliza was, despite the fact that they had run away earlier after sensing her presence.
As for the plants, Eliza saw them as they all grew larger and turned an even lusher shade of green right before her eyes.
Their leaves released sparkling iridescent light and vibrant rows of flowers that released light glows bloomed.
"Huh? Huhhh??! HUHHHHH???!!!!"
Eliza let out a shocked voice at the animals that came barrelling towards her, eventually getting tackled to the floor by dozens of rabbits, squirrels, cats and small foxes.
"But why?!"
"Pfft..."
Evan laughed as he saw her getting tackled by the animals, but even he was not much better as the ones who had been longing to run up to him but desisted because of Eliza's presence had now surrounded him.
A small baby fox climbed its way up to Evan's head and rested there, but Kayla took that as some sort of challenge as she manifested her physical body and transformed into a fox before chasing the fox away.
However, much to the spirit's shock, more animals emerged from their hiding places upon her appearance, and some even left Evan and Eliza to run up to her.
[Huh?! WHY?!]
This time, Evan and Eliza were the ones laughing as the Great Spirit's body was tackled by the crowd of animals.
"These guys here are very sensitive to nature. They're on me because of my 'Loved By Nature' title. Their reaction to seeing you, a Great Spirit capable of influencing nature around you, is only expected."
"Huh? Then why are they crowding me?
Because of the life essence I spread out?"
"That and something else, you'd see it in a few seconds."
Just when Eliza tilted her head to the side in confusion as she did not understand what he meant, three notifications appeared in front of her.
|You have been acknowledged by the inhabitants of "Aidos' Underground Crystal Cove" |
|Requirements have been met |
|You have received the title: Loved By Nature|
"Wait…what?!"
Eliza's jaws dropped in shock as she saw the notification informing her that she had acquired a very rare title.
Almost immediately, the animals crowding her all jumped off her body and took a bit of distance from her, leaving the girl momentarily confused.
Until the energy within her body began squirming around, that is.
"Hold still."
Evan spoke as energy streams of multi-coloured he could not see nor perceive, wrapped around Eliza and a very minuscule bit of that energy seeped into her body.
Her body heated up for a bit and she felt her cells, organs and musculature being bathed in the essence of nature that entered her body from the ground.
A few seconds later, a small burst of energy was released from her body, concluding this little transformation as the animals jumped back onto her with even more vigour.
When she reopened her eyes, a world she was unable to see previously appeared in front of her, her hands slowly rising up as she tapped one of the small blue translucent birds floating around her.
"Is this…a spirit?"
"Yep."
The spirit noticed she could see it and chirped happily, before flying over to her head and perching there.
Eliza turned to Evan in surprise and saw the usual group of spirits that had followed him all the way from Geto, each of them flying over to her while noisily chattering as always.
[Ohh…She can see us now!]
[She got the title. Of course, she can see us now.]
[It's been a while since I came to the garden. Never thought I'd see it again.]
[But how did he know that one could acquire the title that way? Even I didn't know that.]
[Why are you talking like you know anything? Stupid light spirit.]
[Stupid~ Stupid~]
[Did you just call me stupid?!]
[Stop embarrassing yourselves you fools, Lizzy can see us now!]
[Hey Lizzy! I'm Felicia!]
[I'm Dryke!]
The teenager's jaw dropped in shock as she saw the spirits of various elements, even some with the abstruse space element chatting among themselves, while some others came to introduce themselves to her.
"The title has a few other effects and natural resistances it grants you, but you can take your time to get used to it.
It's also applicable in other worlds too apparently."
Evan spoke as he pushed the spirits away from Eliza's face, shrugging his shoulders while saying the last line as that was something he had heard from the ETOD and was not sure of.
"That so…
To think I acquired such a title so easily.
Just what is this place?"
"A Garden Owned by the World Itself."
"What? Is that even possible?"
"It is. Did you not see the name of this place?"
Hearing his words, Eliza thought back to the second notification she received and nodded in affirmation.
'Aidos' Underground Crystal Cove.'
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