I choose to put two points in agility. It increased my Stamina as well as the time my Stamina took to fill up.
Then, I decided to upgrade Mana Slash. I would rather have stronger spells than a lot of weak spells.
Finally, I looted the Kobold and the new slots cam in handy as I received more loot than I had space for.
The dome fizzled out. I made sure to check my Mini Map. There were no red dots nearby, so I walked to the area of the new person. Eleanor Whitfield, but wanted to be called Nora.
I looked at my new Spell, or rather my improved spell.
I liked the new spell. It gave me more raw power, the kind that made every hit count. I also knew there would now be a Level 9 Kobold roaming around looking for the one target it had – me.
I walked the barrier and did not see the new neighbour. I did not really expect to see her, but I also did not want to go home yet.
Claire had not yet called and although it was not yet that late, I knew I would worry until I heard from her.
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As the day slipped into later afternoon, I went home. Just as I opened the door, my Comm Crystal buzzed.
“Claire, I am glad to hear from you. I was… I was a bit worried.”
She giggled softly, “I did okay. I got what I needed. I will tell you all about it tomorrow.”
We spoke a while longer and I told her that I levelled up. After that we said our goodbyes and I ate, showered and went to bed.
I woke to a System Message.
I checked my Mini Map and cross-referenced it with my own map. The location the System had marked was Herbert Von King Park.
I wanted to get this done and move on. Level 10 was waiting—but before I could even think about that, there was one more problem standing in my way.
To reach Level 10, I had to face a Level 9 kobold.
Just thinking about that made my stomach tighten.
Level 8s were bad enough. Level 9 meant stronger, faster, and a lot less forgiving. It wasn’t something I could brute-force my way through. I’d have to prepare, plan, and survive it first.
But the seed came before all of that. First, the park.
After breakfast, I headed out right away, following the route the Mini Map laid out for me. The city was as empty as ever, streets stretching on in silence.
I did spot a Level 9 kobold along the way—a larger red marker moving slowly across my map—but I didn’t deviate from my path to check it out.
That would come later.
The park revealed its sad, empty face as I walked down the road. No trees. No plants. No birds in the sky. Just a lonely bench here and there and long, empty paths stretching between them…
My eye caught a blue shimmer somewhere in the middle of the park. A blue screen called me closer… figuratively.
I sighed deeply and looked around. Just behind the screen was a area that looked like the planting area. A huge rock was nearby with a depressed area on top that looked like the crystal I found in shape.
The moment the crystal touched the stone, a translucent blue dome sprang into existence. It rose a few feet into the air and extended outward, about half that distance along the ground.
Next was the drip stone. I did not see a stone but as I looked around one appeared next to the crystal rock. I sighed again… deeply. I placed the watering can under the stone and waited for it to fill. It only took and hour and a half.
Luckily, I began this very early as I did not want to miss my meeting with Claire
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first Royal Road chapter of each pair. The second one won’t have pictures. If you want to see all the art together (or earlier), it’s on Patreon with the combined chapters!