Progress Garden has levelled up!

  Progress Garden is now level 23!

  You have levelled up!

  You are now level 23!

  Name: Synexus

  Race: Zaxillian

  Class: Progress Architect

  Level: 23

  Health Points: 1985/1985

  Mana: 4055/4055

  Stamina: 1955/1955

  Stats

  Intelligence: 361 (+36)

  Strength: 175 (+18)

  Endurance: 170 (+17)

  Vitality: 173 (+17)

  Agility: 176 (+18)

  Perception: 245 (+25)

  Skills

  Race: Sensing Touch, Enhanced Cognition, Perfect Memory, Silver Blood, Devour Sunlight

  Class: Genome Archives LV 31, Genome Perfecting LV 31, Instant Growth LV 32, Body Transmutation LV 31, Element Database LV 32, Element Modification LV 32, Instant Repair LV 29, Mana Perception LV 31, Enemy Transmutation LV 28, Progress Garden LV 23

  Achievements

  Slayer of Monsters: You will now be able to see the remnant magical material of slain monsters.

  Ullashtt Ender : You bested one of these massive, fabled beasts taking some of their vast power for yourself. +10% to all stats.

  Evolved: All resources have risen by 100.

  Mana Weaver: You’ve learned how to diverge from your initial class path to create your own. You can now read and understand will pathways of yourself and others. Your ability to manipulate mana outside of your body has significantly increased.

  Triumph of Oneself: You have completed a trial dungeon and triumphed over what was weighing down your soul. Through knowing yourself better and cleansing your soul, your resources have benefited. Stamina and Mana will now regenerate at double the rate.

  Equipment:

  Soul, Armor of Progress LV 2

  A couple of days have passed since Synexus had finally jumped over the wall that a new skill brings to class levels and he hit level 23 by continually working within his Progress Garden. Anytime he needed anything from his garden he would summon it at the max distance to use the skill to its fullest ability. This resulted in another level and another class level.

  Of course, Kumo had somehow hit level 23 the day before, so he was still a bit behind, but they were both doing their best to be as close to levelling as possible. Neither wanted to be the one catching up. Sadly, someone had to be.

  Those two days were uneventful and quite peaceful. Vorin believed it was because the snow had started to come down harder leaving the air frigid and the ground wet. Synexus’ coats he had made were now needed anytime they were outside of their tents.

  Midday had just hit when he got the notification and announced it to Kumo. Not surprisingly, everyone else overheard and a round of congratulations went around.

  “It sounds like it’s a good place to stop for lunch then. The ground is flat here anyways.” Vorin was always in charge of when they went and when they stopped since he was the captain to the rest of the party.

  Following normal protocol, Synexus summoned and grew vines to hold them all to the side of the mountain. Kumo immediately produced a strong gale that cleared the ground of snow. Yu was up next to dry the ground with her fire magic, but before she could, Prith alerted the party to something strange.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Lying on the ground was a corpse and on the corpse was a bunch of equipment.

  Vorin stepped forward and inspected the corpse. Dried, frozen blood was on the soldier’s face running in streaks from his eyes, nose, and mouth.

  “Did he die from exposure?” Gene asked.

  “No, I believe a plague took him, but I can’t be certain. It could have been a skill from another class chosen.”

  He summoned his plague doctor mask and looked at the corpse only to find it clean.

  “My mask isn’t picking up any traces of a plague. However, this cold would have likely killed off anything infecting him and if he died a while ago then it would have died without a host anyways.”

  “So, he fell dead and then someone came and just left his loot on top of him like that?” Zuls asked in a confused tone.

  “It’s unclear at this point. This man is wearing soldier attire. Why would he be up here anyways?”

  “Didn’t you say that the travelling merchant told us of warring towns somewhere around here?” Synexus wasn’t in the greatest mental space when the merchant had passed, but he remembered Vorin telling him that in their chat afterwards.

  “One lookout though?” Prith started to stick his blade into the snow around the area.

  His blade would cleanly and effortlessly pass down into the deep snow and come out clean. Then he stuck it in and he felt resistance.

  “I believe there is another body.”

  An hour ensued of them clearing snow and finding bodies. Forty soldiers in total. Twenty on either side. All died the same way.

  “What’s the call, captain? Do we continue or do we stop to figure this out?”

  “You know our rules, Zuls. We are class chosen and that means this just became our problem. Twenty of these men were from a town on the northern side of the mountain while twenty were from the southern side. The ice and snow will preserve the bodies. Let’s split up and inform the towns, so they can come collect the bodies.”

  Vorin stopped talking and started to think for a minute before continuing.

  “Plague may be involved in this mystery therefore we need a healer in either group. I advise caution. Synexus, Yu, and Gene are with me to the North. Prith, Zuls, Shell, and Kumo will go to the south. Our mission is to figure out why the towns are fighting, why these men ended up dead, and investigate whether there is a plague running rampant.”

  Nods went around the group and the groups formed.

  Kumo summoned Cloud Cover for Prith to ride down on since it was slightly tangible now. She could Cloud Walk herself. Zuls used Sovereign’s flight ability and Shell rode down on a wave of water she controlled with her mana.

  Synexus summoned two of his newest creations.

  Gliding Leaf of the Umbrella Tree (unique): The umbrella tree is known for the wide leaves that provide ample coverage from the rain. These leaves have been further modified for strength, durability, and aerodynamics. An enchantment allows the user to pour their mana into the leaf to keep themselves airborne. More mana will result in an increase in altitude. A weaker flow of mana will result in descending.

  Vorin stepped on one and Synexus on the other. Taking it slowly they pushed mana into them and started to descend the mountain. They were an early prototype, and he hadn’t figured out how to eliminate wind resistance for the rider quite yet. Gene and Yu simply flew down. Yu was doing loops in the air as she was still ecstatic about her skill working once more.

  Both towns were exactly a mile away from the base of the mountain. A tunnel went clean through at the base where more guards were stationed to keep an eye on the other. Most days nothing happened and the watch was easy. That’s why both groups of soldiers nearly panicked when a group of people flew down from the mountain on either side.

  When Zuls group landed the guards instantly turned and aimed their spears at them.

  “Halt! State your names, classes, and purpose.”

  “We’ve come to inform the towns at the base of this mountain that their soldiers are dead. We found them lying face down in the snow. Blood ran down their faces.” Zuls spoke clearly and with confidence.

  The soldiers looked taken back and turned their eyes as if they were communicating silently.

  “We cannot leave our post. Our town, Southern Slate, is a mile that way. Will you inform our town officials?”

  “Of course, soldier. It will be done.”

  The half of the party started to walk away when the soldier called back for them to wait. Zuls turned back to look at them and gave the soldier a stare.

  “Were their soldiers also dead?”

  “Yes.”

  They continued their walk towards the small gates of Southern Slate.

  On the other side of the mountain, Vorin and Synexus didn’t have the same clean landing as everyone else and nearly crashed to the ground. There were still some things to work out with his leaves.

  “Halt! By the orders of the army of Northern Slate, you must disclose your name, class, and purpose immediately!”

  After dusting himself off from the rough landing and giving Synexus a frown, Vorin answered.

  “My name is Vorin. We mean you no harm. Our party was taking the mountain pass and came across your army. They were all dead. Possibly from plague. We wanted to inform the town they came from.”

  One of the young men started to cry. The older man out of the group turned back to look at Vorin.

  “His older brother was up on the mountain.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Death is always hard, but even more so when it’s someone you care about.”

  The soldier nodded. “That it is. We’ve seen too much death recently. Our town is a mile north. Please inform the officials. We know nothing of a plague. Only the traitorous town to the south. Watch out for them.”

  Vorin nodded and they started to walk north towards Northern Slate.

  A mile for a class chosen passed quickly and even from the base of the mountain they could see the gates to their respective destinations. Both towns had small, but beautiful slate walls surrounding them. Guards marched back and forth atop the wall constantly sweeping their gaze to either side.

  Vorin summoned his plague doctor mask once more and looked at the guards on the wall. One was radiating the traces of a plague.

  “Heads up. We have confirmation of a plague. Stay close. I’m immune and I can heal.”

  “I’m also immune.” Gene spoke causing them all to turn and look at the owl.

  “It’s a benefit from starting as a plant.”

  “Gene, you’re so lucky. What kind of plant do you think a sphinx would be?” Yu asked her friend.

  “This sounds fascinating, but we need to focus. Keep conversation minimal. Don’t give away our classes. Use your perception to look for anything out of the ordinary.”

  Over on the southern side Zuls and her group approached the gate. She threw on a flirty smile and waved up to the guards.

  “Hello! I’m Zuls. Our party was told to come inform the town officials of something regarding your men on top of the mountain.”

  “How are they doing?” A guard from down the wall a bit yelled.

  “I believe I should talk to your officials, and you can be updated from them.”

  The guards frowned but nodded.

  “Do you have any affiliation with Northern Slate?”

  “No! Just walking along the mountain pass. Passing through.”

  The class chosen felt a skill ripple over them as the guard clearly was using some sort of truth detection skill on them. Each allowed it and when the mana in the air faded, the gate groaned open.

  As they were walking in, Zuls instantly noticed a man and a boy coughing down the street. A woman was walking with a basket in her hands and nearly fell over. She looked as pale as the dead.

  “Stay together. This could be more dangerous than we thought.”