Zuls looked up at the mention of the word. The tears were still pouring from her eyes, but she tried to wipe them away to focus.

  “The creatures from the kid’s fables?”

  “Yes, except I don’t believe they are only stories. You shared something deep with me, and now I will do the same. On our way to Gale, Kumo and myself, faced and killed an Ullashtt.”

  “What?! One of those quilled things was near Gale?”

  “No, the one we faced was a giant worm. That’s why we were able to kill it. We got trapped inside of it and we were being swallowed alive. Luckily, I had picked up some potent poisonous plants that replicated the poison in the blood stream. It took four of those plants, damage from myself and Kumo, and an entire night before it was enough to fell the beast. We were almost grinded into piles of flesh. It was horrifying, but we made it out. We only knew it was an Ullashtt because of the description when I touched it and the achievement we got after the battle.”

  “What makes you think they were the same thing?”

  “When I got here, I researched the Ullashtt to figure out what we had overcome, and I found a few volumes of story books. One had picture depictions of the different beasts, and one was an ever-changing blob with spikes coming from it.”

  Zuls eyes widened. “We never could find information on it. You’re saying these fabled beasts are real? They are mythical in those stories. If it truly was one, then a lot of things about that fight make more sense.”

  “I’m not sure they are all-powerful. I think they are just extremely ancient beasts. The more combat-oriented ones are probably extremely powerful though like the one you faced.”

  Just then there was a vibrating presence and from Synexus’ bag the Living System spoke. “You are correct. The beast Ms. Zullany faced with her companions is known as Nadir, the Ever-Changing. It is indeed an Ullashtt, and among the most powerful. It must feed on future potential every nine years to sustain the magic its gathered or it will perish.”

  Synexus voice vibrated, “future potential as in kids? They technically have the most potential for the future, so they provide it with more of what it needs. That’s horrifying.”

  “Indeed, it is. You must not try to fight these beasts yet. Most are too powerful. I advise…” the vibration faded.

  He looked up to see Zuls looking scared. “I’m sorry that was my friend I was talking about. It’s still a seed and is in my bag. Sometimes it gains enough of its consciousness to speak to me.”

  “Okay, but what was the whole vibrational thing. It felt like you were my brain speaking.”

  “Oh right, sorry. That was the language of nature. The Branch taught me.”

  “Uh huh. Now how does your friend know so much?”

  “Too be honest, I’m not sure yet. It has a lot of knowledge though and I’m sure we can learn from it.”

  “Well, if your friend can be believed that means that I finally have a name for what killed my friend. I also now have a goal. If Nadir is one of these mythical creatures, then I have a lot of leveling to do.”

  “I’m pretty sure it was going to advise caution. Vengeance is dangerous.”

  “You are proof that these beasts can be killed. I’m not saying I’m going to run off and fight it right now, but you heard your friend. We have eight years to get more powerful. In eight years, it will not take any more children.”

  There was anger and drive in her voice. It didn’t even sound like the same person he had been talking to minutes before, but he couldn’t blame her. He didn’t want it to kill any more children either. “I’ll be right there with you then.”

  Zuls turned to look at him and then smiled. “Quuazz yeah! You better be. Now let’s get our business here done.”

  It took them another three hours to get through the rest of the biomes. There was a dessert, a tropical area, a swamp, a cave type biome, a mountain, a jungle, one that was windy, and a few others. Synexus had gained another level in Genome Library by the end of their trip and had learned about many different species and variants of those species. They took a break every six biomes they cleared and while on those breaks, they mainly talked, but he did manage to get a few projects with Gene Editing in. The last one he did was with one of the legendary plants genes and it got him a level.

  Gene Editing Successful!

  Pears of Renewal (unique): This pear tree has been infused with the genes of the legendary renewal herb. Consuming a pear from this tree will fill the mana and health pools completely.

  Warning: The pears of this tree contain much more magic than a normal healing item. Only one can be eaten per person every forty-two days or severe backlash will occur.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Gene Editing has leveled up!

  He had gotten four levels today. One in Extreme Growth, two in Genome Library, and one in Gene editing. The best part was the day wasn’t over. He still had to go visit Ecclo one last time and grind more Gene Editing projects to gain the last level before he made a vessel for the Living system.

  Zuls and himself left the Wildlife Preserve and headed over to the library because she wanted to see the storybook that he had mentioned. Xila was working at the counter and was overly enthusiastic about helping them. Synexus also noticed when they walked in that there were a few people with tools checking out the Living System but still couldn’t get close because of the forcefield. He chuckled to himself about that.

  Xila grabbed the storybooks for Zuls to look over and they sat down for her to have a look. Zuls decided to flip through them to see if she had ever seen any of the other ones. She hadn’t, but it was worth a check. When she finally got to the third volume she lingered on the page with the depiction of Nadir on it.

  “This really is it. I can’t believe it. All the research we did, and it was in a children’s book. All these beasts sound terrifying and knowing that they are really out there is awful.”

  “Yes, I agree. However, the chances of us running into them are low. It sounds like they sleep for a long time.”

  “I would agree with you, but what are the chances that both you and I have run into one?”

  That was a fair point. Perhaps destiny was playing a game after all.

  “That’s true, if we do run into another one all we can do is our best, right? We shouldn’t fret over what may come to pass. We should focus on the present and our progress.”

  “I suppose you’re right. Let’s go get some lunch and then I’ll go tell Vorin what we discovered.”

  They put their books away and left, getting a wave from Xila on their way toward the door. Zuls knew a good place to grab some lunch that was near the market district since Synexus had to go there next.

  It was an outdoor place that sold sandwiches of all kinds. Zuls ordered for both of them and Synexus paid. It was a toasted sandwich with some type of grilled monster meat and bacon on it along with some vegetables he hadn’t tried before and a sauce that was delicious. He’d never get tired of trying new foods. All the different flavors and how they could be combined to create something new was fascinating to him.

  After lunch and much lighter, pleasant conversations they said their goodbyes until later. Zuls went to go inform Vorin of all she found out today, and Synexus went to go meet Ecclo at The Grove.

  The shop was busier than even the day before. Ecclo was working fast at the counter. He took people’s guins and then produced seeds or whole plants. When he saw Synexus walk in, he told him to wait a minute. Synexus instead jumped up and started helping to fulfil orders.

  It took nearly two hours for the crowd to thin out and another half an hour for the store to be completely empty. Ecclo looked exhausted and he thanked Synexus for helping.

  “I see that the store has been busy. Is it normally like that?”

  “No. This is your doing. I’m starting to regret all these variations.”

  They both laughed. “Come on, everyone is talking about The Grove. I heard people at the library talking about coming here to get enough bamboo for new bookshelves.”

  Ecclo shook his head. “At least we will be rich and miserable rather than just miserable. Good job on the farm by the way. My sister told me what you did, and we should be all set for when you leave.”

  “I’m glad I could get everything to work. Also, I’m just curious, why do your growth skills only work on one plant at a time. Wouldn’t it make sense for a farming class to be able to grow multiple plants?”

  “It does and the skill will allow that after it upgrades once. My parents normally handle farming while my sister and I work on the sales skills that come with the class. It helps us manage inventory easier and adjust prices frequently. Some farmer skills focus solely on farming, but ours is kind of like a hybrid since this shop is our family business. The System gave each of us three class choices and we all picked the more hybrid one since it helps us in both aspects.”

  “That makes a lot of sense. Well hopefully they won’t need to do much with my variants with the extreme propagation gene running through them.”

  “The growing rate on them is insane. We’ve had to go and resupply the store four times already since yesterday. The lord of the city ordered so much of the crystal variant that we almost ran out even with the high grow rate. He’s building a whole boat out of it.”

  “Wow! A whole boat made from crystal bamboo. That will be a sight to see. Hopefully you can get some time off to relax. I feel like I brought a lot extra work to your door.”

  “I don’t mind it. This is my class after all. You’ve gotten me a lot of levels and wealth. I wouldn’t feel bad. Speaking of wealth, here you go! I didn’t have time to calculate everything out, but this should be about half of what we sold between today and yesterday.”

  Ecclo threw him a bag similar to the one yesterday except this one was heavier. He looked inside and couldn’t even tell how many gold guins were inside.

  “How much is this?

  “6000” he answered proudly.

  “6000!? That’s three times as much as yesterday.

  “I told you about the lord’s order. The crystal is one that we have at the premium price. Also, I have this for you.” He handed Synexus some folded up pieces of paper.

  Synexus unfolded them and found they were from the bank. “Is this my account information? How do banks work anyways”

  “You’ve never been to a bank?”

  “Nope! The Branch didn’t have a need for money.”

  “Right, well they will hold your money for you in a secure vault. If you ever need or want money out of your account, you’ll go to the bank and request the amount you’d like. It’s pretty simple and you’re a smart guy. I went ahead and threw in 2000 gold guins in there for you to start.”

  “Wow! Thanks, Ecclo. You know I leave tomorrow?”

  “Yes, and it’s about time too!”

  They laughed again. “Well, thank you for being so kind to me while I’ve been in the city. When I’m back we will have to go do something other than plant bamboo. You’ve been a good friend even though it’s only been five days.”

  “You’re welcome, but honestly, I should be thanking you. This store will be good for years to come just off the profits in the last three days from your variations. We are already talking about expanding our farm. By the time you get back, I’ll probably have a mansion overlooking the ocean off the sales from the crystal bamboo alone.”

  “Please just don’t build your mansion out of crystal bamboo.”

  They both laughed once more. “Well, good luck on your voyage and you survive to bring me back even more variants!”

  “Will do, Ecclo. See ya around!”

  With that synexus left to get to work. It was now two hours after midday meaning he had roughly fourteen hours to get one more level in Gene editing and finally make a vessel for the Living System.