It didn't take long for Nicada to come storming back down. She didn't even say anything or touch the ground as she zipped through the gate and into Kestra's private realm.

Vostler slunk down after her, looking angry. He turned into a rather bright stream of fire and curled up around Yorgin's neck like a scarf. Yorgin handed her journal back, and reached up to pet the Fire Elemental with the care of one consoling a loved one.

Kestra kept her mouth shut and eyes averted from that bit of social disaster.

In fact, that seemed like a great time to pull out her new Guide to the Ten Horizons and start reading. She felt the imprimatur rune on the book, just like with the storage ring, and she reflexively bound it to her.

Happily, it was written in Druerjan script and not Ten Horizon's glyphs, though there were places where the glyphs were used for concepts that just weren't to be found in Druerjan.

The generative cycle of the Elementals, for one, was the yin cycle. There was also a destructive cycle, known as the yang cycle. That went: Fire melts Metal, which cuts Wood, which breaks Earth, which absorbs Water, which quenches Fire.

A number of the topics the Divine Creatures had already explained were laid out in similar terms, and the ideas behind Mana and Body cultivation were more thoroughly explained. Other topics, like how to access her Skill and Spell Books, and other "interfacing aspects of the Living Scrolls of the Ten Horizons", were included. Kestra read it all the way through, pausing every now and again to make sure her gate was still open. Then she went back through, pausing to try out the different aspects described.

One of those was breaking down her actual Base statistics from her Earned Base statistics. She made that change, to better see how quest and achievement rewards affected her. She could also choose to work on her actual Base statistics by suspending her Earned and Boost additions to her statistics. There was a caution that one would have difficulty raising a Base statistic above their present realm's ascension level.

If she had understood what she read right, she would have a simpler time raising her strength and stamina in the Second Horizon, and would need to wait for the Third Horizon for an easier environment to raise all of her current actual Base statistics.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

PROFILE

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

NAME : Kestra Boom-Smiter

LEVEL : 9

EXP : 7130 / 8100

RACE : Human

TITLES :

‎ Transmigrator

Dungeon Hunter

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

BOOSTS: 23 / 45

STRENGTH: (7+0) + 8 = 15

AGILITY: (10+0) + 0 = 10

STAMINA: (8+0) + 7 = 15 [225]

STAMINA RECOVERY: (8+0) + 7 = 15 [1.5/s]

MANA: (10+5) + 0 = 15 [150]

MANA RECOVERY: (10+0) + 0 = 10 [8.0/s]

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

OPEN APERTURES: 8

TEMPERING STEPS: (0) Untempered

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

SKILL BOOK

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Alchemy: 47

Blades: 7

Mana Manipulation: 7

Marksman: 20

Stealth: 13

Tracking: 5

Traps: 9

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

SPELL BOOK

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Control Water: Apprentice

Disassemble: Apprentice

Dungeon Sense: [Novice]

Identify: Novice

Minor Healing: Novice

Organic Assay: [Novice]

Tiger's Eyes: Novice

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

She decided to keep the skill rank notices off, despite her surprise at nearing the half way mark to Mastery already with her Alchemy. Skills up to the 25th rank were Novice rank, and earned 5 EXP per rank advancement. Apprentice rank went up to 50th rank, earning 50 EXP per, and Journeyman to the 75th rank for 500 EXP. Expert rank followed Journeyman, each rank valued at 5,000 EXP. Upon reaching the 100th rank, the Ten Horizons considered one a Master of the skill, and skill experience came solely from skill related achievements, such as the creating of a new formula for Alchemy, or new techniques. Each rank division also provided some skill related benefit, mostly reduced mana costs or small luck-related boosts to outcomes, with occasional new uses for the skills.

Also, the two Earth-born transmigrators she had met had told her the truth about the realm oaths and the boost cap. They had not mentioned that at the levels divided by ten, they got an extra ten boosts. If one made it to level 100, then they would have to have 100 boosts in each attribute statistic.

That did not in any way negate the need to be strategic about when to apply those boosts, however.

At some point during her reading, Vostler headed through her gate and Yorgin came over to try reading over her shoulder. He kindly did not disrupt her reading, but he seemed distracted as he started uprooting nearby trees and chucking them through her gate.

When that started, Kestra paused long enough to peek into her retreat realm. The Earth Elemental seemed pretty happy, and the cabin had been completely disassembled. Eilith was happily burbling to Ambrose, who rumbled back to her. Nicada was purposefully ignoring Vostler. He appeared to be studiously avoiding Nicada, too, but burning down the trees was brightening his mood.

Content with the state of things, she went back to her studying.

Kestra felt only a little tired when she felt she had gone through the Guide as much as she could handle for the moment. She sent the book to Inspri.

«May I read this?» the sprite asked.

«Yes, sure,» Kestra agreed, pausing to look into her storage realm to see how an incorporeal sprite, a being made of mana, read a physical book.

She felt something twitch in her mana as the sprite happily passed through the book. It reproduced every letter, grouped into words, and began sorting the knowledge into a completely different kind of structure made entirely of mana. The physical book settled into a shelf formed from the walls of the realm.

That twitch reminded Kestra she wanted to look deeper into her connection with the sprite, and she decided to put herself in a meditative state to do just that.

First, though, she announced to her retreat realm, «I'm going to try to meditate instead of sleep, but the gate might come down at some point. I'll make sure that it comes up as soon as I notice it down, but the humans of my realm needed between six and eight hours of sleep. If being stuck inside for that long isn't to your taste, now's the time to exit.»

Ralouf said, "Ah, I should probably relieve Yorgin, then."

Kestra was repeating to Yorgin the warning she had just given, who had taken out a book of his own to read, when Ralouf exited, a touch dusty from the ash.

"With the little Miss settling in for some rest, I figured it was about time to see if you'd like to refresh yourself in the more stable mana," he announced on the end of Kestra's words.

Yorgin flicked his fingers at Ralouf. "My mana control is quite good, and I'm comfortable enough out here. If Eilith is about ready to brew up a storm for Ambrose and Nicada, you might want to send Vostler out, though. Nicada's upset with him, so it's not like he'll get a chance to play with lightning without her."

Ralouf looked happier, but he still asked, "You sure?"

"Quite, Wyrm. Go play with your rocks."

The short man nearly skipped back into her retreat realm. Very shortly afterward, Vostler slithered out, presently in the form of a fire snake.

Kestra ignored him while she settled her mind. She fell into the breath patterns she used as a mnemonic for reaching her Hunter's Trance. She was calm enough that when the blue screens, the Living Scrolls, flashed for her attention, it didn't even disrupt her composure.

Congratulations!

You have successfully learned the [Meditation] skill! View your Skill Book to keep track of your skill ranks.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Meditation

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

You know how to calm your mind and connect with the flows of mana within the Ten Horizons, increasing your mana recovery while in a meditative state.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

You must yet prove your worth to reap the rewards of this craft.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Without consciously trying, Kestra activated her Organic Assay spell as she turned her focus inward, to her connection with Inspri.

She felt no great sense of urgency, so Kestra took her time. She discovered that her regeneration was constantly active, feeding the mana seed at the heart of her mana well once her own mana pool was topped off. That constant movement of mana was keeping her body from being over saturated, and stimulating her vitality to enhance her constitution.

Following the mana led Kestra into her realms, and she had to pause to really comprehend what she was perceiving.

Before she had figured that out, Vostler tapped her forehead, breaking her concentration.

"What?" she asked, feeling her gate wobble too far out of stability and collapse.

"I found a thing. Make your gate again," the Fire Element ordered. He was back in a humanoid shape, and holding what looked like an animated bundle of sticks off to the side.

"Is that a nature sprite?" she asked.

"Yeah. I found it," he said. Then he blushed, hunched over his shoulders, and looked away. "Well, I broke its tree, so I'mma bind it to your mana well. Otherwise, it'll die, and that would break the oath Eilith made me swear. So, open your gate."

Kestra looked to the squirming nature sprite. "Honored sprite, are you bound in service to any greater aspect of the wild?"

"No! Free Sprite!" it squeaked. The squirming turned into the sprite trying to punch or kick Vostler. "Bad big fire! Hurt my tree!"

"Show me your tree, please, so I can see if I can help it," she asked.

Vostler blinked. "You can heal trees? It's this way!" And he darted off, still holding the sprite.

Kestra stood up. Yorgin sighed and put away his book. "Let's go," he said, picking Kestra up in a toddler hold and suddenly sprinting after the Fire Elemental. Within a few seconds, they arrived at the splintered remnants of an evergreen kind of tree. The leaves were waxy and as pointed as flattened needles. Kestra's Inspect spell reported its name was Ten Year Short Dagger Bladed Leaf Tree.

Kestra tried her Organic Assay on the tree stump, and with that up, she began to trickle mana through her Minor Healing spell, targeted on the tree. The tree's bark began to grow over the stump, and a new core of growth took shape.

"I can get it to a point where it'll survive, but it'll need a lot of healing, and that'll be easier to do by my mana well, if the retreat is ready for plants," she reported, not really addressing anyone.

She didn't wait for either Yorgin or Vostler to respond, instead turning to the nature sprite. "I need a bargain with you to do this, and my terms are thus: I will move your tree into my personal realm, bind it to my mana well, and heal it. In return, you will tend to the plants that I place in my realm, ensuring they grow in harmony with the realm and those who occupy it. Once your tree is well, if you wish to be free of my realm, then after you tell me this I will aid you in unbinding your tree and relocating it to a more satisfactory place within whichever Horizon or realm I happen to be in at the time, in a manner that avoids harm to me, you, your tree, and the new location. Is this bargain satisfactory to you?"

"Yes! Heal tree!" the sprite eagerly agreed, reaching to embrace the stump of its tree.

Kestra kept up the trickle of healing even as she turned inward to assess her personal realm. She projected her question inward, «Is the realm ready for plants? Vostler broke a nature sprite's tree, and it needs constant healing. I'm thinking if the realm is no longer hazardous to a plant's health, I'll transfer the tree and the sprite in, along with the soil around the tree's roots, place it near the mana well, and let it suck down mana while I work to heal it.»

Eilith said, "Open the gate and let Yorgin check. He'll have a better idea of that."

«Will do.» Kestra had to pause the healing to open the gate and send Yorgin through.

He returned with a pleased smile, Ambrose trailing him. "Aside from needing plants, it's actually quite pleasant in there now."

Ambrose grimaced as he inspected the tree trunk and the squirming sprite. "I figured you might need some aid in stabilizing the soil around the tree. No need to set records for breaking the Righteous Oath now that Eilith got Vostler to swear to it."

"I appreciate your aid." Kestra bowed to the Earth Elemental for emphasis.

He shrugged, the corners of his mouth lifting without actually releasing his grimace. Then he sank into the soil. Kestra quickly backed away from the stump, as did Vostler and Yorgin. A line of retracted soil appeared when Ambrose was done. Then the area around the tree floated up and over to the gate.

Despite the gate being only two meters tall and a meter wide, the five meter wide semi sphere of soil slid through it without any seeming issues. Vostler followed, still carting along the sprite.

Kestra sat and peeked into her retreat realm. The tree stump dirt ball floated a few dozen meters away from the gate and the mana well, which sat in the center of her realm. A healthy depth of soil parted and the semi-sphere of tree dirt settled in. She felt the Earth Elemental carefully balancing the soil. While he was doing that, Kestra extended a trace of mana from the mana seed in her well to the stump, then went back to casting her Minor Healing spell on the tree.

The nature sprite wasn't idle. Vostler had released it and then retreated back out of her realm, and it had reached out through its tree to grasp the mana trace, securing it to the tree, then used the mana from the well to cast its own nature nurturing spells.

Kestra paused every now and again to cast her Organic Assay on the healing tree, using her Mana Manipulation skill to tune where the Minor Healing spell focused.

She stopped a few times to pull out her dwindling supply of travel loafs and eat, but between her and the nature sprite, they got the sprite's tree back to a stable state of health, with a new, much smaller trunk growing up from the now bark covered stump. A few branches had formed, with smaller, leaf-bearing branches.

Not long after, the sprite curled up next to its tree and entered a state of torpor.

Kestra began to move in the plants she had harvested, containing them to a plot at a small remove from the newly healed Short Dagger Bladed Leaf Tree. Ambrose settled the soil around the roots, and Eilith sent over a light mist to hydrate the new transplants.

There were more Divine Creatures around when Kestra had the attention to focus on her surroundings. At some point, her gate had collapsed, so at least there wasn't a need to explain that.

Yorgin and Vostler were being social, chatting, swapping snacks, and drinking tea. She got a few interested side-eye glances, but she guessed the couple had shut down any more direct inquiries about her. Kestra was happy to leave things at that.

Most of the new Honorable Divines had chosen to assume a humanoid shape, and a few were leaking mana like a sieve sheds water. They were all curious about Graemire's light bubble.

Kestra spent a fair amount of her time keeping the occupants of her personal realm appraised of the gathering crowd of their peers. Ralouf had proved a voice of reason, warning against Kestra just popping them each out of her realm, seeing as the gate would have been too obvious. Figuring that movement would draw predatory eyes, she used her healing spell to relieve aches caused from remaining seated for what turned into a few days, and got in a lot of Meditation practice.

She got a nice surprise near the end of the third day.

Congratulations!

You have matured your Mana Seed into a Low Base grade Mana Well!

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Rewards:

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Base Mana Stone Generator Seed

EXP: 10,000

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Quest: Grow Your Mana Well

Requirements: Grow your mana well to Middle Base Grade

Rewards:

‎ Quest: Grow Your Mana Well II

EXP: 10,000

Level Up!

You have reached the next level. You gain 5 boosts to distribute across your statistics.

Ascension Level Reached!

You have reached the threshold level to ascend to the next Horizon. You gain 10 boosts to distribute across your statistics.

To Ascend to the next Horizon, visit a realm anchor.

The Base Mana Stone Generator Seed plonked into her storage realm. Inspri cooed in delight all while setting it up, affixed to a wall of the realm. The sprite communicated what it needed to hook the seed into the outflow of Kestra's mana well, and with a bit of fumbling around, she brought over the mana conduit through her realms. The seed immediately began pulling some of the purified mana the mana well was outputting.

«Ten thousand mana is needed to mature the seed into a generator, and then the Base Mana Stones should take five thousand mana per stone to form,» Inspri eagerly reported.

Kestra did some mental calculations, realizing that if she was just lazying about with a full mana pool, her mana recovery of eight mana per second sent just shy of five hundred mana to her mana well each minute. With Meditation increasing her mana recovery, she wasn't sure by how much, that was only closer to exceeding that five hundred. That meant in the range of thirty thousand mana per hour went to her mana well when she wasn't casting spells. She didn't know how much was now going into the generator seed, but she might just find herself with an excess of these stones.

Given the amount of mana needed to mature the generator seed, and then to make the seeds, Kestra was pretty sure that she was somehow breaking the way that mana wells were supposed to work.

And the only person she felt comfortable asking about that was currently a light ball in the sky.