Chapter 18

Emma seemed a bit hesitant once we sat down to eat. Finally she opened her mouth and asked a question I had kind of been expecting. “I heard that you have been spending a great deal of time with elder Yui.” She said.

I considered what exactly to tell her. Then I remembered that she had told me that she was a life mage. In comparison, having an ability wasn’t much of a secret at all. Obviously she could be trusted with at least part of what I had told elder Yui. Although I’d keep the dryads a secret and all the details of what my space could do. Even elder Yui didn’t know everything I could do. Such as transporting myself around.

“Apparently I have an ability. Having my core shattered must have activated it. That or the traitor guard attacking me. Not really sure which.” I explained.

Emma looked a bit surprised at first but then nodded. “I assume it had something to do with all the monsters that were slaughtered yesterday?” She said and then gestured towards her plate. Considering most of the clan was probably eating steak for lunch I was sure the reason why had spread around.

I nodded. “It’s a type of spatial ability. It lets me store just about anything. Including living objects. By absorbing life or death energy from nearby sources, or sources inside my space, I can expand it.”

Emma looked a bit interested but not overly shocked by my ability. Spatial abilities were useful but often had little combat potential. At least not compared to mage talents. “So you killed a bunch of magic beasts to expand it. Why spend so much time with elder Yui this morning though?” She asked.

“We tested it out and I can even store plants inside my space without harming them. So we decided to store a bunch of herbs inside. That way I can keep on absorbing the energy from them and grow my space further.” I explained.

“That seems like an awful lot of work for an ability that just lets you store things. I mean it’s worth developing, but why would an elder be so interested?” Emma said. I shuddered a bit and tried to think of something else I could tell her that would explain. Something besides saying that elder Yui wanted me to transport his dryad family.

Finally I grasped onto something. “I can use it for more than just simple storage. If something is within a certain distance from me I can store it in my space. So if there are enemies attacking me I could store their weapons. Or even better yet I could store my enemy directly and then wait until it’s a good time to deal with them.”

Emma was surprised when I told her that idea. “That’s actually very useful. Especially if people don’t realize you have such an ability. If you caught them off guard even a powerful cultivator could be trapped with your ability. It could easily save your life in a dangerous situation. That would certainly explain why elder Yui would spend time working on making sure that you fully develop it.”

“Exactly.” I said relieved that I had found a good excuse for me and an elder to be spending so much time together.

“I’m sure that elder Yui is also interested in seeing if there are any changes as your ability develops.” Emma said.

“Changes?” I said nervously. I’d really rather that she dropped this before she discovered something she shouldn’t know about. Especially the dryads. I wasn’t quite sure how she would react if she found out.

Emma shrugged. “As ability holders develop their abilities they often find new uses for their abilities. Sometimes their abilities will even change and become more useful or more powerful. It’s fairly common. Especially soon after an ability has been activated.”

I made sure I remembered this piece of information. It would be very useful to explain anything I did that I hadn’t told other people about yet. Such as my ability to visit my universe myself. Or my ability to come out in a different area than I had entered my universe from.

The rest of our conversation was mostly small talk and getting to know each other better. Getting to know each other better was actually kind of difficult for me. I had two sets of memories. And unfortunately a lot of my memories from Earth were very different from what was on this planet. It wasn’t like I could talk to Emma about movies, or music, sports, games, or even books from Earth. Even most of the stories from my life didn’t match up with who I was on this planet.

My difficulty with sharing my history with Emma made me realize something important. Eventually I’d have to tell people that I was a transmigrator. At the very least I’d have to tell those that I was close with. It would be nearly impossible to have a meaningful relationship with them otherwise.

Eventually Emma left. I’d meet her and the rest of her family at dinner tonight. Meanwhile I rejoined elder Yui and we went back to the grove. Part of me hoped that tomorrow I wouldn’t have to spend time going back and forth. Another part would miss spending time with Emma.

As I sat in the grove I tried to think of how to accomplish my quest to create a biosphere in my universe. Unfortunately I had no idea what types of animals were available on this planet. It was important that I didn’t transport something that would damage the expensive herbs inside my universe. Eventually I ended up asking elder Yui and the dryads for advice.

Once again it was Rubi that came up with the answer. “Worms and birds are the best choice I can think of. The worms will improve the dirt of your land and the birds won’t harm your plants.” She said while still half hiding behind her tree.

“That’s a good idea. Any suggestions on the types?” I asked.

“The worms in this area are very good. Up in the trees of the grove there are also some birds that would be perfect. I’m pretty sure they escaped from a local farm. They lay a small egg every day. There is a nest in Rosa’s tree. It’s the first tree to your right.” Rubi answered.

I had to close my eyes and concentrate but eventually I found the worms in the soil beneath me. With a grin I transported them to my space. Then I transported the birds hoping that I had the right pair.

Quest completed. Create a biosphere in your universe.

New quest. Find a source of breathable air for your universe. Accomplishing this will reduce the energy cost required to maintain the environment in your universe.

Quest completed. Find a source of breathable air for your universe.

Having a new quest completed right away was a bit surprising. Then again it made sense. All the plants I had inside my universe were definitely a source of breathable air. I was a little disappointed to realize that I was stuck with the grow my universe quest again.

“Did I get the right birds?” I asked Rubi after reading the messages.

She just nodded and then looked down. Squinting I realized that she was reading a book. I nearly laughed. Suddenly I couldn’t help but wonder if some of what I had assumed was shyness was just her being absorbed in reading. At some point I was going to need to coax her out from under her tree.

Although looking again I wondered just how she was able to read in that much shade. Instead of spending all day wondering I decided to just ask. “Isn’t it easier to read in the light?” I asked.

The silhouette of Rubi shrugged. “Books are made of paper. And paper is made from plants. Sensing plants is one of the innate abilities of dryads. Even dead plants. I don’t need light to be able to read what’s been written on the pages of a book.” She explained.

I looked at Rubi with a bit of surprise since I didn’t know about that ability. The other dryads were all looking at her with a bit of shock also. “How did you develop that much control over that ability, Rubi?” Her mother finally asked, breaking the silence.

“If I had to see to read, I wouldn’t be able to read at night. So I trained my ability so that I could read whenever I wanted to. It took a long time but it’s not like I had anything better to do.” Rubi answered with another shrug.

One of Rubi’s sisters sighed. “That certainly explains it. Rubi is obsessed with books. If there was a way to read while asleep I’m sure she would figure it out.”

“And the rest of you are obsessed with gossip. If there was a way to gossip while asleep I’m sure you would all figure it out.” Rubi said in a teasing voice.

I couldn’t help but grin when none of the other dryads could come up with a counter. The entire time I had been in the grove absorbing energy the dryads did little besides for gossip. At first I was surprised. They were all level seven and eight. Cultivators at that level spent nearly their entire day cultivating.

However, Dryads weren’t cultivators. They naturally gained strength without needing to concentrate on cultivating. The strength of a dryad was based on their age and the quality of their environment. Despite how they acted, all of elder Yui’s daughters were over a hundred years old and the garden was an excellent environment for dryads.

Eventually it was time for me to leave again. This time I was having dinner with Emma and her family. Including the clan head. It actually made me a bit nervous. I couldn’t imagine a reason why things would go badly at dinner. If they did though I may have to rely on elder Yui helping me. Otherwise I’d be completely at the clan head’s mercy.

Unfortunately all the energy I had absorbed hadn’t drastically changed my strength. Although I was able to make slightly better time than yesterday. Mostly because my muscles had recovered a tiny bit. I could barely wait until I could get rid of the cane I was relying on to get around.