What are these people doing? They got watchtowers, both above and somehow below the canopy. I’m not going to count but quite a few people are patrolling extremely strange looking walls.

A clearing has been made in the middle of this fortified village, trees have been cut down, I assume to make this stupid looking wall. I feel like I’ve seen a similar looking wall somewhere.

The tree of luck seems to be untouched though, which is good. There are way too many people here. All of them are either patrolling the walls, training or doing some sort of work. This looks pretty good actually.

I’ll have to find Sera to figure out what is happening here. Should I just ask one of the people here? Ah, I’ve been spotted by one of the patrols.

“Hey! Who are you? Show your mark.”

Mark?

“Mark? What mark?”

These people keep surprising me, what the hell did they do now?

“An outsider! Stay still! Don’t move!”

Fucker, I’ll do what I want. Let’s see him stop me. Oh should we play with him? Ah, there is a fierce looking woman rushing over. Let’s rush towards this guy before more people show up.

I step off the branch I was so eloquently balancing on top of and step onto a Cen-platform. The branches simply can’t take the pressure if I try to put some power behind my jump.

“Hi!”

Wow! His pupils just widened, almost making his eyes look completely black. Well mission completed, I’d call that being surprised.

“Listen, little man. I am the lord and savior, the commander and chief, the sun and stars, the infinite and beyond. The all-encompassing king of this forest, and I’d appreciate it if my subjects didn’t try to order me around. I can revoke your respawning privileges with a thought.”

The guy can’t move, I’m using energy to envelop him, I don’t think it’s very strong but he doesn’t seem to be able to contend with it. I wonder what it feels like.

Ah, he actually pissed himself, this is less than ideal but still fun. The woman is shooting towards us but seems a bit confused as to what is happening. I can understand, she probably hasn’t seen a person appearing to stand on air before.

“Hey there. I wonder if either of you know Sera? I’ve been on a journey of self-discovery, and I found out things about me that would astonish even the most sageous of sages.”

See. People aren’t any fun, she looks like she’s preparing to eat me, and not in a fun way.

“How are you doing that!?”

Hoo, there is clear hostility in her voice, I personally wouldn’t try to provoke a floating person. My dear heavenly goddess! That spear is out of this world! Such fine craftsmanship!

“Where did you get that spear!?”

I release the poor man that appears to be in shock and he instantly falls to his knees. I’m not entirely sure how well these people can process their environment but it is clear from the way they react they can’t believe their eyes when they see me move towards them.

I step in front of the charging woman, put my right hand on her shoulder and grab her spear with my left. I put some pressure on her.

“Who made this spear? Where did you get his?”

It is gorgeous, the carving is sublime! It is only a wooden spear but the details on the thing are phenomenal. There clearly has been an attempt to imbue it with energy, not expertly done but I’ve done worse in the past.

“Speak, girl.”

Ah she might not be able to speak whilst under the pressure, let’s let up a bit. This ability seems useful, it’s the new energy wave skill. I changed its use a bit, it’s becoming a lot easier to control energy.

“Who are you?”

“I am the lord and savior, the commander and chief, the sun and stars, the infinite and beyond. The all-encompassing king of the forest. Also known as lord Abraser, the leader of the free world. The child of Naturai, Con for short. I am the owner of the outer and middle layer of this forest.”

“Abraser!?”

Seems I have been recognized.

“Sir! Please forgive our insolence! I’ll take you to our leader right away!”

Hohoho, this is more like it.

The poor little guy is just sitting there staring with tears in his eyes, snot and drool flowingly freely. I´ll have to make this up to him, he might have been traumatized.

“Lead the way, eh. What’s your name? also, where did you get this spear?”

“Sir. The name is Alo, I am the leader of the Vera squadron. The spear was awarded to me when I was promoted to captain. It was created by our revered master spearcrafter, Kel of the spear.”

“Oh? Master spearcrafter, I’ll have to meet this person.”

“Of course sir. Both the spear masters would be honored to meet you.”

“Both? Who is the other one?”

“Her magnificence, Hel, she’s also Kel’s sister.”

This has been a pleasant surprise.

We’ve been walking on the platforms, I can see fear in some people’s eyes when they see this woman called Alo. I wonder what caused this dramatic change, I’m getting a bit itchy from curiosity.

I can still see the houses I had built around, there are other buildings around that I am certain I didn’t make. I wonder what the food situation is right now.

Oh, this is Sera’s house.

“Alo, captain of the fifteenth Vera division asks for a meeting with her majesty, Sera, leader of the luck. I bring the fabled Abraser!”

Eh, isn’t this a bit over dramatic, it feels like something I’d make them say.

“Enter!”

An overbearing female voice comes from inside the building. That’s clearly Sera. Seems she really has some control around this place.

“Sera! What’s up! Been a while, hey what’s happening with these spears, they look amazing.”

Oh, she’s still gorgeous, there seems to be a strange atmosphere in here. A bunch of half-naked men are scattered across the room, all sitting or lying on comfortably looking chairs or carpets.

She’s just staring at me, she looks mad.

“What? Why do you look so angry? Shouldn’t you come hug me, say welcome back or something? This is just awkward.”

No? Nothing? Are we having some sort of silent conversation?

“Do you have any idea what has been going on while you were gone? Do you even realize how long you have been gone!?”

“Eh? Well. I can’t say I’m sure of how long I’ve been away but it may have been quite some time. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

I really can’t be blamed for this, time flows forward with or without me. I have no control over this.

Ah, she’s just going on and on. I want to go meet with the spearcrafters, they seem like my kind of people.

Alright, she isn’t stopping, I'm just going to leave.

“Alo!”

See, Sera just keeps blathering away. I can’t understand why she’s so mad.

“Alo, take to the spearcrafters.”

“But sure, her majesty is talking to you.”

Looks like Sera has stopped talking.

“Sera, come with me, we’re going to the spearcrafters, and you can explain what’s been going on, on the way.”

Really can’t let other people dictate my actions, horribly boring.

And with that, I grab Alo, turn her around and push her gently forward.

“Go, go. I need to meet these spearcrafters, I may even take them in as disciples. Let’s go.”

I can hear a loud audible sigh from Sera as I walk outside the house with a bit absent minded Alo leading the way. After a short walk, Sera appears on my side with a sour expression.

So. Apparently, from what Sera has been telling me. People kept gathering here. Eventually some factions formed. At first it was nothing special but when the factions numbered over hundred thousand and the food issue was increasing daily, it became a bit unstable.

Short story long, there is some sort of war going on in the villages going on. Sera and her sister control this territory, the tree of luck. Herros has control over the tree of origin and some areas outside of Abraser.

Some woman called Jeee, ye Jeee with three e’s. She is apparently pretty strong and has created the new camp that is closest to the middle-layer. Apparently, she is the one that has groups of people exploring the middle-layer.

Then there is the middle layer. It is led by a group of five strong warriors, three women and two men. They have control over the best crafting buildings and the training arena. And are supposedly the strongest force.

I’m not sure if I need to do anything about this power struggle here but there is an abundance of gold and silver I can use to create buildings with. I still haven’t explored the new options I got with the new rank. I also need to visit the library.

I’ll go meet with all the leaders of each village to remind them who’s the real leader of this place. Though I’ll be honest, I don’t want to fight thousands of people but I doubt they can do anything to stop me from moving freely.

“Abraser!”

Hm? Oh?

“Ah, sorry got a bit lost in my head there. Are we there yet?”

No need for that look, the look of anger and disappointment. I think that’s what that look means.

Oh, look at this building, I didn’t create this. It’s almost as magnificent as Sera’s house. When we enter there are piles of wooden sticks lying about. The air in here is a bit heavy.

“Look at this, what amazing carving. There are so many of them!”

“Sir. This is the spearcrafters personal workstation. There are others but this one is exclusively for Hel and Kel.”

Ho! Not bad, not bad at all.

“Who's there?”

A sweet sounding voice comes from another room. Following the voice comes a beautiful woman in plain clothing. Her hair is short and messy.

“Hey there. Are you the rumored master spearcrafter? Are you Hel or Kel?”

Before she has a chance to answer another figure pops out from behind her.

“Kel, who is it?”

“Twins? You two are twins?”

“Sir, let me introduce you, the one in front is Master Kel and the one behind her is her twin sister, Master Hel.”

“Oh! So that’s how it is, how fantastic. It’s a great pleasure to meet you two. I’ve been admiring the spear you made for little Miss Alo here.”

Hmm.

“Sera, we’ll talk a bit later. I need to get more familiar with these two geniuses.”

Ha! If eyes could kill, I’d be dead.

“Come talk got me before you disappear again, I need your help with that entire mess. This is your “kingdom” right? You need to do something about this. Also! We need more green houses, we can barely sustain ourselves with hunting.”

“Ye, of course. A few greenhouses is nothing. I’ll be by later.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it. Hel, Kel. Take good care of Lord Abraser.”

“Lord Abraser!?”

“That’s me! We need to sit down and talk about your work! Please tell me if you need anything. I want to reward you for being such talented spear makers. Do you only work with wood?”

Huhuhu! Ah kindred spirits. They look a bit frightened though.

“No need to be shy. We’re cut from the same stone aren’t we? Hey, I was wondering if I could see you work for a bit.”

“Of course.”

Kel looks a bit more confident than Hel. They look eerily similar but there are some obvious differences. One has blue eyes with a red tinge. And the other has blue eyes with a purple tinge.

My god. This workshop is amazing! So many beautiful spears.

Breathe in. the smell of worked wood.