15 Conflicted Discovery

Daniel logged back into Evotania appearing exactly where he had logged off, it was darker however he could still see due to his racial trait though it was now dim. "Toga I am back," Daniel called out as he went to move towards the burrow. Inside the burrow, Daniel could see Toga slowly making his way up the incline.

"Welcome back Daniel, you want to take over? I got quite a lot done while you were gone," Toga said as he was pushing some dirt up the passageway slowly towards the entrance.

"Yeah, I'll take over you have done quite a lot," Daniel replied as he looked down into the burrow. He couldn't really see that big of a difference, but some progress was made.

"Okay, just let me finish this up and climb up and out of here," Toga said as he was slowly coming out.

Daniel knew he was going to have to wait a couple of minutes, but that was fine he decided to go to a clearing and experiment with making a new fruit. He decided something simpler that did not require him to peel would be better. He was currently deciding between a berry or a smaller tomato. He decided to go with a cherry tomato, he felt it would be more unique and there would be a higher chance that it wouldn't be from this world. He quickly looked up his favorite variant of the vegetable, he was looking for the golden ones. He found them pretty quickly, he began looking up the details on the seed and the plant's cycle. It did not take him very long to create a single seed, he chose a spot out of the way that wasn't covered in the excavated dirt.

Planting the seed and channeling his mana into it was surprisingly easy this time, he had already done it before and he was growing a smaller plant, the biggest issue though was that the plant itself was not a tree and grew more like a wild bush. It took him longer to solidify the sequence of images and each time he ran out of mana he had to stop and meditate. It actually took him longer than expected to grow and create the Golden Sunburst Cherry Tomato. When he had finally reached the final stages of the casting and the fruits began to appear a message appeared.

~Fame Increased by 10~

You are the creator of a new plant species, congratulations on introducing a new species to Evotania.

<Please Select a Name for The Species>

Breath of Life

In the sacred lands of Heelune given to Kaena first daughter of Maeve blessed by her mother Maeve.

A new species was born under the gaze of both Mother and Child. Maeve the Goddess of Life and Mother of Nature is always watching Heelune.

All life is blessed in the Sacred Forest of Heelune

Fame Increased by 2000

Bonus Fame +500

Congratulations You have created a Sacred Species

Followers of the Deities that Govern Nature

Herald your Achievement

2 Deities Have Blessed This Plant

|~Golden Sunburst Cherry Tomato~|

A Tomato Vine that resembles a golden cherry tomato from Earth. Introduced and created by a Traveler. It is considered a Sacred Flowering Vine now Indigenous to Heelune. It can only be grown in Heelune. Blessed By Maeve and Kaena

Traveler Daniel Smith

~ Effects ~

Restores 8% Health And 14% Stamina and Mana

+50 Hunger +60 Thirst

Cures Lesser Ailments

10-50% Increased Stamina Regeneration 30 Minute Duration. (Stacks up to 10 times)

Daniel couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he saw the differences, his fame was increasing by quite a lot, but he noticed that Kaena had actually blessed the plant this time. "Thank you both for allowing me to be here," he whispered as he began taking some of the tomatoes. "Hey Toga, you want to try some?" Daniel called out as he turned around, he noticed Toga was already asleep. Daniel wasn't aware of when he had gone to sleep near one of the tree stumps. He hadn't realized how focused he had gotten on growing the plant, he looked at the time and found that it had taken him an hour and a half, he really needed to improve his skills and level up. He looked into his other Notifications that he had been ignoring.

|~Unarmed Mastery~|

It is uncommon to battle barehanded.

The path of training and fighting without a weapon is grueling

However, it is completely natural for those that depend on claws & fang

~Effects~

Increased damage potential while unarmed 10%

Increased Constitution by 1%

Current Level: Novice Rank 3

Current Experience (41.9%)

|~Natural Recovery (Subset Skill)~|

Through pain and exhaustion, your body will naturally learn to adapt and recover.

(Subset Skill of Endurance)

~Effect~

9% increase in natural health and stamina regeneration.

Current Level: Beginner: Rank 7 (87.4%)

|~Life Mana~|

Life one of the oldest elements, It was Great Creator who first breathed life creating the deities who govern the elements. One who has an affinity with life it is a rare gift, one who has the power to create.

~ Effect ~

Increased Elemental Strength 13%

Reduced Elemental Mana Consumption 1.5%

Current Level ~ Novice ~ Rank 1 (31.7%)

|~(Subskill) Physical Enhancement~|

Mana is in all things, it makes up everything. You have learned to harness your mana boosting your physical body.

~ Effect ~

Consumes Mana along with Stamina

Physical related Stats Boosted 15-74%

Stat's Boosted in relation to mana drained

Mana Regeneration Reduced by 80%

Current Level: Novice Rank 6 (24.8%)

Main Skill - Mana Manipulation

(Subskill)

Mana Manipulation

Everything in Evotania has mana some are able to manipulate it, congratulations on beginning to master how to manipulate the mana around you.

- Effect -

60% increased consumption on mana when used,

mana increased by 10%, Mana range: Lesser

Current Level ~ Apprentice ~ Rank 2

Current XP (2.9%)

He also noticed that his Endurance skill had reached apprentice rank 3 but the progress was beginning to slow down. Daniel stretched a little before heading back over towards the hole, he wanted to get this done quickly. He noticed that it was actually slightly deeper than before and that Toga had actually cleared out more roots. He smiled as he pushed downwards and began clawing at the earth. The burrow was getting pretty wide he also noticed that the buffs from the two different fruits were stacking. He was regenerating stamina quite quickly and was able to maintain a comfortable pace, however, his mana was simply unable to hold up to the abuse of the physical enhancement skill.

With every passing hour that he worked, the distance to the surface increased. but progress still felt slow, there just was no easy solution available to him or shortcut. He tried to use his earth magic to excavate but, his mana simply could not hold up nor was his range for controlling very far. He could only sigh and push on with what felt like mindless labor. Using earth magic to strengthen the walls allowed him to not have to worry about it collapsing on him.

Every now and again he'd get updates from both Lisa and Joseph with what they were doing, Lisa was still higher level then Joseph. they were currently level 9 and 8 respectively, he was surprised at how well Lisa's group was doing, he wasn't expecting them to do so well. Daniel was slightly surprised by Joseph was behind them but, he knew his friend wasn't very good at fighting, but he also knew that Joseph enjoyed playing a caster or ranged support which could make up for his flaws in melee. He was pretty jealous that they were out there exploring and fighting, he felt like he was getting left behind which just added fuel to the flames, he really wanted to be done with this task.

He began to notice the sun was rising as he was pushing dirt back up towards the surface, it was becoming quite a distance to the surface, He made sure there was plenty of room for crawling and turning around. He wasn't sure exactly how far or how much distance there was from bottom to the surface, but he quickly decided that he was gonna just start creating the flatter bottom of the burrow. the biggest problem though was definitely all the roots, they were becoming annoying to cut through, or to try and move. But, he wasn't going to let that stop or deter him. He was thankful for his claws but, cutting and breaking the roots especially while laying down was very time-consuming.

As Daniel was down below in the burrow he could hear a commotion going on above, he heard an excited higher pitch voice calling out to Toga.

"Grandpa Toga, wake up I brought back the new fruit... Wait what's this...." The voice called out surprised.

Daniel was curious but he was more concerned with completing this task and helping Toga. He knew he could leave, but he needed to find hints as to what task Atia was talking about. Moving the dirt back up to the surface he caught a glimpse of what was going on, he was surprised. He saw what appeared to be a large grey lizard, but there was something completely different about it, the shape of the head and its frame was slightly different than a salamander or typical lizard. He was also surprised when he inspected it was the first creature to not be completely unknown. The little lizard was running around the tomato bush picking fruit.

|~<LvL 3>~|~<???>~|

|~Status: Unknown~|

|~Species: Unknown~|

Daniel was still moving the dirt out of the burrow when he drew the attention of the excited lizard towards him.

"What, who are you? are you gonna be staying with us?" the unknown lizard said excitedly as she trotted over.

"Oh Daniel, you are still hard at work," Toga called out as he was picking at a tangerine that was lying on the ground.

"No I am not going to be living here, and yeah hopefully I can finish it by today," Daniel replied while covered in dirt.

"Awww, why not, there will be plenty of room it'll be fun," the tiny lizard hopped around while saying.

Daniel was surprised at the energy the tiny lizard had. Before Daniel could ask for her name, Toga had already called out.

"Don't bother Daniel too much Yuna," Toga said.

"I'm not a bother, look I'm gonna help," Yuna said, with a sudden burst she scurried towards Daniel, completely running beneath his legs and arms as he was trying to relocate the dirt from the entrance.

"Wait," Daniel tried to call out but he didn't realize or react fast enough as her tail slapped the loose dirt in front of his face. Coughing out the dirt and trying to get it off his face and out of his eyes, he could only sigh in his heart. He was annoyed and didn't really know how to deal with children, he could hear her playfully scurrying down the hole behind him. Pushing the remaining dirt away from the entrance, he turned around and began crawling back down on all four. He couldn't see Yuna, but he could hear the sound of her clawing on the dirt and laughing.

"Don't worry Daniel, Yuna is young but she is a great digger," Toga called out from the surface.

"Thanks, for the heads up," Daniel called back. He found it difficult to take Toga's word for it when it came to descriptions but he knew the tortoise meant well. Reaching the bottom he could see dirt flying and Yuna just clawing and gnawing at roots in a corner. He decided to choose the opposite direction from her. he hadn't noticed when he began digging that she stopped and came over to his side.

"Let's dig together," Yuna said as she jumped next to him and began clawing at the dirt wall with her tiny claws.

Daniel could barely see, she was just swinging her little arms and claws so quickly, it was creating a huge mess as dirt flew everywhere. He noticed she had her eyes closed and was just playfully laughing as she dug. "Pfft, try to be more careful with your digging that is dangerous and I can't see," Daniel called out between coughs of dirt.

"Haha, Dangerous?" Yuna said as she stopped to look at Daniel, "Are you scared of dirt?" Yuna asked quizzically.

Daniel could only shake his head and laugh, "What, I'd like to be able to breathe," he replied.

"Can you not breathe?" Yuna responded curiously with her head tilted.

"Not when the dirt is flying everywhere, it is already cramped down here, we don't want to create more work for ourselves," Daniel responded.

"More work? I am helping dig, though," Yuna responded confused.

Daniel didn't know how to respond, he didn't want to hurt Yuna's feelings or anything like that. he could only sigh inwardly he wasn't sure how to deal with children, "You are very helpful alright, so you will dig and I will focus on removing the loose dirt so that it doesn't build up, and we can trade places okay when you get tired," he replied. He wanted to get this done efficiently and either way, the dirt needed to be removed.

Daniel began forming the loose dirt into solid chunks and shapes, looking down at them, right as we moving them towards the entrance he stopped. Looking back at the little lizard and back down at the clumps of dirt the thought struck him, "Why exactly have I been moving these things by hand and pushing dirt.... like an inhabitant..." Daniel, felt like he had been struck by lightning, he felt like his time had been wasted, he had been wanting tools and such even for the previous task, but he ignored the most valuable one he always had.

He could hear Yuna playing behind him as she continued to dig, he sighed and opened his inventory. Picking up a clump of dirt, he imagined it moving into his virtual inventory. Without warning the slab of dirt, appeared in his inventory along with what remained of his tangerines, he felt like crying inwardly. He remembered all the rocks he had to move for the blockade, and roots down in this burrow. He was embarrassed but he was glad that no one was actually around, he looked down and smashed one of the clumps of dirt he made. Scooping it up with his hand, he imagined the loose soil moving to his inventory. Without warning, he felt like burying himself in the dirt, there just was no tutorial or instructions for the inventory. Daniel quickly realized he had not found it's limitations, especially since he could see the loose dirt now in his inventory. He just wanted to scream, he decided he needed to fool around with the inventory some, he knew it would save him a lot of time in the long run. He decided to dive into the Evotania settings, there weren't actually that many, most of them affected the avatar's appearance and the visuals when it came to personal gore, but there was a menu for the inventory, he could create invisible dividers and allocate space for various things. He decided to separate the inventory into two individual spaces and put his consumables in one square and the dirt and debris in the other.

Daniel decided to gather the loose disturbed dirt that Yuna had been creating, filling his inventory with small rocks, dirt and every now and again roots. With some testing, he noticed he had to lift the loose dirt off the ground with his hands to store it in his inventory. He also noticed Yuna had stopped and spun around towards him.

"Are you tired? why aren't you helping dig?" Yuna said curiously.

Daniel, closed his eyes as he breathed, he couldn't stifle his smile, "No, I am not tired, I was just cleaning up," he replied. He decided that he was gonna just go back to the corner, and begin digging, he decided to directly put what he dug out into his inventory. "Here I am gonna start helping, now," he said.

"Really, I like to help as well," Yuna said as she quickly spun back around, she happily began to claw at the dirt.

"So do I, and you have been a really big help," Daniel said, he didn't have the heart to say otherwise. So far his experience in Evotania has definitely been a weird one. he could hear the laughs and giggles beside him as he dug.

"You should live with us, it really would be fun" Yuna replied happily from the side.

Reaching his claws into the dirt and scooping it up, "It would really be fun, but I'd really like to go on an adventure," Daniel replied.

"I like adventures, hey, let go one together," Yuna replied, she had already stopped digging and was just excitedly looking at him.

"I don't know, they are far away from here and could be dangerous," Daniel replied. He didn't stop his digging as he wanted to get everything done and over with. He could hear her surprised Gasp as she excitedly, began jumping up and down beside him.

"That sounds exciting and fun, when will you be going?" Yuna asked.

"Not sure, after I finish helping Toga, here I am probably going to look around, for some hints as to what exactly am I suppose to be doing, I am currently trying to fulfill a task for Atia," Daniel replied.

"Atia? whose she? can I meet her?" Yuna asked.

"Sure, but you haven't met her before? she is the red-haired elf that lives here in Heelune," Daniel replied. He could hear Yuna's laughter from beside him the moment he tried to describe Atia to her.

"You silly, her name isn't Atia... everyone knows her name." Yuna laughed while saying.

Daniel had his suspicions before, he decided to play along, "But she told me her name was Atia," he said.

"Daniel silly... she must have been playing with you," Yuna said.

"Well, if that is true what is her name then?" Daniel replied.

"Hehe, I'm not telling," Yuna responded playfully.

"Why not? I thought we were friends," Daniel said, he was becoming much more curious.

"We are friends!?! can we go on an adventure together then if I tell you?" Yuna asked excitedly.

Daniel wasn't really worried about this promise, "Sure sure, we can go together on an adventure in the future," he replied.

"Really, really? you promise?" Yuna asked.

"Yes, I promise, we can go adventuring together in the future," He replied. He could tell how excited she was from hearing that as her tail playfully moved back and forth. He had no idea where he was going to be taking her for this promise but he decided to figure it out later.

"I can't wait, we can go right after we help grandpa Toga," Yuna said excitedly.

"What about Atia's real name?" Daniel asked.

"hehe silly, how could you confuse big Sister Kaena for someone else?" Yuna laughed as she spoke, she already went back to digging. "I can't wait to go on an adventure," she said excitedly as she recklessly began digging.

Daniel ignored the big sister part, he recognized the name Kaena, he did not really know the lore of the world, but he knew he was currently at the Shrine of Kaena, Goddess of the Wilds. He was kind of shocked, but it started to make more sense, divine beasts, and just the overall differences of this forest. But he did not understand a lot of things nor did he understand what tasks she had set for him. He continued to dig as he thought more about it, he was undecided on how he was going to act upon this information either. He was beginning to think that the task she gave him was to discover this piece of information and for himself to come to a decision.

He was conflicted now, he did consider being a paladin before, but he really didn't want to be a zealous or religious fanatic. But he was also pretty sure this would be a one-time chance for him and if he passed it up he felt like there would be no going back. He knew his circumstances were special, it was obvious since there were no other players here. It was obvious that he knew there were plenty of possible benefits, he'd most likely obtain a religious class-title.

He also began to think of Shalee, where Joseph was at, he recalled that he couldn't actually start there. Thinking more about it he began to realize, that he may not even be able to enter Shalee, due to his race since he was unaware of the laws and traditions of the kingdom of Sylvantir. He felt like asking Joseph right now but decided to hold off on that for now, because he was sure there were restrictions one way or another. He noticed during his thoughts his inventory was just about full, "I'll be right back Yuna, be careful," he said as he turned around and began going towards the surface. Emptying his inventory away from the burrow, he began to look around, he could see Toga already back to sleep by the tomato bush. Daniel quickly turned back around and began heading into the burrow, he wanted to come to a decision soon before he set off.