48 CH47: The Fool’s Sanctuary
***
CH47: The Fool's Sanctuary
[Notice: Lord Jormungandr, the World-devouring Serpent who has consumed many worlds, as well as visited a greater many, has granted Host the authority to choose any of these worlds as the template for his {Private Realm}.]
[Notice: Each world has its own characteristics and inhabitants which affects the advantages Host may gain from the world. Host is advised to choose wisely as decision can only be made once.]
[Notice: Due to the immense number of available worlds and the difficulty of choosing from such a great amount, Interface has used Host's patronage from the Household of Loki to narrow the list down to Nine worlds which have the greatest connections to members of the Household. Host is advised to choose from this nine as they present the greatest benefits due to his patrons.]
-
These were the messages I got from the window that popped up before me when I wanted to choose a world for my {Private Realm}.
I was grateful for the last notification, because without it, I would've had to choose from a pool of thousands of worlds.
I had not the time nor desire to look through such a huge number, but I would've tried to do so as I wouldn't be satisfied until I was sure I got the best deal for myself.
Knowing the list had been reduced to the best nine made me heave a sigh of relief.
I opened the next window and looked through the nine shortlisted worlds.
***
[Niflhelm]
Title: The World of Eternal Darkness and Coldness.
Remark: Some believe it to be one of the first two worlds in existence in the Norse corridor of the Spirit realm. It is a world of water, ice and frost which is believe to be the origin of all things.
Inhabitants: Nidhug, a Giant Frost Dragon.
Advantages: A world that never lacks water or ice. A powerful inhabitant that can teach Host the use of Water, Ice and Frost; as long as Host can befriend it.
**
[Muspelheim]
Title: The World of Eternal Flames.
Remark: Some believe it to be the second of the first two worlds in the Norse corridor of the Spirit Realm. It is a world of flames, sparks and lava. It is the birthplace of destruction, and shall be the endpoint of all worlds.
Inhabitants: Daemons.
Advantage: A world rich in flames. A never-ending battlefield with Daemons which can hone Host's combat skills.
**
[Asgard]
Title: The World of Warriors.
Remark: This is one of the principal worlds in the Realm of Spirits. It is the main (principal) world of the Norse Corridor and a gathering place of Spirits in the corridor. It is a paradise to all those who pursue the martial way and live on the battlefield. Within Asgard, exist a place where the souls of valiant warriors across all ages come to gather for a never-ending feast.
Inhabitants: Warriors of all ages (times) and all races.
Advantages: A world possessing the highest energy grade within the realm corridor. Inhabitants are great warriors who may help Host improve his combat techniques should he befriend them.
**
[Vanaheim]
Title: The World of Path and Truth Seekers
Remark: This is the Sub-Principal World of the Norse Corridor. It is a world second only to Asgard in the Norse corridor of the Spirit realm, and similarly a gathering place of Spirits living within the corridor. It is a holy land for all those who seek the ways and secrets of the world. Within Vanaheim exists a grand repertory of knowledge from all races and civilisations within the Norse corridor.
Inhabitants: Magician and Scholars of all ages and races
Advantages: A world possessing the highest energy concentration within the realm corridor. Inhabitants are great scholars who may enlighten the Host on the knowledge of the world.
**
[Helheim]
Title: World of the Dead
Remark: This is another important realm of the Norse corridor. It is the world of the dead. It is the gathering place of the souls of the unjustly dead; the young, elderly, sickly, suicide as well as all souls rejected by the special place in Asgard. It is the dominion and kingdom of Queen Hel.
Inhabitants: The Undead.
Advantage: A world filled with the dead, who never hunger, thirst or tire. You may earn some form of control over them depending on your favour in the eyes of Queen Hel.
**
[Jotunheim]
Title: World of Giants
Remark: This is a world of large mountains and dense wilderness. It is the birthplace of the powerful and advanced giant race.
Inhabitants: Giants of all forms
Advantages: Access to Giants, a race with the best group of craftsman in the Norse corridor.
**
[Alfheim]
Title: World of Elves.
Remark: This is a world of beautiful landscapes and paradise to all those who value nature. It has abundant forests, plains, lakes and rivers. It has the most fertile soil in the Norse corridor, capable of growing all plant life and supporting all peaceful creatures. It is the birthplace of the Elves.
Inhabitants: All forms of Long-eared races.
Advantage: Highly fertile soil, meek inhabitants with high understanding of plant life.
**
[Svartalfhelm]
Title: World of Dwarves.
Remark: A world of barren mountain rich in minerals and precious metal deposits. It is a paradise to all those who work with metals as it is rich in abundant mining deposits and underground caverns. It is the birthplace of the Dwarven race.
Inhabitants: Dwarves.
Advantage: Rich deposits of metal ores. Access to Dwarves, the best metal craftsmen in the Norse corridor.
[Midgard]
Title: World of Humans.
Remark: This is a world not known for anything, however, has abundant potential. It can grow to become the greatest world or fall to become the lowest one. It is the birthplace of humanity, who like their world are average but have great potential.
Inhabitants: Humanity of all forms and species.
Advantage: Average world with High growth potential
**
***
I reread this window at least three times to make sure I understood everything.
From the notifications I got previously, the environment of each world and the nature of their inhabitants affects the advantage I can get from the Private Realm.
Each world had its characteristic while the inhabitants had their nature. I had to reconcile both in order to draw the maximum benefits I could.
If I chose a world because of its characteristics and ignored the nature of its inhabitants, I might end up regretting my choice and vice versa.
I only had one chance to choose, so I took my time in deciding.
-
I first crossed Niflhelm, Muspelheim and Midgard off my list. The first two were extreme conditions while the last one was average. Neither group could help improve my strength without me putting in herculean effort to tame them first.
Most importantly, it was unlikely that I'd get much from their inhabitants. Dragons, Daemons and humans were all tough species to deal with as they were fickle and could turn on you at any moment. And that's if you could gain their favour in the first place.
-
The next place I crossed off was Helheim.
Sure, {Queen Hel's Favour} improved the rate of my growth, but it didn't mean I wanted to stay with undead everyday. The thought of wondering ghosts, moving skeletons and rotten flesh made my skin crawl. It was a definite no-no.
-
Asgard and Vanaheim were also crossed off.
The battle experience and knowledge from my previous life were good enough for me to live on in this life. I was going to have my hands full with many things in the future that the lessons the two worlds' inhabitants could teach me didn't seem appealing.
As for Asgard's energy-grade and Vanaheim's energy concentration which were higher than Arun's mana, they were even more less appealing to me. I walked the path of the flesh. Neither higher energy grade nor concentration did much to help my growth.
-
That left me with the choice of Alfheim, Jotunheim and Svartalfhelm.
I crossed off the latter two after some thought.
Both Jotunheim and Svartalfhelm where places of craftsmen. The Giants of Jotunheim could craft with any material known in the world while the Dwarves of Svartalfhelm were the best metal craftsmen.
This seemed like a good advantage at first, but I quickly realised that it wouldn't help me much. I had no need for whatever they could craft for me. I had no need for 'mythical-grade' crafts as I could make use of whatever I could find in Arun.
Plus, I would only draw unnecessary attention to myself if I decide to sell their crafts as they would stand out too much from anything known in Arun.
In other words, it was not easy to translate the advantages of the two worlds to power for myself, whether in my combat power or social power.
On the other hand, Alfheim attracted me. The most fertile land where any plant could be grown. This advantage was almost godsend.
I planned to become a Herbalist, whether to improve my combat potential through the use of poisons and Gandr or simply to provide public research, Alfheim could potentially provide for my herbal needs!
Plus, if I could win the favour of the Elven race inhabiting the place, won't I have natural gardeners for my herbs?
Both the world's environment and its inhabitants had advantages to offer me.
I made my decision.
***
[Confirm: Are you sure you want to choose Alfheim as the template for the {Private Realm}.]
[Yes/No]
*
I resolutely chose yes.
**
Suddenly, Gandr rose from within my shadow.
It coiled itself round my legs and skilfully made it to my waist.
Its head extended towards my face while its lower body wrapped around my waist.
It occurred to me that if it used {Tough Muscles} to strengthen its hold around me, it could strangle me to death or break me in half.
Of course I knew it wouldn't do that but...
**
[Notice: {Private Realm} is available. Host may now enter at leisure.]
**
My thoughts pulled back to reality when I saw the notification.
"Open {Private Realm}." I said to Gandr while rubbing it serpentine head.
Gandr nodded in an almost human-like manner which surprised me.
Its head turned away from me to the empty centre of the study. It silently released a beam of white light from its mouth which grew into a door when it touched the floor.
It arched forward and its wrapped body around my waist tugged on me. It didn't take a genius it was telling me to enter the door.
I smiled, then walked through the door of light.
**
Behind the door, I found myself at the centre of a forest.
There was a large tree before me. If I had to guess, it would be at about a hundred to one-fifty metres. It was also very wide. I reckon it would take ten men to hug the tree. Gandr detached from my waist and moved to lean on the tree.
This allowed me to take stock of my surroundings.
I noticed that the ambient energy here was very rich, even richer than the Mana Vein.
I stood at a large forest clearing with the tree at the centre. Beyond the clearing, was forest as far as the eyes could see.
Aside the tree, I saw two buildings, one was a cottage while the other looked like a store.
Suddenly, a few notifications appeared before my eyes.
**
[Notice: The excess energy from Host's sacrifice has been concentrated into the {Private Realm}. The energy form, Mana, has been converted to higher grade energy form, Astra.]
[Notice: Host's sacrifice includes a budding Energy Soul. All converted energy has been converged into the Energy Soul to complete its growth.]
[Notice: Due to Energy form conversion and nature of template world, Energy Soul is born as a Great Tree. The Great Tree is bound to Host. Energy from outside world will converge at the Great Tree, thereby speeding up energy conversion.]
[Notice: A Great Tree holds an important status in the Template world and is held in the highest regard by the native Long-eared races (Elves). All spawned Elves will hold Host in high regard. Due to the effects of the Charm Stats, the Host's Favourability with the native Elves is almost at maximum. The Elves will be willing to work for the Host within the {Private Realm}.]
[Notice: Please head into the central building for details on {Private Realm}.]
**
From my understanding of the notifications, all the mana from the Mana Vein had been converted into a new energy form called Astra. Then, all that Astra was concentrated into the budding Vein Core which eventually caused it to grow into a Mana Soul... or an Astra Soul in this case.
The Astra Soul eventually took the form of a Great Tree which is of utmost importance to the Elves which are the inhabitant of this world.
In other words, I didn't lose any energy at all. I even gain the elusive Mana... err, Astra Soul which were known to have great abilities as they grew.
I couldn't wait to see the abilities it had.
-
Managing to calm myself, I walked into the wooden cottage.
The cottage was neither too big nor too small, but it certainly looked sturdy. Behind the front door, I was greeted by a large living room, with the dinner area to the far corner. There was an open door beside it which led to what looked like a kitchen.
There were doors to both sides of the living room, from the front door.
The door to the left led to a corridor with empty three rooms to the left of the corridor and a large bedroom in front at the end of it.
Returning to the living room, behind the door to the right was a study or a Library depending on how you saw it, because it had relatively big bookshelves.
It also had an empty wooden showcase.
The structure of the showcase reminded me of the weapons rack my team used to arrange our weapons in our secret arms cache.
I wondered what I was to make of that.
Then, there was the large desk. The seat seemed to be calling to me.
So, I sat down on it.
**
[Notice: Host may view Interface and Blessing gifts from this seat.]
[Notice: Host has yet to unlock the {Vault of Knowledge}. The only data available now is {Territory Information}.]
[Notice: Does Host want to open {Territory Information}?]
[Yes/No]
I clicked on yes.
**
[Unnamed Territory.]
(Notice: Please name your Territory.)
-Bio-
Tier: Tier II (Basic Territory)
(Notice: Territory's Tier is dependant on Gandr's Tier.)
Territory Type: Farmland.
(Notice: It has been determined that host wishes to turn {Private Realm} into a place for growing herbs. {Private Realm} has been adjusted as such.)
Territory Size: 30 Acres
Farm Size: 27 acres
Land for other use: 3 Acres.
(Notice: Territory size grows with increase in Territory Tier.)
-Census-
Territory Inhabitants: Forest Elves.
(Notice: Forest Elves are the best Elven race in growing plant life. They also have the highest adoration for Great Trees amongst all elves)
Territory Profession: Farm hands.
(Notice: All inhabitants in territory will automatically work on Host's farmland)
Spawn Rate: 5 Forest Elves every 1 Arun month.
-Advantages.-
-Influence of Great Tree: x10 growth rate of all herbs planted on territory.
-Soil Fertility: Reduces the growth time of herbs planted in soil by 20%
-Ambient Astra Environment: Energy content of herbs increases by 50%
-Nature Elves Skills: Yield and Vigour of harvest increases by 50%
(Notice: Advantages improve with Tier)
***
Once I looked through the Territory's stats, I knew I had chosen right. This place will be a big help to my career.
**
[Notice: Host is required to name the {Private Realm}.]
**
I sighed.
Another naming headache.
I thought long and hard on this. Eventually, I settled on a passable name.
**
[Name of {Private Realm} set.]
[Welcome to the Fool's Sanctuary]
(To be continued...)
