Black hole

"We're not eating now?" Emma asked sharply.

I shook my head uncomfortably.

"Typical you!" she said with a frown, "just doing your thing without thinking!"

I sighed and simply started walking, with the backpack and Emma on my back.

I think I'll bring her home once she's leveled up again.

That's what I will focus on, for the first day.

We set out around noon, and by evening, Emma proudly announced she had made it!

I think that was the only friendly thing she had said today, if you can even call it that.

We were currently in a pine forest, nestled in a mountainside on the Monster Continent.

The forest was huge, spanning several mountain ridges and valleys.

It smelled strongly of pine.

There were strong monsters and herds of various creatures. Swarms of harpies, packs of giant wolves, colonies of malicious dwarves who laughed maliciously in their mines, and so on.

There were ancient lakes and rivers.

Lakes that looked like ancient craters, and schools of some kind of fish in it hunting shore animals.

Even the trees weren't safe; they reached hundreds of meters into the sky and provided shelter and hiding spots for birds and other flying monsters.

We had spent the day fighting a swarm of harpies and had just killed their leader.

She was, in my opinion, already an S-level monster, enough for Emma to develop her system.

Of course, Emma hadn't killed a single harpy on her own, but left me to do all the work.

After that, we followed a similar approach as with Mia. I incapacitated some, and Emma finished them off.

"And? What's changed?" I asked, as I didn't even know what system she had from birth.

"Hmm," she pondered briefly and then stated, "actually, I don't even want to tell you. But you helped me, so I'll show you. But just the overview! Not the skill tree or anything!"

I nodded resignedly, and we leaned against a tree as Emma said aloud, "Status System!"

————

System: Magical Fruit Farmer

Name: Emma

Job: Fruit Farmer

Species: Human

Level: Magical

Level: 25/50

EXP: 00002/250,000

Mana: 25,200/25,200

<[Status Points]>

<[Personal Data]>

<[System Skill Tree]>

<[Skills] >

———

"Nothing special..." I remarked aloud, still having Elias' status reveal in mind.

"What do you mean, nothing special?" Emma asked indignantly. "Do you know how many farmers manage to reach the next level with the status?"

"At least one," I replied, thinking of Elias.

"Exactly! Almost zero! And if any, just some freaks!" she said loudly, but that seemed to lead to a realization, and she said without looking at me, "Thank… you…for this."

"You're welcome!" I smiled and put the harpy in the backpack.

As I lifted Emma up, I asked her, "Why is Elias a freak?" and walked back with her.

"That was maybe poorly worded," she said somewhat nervously, "he just wasn't a normal farmer."

I had to agree with her.

On the way back, she looked at her new system and complained that she could only follow one main branch.

After that, I told her that in my kingdom, everyone gets 5 SP per year.

She was naturally ecstatic about that.

How powerful that would be! Because it would defy all logic!

That would mean that every citizen could have more skills than anyone anywhere in the world.

It not only sounds unfair, it is unfair! Because you could easily follow different main branches!

This would of course mean that every person possesses more abilities and indirectly helps the kingdom grow.

"You have that possibility now too." I explained to her.

"Ah."

I just smiled and secretly looked forward to the day when that would be the case.

...

"Then have fun!" I said goodbye to Emma, who insisted on getting her own farm and house in the agricultural district.

"Thanks again!" she said quietly, then added loudly to restore her honor, "But woe to you if you make Mia wait unnecessarily long!"

I raised my arms defensively and shook my head. "I would never do that!" and then I took off.

I quickly emptied my backpack in the treasure room, stole a glance at my wife, who was bathing, and disappeared again.

This time, I went in a different direction, not towards the mine, and took care of everything that crossed my path.

I chatted with the assistant and made a decision after a while.

After learning that for many things, mana stone was only needed from mana will, and it turned out that mana crystals could also be used, I wanted to create my gold blood item.

"So I can produce highly concentrated mana stones or crystals, and the system can use them too?" I asked again to make sure.

[Positive]

"What do they mean by sacrifice?" I asked the assistant again, because the blood skill description stated that depending on the sacrifice, the special abilities could vary.

[Unknown. That is beyond my scope.]

"Well then!" I said and decided to let my instincts guide me.

"~Something that can compress mana~" I thought again and again, "~as a sacrifice, I offer all my mana~"

And suddenly, the mana in my body circulated uncontrollably, faster and faster.

My body started to glow gold, bolts appeared around me.

The room distorted, and all my mana was pressed into a single point in front of my chest, which grew larger and brighter until it suddenly turned black in the middle.

*Wooosh*

Suddenly, a wind blew as strong as ever, golden light circled around the black sphere.

My mana was sucked in more and more, the suction became stronger and stronger, the hole larger and larger.

Trees shook, the first ones cracked, and I felt that atmospheric mana was also being sucked in.

*Crack, crack*

*Woosh Woosh*

The first small objects, bushes, and then trees were attracted and sucked in.

More and more, the suction became stronger. The black sphere became bigger and brighter.

It was now as big as a bowling ball and seemed to curve the room.

Roaring winds pulled at me, more and more mana left me, the pull became stronger and stronger, the hole larger and larger.

"How much longer?" I asked through clenched teeth.

I couldn't protect myself with mana because it was no longer under my control.

The golden blood carried it out of my body on its own and offered it as a sacrifice.

I quickly checked my status.

——— 

System: Strongest Kingdom System Name:

Leo Eternia

Job: King

Species: Royal human

Level: Demigod

Level: 983/1000

EXP: 457,864/9,830,000,000

Mana: 985,150,000/1,970,300,000

<[Status Points]>

<[Personal Data]>

<[System Skill Tree]>

<[Kingdom] >

<[Skills] >

————

Midway.

I also felt the suction and tried to hold onto the ground.

But everything was being pulled in.

I couldn't take it anymore, my body became heavier and heavier, as if gravity suddenly became stronger and stronger.

I couldn't breathe. I tried to hold my breath.

But eventually, I couldn't anymore, relaxed, and slowly was drawn in until I was sucked over the event horizon with a few trees as companions.