Emery was standing from the edge of the hill with d his gaze completely fixed towards the north. Finally, he understood the reason for that odd yet familiar feeling. After all, he had seen and met something similar to it in the past.
A Primordial Wisp, a commuted one, similar to Gaia from his home planet Earth.
This revelation, however, gave him little answers and only brought more questions. If a Primordial Wisp was the source of power that nurtured and enriched a planet it dwelled at, then why did it currently feel as if it was the source of the calamity itself?
What actually happened there down at the Sacred Mountain?
The fog of mystery made Emery want to fly straight to the restricted area and unravel it for himself. However, though he really wished to do so, he couldn't. He would break the alliance rules, especially with so many things needed to be taken care of on his plate.
Nonetheless, he was sure the resourceful guy from the Harlight family would know more about this matter. Hence, he planned to ask the man when he encountered him later.
Emery shifted his gaze to the glowing butterfly confined in his hands. Glancing north once more, he then dispelled the [Aegis Void] spell and freed the butterfly.
"If you're trying to fly home, then you should go," He said to the tiny creature.
He expected for it to immediately fly off the moment it was freed, but this time the creature didn't fly off. Instead, it flew around him phasing in and out without the intention of going away. It seemed to have acknowledged him.
Upon entering his body, Emery quickly realized the butterfly was emitting a strong light energy as pure as white. Like a wave, it began to circulate throughout his entire body and a refreshing feeling enveloped him.
Seeing Twik, who seemed really happy with his recent upgrade, Emery was reminded of Grand Magus Yvere's words about how Twik needed an abundance of the essence of light - positive energy - to balance the enormous dark element he had.
This unexpected discovery quickly gave rise to some ideas.
Staring at the butterfly, who was still flying around phasing in and out his body, Emery said.
"If you're really going to hang around with me for a while, how about getting to know more of my friends?"
Emery first called back Chiko, who was in the surrounding area, letting the chubby creature mingle with the tiny butterfly while he observed their interactions. As expected, a few moments later, the butterfly entered Chiko's body and didn't come out. It seemed to have decided to reside inside of him.
After that, Emery noticed Chiko seemed to be growing every passing minute, albeit very slowly. He recalled it was on the first day of the mid-test that he captured the butterfly, which meant it had resided in Twik for more than two days before Twik underwent an upgrade.
Not willing to wait that long for a result, Emery decided to give a hand in the process and cast [Metamorph] on Chiko.
Green glow radiated out from Emery's hand and permeated Chiko's body. Emery's nature energy met the light energy that the butterfly emitted, the two different energies were able to blend into each other without complications and rapidly enriched the chubby creature as it continued to grow.
It was only a few hours later that finally, something happened. To be exact, the awaited notification appeared.
[Chizpur Fang upgraded to stage 6]
[Increase in Battle Power]
[Received Innate Ability]
[Chizpur Fang - Stage 5(6)]
[Magical Creature Level 30 (60)]
[Battle Power - 55 (70)]
[Spirit Energy - Plant and Earth]
[Innate Ability]
[Manipulate Earth]
[Earth Burrows]
[Wide Guard]
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Emery's eyes lit up when he saw Chiko had acquired an innate ability due to his upgrade. Reading the explanation, the light in his eyes grew even brighter; Chiko's new innate ability could be very useful for a variety of scenarios.
[Wide Guard] was a protection-type ability that could be cast on itself or others. Even though he still didn't know how strong the protection would be, a defensive ability was definitely not a worthless ability to have!
After he was done with Chiko, Emery continued by summoning the other Chizpur brothers, alternating the butterfly between one another. One by one, the little creatures grew and, as they grew, he could feel the connection he had with them through [One Mind] was also strengthened.
It wasn't just the Chizpur brothers, who had gotten tremendous benefits during the process, Emery gained too. Since he had to use [Metamorph] continuously and the whole process involved the evolution of life, Emery's understanding of the Plant element once again began to increase and deepen.
[Spirit force increase]
[Spirit force increase]
This situation made Emery amazed by the power that just one leaf of the Tree of Light could give. He was half-consciously hoping he could keep the little butterfly for himself.
Emery then imagined what the existence of the entire Tree of Light meant for the Magus Alliance and couldn't help but wonder if this was the real reason why they were here. For a Primordial Wisp that was able to produce miraculous light energy.
It took roughly the same amount of time for each Chizpur brother to complete their upgrade - a few hours. Then, as soon as Emery finished upgrading the five, a notification popped up in his mind.
[Day five has passed]
[Personal Points Ranking]
[Rank 6 - 484,872 points]
[Squad Points Ranking]
[Rank 31 - 1,459,112 points]
[Survivors: 9,829,763]
[Time left: 4 days 23 hours 55 minutes]
[Acolyte casualties: 15]
Five days had passed, meaning half of the mid-test had been completed. Fortunately, despite not actively killing the Abyss creatures, Emery had almost accumulated the required amount of points to pass.
It had been three days since the survivors started to arrive at the settlement. Currently, the number of people living in the settlement has passed the three hundred thousand mark. Looking from the hill he was currently on, Emery could clearly see how bustling the settlement was.
Given that there were close to zero attacks taking place in the surrounding area, Emery decided to start moving these people into the main base
To be honest, while his plan seemed solid, Emery wasn't really sure how effective he could pull it off. After all, he had never moved hundreds of people before, let alone hundreds of thousands.
It's time to see how well he would do.
Emery created the widest [Spatial Gate] he could currently create to a place a hundred miles away from the settlement in the direction of the main base.
He then sent a dozen of his Mineralized Warriors and Chiko first to blaze a trail. Only when they had confirmed the coast was safe did he start sending the survivors in.