Oh my ! A name ! Merryplace's Library ! This village is named Merryplace ! Now that's a good start !
Nice place. Despite the lack of woodworker the bookshelves are still of a rather good quality. The books are all in a surprisingly good state, with big covers of every color. Truly a feast to the eyes. And yet, despite colors being all over the place, everything is well organised. It appears that the color of the cover doesn't depend on the book but simply on whatever type of leather was available. Here it's apparently Cyan Cobra, here Red Reindeer and there's even a rainbow-like book cover made out of something called a Dream Demon. My guess is that all of these come from some kind of heirloom or were gifts made to some inhabitants. I refuse to believe a village with less than a dozen inhabited houses can afford Dream Demon leather, whatever it is.
Oh my ! A map ! Let's see... Ok, so the Merrywoods are in a circular shape, with the wolves's territory more or less in the middle, a bit South West. Apparently, North East of it lied a Greater Fox's territory but, seeing how it's crossed, it probably got killed or left. It appears that Merryplace is located South West to the forest while another small village called Merryhome is on the opposite side. As for the North, there's a big city named Mossheart - yes, the one Buck mentionned.
There's also a map of the country, named Havenrock, the Merrywoods being the border between it and one of its neighbors, Homeiron, in which Merryhome belongs. Havenrock is bordered by moutains except on its eastern side, where it's connected to the sea, and in the South, where lies a small hole between two moutains and, you guessed it, that's where the Merrywoods are. The capital, Stoneheart, is located right in the middle.
There's also a map of the continent, it's surpisingly crescent shaped - pointing toward the East - and named Smilegaia. Havenrock is on the eastern side, above Homeiron and below a country called Fallenking. On the western side there are a bunch of different countries, none as big as the ones on the eastern side, which all fall under the name of the Lands of Turmoil. Seems fitting. A moutain chain acts as a wall between the eastern and western side, except on the northern and southern coasts. There's also a small archipelago further East, contained between the continent's branches, but it isn't named.
And, last but not least, a map of the world. And whoa. Compared to the rest, Smilegaia is ridiculously small. Really, it looks like a simple island in the middle of all these enormous continents. And the shapes ! There's a continent named Dragonheir and it's litteraly shaped like a dragon, tail, four legs and wings included ! There's even a small archipelago that makes a fire breath ! Suddenly, a crescent shaped continent seems less impressive.
Oh well ! Time to read !
...
Ooooh, so that's how it works ! In this world, any sentient being, whetever it's a squirrel, a human, a spirit or even a dragon, can evolve. Evolution works in stages, each one divided in tiers, usually in a Lesser-Normal-Greater patern but not necesseraly. For exemple, for wolves, the "Lesser" form is actually either a dog or a runt, they usually are born already at the normal stage. Depending on the species, evolution can be really common or incredibly rare. Humans are the first tier of their stage, afterwards they become Meta-Humans and then Legends.
The funny thing is that different species' evolutionary trees are linked. Dogs can become wolves or meta-dogs, lizards may become dragons and will-o-wisps may become angels. Actually, demons and angels are actually at the end of a lot of evolution paths. They technicaly are the same species but some work for gods whereas the others don't. Afterwards, they evolve into gods.
Ah gods. Quite the interesting subject. Apparently, they are either born from people's belief, created by the world itself to fill a gap or have evolved from angels, demons, spirits or even ghosts. For exemple, Calydon, the god of forests and animals who blessed me, was a boar who ruled an entire continent before humans came to be and when he died he became a god. He is known for rewarding those who take care of the forest, understanding that killing is a part of the natural order but only when necessary and that nothing should be wasted. Seems like he thinks that I'm doing the Merrywoods more good than bad despite the armored wolves. As for Ankou, he was just a regular human that a god of death turned into his helper when his life ended. He was so efficient that multiple gods of death decided to make him a god. He is known for blessing those who understand the beauty of life and death but still value their life, for death will definitely come and can wait whereas life can only last for a while. Uh. So basically, a god blesses if you seem like an interesting individual and if you fit their own criterias and views.
Also, a craftsman blessed by a god can replicate the god's blessing into their work. So, now, I can make items with the life, death, or plant attributes or any combination of the three or even the three. That's nice. But, like all things, all gods are not equal. Some are more powerful than others. Some gods hate each other and won't allow both their blessings to the same person. Also, don't get your hopes too high : sure, not everyone is blessed, but it's more common than you think. One out of ten people carry an item that has been blessed by a god, either in person or via a priest or blessed craftsman. As for the blessings, usually they lie in items rather than individuals, like it's the case for me. What's interesting is that blessings last even after the original bearer's death. So, if a holy paladin died, his holy sword would still be blessed even in the hands of a thief or bandit. Gods only cancel blessings when the individual goes against their ideals or if they whorship a god they dislike more than them.
Hey, you know what ? It isn't worse than Greek or Roman mythology.
I also learned a bit more about abilities and-
[The Tutorial period has ended. The experience gain boost will no longer take effect and the Appraisal and Inventory abilities offered by the system will seize.
Because of the user's intensive information research, the Appraisal ability is now part of the user's abilities and will therefore remain.
Because of the user's excessive use of the Inventory ability, it is now part of the user's abilities and will therefore remain.]
... Ah. Well, I will miss easily leveling up but I'm glad that I got to keep Inventory and Appraisal. And now I know why they didn't appear in my abilities, they were a part of the system. But hey ! As I was waying, these two are actually very rare abilities. Only one out of a million has either one of them, so both ? That's impressive. Especially since mine are overpowered compared to the average ones. As for Crafting and Dismantling, they are known abilities but only gods have access to them, even then very few have either of the two. The ones who do have them are incredibly old gods, those born along or before the first humans. So yeah, I maaay be a bit overpowered. A bit. But let's remember that none of these abilities are combat related. In a fight, there are A LOT of things way more powerful than I am now.
Oh well, I've read enough books for today. I still have a bunch to read but now I know the basics of this world and I'm ready to face whatever it throws at me !
"WHERE IS THAT MASKED FIEND ?!"
I'M NOT READY !