One of the spirits had noticed us, yet it did not approach. Instead it followed us with its hollowed eyes.
In my hands was the injured Tama, despite the healing factor she had it was still not enough to get her to combat readiness.
It was why I stayed still, my hand in her chest as I used my own aether to stimulate hers.
Slowly the internal wounds that hindered her healed however that persistent spirit still stared at us.
The others had all scattered, each of them going in the same direction. Where that was I didn't know but I knew that they were gathering.
However that was not relevant right now as we were alone none of the others in sight.
I reached to my side, the rifle poured at the spirit.
I breathed out and tensed my finger. An explosion rang in my ears, only strengthened by the aether I infused into the bullet.
It was a delicate process but one that I had already mastered however that was beside the point.
What was relevant wa show the spirit reacted to the bullet. A hail of snow blocked my sights.
I couldn't even use my auxiliary senses, it was that thick.
I turned to the side at the slightest sound of movement yet only found the groaning form of Tama.
Her eyes opened to the surroundings around us and instantly was alert.
She transformed into her fox form. Various illusions reaching into the distance to scope out the surroundings.
"Point where I should shoot." I commanded, to which she nodded.
An understanding was made between us.
Various needles of snow flew at us, yet they were immediately erased from existence. This in turn allows for me to shoot at the being
It could not go on like this though, my rifle was running low on bullets. A worry I didn't have until now.
I had thought that I had enough but it seemed to be the opposite.
The spirit ranked my bullets like nothing, however I knew that it was feeling them.
The slight winces, the holes that pierced through before being healed.
It had an effect and in a drawn out battle I would win. It was not a drawn out battle that could happen though.
Not with the lack of materials. We needed to do something.
"Do you have anything that could kill this spirit?" I asked, slight desperation in my voice.
"Maybe…" was the response I got, an unsure time to her voice.
…
I had sat at the table, waiting for Aoif to take her seat beside me as I sip at the water that Tama had given me.
"Why?" I ask, referring to her choice to lend me Delta.
Without hesitation she responded, "because what is mine is yours, I've decided to follow you so I will do it wholeheartedly."
I just stood still for a moment, staring at her and those damned eyes.
I just sighed and gestured for her to follow. I sat up and walked to the couch.
A gesture and she was next to me, her body snuggling against mine as her eyes shine with purple light.
It was in the moments that I was staring back that I heard the sound of the system chiming in my head.
[Pandora's box has been unsealed, a gathering of spirits have congregated upon a certain sub realm all lords with a territory of tier 8 or higher will be given the blueprints to a teleportation device linked to the sub realm]
"It had to be… yes?" I say breaking the silence between us.
"Most likely"
We both nod before sighing, a hand slapping our foreheads.
It could be that someone else had done it but it was most likely that the cave that I had sent both Delta and Tama to was this Pandora's box.
However I wasn't worried for them , even if they encountered resistance with their power it wouldn't be difficult to eliminate them with extreme prejudice.
The only thing that even slightly surprised me was that enough had gotten past them to congregate.
Enough for an actual system message. 'Huh… that actually could be quite bad,' were the thoughts that came to me after thinking of the system.
If it was something that the system acknowledged then it could actually be a threat to them.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by a hand touching my own. The warmth breaking the clammy sweat that cling to my hand at the thought of harm befalling Tama.
"Tier eight, have you upgraded your territory to tier eight?"
I shake my head, "No, not yet"
"Do we at least have the materials to do such or do I need to help you hunt for some?"
I noticed the use of we, as if it was already her territory. Though given the way that she claimed her place among me and mine it made sense.
"Yeah, we have everything, even the core to upgrade my territory."
She smiled, her eyes briefly closing as she learned closer to me.
"That's good, are you going to do it now or…"
"Now, no need to wait."
With that being said I pull up the system menu and select the upgrade option.
Instantly I could feel the loss of the materials however that was all.
…
[Crowns house]
[Tier/Level: 8/1]
…
It was a simple affair, no flare of light nor was there a change in the surroundings. Just a change to the house.
It was instinctual, I knew that the next time that I walked into this room it would be different but that also applied to the other rooms.
Since we were in the room while it was being upgraded it decided that it would wait until we left, however that didn't mean that the others weren't changed.
I couldn't wait to see the improvement but before that I needed to check my status, to see if anything was different.
With a flex of my will it was opened.
[Name: Darwin]
[Territory tier/level: 8/1]
[Personal strength: Tier 9/1]
[Talent: Evolution*]
[Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simulate evolution in a smaller time frame.]
[Warehouse: …]
I closed my eyes, a breath of air leaving my lips as I feel something slight appear in my chest.
Like a source of warmth yet not warm at all.
It was weird.
"You too, as expected…" she trailed off at the end but the beginning. It meant she knew something.
"What?" I ask, "what do you mean by that"
"The strength and energy you feel. I'm told that feeling and energy is aether. It soothes you and strengthens you."
I took in her words as I inspected my body.
When I checked my muscles I didn't find anything strange about them but when I went to lift something it slammed right into my face.
I looked over only to see Aoif holding her hand above her mouth, a giggle in her eyes.
I turned away and blushed at the embarrassment.
I must have more strength than I expected for something that I knew would have some weight to feel like nothing.
It was the whole reason that it slammed into me. It felt like it had the same weight yet when I pulled it I used too much strength and ended up slamming it into my face.
"Can it grow?" I ask, looking back to Aoif.
However all I got was a tilt of her head as she went to explain.
"Yes and no, yes it can grow but not with the territory as you would think."
I tilt my head at that, "then that would mean that…"
"Yes, practice is the only way to grow."
…
I pulled out the blueprint that I had been given by the system.
It was basically just a scroll of paper with specifications of a teleportation gate.
[One way teleportation gate]
[green bronze or higher tier aether core, 10 units of raw iron, 10 units of raw copper]
"This is difficult there is no way to build this at the moment"
"Agreed" Aoif responds "We have none of the resources to build this except the green bronze tier core from the Gaul queens."
"I can get us higher tiers of cores but the ores will have to wait. I have sent Ali, an alicanto, to find ore veins but even then it will take at least a couple of days to procure the resources assuming she even finds the right veins."