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Vlad's party made their way outside of the city, where they were greeted by dozens of crimson-shelled humanoid beetles tending the crops, harvesting, and planting seeds across the fields.
Among the crowd, various of the beetles noticed the strange, overly pure presence that Emerlinda released as someone from Fantasia, Nature and Purity were considered strange Energies in the Realm of Obscuritas.
"E-Eh? What's this?" Emerlinda looked around, dumbfounded. "B-Big red beetles—Uwaah! Why are they getting close to me?!"
The beetles began sniffing Emerlinda while squinting their eyes, glaring at her intimidatingly. They weren't that huge themselves, smaller than her at least, but they were quite a lot.
And they weren't weak either.
"Those are my summons," explained Vlad. "When you obtain a Territory you gain a lot of benefits; one of those is to create troops… These came included with the Territory Hero, Insecta, she's over there."
BZZZTTT…!
Insecta flew through the skies after hearing her master's call, her giant insect wings buzzing loudly as she descended in front of her master and his friends.
"Master! You're here. Are we finally having a battle?" wondered Insecta.
TRUUUM!
Her enormous presence generated some sort of invisible pressure that made Emerlinda almost fall to her knees.
"J-Just what sort of Familiars are these?!" She screamed internally. "I-I want to get out of here already!"
"Not yet; we're going hunting," said Vlad. "Make sure to protect the city while we are not around. Mother is busy dealing with the city's expansion and other things."
"Oh… understood," Insecta looked a bit disappointed, but she nodded at the end anyway. "Can't I accompany you hunting at least?"
"No, this is better with our group; we are already plenty," said Vlad. "We are lucky that Queenie hasn't shown up, or it would be even bigger."
"Yeah, I agree. Also, Insecta's so strong she would trivialize everything, and we're supposed to kill the monsters ourselves to get the most energy to grow stronger," Chris explained while crossing his arms.
"I see, very well then, I suppose… I will stay here, lonely," sighed Insecta as she noticed Vlad patting her shoulders.
"If something happens that requires your help, I'll summon you to my side; don't worry," said Vlad. "I suspect something could be brewing at the border close to the Silver Moon Family Duchy. So let's stay alert."
"Oh! Very well," Insecta nodded, looking more excited for a possible fight in the near future.
"Let's go flying; walking is too slow," said Vlad. "Jese, can you fly?"
"I… don't know," said Emerlinda. "I don't think I can fly… yet. Maybe if I one day evolved, I could get wings! But not right now, nope."
"Okay, Camilla can lift you, right?" Vlad asked. "I guess she doesn't know the Float Spell yet either."
"Sure!" Camilla nodded. "Let's go, Emerlinda."
Like that, the group moved across the skies, moving near the Dark Forest, a couple of kilometers away from Elderbridge. They passed through several dried lands, a wasteland of black stone and strange miasmic ponds, and lastly, plains as black as the night, made of Shadow Grass.
"Wow, it is like an ocean of darkness…" said Emerlinda, glancing from above. "I never thought everything would be so dark here… I can barely see most stuff."
"I guess that's because people born in this Realm are adapted with Dark Vision, we can see shapes and colors clearly even with a lack of natural light," explained Vlad.
"Although there's always some light, it's dim, and it changes between silver, red, and green, the moons above," Chris pointed into the sky.
"Oh right!" nodded Emerlinda. "So beautiful! Over at Fantasia there is only one satellite; it is only a Blue Moon; they say that's where the Primordial Spirits live."
"The Primordial Spirits?" Chris asked. "What's that?"
"They're like Ancestors to the current Spirit Tribes and Races," explained Emerlinda. "They're also considered Gods, but there's a lot of them… Like nine."
"So those must be Fantasia's Gods," nodded Vlad. "In here we got the three Moon Goddesses and then the Seven Evil Gods, who represent Deadly Sins. From what we've found out, apparently there were more Gods before. At least we know there was a Blood Demon King God at some point, but they all fell in some ancient battle. Insecta is from that prehistoric era of Obscuritas."
"Oh wow, that's so amazing!" Jese was fascinated by the tale. "Fantasia has the Nine Primordial Spirits, but there's also the Fairy King and the Fairy Queen, the Yggdrasil Tree, and the Divine Messenger Squirrel!"
"So there are more Gods than in Obscuritas?" wondered Chris.
"A bit," nodded Vlad. "Well, it's not like it's a competition… Wait, the Fairy King is a God?"
"Eh? Is he?!" Chris wondered.
"He's considered a Divine Being," nodded Emerlinda. "I've never had the privilege of even being remotely close to the big city where he lives with the Queen though."
"Woah, so my character background is…? Nah, probably it refers to another Fairy King," Chris said.
"I… don't know anymore," said Vlad. "Is there another Fairy King out there?"
"There are many kings, but none are called Fairy King," said Emerlinda. "I've heard his name is Oberon and the Queen is Titania."
"Huh…" Chris muttered. "So in this world my father's Oberon, Fairy King, and God?!"
"Maybe that's why you've got very powerful divine abilities," said Vlad. "I mean, your techniques and magic are really overwhelming."
"But isn't that from my Trait? Like the heavenly emperor thingy?" asked Chris. "Uuuh, well, whatever. I'll find out eventually…"
"The background you've got is amazing…" Emerlinda said. "I envy you a bit, Chris! I wish I could have had something like that… But I didn't want to risk a randomly generated Avatar. What if I ended up getting some ugly orc or troll thing? It was too much to risk…"
"I can't blame you for that; we went kind of blind to this," said Vlad. "But I suppose most normal people would just make their ideal avatar and background."
"Brother! I see the Dark Forest from here! Look!" Camilla interrupted their conversation, pointing into the distance.
The girl, and mostly all NPC, never really cared at all when Players talked about IRL things, character creations, or anything revealing they were people from other worlds within these bodies.
Perhaps it was some sort of inherent function NPC's minds had that they never questioned it or cared about such conversations unless the Player insisted on talking about it with other NPCs.
Therefore, even when they talked openly about this in front of them, no problems would ever occur, strangely, if not conveniently enough, despite all the realism this game world had.
"You're right, let's descend then!" Vlad nodded. "I want to try out my new Skills too, so this is perfect."
-----
Can't wait to see what's next? You can join my Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch
And gain access to all these Advanced Chapters:
93 Advanced Chapters of
The Protagonist's Sister Is Actually The Strongest
58 Advanced Chapters of
The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns
17 Advanced Chapters of
Fantasy Story Online: The Crippled Vampire Prince Walks The Heavenly Demon Path