It ended up only taking two weeks more before the whole gang was back together. Jake spent this time primarily working on some of the things he had been putting off a bit, like making sure everything was still running smoothly in the Cradle for his budding Soulflame and then doing the very important work of briefly checking out his Puzzle Box of the Seeker. He’d planned to play with it for just a day or two, so it was very understandable that Jake felt slight annoyance when he was interrupted after a couple of weeks.Sylphie and the Sword Saint had already returned to the Order compound at this point and were doing their own thing until it was time to meet back up, well ahead of schedule. Jake ended up being the last to arrive at their reunion, as he just needed to get in one more attempt for his current puzzle, which he was certain everyone would understand.Walking through the small compound, Jake saw the four of them gathered in a sealed-off meeting room. He enjoyed the feeling of

Jake sat atop a pile of metal as he quickly deciphered the magical seal on the cube he had looted from the Tower Guardian lying destroyed beneath him. Once he got the cube open, he quickly checked its contents and nodded.“Yep, I can confirm these towers are all made to terraform the planet in some crazy experiment,” Jake sent through the Golden Mark. They had already kind of known it from other clues, but this was confirmation, which was good enough for the system.Bonus Objective Completed: Discover the true nature of the Nine Towers. 3500 Nevermore Points earned.Bonus Objective Gained: Locate the ones behind the construction of the Nine Towers.Jake put the cube away as he jumped off the pile of metal and prepared to head to the top room of the tower, which he’d spotted through his sphere. As he walked toward the hidden stairs, he threw the large golem a final look with a smile. Pretty fun fight, even if it was quite a bit weaker than the scalekin metal mage.His satisfaction with

A vast grassland filled with flowing hills, some of which were kilometers tall, stretching as far as the eye could see. Large piles of dirt were stacked atop many of the tallest hills as monsters sat there, watching the horizon.The grasslands themselves were filled with beasts of all sorts. They populated the area, many having made small nests or caves to call their own as they took in the dense natural mana filling the environment. In some of the deep valleys between the hills, forests could be found, creating natural barriers to defend the beasts within while also serving as focal points of natural mana gathering. These small forests were where the strongest beasts were gathered, absorbing the environmental mana to grow stronger while at the same time allowing their kin to function as meat shields should there ever be an invasion.Within the deepest of all these forests, a powerful being sat in a clearing, munching on fruit that could only be classified as valuable natural treasure

Jake had no idea how many of the damn imps he had killed before they stopped coming. The demon captains who had once led the army of small-winged casters had long been slain, but that didn’t mean the swarm didn’t prove a challenge simply due to its sheer numbers.His body was covered in burns and wounds by the time they were all dead, as it had simply been impossible to avoid every attack. His party members weren’t in much better condition, as they had been fighting at other entrances to the large cavern they found themselves within.Luckily, before more demons could arrive, Dina made her way over. A soothing green aura washed over him as several small plants grew in his vicinity, making Jake nod at her in recognition. “Thanks.”“No problem,” she responded with a smile. “Are there more coming from this way?”“Doesn’t look like it,” Jake responded as he released a Pulse of Perception. “Not from any of the other tunnels, either.”“Alright, we should be safe to regroup, then,” Dina said.

War…War never changes…Except for when a group of five extremely powerful beings decide to just fuck shit up. In cases like that, war would very much change, and not for the better. At least not for those already involved in the war.Floating far above one of the smaller battlefields of the Vast Plateau, this group of five observed the ongoing fighting. There were only a few hundred on both sides at this point, primarily because most of the weaker C-grades were already dead. The fighting also didn’t happen as one would usually expect from a war like this in the multiverse, which, for reference, was quite a bit different compared to wars on pre-system Earth.Usually, based on what Jake had read, even if an all-out war did happen at the beginning of a conflict, it would often devolve into a standstill. The most powerful beings on both sides would be hesitant to enter the fray out of fear that they would be teamed up on by the most powerful people on the opposing side.This resulted in