Survive in the parallel world, please!

234 Survive the mana season, please! part It didn’t take long for the army of goblins to find some prey, despite being so many, they moved silently through the forest and not a single creature was able to catch on to their presence until it was already too late.

Some they hunted, some they avoided, but whatever they were able to get their hands on they made sure to pack it up for carrying as soon as they could, not wasting a minute of their time butchering them. They couldn’t afford to stop mid way unless it was to take a proper rest.

The mana season started already, but there wasn’t a noticeable effect yet, all they could perceive was the lights in the sky and an eerie silence in the woods.

Even Bardun, the wisest among the goblins, only knew about the mana seasons from what he heard from the older goblins back at their village. They knew it was cold to the south and rainy in the north, but they were aware that weather could change drastically in as little as a couple kilometers so they weren’t sure of what could befall on to them on the way to the village.

Just when they were about to finish setting camp to rest right in the middle of a clearing in the woods, the mana season started to manifest. Clouds gathered up on the sky and the wind roared through the forest. It wasn’t as bad as to not being able to stand up, but it was certainly bothersome. It was stronger than a regular windy day, but certainly not as bad as a storm.

Their biggest issue was the difficulty of lighting up a fire, but Ryu solved the issue by using his mana to create a mud furnace that provided enough cover for the fire, as well as enough space to cook a decent amount of meat at a time. Ryu was already aware of how useful fire magic was, but he didn’t expect earth magic to be so handy.

The cold wasn’t nearly as bad as they could have expected and the only obstacle they found during the night, was the constant noise and the occasional leaf that would brush past them from time to time.

The beastkin cowered behind Risa the whole time and even though she was ‘annoying as fuck’ according to Risa’s own words, the young instructor did her best to provide cover for her and calm her down.

After coordinating the night watch, Bardun picked a spot inside a dead tree trunk to rest. Goblins had little knowledge of natural phenomena, if it wasn’t directly harmful towards them it didn’t matter. But being more curious than the average goblin, he gazed his surroundings finally understanding the reason why it wasn’t so rare to find dead trees in this part of the forest.

.....

Knowing how picky the humans were about their accommodations, the goblins set up some tents by tying up pelts to the strongest trees they could find. They were simple angled tents that provided cover from a single angle, but it was enough to keep them protected from the bothersome wind. Thanks to his status in the goblin community, Ryu was exempted from the night watch allowing him to have a good night rest inside one of those tents. Despite not being tired, he was more than eager to sleep because he needed to have a talk with the so called goddess.

He clearly remembered that she told him she would warn him when the mana season was prompt to occur, yet even now that the sky was lit up with glimmering streams of mana she had failed to contact him.

Just as he expected, as soon as he fell asleep he woke up inside the blank space. This time he could feel the presence of the ‘goddess’ but he couldn’t hear her voice yet and because of this, he wasn’t sure if he was just dreaming.

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He tried to pinch his own arm in an attempt to feel some pain, but he couldn’t feel a thing. Then, he started focusing his mana, he couldn’t feel any of it so he simply kept expelling vast amounts of mana from his body, thinking that maybe it wasn’t working.

“What do you think you’re doing? stop right now!”

The goddess scolded him.

“What? since you didn’t speak I didn’t know if this was a dream or not.”

“Don’t do stupid things like that in here and don’t ever, ever, try to cast magic. What you call a ‘blank space’ is your mana body. It’s the corporeal manifestation of your identity in a different plane of existence.”

“So, is it my soul?”

“well, yes...”

“Why did you feel the need to use such big words?”

“Nevermind that, I need to know, how did you find me?”

“What do you mean? you told me you would warn me before something like this happened, but it took us by surprise.”

“Did the mana season start already!?”

“What? you don’t know? some goddess you are”

“Listen well, mortal, I’m goddess Aruru, my power is limitless and my life eternal, but... What part of me being imprisoned did you not get!? I’ve been trapped in here for millennia waiting for someone to set me free and the first candidate turns out to be an ungrateful bastard.”

‘This goddess sure likes to brag about her power, but she couldn’t even keep to her word about warning me.’ Ryu thought.

“Are you a moron? did you already forget I can hear your thoughts?”

‘and she too likes to insult people she relies on. I guess she’s not that smart.’ Ryu thought even louder.

“Fine, whatever, so you just called me to berate me for not giving you a heads up.”

“Not really, I need some guidance and...”

“So now you need me? why should I help you?”

“If my so called patron goddess doesn’t want to help me, then what good is she?”

“Yes, yes, you’re right. I’ll help you. Let me see... oh! there you are! uh, this is weird, your energy signature looks a lot stronger than it did last time we spoke.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“It’s almost enough for me to communicate with you through the system, but not yet. If I attempted something like that now you would probably explode, burn spontaneously or get blinded.”

“Is that what happened to my friend Helena? She said she had an encounter with a god and she lost her sight for the time being.”

“It’s possible, yes, but listen well, you must avoid the other gods. If you ever meet one run away as far as you can.”

“Aren’t gods supposed to be... I don’t know... good?”

“They should be, I thought they were until one of them trapped me in here. Some of them are good, but even if they are I wouldn’t recommend you getting near them. In fact, you shouldn’t even let any priest near you, unless they’ve been excommunicated like that girl next to you”

“What do you mean next to me? I’m sleeping alone.”

“Uhhh, no you’re not.”

Aruru’s words were enough to wake him up and because of how suddenly it happened, it took him a few seconds to completely regain his consciousness. The first thing he noticed was the soaring pain in his left arm, right where he intended to pinch himself. It seemed like during his stance inside the blank space he’s still able to control at least some aspects of the outside world.

Then he noticed something warm cuddling up to him, it was Lea the priestess.

“What are you doing here?”

“What? am I not your wife?”

Lea replied as if stating the obvious.

“My wife? Of course not!”

“But you asked me to be your wife! you clearly said that if I didn’t want to remain being the goblin’s property I needed to marry you. I have nowhere to go, I don’t know no one in the kingdom and...”

Ryu embraced her trying to keep her from crying, he hated seeing women cry, but her words brought an idea to him.

“I only said that because I needed you to understand your position, but I can’t take a wife. You yourself explained to us the importance of being celibate to preserve one’s energy.”

“Uh? as far as I know that only applies to priests.”

“Anyway, I’ll take you to the kingdom, but then you’ll be on your own. Don’t worry though, there’s not many priests around and I bet you’ll make a killing selling holy water.”

“What do you mean selling holy water?”

“That thing, what was it called... aqua benedicta!”

Ryu said after trying hard to remember the name of the liquid that Luke provided to him back on Celarent.

“That’s not something a priest can make, only a god can make it. Don’t tell me you have some!?”

“Are you joking? a god? I consumed it months ago, pouring it on my cursed blade to keep it from killing me.”