Chapter 1153 – A Quite Unique Party

Everyone knew their Nevermore party had been an odd one. It included four people related to four different Primordials, while the final member was a Unique Lifeform who didn’t have any direct relations to a Primordial, primarily because he couldn’t be blessed.

Most top parties had included only those from the same faction. That, or they were at least put together with the blessed by gods who were officially allied. Aeon and Stormild were Primordials with no official alliances, but tended to remain entirely neutral so they could be left alone to their own pursuits.

Their party even had a mixture of monsters and enlightened, another major outlier. Monsters and enlightened very rarely did dungeons together, much less mega-dungeons like Nevermore.

Yet their ragtag collection of misfit geniuses had performed quite well and come out of Nevermore as the top party of their entire generation, even producing the new all-time top scorer on the Nevermore Leaderboards.

Usually, a party like this wouldn’t have worked out so well. It was very rare to see people recognized as individual geniuses to group up together like this, as teamwork was an important factor when exploring dungeons. Yet even that had worked out well, as while their teamwork hadn’t been extraordinary, they were all individually so competent and ambitious that everyone had willingly adapted to increase the group’s overall chance of success.

That’s to say, everyone had been able to put their ego aside at times if the situation demanded it. This was only the case because they respected each other and recognized the competency of every member in the party. This recognition that they were among peers had also allowed genuine friendship to bloom between the five, as it was quite frankly hard spending over forty years with someone without at least finding some common ground.

Yet despite actually getting along, they never had the chance to all meet up again after Nevermore. Not before this, anyway. Between all the system events, Dina being from another universe, and the King being kind of dead, they had all been too busy.

Sure, it hadn’t actually been that many years since they parted after Nevermore, even if it did feel like it. So much had happened, and they had all grown stronger during their time apart – some more than others.

Jake and the King had hung out in his palace for a while as they waited for the others to arrive. Jake had gotten word that Minaga had taken the task upon himself to fetch them all, which he naturally had no objections to.

They all arrived about as fast as Jake had expected them to, with the Sword Saint and Dina getting there first. The moment they stepped through the gateway, Jake would tell the two had recently gotten out of quite a fight as their auras were still slightly unstable, showing that they had hurried there as soon as possible.

“Welcome once more to my humble temporary abode,” Jake greeted them in the entrance area of the way too large palace.

“Thank you for having us,” the Sword Saint responded as he glanced around. “I was told-“

“The garden,” Jake interrupted, already knowing what the old man was about to ask. “He’s still getting familiar with having a body again, and I also get the feeling that despite being dead, he did have some gains from the experience.”

“Are there any negative lingering effects?” Dina asked, worried. “Returning to life cannot have come without any cost… especially not after this long.”

“Well, technically, the King was never actually dead, so I don’t think that applies here,” Jake shrugged. “As for if he has any other issues, how about you just go ask him yourself?”

“We both know he wouldn’t answer truthfully if he did have some kind of problem,” the Sword Saint chuckled.

“No, but from his response, you should at least be able to figure out if he does on your own,” Jake rightfully pointed out. “Now let’s go.”

Jake turned to walk towards the garden as something just occurred to him. “Wait, where’s Minaga? He was the one who went to get you, right?”

“He did, but he had us take the last teleporter alone,” Dina answered, shaking her head. “His excuse was that he would arrive with Sylphie and that having two clones at a reunion party at the same time would just be weird.”

“I suspect he also wants to make an entrance,” the Sword Saint added. “You know how Minaga feels about showmanship. If he has a chance to be over-the-top, he’ll take it.”

“True, true,” Jake nodded in understanding as he continued leading the two toward the garden area. It was a large enclosed garden on one side of the palace, and Jake had chosen this as their reunion spot due to how much space there was. Also, the King had wanted it to be outside as that would allow him to continue training until everyone got there, and for the sake of any demonstrations of power, being outside was superior.

Jake suspected it was mainly because the King had to stop floating to fit through the doorways inside, but that was neither here nor there.

Reaching the garden, they found the Forest King floating in the middle of it as several golden orbs revolved around his body. Each was filled with intense energy, but upon noticing their arrival, the King waved his hand and dispelled them all.

“The hunter was right. You did arrive far more promptly than I presumed,” the Unique Lifeform said as he turned around and looked at the Sword Saint and Dina. “It’s a genuine pleasure to meet you both once more, even if the time between our last encounter and now is shorter from my perspective.”

“It’s good to see you up and floating again,” the Sword Saint smiled. “Also, Golden Forest King now, huh? I guess it does make sense to get rid of the “Fallen” if you no longer consider yourself such.”

“It pleases me you understand the intent behind the change,” the King nodded.

As the two spoke, Dina just stared at the King. It took her a few moments to gather herself before she could no longer hold herself back from asking:

“That body… vessel… whatever it is you call it… did the Mother Tree truly make it personally?” the dryad druid asked with disbelief, already knowing the answer to her own question.

“Indeed, the Primordial did,” the King nodded. “Her involvement in its creation is why I’m taking longer to adapt than I had originally planned. The Primordial took my Records, my energies, and my blueprints and created a form from them using some of her own power. It’s… stronger than what I could have made myself, that’s for sure, and merely merging with the body resulted in a forced upgrade or change to several of my passive defensive skills.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author’s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Jake hadn’t known that last part as he looked at the Unique Lifeform with a frown. Noticing this, the King waved him off. “I say forced, but I could have merely chosen not to accept this body and forge one myself instead. However, doing so would have been a fool’s errand, as this one is strictly an upgrade. One that’s superior in channeling my energies is easier to heal by others, and shall leave me more durable. The only possible downside is that I need to now fully familiarise myself with it.”

Relieved, Jake nodded in acknowledgment. He didn’t like the thought of Yggdrasil having forced anything upon the King, even if it had ultimately ended up helping him. Not because he didn’t find Yggdrasil particularly untrustworthy, but simply because he didn’t like the concept of taking others’ choices away like that.

“Can I try to examine you? Just for a bit?” Dina asked curiously.

“You go ahead. Do convey any changes you unveil,” the King said as Dina walked over with hurried steps. She placed her hand on the chest of the Unique Lifeform and sent in a wave of energy to explore the King’s body.

Jake and the Sword Saint stood back quietly as nearly a full minute passed. From the looks of it, the King hid nothing from Dina and allowed her to explore away, indicating a very high level of trust. Having someone examine you like that could be a major risk if they had any insidious thoughts, especially when the one doing so was capable of manipulating life energy.

Once she was satisfied with her preliminary exam, Dina pulled her hand away. “Amazing. The structure is far more complex than before, but that isn’t even the most significant change. It’s filled with actual life energy now and is capable of absorbing it from the environment and your soul to restore itself. Healing you before was a bit difficult due to the complex structure, but despite having gotten so much more complex, it’s also gotten far easier to mend in every way.”