3rd Tekulach of Ausiriel Year 1237

Belgrynd's POV

Urgh that Astrea... Directly tossing me away after telling me... Not even letting me ask what the hell is going on... You know, you could at least tell me that you are going to send me back before actually doing so... Not while doing so... Urgh...

Wait...

Did I get isekaied again? Why am I in the middle of a forest?

Where is everyone?

Oi Astrea, you didn't send me to the wrong world, right?

I look around and I don't see anything remarkable that would tell me it is the previous world that I am in... To be honest it is not like I know how it looks... I only went to the human continent which is desolated and a little part of the forest in the new continent...

And... What the hell are all these little crystals near me... Let's see... Mana crystals? I thought these comes from mana rich mines... At least that is what Petrasha told me ... this stuff doesn't just appear out of nowhere... Especially in a forest like this, even more especially this place doesn't feel that mana-rich to produce this stuff...

My head hurts... it's like a lot of stuff is trying to get into my head... just like when I got Berth's knowledge. But shouldn't it be a one-time thing? I endured the pain there, so there shouldn't be any need for me to be in pain again...

Argh, I don't know... so many things I wanted to ask! Yet there is no one to give me answers! Damn it!

After what felt like an eternity (but it is actually only 3 minutes) I stood up from where I was lying and start looking around. I realized I am being surrounded by a barrier, a barrier that is clearly made by Astrea...

" Oi, Astrea... what's with the barrier... also, next time you want to make a barrier here... don't put your symbol here, it's hella obvious..." well for those who know your symbol, it will be very obvious on who made this barrier... for those who don't, they probably would think it's just a part of the magic... doesn't matter to me... anyways, where should I go?

' Look behind of you' that voice... definitely Astrea, so after getting demigod status I can talk to her using telepathy or something like that? Cool~

' It is one way, but I can hear what you are saying anyways' oh, that... wait, I am not saying anything... I am just thinking! Stop reading my mind...

' Look behind already.' ok... Astrea is getting annoyed...

I looked behind and I saw quite a large group... there's Petrasha, Amy, May and also an elf, doesn't look old but I felt that... he is old. But that also meant one thing, I didn't get isekaied again, which is good! I just met up with my friends, of course, I don't want to leave this fast!

" What are you guys doing here? This place is like... in the middle of nowhere!" I said as I continue to walk towards them. Somehow they are staying outside of the barrier and not coming inside. If my 'memories' aren't wrong, this is a type of barrier that keeps mana inside while allowing everything else to go out, so my voice should have passed through it and they could listen to me.

" So anyone giving me a reply?" I said as I got closer to them. To be honest, I somehow have the urge to do a certain pose, but I rather not do that cause... seeing it in anime is one thing but doing it in front of others is another.

It is after I cross the barrier, that I literally got pounced.

" You are finally awake! Do you know how worried we are?" May said.

" You were gone for the entire week! Others even though you're dead even!" Amy interjected.

" Please... no more suddenly falling into coma alright? You're making all of us worried..." Petrasha ended.

May and Amy pounced on me together with Petrasha rushing to me and also dropping herself onto me... it is sort of a group hug now... with me being in the center.

---

Welk POV (short one)

Should I... just leave?

Ruining someone's reunion is bad... but I... somehow want to fish something out of that dragonkin... I haven't had a breakthrough in ages and she just had one this fast... but I'm a man, I should do it myself, but I want to do an evolution... AAAAAAAAAAAAA

---

Belgrynd's POV

" Say... whos the old elf there? And why is he scratching his head that furiously?" I asked as I pointed towards the elf at the side that is furiously scratching his head, seemingly thinking about something yet can't really make anything out of it.

" Mr. Welk, you are thinking of hitting on her right? The kids told me about your... advances on some of the girls in town..." May said to him with quite the scornful eyes... hitting on me? Is that guy a playboy? Isnt he... nevermind, this isn't back on Earth where even being 30 can make you be called old... in here 300 is probably still young even...  yeah let's not judge them by their age...

" Wha? Who told you that? I might still be young, but I will not do something as shameless as hitting on girls in broad daylight! Plus, I will never ever do something to the friends of my girl!" the elf said, Welk was his name I think. But, friends of his girl...  That is pretty normal for the rest of them to get friends I guess... I mean, they have been here for at least 5 years, so it is kinda normal to make some friends, but it is kinda unusual for a friend's dad to bring them into the middle of nowhere though...

" He is Lucy's dad, well adoptive. Though in our group only me and Lucy got adopted, the rest are still free people without a family name." Petrasha explained, am I that easy to read? Or maybe she explained it before already?

" Now, I think it's best you explained a bit on... how you manage to get two evolutions in a row... you nearly scared the entire town with the amount of mana that you released while you evolve... and depending on what you said, I might need you to explain it again to the townsfolk." Welk said. 

Well... shiz... how the hell do I explain this... Hey I killed another god while I'm unconscious and absorbed his power, so I am now a demigod... would it even be believable? If someone were to tell me, hey sorry for the inconvenience but I just became a demigod, I wouldn't believe it... any sane person would not believe it... yet, that is exactly what happened... so how the hell should I even explain this stuff...

" It seems you don't really want to tell the story, then fine, but first tell me, one of your evolution requirements is to have a lot of mana in the surroundings right? I could help you fabricate a story, don't worry, they won't know since they are back in the town." Welk said without me saying a single word... am I really this easy to read?

" Evolving to an extra high variant would require the person to be in a very mana dense location, the amount of mana needed highly depends on their races, which means races which are less sensitive to mana require less which those that are very sensitive would require an enormous amount of them. While evolving into a royal would require one to have gathered enough ambient mana within their body, though through time, most people would be able to gather enough amount of it to evolve into a royal variant. Well, at least that is what Astrea told me. In order for me to go further, it would require a certain amount of time to pass which I haven't, otherwise, I would be evolving again." I told them, hoping that they would accept my answer without any more questioning. Though Astrea did say I could tell them about whatever thing I knowledge I obtained from her, there is an extra person here at the moment, which is why I am hesitating to give more info.

" Did... you said Astrea? As in the Goddess Astrea? Did you converse with her? Or was it a revelation from her?" Welk started to freak out... shit... Astrea... is a Goddess of this world... and most inhabitants excluding humans all worship Astrea... and I just said that I met her, talked with her and got all this info... 

I just dug my own grave... 

If this info spreads out, I can only think of two outcomes, one is me being hunted by those who think that I am an imposter using the name of their sacred goddess, while the other is me being treated like an apostle of Astrea or even a prophet and will follow me like some sort of lunatics...

I do not want either of them.

" Shut up old man, you as Lucy's father should have known that all of us that came to this world have at least met God or Goddess once already. Not to mention that Bel here is a special case which is probably why the Goddess kept tabs on her. So stop freaking out and quickly think of a way to let her go back to the town without much problem now or I am telling Lucy about the stuff you did while she is not here." May said, or should I say blackmail. It is not good but I appreciate it.

" Fine, let's just say that a mana point suddenly appear and you managed to use it to evolve. That should be enough to convince people since many people used mana points as a chance to evolve, so it won't create any suspicions at all. Now, let's just go back... damn kids these days, blackmailing people here and there..." Welk said to us as he started to turn and go back to the town, the last sentence is said in a very low voice though, almost a whisper, but because of what I think is my evolved abilities, I heard it loud and clear... well, as someone famous said or not so famous, first rule to not get blackmail is to blackmail other first, I forgot where I heard it though.

" Also... please do not tell others my rank please, I heard there aren't that many... that evolved this far," I asked the elf, well, to be honest, I don't really care if they tell others, not many people will believe it anyway, but if it means that fewer people will bother me for this kind of stuff, I think it will be worth it.

" I mean, it will be a given, you are literally a walking mana point to those who are sensitive to mana, though that kind of people is rare, it doesn't mean they don't exist, and if their brain is slightly off, you would have an entire town knowing that. So good luck hiding it Bel," Petrasha said to me, with a hint of sarcasm. If I have to guess, judging by how she explained it to me...

" You sure have your own fair shares of problems, don't worry, we will be in this together," I said to her as some sort of revenge, after all, friends have to sink together, right?

As we walk back to the town, or to the town as well I have never been it before, at least while I am conscious, the atmosphere within the group is quite awkward, I don't want to talk with the elf here even if he is Lucy's adoptive father, the others are quiet due to... I don't know, I am not them, and I think the elf is quiet because of being accused of quite some unsightly things. If it were on Earth, you would get fired for flirting during work time I believe. Even if you don't get fired, you would still get a pay cut... unless you're the boss.

" Hey Amy, you know some delicious food? I am starting to be a bit hungry, I guess the evolution did make me quite hungry." I said to them, trying to start a conversation to lift up this awkward 

" Then let's go back to the house, Mikael cooks quite good food! Everyone in the house definitely likes it." May said in a very eager tone, I guess, not only did they get friends in this world, but they also found someone they love huh, good luck May, I will support you!

" I don't know why are you looking at me like that, but stop, please. And don't tell me the reason you're smiling like that, I am a bit scared to listen about the reason." May replied. Hehe, don't worry May, just invite me if you decided to get married~

But still, except Amy, all of us are guys in the previous life, to think they adjusted so well to their new life huh, I can't say I have adjusted well because, rather than focusing on the new body, the only thing I have to focus is just survive... human adaptability is sometimes something to be feared of... well exclude those at the other continent, those can die for whatever I care, just don't spread whatever disease they would possibly have, maybe I should just burn the entire place off when I have free time.

As I was thinking of committing genocide against the... humans in this world, we have reached the town of edolofiny? I forgot how is it pronounced. But the town really does look different from the town in the human continent, there are no tall walls confining people inside, there's no putrid smell of waste everywhere, it looks clean, neat and just the entire feeling is way better than those at the human continent... Everywhere there are happy smiles, kids running around and also playing around... This is definitely not something I can see on the human continent... I didn't really pay attention to the port town so I don't really notice the difference, but this time, I definitely noticed it.

" We are going to the hunter guild asap and let you explain yourself there. I will vaguely tell the people stuff but you would still have to introduce yourself as you are the cause of all this mayhem." Welk said as we enters the town and head towards the hunters guild. 

As we walk, I can feel it, the curious gaze... from what I heard from Astrea, draconians doesn't really exist in this world, this world's version of draconian is the dragonkin, which before the evolution to their noble variant, is just basically a lizardman with wings and horns. Even after evolving into a noble, they would still have scales at their limbs, for one to be completely humanoid while having no scales on means that one have evolved past the noble stages, the only thing good in this, is that it is unsure which stages it is to completely remove the scales on the limbs. While I am not sure why evolves work like this, it doesn't change that having human-like hands works better than those... huge lizard hands. But that's not the point, in the middle of the street, is a 'dragonkin', a dragonkin that has 'evolved' enough to have a near-complete humanoid shape without scales. It is like trying to get an SSR in a certain gacha game with servants... except that the gacha pool is a limited gacha pool that is locked behind another character which is also another SSR that the rate that people get it is even rarer than a shiny pokemon. Which in turn, makes me stand up a lot, which is making me nervous...

" There's the guild, it seems like there's a lot of people there huh, good timing, girl, once I finish explaining to them, you will come in alright?" Welk said and the only thing I could do is just nod. Fighting is easy, presenting myself after being secluded is... hard.         

" Say, how are you guys doing while I am... in a coma. Is Lucy alright?" I asked them while waiting.

" Well, even if you cut off all her legs, she still has wings, so she is still fine and is able to do normal stuff, it's just that she gets more tired easily. Apparently, she is still used to running on two legs and not flying. But other than that, it doesn't really affect her." Petrasha answered. That is good... at least she is safe and is able to do what she wants.

" Later after this, can we go into a room, I want to explain everything that happened. I don't really want to tell this to anyone other than you guys..." I said to them which they nodded.

" Alright, I done some explaining, come introduce yourself girl." I suddenly heard a loud shout and look towards it, It was Welk.

" Welp, wish me luck..." I said to them before going.

" Good luck not collapsing again like in your first year," May said.