Okay calm down Akira things can’t be as bad as they seem to, there is no way in hell that she is standing in front of me. This never happened in the original, Akira never met Lily at his house again it was only when he died did she came and show her respects other than that she never came so what is in front of me should be imagination of mine and nothing more, yes imagination the last guy’s feelings are making me see things and here I thought they died deep down. Maybe because my gaze was too strong or it was making her uncomfortable she had a deep frown on her face and isn’t that interesting? A figment of my imagination is having complex emotions on her face, did I just unlock a new mental spell? But there was nothing like that-

 

Before he could continue Lily who had enough of his staring clicked her tongue in annoyance which seemed to have stir something in Akira’s mind as she said to him in a irritated voice,

 

“What are you staring at? Can’t you just come inside?”

 

“Hmm”

 

He was brought into the moment by her voice which poured cold water over his head and cleared his thoughts and since she was so irked by him he decided to keep the interaction at bare minimum.

 

Coming inside the house he could hear the laughing and talking of three people coming out of the living room, it was his mother, father and aunt Jasmine actually even before he came inside the house he noticed the plants in the nearby area having a little more vitality and some of them which were near death were brought to life indicating that either a dryad or a druid has came across the area and since they are so rare species to be seen in the capital it must have been someone who is already residing in here.

 

And his guess was right, it was Jasmine doing her magic in the neighbourhood but why was she here? There was no mention of her coming to Akira's home after he started attending the academy. It was always him going to her house to organise new charades for Lily so why did she come here? Well there is another possibility that since the game was mostly focusing on Richard and stuff going on around him so maybe this part was skipped? Akira was merely a stepping stone for the protagonist, the first one to get defeated. Thinking about things like he wanted to go in his room and just sleep but then it would be rude and his parents would be angry too.

 

He followed Lily and came into the living room where sure enough the three of them were sitting and chatting with each other even though his stoic father was actively engaging with his previous group members.

 

“Then do you remember what happened in the Elven territory?” Jasmine asked Evelyn and she chuckled before replying.

 

“Oh how can I forget that? Both the boys were arrested for fighting over a girl in the bar.”

 

“Hahaha, that was so good, remember how we had to spend 100 gold coins to get them out just because the bar was owned by a low ranking noble?” Jasmine again asked

 

“Ahh how can I forget that? That old geezer wanted to take all our money to free them.” She replied in an irritated voice.

 

“Those were the days Evelyn we should have never stopped being an adventurer.” Jasmine said with a little disappointment and a little reminiscent of the past.

 

“Well we had to settle down one day and have a family.”

 

Jasmine noticed the two teens coming in and Akira’s parents did too.

 

“Oh hello there Akira-kun, how are you?”

 

“I am fine aunt Jasmine, how are you doing?”

 

“It’s the same but lately I have been feeling more lonely.”

 

“Is something bothering you?” There  shouldn’t be anything troubling her, Lily is doing good and in a few years would become one of the powerhouse of the continent and if it is regarding her marriage then she could be even more complacent as she would be marrying the current prince and to be king but then again she doesn’t know these things.

 

“It’s because of you Akira-kun.” She sighed and I was surprised to be honest even my parents and Lily’s ear were also perked up by her statement.

 

“Uhh… me aunt Jasmine? I don’t remember doing anything wrong.” Come on, women everyone thinks I have done something wrong.

 

“Sigh, when was the last time you came to meet me or when was the last time you even contacted me?” She pouted and it looked cute? A Milf pouting and I can’t do anything, damn life sucks.

 

“I- I do- don’t know.” Shit a milf teasing you in front of your parents is too much for someone like me to handle.

 

“Will you stop it Jasmine? Look at what you did to my boy, don’t worry Akira she is just teasing you no need to get worked up.” Evelyn butted in the conversation and thanked God she did.

 

“Ahh yes mother.” Akira said and was trying to leave the room before anything else could have happened.

 

“Oh wait, let me give you this.” Jasmine shouted and this got me startled as what could she give me? So I turned around and looked at the pouch she was carrying with her.

 

She fumbled while opening the leather pouch and when she opened a green light slowly started coming out of it and soon enough the entire room was filled with green light and a scent of forest. If one closed his eyes he would imagine himself to be in the middle of a serene forest scenery basking in the care of mother nature.

 

“Isn’t it interesting?” Jasmine’s voice brought all of us out from that trance and to be true that thing is beyond interesting.

 

“Ahem ahem… this thing is called ‘Essence of Treyni’, you guys know who Goddess Treyni was, right?” Jasmine asked this question and everyone looked at her like ‘are you really asking this?’ well everyone except me.

 

“Jasmine even though you dryads like to live in seclusion how can anyone not know about Goddess Treyni? She was the third among the six Neo Gods that descended from Sky and since she was a dryad you guys accepted her as your deity.” Thanks for the explanation dad but what the hell is going on?? Neo Gods, descended from the sky, Treyni? How come I don’t know anything about this, there was no mention of this in the game so what is going on?

 

“Ah good Roger it looks like your memory is still sharp, so Akira-kun here is my gift to you.” She threw me the pouch but since my mind was too shocked it fell on the ground and a green orb like thing rolled out of it.

 

Before she could say I picked it up and began to analyse as there is this vague feeling in my heart that this is not the first time I am seeing this orb and yes my guess was right.

 

You see in the game aside from the main storyline where you could choose any character and complete the plot there was also an option of multiplayer fight where player could create his own character choosing from the various races present in the main game and then they could form groups and fight with each other it was mainly a gimmick from the developers as they too wanted a pie from the growing multiplayer battle games. In this multiplayer option one could also get some side quest which will give them some cool artefacts or weapons but that item was restricted to the multiplayer meaning that it didn’t have an effect on the main story world.

 

And this orb in my hand shouldn’t exist in this world as this was a piece of a legendary artefact made specially for the dryads and it’s name was ‘The tears of birth’ birth because when a person with dryad or druid lineage sends mana in this crystal this artefact makes their life essence purer and stronger it could work on a person without any lineage but then it would only increase their strength. Oh how come I forget? It had a serious debuff for other species in the long run.

 

A hidden quest and lottery for correctly identifying an artefact? Well this is a good thing but then again what does all of this mean? 

 

“Jasmine, are you sure you want to give this to Akira?” Evelyn asked with non believing eyes as this thing was too much to give up on.

 

“Evelyn you know that my career as an adventurer is already over and I would have kept this for Lily if she showed her true form but she hasn’t and no one knows when it will be so why not give it to him? I have always considered you guys as my family or is it just one sided?” Jasmine said in a deflated tone when she heard Evelyn’s remark.

 

“Ahh no-no it’s nothing like that but you do know the worth of this essence and to give him-” My mom couldn’t continue as Lily spoke for the first time.

 

“Mom, what are you doing? Giving something like this to him is a waste. Why don’t we wait for a few years and then I take it?” She was rational and honestly it was the best route, the thing would do nothing but debuff my stats so it was good that she was coming forward.

 

“Honey, how could you say that?” Jasmine was shocked to hear her daughter’s venomous tone when talking about Akira.

 

“What? Am I saying something wrong? Isn’t this thing more suitable for me rather than him?” She was right but maybe I was the only one who knew that and from the looks of three adults in the room they were getting angry over her remarks.

 

“Yes she is right Jasmine, why don’t you give her this?” Mom kept her head cool and said this.

 

“See mother, even aunt Evelyn is accepting that.” Lily said, stood up from her seat, came to me and took the orb from my hand and then in front of everyone began infusing her mana into the crystal which began to intensely shine a green color and made all of us close our eyes. After the light subsided and our sight was restored we looked at Lily in front of us, from outside she was the same as before except that her blonde hair was now green in color and even her pupils were also dark green.

 

From inside we couldn’t see but feel huge amounts of mana swirling in her body meaning that she broke through the next level. All of this happened in just a few moments and nobody got any chance to process it much less do something, but in my head only one thought was going up and down ‘why is she acting so childish?’ ‘I don’t remember pissing her, heck I haven’t even properly talked to her after crossing over so why is acting naively?’

 

Lily didn’t think much about the consequences of her action nor did she interpret the room. You go into someone's house, give them a gift and then you proceed to gobble up that gift in front of them. If this isn’t face slapping then I don't know what is and sure enough the adults could understand it much better than me and all three of them were fuming in anger. Jasmine was angry at Lily, my parents were angry at Jasmine as they thought that this must be planned by the daughter and mother duo. Well good thing is I am saved by the trouble of that orb and as far as my parents are considered they won’t be much angry on Jasmine but regarding Lily.,

 

“Shall we have dinner?” Evelyn asked with a forced smile and clenched fist.

 

“I am sorry Evelyn but we gotta go home.” Jasmine didn’t stayed after that and stormed off not before apologising to everyone and especially to me saying,

 

“Sorry Akira-kun the next time we meet I will make sure to give you a gift.” 

 

My parents decided to let the issue go but not before swearing to never let anyone from the mother-daughter duo enter the house and as for me I went into my house to think about this new information regarding Neo Gods but with my mana drained body and everything that happened today I couldn’t help but doze off.

 

Outside the house 

 

Jasmine was walking with Lily following her, she had made sure to maintain a certain distance from her angry mother although she still didn’t understand why her mother was mad with her.

 

Sure she did go a little overboard but doesn’t she always act this with her mother and not once did her mother scolded or said anything so why today?

 

“Mom, why are you so angry?”

 

“Why am I angry? You don’t understand why am I angry? You don’t know what you did back there, did you for once think about the consequences of your actions?” Jasmine shouted at her.

 

“I don’t know.” She shrank in fear.

 

A Sigh escaped from Jasmine’s mouth as she began telling her about the things she did and the repercussions her actions would have, first Akira broke the engagement and now most probably her only friends in the city would do too, things have never been this bad for her.

 

At first Lily didn’t understand but slowly  with explanation from her mother she understood and her eyes widened and her mind began thinking that did she just ruin her mother’s friendship? She did and she did a splendid job at that but this wasn’t included in her plan, a plan she formed before coming to Akira's house.