Chapter 21: Chapter 21: The Evolution of the Bertugo

Dyne began to get up and glance around to look for his monsters.

But the two weren’t there. He slowly crept and moved to leave the garden area. He had to skip over a few sleeping and snoring bodies.

“Why is everyone still asleep, anyway?”

“Because of what you did. Remember what happened to Vahn after awakening the Genesis Tree?”

“He fell asleep.”

“Right. Do you know why he fainted on the first time and why Noa and Gala didn’t?”

Dyne fell into deep contemplation.

“Is it because... of the sudden changes in his soul? But why didn’t it cause Noa and Gala to faint?” Dyne then recalled the strange joy he felt that surged and caused his enlightenment. He realized that even he fell into a strange and comfortable sleep.

“I get it! Noa was in a cave. He hadn’t been affected by the Mist for decades! Gala is a Biron Monk! He had already trained in the ways of the Soul. But as for Vahn, he had been absorbing the Mist, and it had rooted itself in his soul!”

"Correct. You must have recalled that Rim Elm’s walls were never high enough that would stop the Mist from getting in. So there has always been a very thin presence of the Mist within the air here. In the game, Vahn was purified. Decade's worth of Mist was removed from his soul. That was because he, and he alone had the Ra-Seru, which could remove the Mist that infected him instantly. The people of Rim Elm would slowly be purified, but for Vahn, who held the Ra-Seru, he would be cleansed almost instantaneously. That's how I planned to follow the game in this world.”

"Wow. You even planned to follow that detail!"

"Of course! Otherwise, you'd hate this place."

“Then what happened last night? The Genesis Tree hasn’t awoken yet!”

“It wasn’t the power of the Genesis Tree. Your thoughts at that time were so strong that it became Soul power. I was surprised as well. I didn’t expect that to happen. As such, when you were seated here, your thoughts and Soul revealed a great emotion of gratitude that reached Seru-Kai through the Genesis Tree. And as that happened, the souls in Seru-Kai, which has been untainted by the Mist moved here.”

“They went back here?”

“Yes. And the souls are grateful to you. They are, after all, the souls of the people who willingly died for you. So when they sensed your emotions and the fact that you were able to open up your soul and reach Soul Awakening, they took advantage of it and rushed here. When they did that, they also took the liberty to cleanse everyone here of the Mist.”

“I see. So that cleansing caused almost everybody to fall asleep except Tetsu, who is trained in the ways of the Soul.”

“Exactly. Vahn should wake up anytime soon.” Strafe added.

Dyne gazed at the blue-haired protagonist of the game. He then began to consider the implications and what steps he should take to make these people Soul Sensitive.

Dyne started to move out of the garden and noticed that Vahn’s eyes suddenly opened.

“Morning!” Dyne cheerfully greeted.

“Good morning, Master Dyne.” Vahn gave a respectful bow.

“Master?” Dyne was surprised at his title.

“Master Tetsu explained to me what had happened to you last night. I- I think you...”

“Eh? About that... it’s just fate. No need to call me Master. The Genesis Tree has decided to bless us. But do you know why it did?” Dyne’s expression turned serious.

Vahn was surprised but shook his head.

“Vahn... You have to get strong quickly. If the Genesis Tree is doing this, then it would only mean that terror is coming. While I was up in Sol, I witnessed a Genesis Tree die when I was young. I cried for so long. After that, the disaster took place. The Genesis Tree could no longer protect me. This tree is here and can protect you, but you must also protect it!’ Dyne’s tone grew serious.

Vahn was surprised.

“When more of the townsfolk wake up, tell them to gather again around the Genesis Tree tonight. I have something to tell them.” Dyne’s expression grew serious.

Vahn nodded his head.

“Why not you tell them later?”

“Erm... I have some important matters to handle.” Dyne needed to check on his monster. But more importantly, when Strafe explained the state of the Gimard, he knew that he could greatly benefit from the Gimard.

“Oh. And although we have our responsibilities as men to protect this town, don’t also forget to enjoy the little things. Juno told me that Mei lost her mother... Be sure to play with her often.” Dyne smiled as he walked on.

Vahn was confused at the sudden mention of Mei. He could not help but look at the sleeping figure of Mei on the bench nearby.

Dyne left the area and then noticed Bertugo and the Slime walking around the town’s wall. From the looks of it, Bertugo had continued to guard the key areas of where monsters might appear.

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“Huh? What happened to you?!” Dyne ran and called towards the Gobu Gobu. But as Dyne approached, he realized that Bertugo was no longer a Gobu Gobu! He didn’t have the goblin-yellow shade but now had a light green colored skin.

“You’re like the Green goblin of Spiderman!”  Dyne laughed as he walked over Bertugo, who was still in a deep sleep.

Bertugo gave a groggy stare and finally noticed Dyne. It suddenly jerked up gave a surprisingly respectful bow towards Dyne. It began to speak fast that Dyne couldn’t catch up and interpret the words of Bertugo.

Dyne tried to stop Bertugo, but Bertugo kept talking.

Seeing that the goblin wouldn’t stop talking, Dyne decided to ask Strafe.

“What happened?”

“Soul Kindling... One of the more interesting developments that even I didn’t expect.” Strafe laughed.

“What is Soul Kindling?

“Monsters in this world are purely body and mind. They do not have a soul. I did this to limit them. Otherwise, if some of them were to have the ability to wield a Seru, the combination of monster and Seru and Mist would be catastrophic. In my world, there are countless creatures like these monsters. Some monsters have souls, but some don’t have. As for Bertugo, a soul decided to enter Bertugo and grant him a soul because of his close ties with you. In fact, it’s a rather powerful Soul as well! The soul saw the strength of this monster and saw how it was grateful to you. So it enetered it.”

Dyne was shocked.

“What? He now has a soul?”

“Not just him. That Slime also received a soul.”

Dyne was shocked at the words of Strafe.

“Is that why Bertugo changed? This form of his... it’s a Gomboo! This should be a stronger version of the Gobu Gobu on the area around East and West Voz Forest!”

“Right. With how I shaped this world, the Monsters that you will encounter on the plains will follow the positioning of what you recalled in the game. Of course, there are some exceptions. For example, the leader of Gobu Gobu tribes in this area would be a Gomboo. But generally, you’d encounter the monsters as they appear in the game.”

“How did you make those limitations?”

“Monsters consume the energy to level up. The Mist actually produces a form of energy. And monsters exposed to stronger kinds of Mist or are in a region where there is a heavier Mist will naturally evolve faster. Of course, monsters living in Mist-covered areas are more ferocious.”

“Wait... The Mist is different per region?”

“Yes. Remember in your memory that each continent would be more primitive than Karisto?”

“Oh. So they can’t make a stronger Mist because of the lack of items.”

“Yes. But as for Bertugo’s evolution, it was caused by several factors. The first was the fact that you gave them a lot of your gold, which is actually experience for monsters. They grow stronger and level up if they consume gold. So it’s all thanks to that card you got from Mazel. You got a lot of free gold.”

“Mazel?”

“The merchant who had the items you asked for. I destined his fate that he would spend most of his gold into something else before he would die. I didn't expect him to purchase that item."

"This card?" Dyne held the card.

"Yes. Thats a Merchants Prime Platinum Card.”

“What’s that? I only know of the Platinum card.”

“I designed this world to use Cards as a means to contain gold, just like it is in my world. And you see, in my world, Gold is actually energy. That's why it is useful in my world. In the cultivation world, even the materials we use to exchange are all cultivation related.”

“I kinda noticed that when Bertugo was absorbing the gold and deduced this from all the novels, I read..”

“But, like all creatures, leveling up has its limitations. You will soon discover that when you begin your focus on bodily cultivation. When he received the soul and was kindled, it allowed the energies in his body to finally break free. This allowed him to rank up to the next breed of Gobu Gobus. And so, he evolved into a Gomboo!”

“Woah. Amazing!” Dyne laughed.

"So I just need to find ways to strengthen them further to make my monsters evolve into higher ranked monsters? This sounds like Digimon 1, minus the pooping." Dyne smiled excitedly.

"Oh, wait... Strafe, how do Gomboo's poop?"

"..."