If it wasnt for the special food I made using the ingredients from Arcadia, we would had probably fallen unconscious right there. By eating the fruit pies I made, drinking some fruit juice, and eating some chicken salad, we recovered most of our stamina and magic power, giving us enough energy to carry everything inside my Inventory and then walk back home.
"I can't believe we killed over a hundred monsters…" Rita was shocked. "We've truly gotten pretty strong!"
"Kyuu!" Whitey was just as happy.
"The amount of monsters that arrived here this morning was too much, however. It was a bit concerning." Mark said. "And also exhausting…"
"Phantasmos might be really close now. Perhaps tonight…" I sighed, sensing the presence of this entity slowly getting closer.
The battle against this powerful Death General, a high level monster that obeys the Demon King of Death was drawing closer. It wasn't just any monster after all, it might be at the same level as several high level late-game Boss monsters from BNLO.
"We have to get ready until then!" The Great Spirit said. "Come on everyone, with these many materials, I am sure we can all grow stronger until the bastard arrives!"
"I just want a nap before that though…" Rita yawned.
"Well we can relax while absorbing the magic crystals." I giggled.
"Elayne…" Mark said, gently touching my shoulder.
"I know its hard… all of this, but please, don't ever think of bearing the entire fight by yourself once it happens, okay?" He said with eyes filled with conviction. "We've been growing stronger all this time for you, because… we don't want you to bear with all the responsibility."
"Yep! Although I really want a nap, I won't let my friend just do it all by herself. I kind of know how you are though, a bit too self-sacrificing at times." Rita sighed. "I bet you were thinking on leaving us behind when the time to fight that ghost guy came, isn't it?"
"I never… well, I thought about it. I considered it." I sighed. "I just… now that we are not in our Player Avatars, battles will be much more dangerous. We can't revive if we die here. I… I don't want to lose you two."
"Awww…" Rita said. "THOUGH, ARE YOU SAYING I'M WEAK?! I'm strong as fuck!"
"Hahaha, I guess she's underestimating us a bit." Mark felt slightly hurt.
"N-No that's not it! I… I am just worried. That's all. But… I want to trust you." I said to the two of them. "You're my best friends and… I love you two so much, losing you would literally kill me."
Rita began patting my back.
"Ahahaha! Come on now, as long as we stick together and beat them baddies, we'll persevere. We haven't been preparing for nothing either, right?" Rita smiled cheerfully.
"That's right, trust us as much as we trust you." Mark said with a gentle smile.
"Okay, fine… Ugh, but don't do anything rash! For now, let's go power-up as much as possible in our hideout." I said.
We have crafted a little underground room using the help of the Earth Spirits near the River. We illuminated it with Glowing Stones that the Gnomes mined for us back in Arcadia, and we decided to use this place for anything we can't do in the open, even less at day.
I've made sure to decorate it as well! I added some nice-looking tapestry, some wooden statues my people back in Arcadia made for us, table, comfortable seats, and more.
The power-boosting started right away. After making similar magic circles than before, we placed over a hundred purified Hollow Magic Crystals on top of the node connecting to all three of us. We also added some of the magic crystals from the monsters, which were twelve in total, but we decided to save the rest to make armor, shields, or new equipment.
As we relaxed and meditated, we felt enormous quantities of Mana flowing into our bodies. The Crystals began disappearing into dust one after the other, after a hour and a half, they were all gone and our powers had increased tremendously.
And once more, I suddenly heard the voice.
[Your Magic Power has vastly improved.]
[Your Magic Circle has reached almost its peak.]
[You're overflowing with Spiritual Runes.]
"Aaahh, so much magic power, I can feel the power!" Rita laughed evilly, as her aura of darkness overflowed from her body almost endlessly.
"The difference is very clear…" Mark was surprised. "How strong did we become?"
"Hmmm, let me analyze you guys." I said. "{Spiritual Gaze}!"
Oooh, it was amazing! We all had now over 900 Elemental Runes. I had all of them being Spirit Runes, which more than doubled my power with the Spirits and my magic. I had engraved several new spells as well, and I also improved upon the existing ones.
This time, due to the ability to customize my Magic Circle unlike in Arcadia, I decided to make some new "original" spells, such as Nature Spirit's Rage, Greater Spirit Summon, Otherworldly Familiar Summon, Nature Assimilation, Yggdrasil's Armor, Soil Domain, Soil Manipulation, Terrain Takeover amongst others.
All of them were incredibly advanced spells that cost a lot of MP this time around, which according to the Great Spirit could only be conjured by a magician of at least Tier 4, but because my Spirit Runes were a cheat, with each one being hundreds of elemental spirits each, it was possible.
Though they were all mostly trump cards due to their high costs, so I cannot overuse them as I would have wanted. Nonetheless, with the hundreds of Mana Potions I have stored as a backup, I am pretty sure I can fight a lot with these, even against impossible foes.
"You guys are all pretty strong too, we've all gotten into Tier 1: Rank 9! We're just a single rank off getting to the pinnacle of Tier 1, or perhaps to Tier 2." I said with a smile.