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However, that hope was shattered when the Chosen returned. He did not come alone but was accompanied by a dryad who met the requirements, and what was more, she carried the Blessing of Nature’s Attendant. If there were anyone with Bloodlines, they too would have realized how screwed they were as this dryad surpassed any and all of them.

As the Chosen went over to greet his party members, it was quickly realized that the choice had been made, and all the young talents could do was be happy they had at least been able to attend, and some even had the chance to spar a swordsman who few would be able to forget.

Contrary to popular belief, the Fallen King was not actually related to plants or trees in any way. This was despite him looking like a tree guy and being named King of the Forest when Jake first met him. The bark-like skin also wasn’t even bark, or even wood for that matter, and while the mask did look and feel like wood, even being described as wood-like by the system, it wasn’t actually wood either.

All of this is to say that the Fallen King and the meek Dina didn’t immediately make friends due to her Bloodline, and Jake honestly felt a bit bad for the girl after being grilled with questions from the Unique Lifeform. Questions she mostly didn’t answer or just gave one-word responses.

In some ways, Jake found it liberating. This was the first time he had met someone who was worse at being social than himself. What they did get out of her was that her horrible ability to communicate wasn’t because she never talked to others. She just wasn’t used to talking to people. More accurately, she was the trope of a flower growing up in a greenhouse. In that, she had literally grown up in a large greenhouse with the plants there being all her best friends. Even the ones who couldn’t talk could still express emotions, which Dina could understand.

However, despite Dina’s issues with talking to them, there was one member of their group she looked capable of talking to. No, not Sylphie, as Dina didn’t quite understand what ”ree!” meant, but the Sword Saint and his overpowered old-man aura.

”So you did explore this forest with your friends?” he asked with a grandfatherly smile.

”Yeah… it was a bit weird there, and the beasts didn’t like us, but Bobo was with me,” she answered, seemingly only focused on the old man.

”You mentioned him before, but who is this Bobo?” the Sword Saint asked.

Jake was curious, too, remembering Nature’s Attendant mentioning this Bobo being with her.

”Bobo is my Guardian,” she answered before quickly looking like she had said too much. ”I… I mean…”

”We are meant to explore the depths of Nevermore together; secrets like that are counterproductive,” the Sword Saint smiled and shook his head. ”While we all respect each other and the respective secrets we all hold, please do not withhold information if it hurts others or hampers us in any way, alright?”

Dina looked in thought before she nodded. ”Alright.”

Old-man energy was truly too strong; even Jake got the compulsion to overshare. He had a strong feeling Dina was just more used to being around old geezers, which was why she could handle the Sword Saint so easily, but he did severely hope she would open up more with time or spending years with her in Nevermore would be hell. Luckily, the old man, using his old-man insight, already knew this.

”We need to trust each other and build rapport. As we learn from and about you, so will you learn about us, and I sincerely hope we can all get along well,” the old swordsman said with a comforting smile.

Dina nodded once more and looked at Jake and the others. ”Sorry…”

”Ree!” Sylphie screeched, scaring Dina a bit, but she quickly realized the hawk wasn’t mad. The King stayed silent while Jake smiled.

”Either way, it is good to have you on board, and I look forward to seeing what you can do. Your grandfather hyped you up quite a bit,” Jake said, trying to be nice.

It didn’t work that well, as Dina looked embarrassed and stared at the ground again, but luckily she quickly recovered. ”I… I’ll do my best.”

Jake felt a bit lost and reached out to the Sword Saint telepathically.

”Will this really work out? She seems a bit… you know?”Jake asked the old man.

”While I don’t truly know her history, it is clear she has lived a sheltered life. She reminds me of my cousin from when I was a child. My uncle feared his daughter would be corrupted by the world outside, and as she was born a genius, he hired private teachers and people to teach her everything there was to learn. Yet even as she reached adulthood, her father kept her inside their compound. My uncle was narrow-minded and wanted to find her a husband he thought was worthy of her. When he finally did, she was already in her early twenties and had never interacted with anyone under the age of forty, and the only men she had ever spoken to was her father and her grandfather,” the Sword Saint answered.

”That must have fucked her up,” Jake responded.

”It did… for a while. Humans have an incredible ability to adapt, and while she may be a dryad, this is a trait I believe is shared by all with true sapience. For now, she will be awkward, but once she opens up, learns our social cues, and begins to feel comfortable, all will be well,”he explained further. ”But what my true point is, is that even if my cousin could not speak a full sentence in front of a man her own age, she could still write a thesis or give an ethereal performance on the violin – for that is what she had learned. This girl has learned how to be a dryad and a druid. I see no reason to doubt her abilities within Nevermore.”

”Aight, you convinced me, but are you sure the others are-”

”I just gave the exact same speech to the Fallen King,”the old man sent in a slightly cheeky tone.

Jake nearly choked but held himself together, no doubt helped by his mask.

”Also, I don’t think your attempt to make friends is made easier by you wearing a mask and only showing her your eyes,” the Sword Saint added mercilessly.

”Okay, good point,” Jake answered, seeing a problem there.

Their conversation had been performed rather swiftly due to the power of telepathy, so only a few seconds had passed where the King had asked Dina some basic questions about her skills, and she – to the surprise of no one – revealed that she did nature affinity magic exclusively. Luckily, nature affinity was a composite affinity that included the life affinity, giving her plenty of healing magic at her disposal. The more Jake heard, the more he looked forward to seeing what she could truly do.

Jake wanted to stay and talk more, but soon he was dragged away by Viridia as some people wanted to meet him. The Sword Saint also informed him that with the final member of the party recruited, he wanted to take the time before Nevermore to check in on the members from the Noboru Clan that resided in the Order, Reika included.

This left Dina alone with the Fallen King and Sylphia as Jake walked off to help Viridia with something he had truly dreaded: acting nice in front of a bunch of S-grades as they praised him and wanted to discuss the ceremony.

A shrunk-down Sandy also made their way into the hall not long after, having delayed their arrival to a time when Jake didn’t take up all the attention. That worked out pretty well, as for a good hour, Sandy was the center of attention and got a bunch of gifts – every single one of them edible.

While Jake had been a struggle to find gifts for, he learned that the Lord Protector had sent out some basic information about Sandy, and once they learned these basic traits, gifting became easy. Because how hard could it be to find gifts for someone focused on the concept of consumption and capable of absorbing nearly any kind of natural treasure or form of energy?

Yeah, Sandy was truly the exact opposite of Jake when it came to gifting. Was it energy dense and considered a high-Records item? Good enough! The fact that they didn’t need to give gifts to the same level as what they gave Jake made it even simpler.

Sandy was a happy worm and sent several messages to Jake throughout this entire gifting session. The one thing he had feared was a lot of people judging Sandy for being, well, Sandy, but all he heard were positive comments about how dedicated they were to their Path and how rare it was to see such a powerful and committed creature. Some even described the damn glutton as humble.

With all the gifts, he imagined Sandy would spend the majority of the time he was in Nevermore digesting and sleeping.

After the entire ordeal with Sandy was over, things finally seemed to die down, and Jake had no more obligations. The after-after party was also clearly canceled, though none present there were supposed to attend, to begin with, so it wasn’t like anyone noticed. Villy had likely just had private meetings with all the gods he wanted to discuss with, and he also guessed a few had gone to visit Nature’s Attendant.

Jake regrouped with the Fallen King, Sylphie, and Dina, who had each gone to a corner of the room, where Jake also saw Caleb had managed to sneak in. Jake hadn’t seen him around before now, wondering where he had been all this time.

”Hey, when did you get here?” Jake said as he went as his brother talked to Dina, who already seemed more comfortable around the shadow assassin than Jake himself.

”I was here from the beginning, but I hogged one of the side rooms with a few other members from the Court and had a few meetings here and there,” Caleb said with a smile as he turned to greet Jake. ”Also, I guess congratulations are in order, oh Chosen of the Malefic One.”

”Thank you, thank you,” Jake said, hearing the false sincerity in his little bothers voice.

The two of them smiled at each other as Caleb spoke privately to him. ”So, Dina is directly related to Nature’s Attendant, isn’t she?”

“Oh? I thought the public information only said she was a student of his?” Jake asked.

”Yeah, it does, but she isn’t the best at keeping secrets, and there is intel on him having a granddaughter who was soon to reach C-grade and was considered extremely talented, in part due to her Bloodline. I can put two and two together and guess this is her,” Caleb explained. ”Quite the find, all through the power of nepotism. Having a Primordial as a friend sure makes life easy; you know how hard it is for a group of assassins to get a good healer?”

”Pretty hard, I assume,” Jake teased him.

”Damn right it is, but hey, we managed to snatch up one of the people you discarded, so better than expected.”

”How benevolent of me, allowing you my leftovers,”Jake relentlessly continued.

”Do you want me to start talking about you being thrown into a dungeon with a Unique Lifeform, a hawk, an old man, and a young, slightly naive dryad, and what kind of hijinks might develop? Just don’t let poor Sylphie be corrupted. She is still so precious, and-”

”I am a single word away from punching you in front of everyone,” Jake sent as he smiled at his little brother.

Caleb didn’t say anything else but just threw him a cheeky smile. Only when the King asked him did he respond, and he stayed a bit longer before he looked at Dina and the others. ”It was nice to chat with you all, but sadly I have business to attend to. I wish you all luck during your trip to Nevermore. I would say for us to have a good competition, but I would prefer not to lie to myself and think there will even be one.”

The Judge of the Court left after that, leaving just Jake, the King, Sylphie, and Dina. With people already leaving the hall all around them, Jake also thought it pertinent for them to soon take their leave.

”Do you all have anything you need to do before we head off to Nevermore? Any last-minute preparations or shopping you need to get done?” Jake asked.

”Not here at the Order, and if there is any required shopping before we head off, we can simply do that at Nevermore City before we enter the dungeon,” the King answered.

”Alright,” Jake nodded. ”I still have to meet up with Miranda for a talk and to get all the useful stuff I wasn’t directly gifted that may come in handy during the dungeon. How about you guys just relax back at my residence before then?”

”Acceptable,” the King agreed, with Dina tentatively nodding and Sylphie yawning.

”Great.”

Shortly after, he had Viridia come and help with teleportation as the three of them were teleported to his mansion, and Jake went to check in with Miranda and see how everything was going on her end. He found her looking pretty damn stressed out within a room set up by the Verdant Witches, which was also where Jake learned he had gotten over a hundred million slaves that would soon be transferred to his home planet.

Being the kind World Leader he was, Jake wished Miranda luck dealing with all that and also made sure she would have all the authority she needed to handle the situation by practically giving her control over all the slave contracts. He also collected all the natural treasures and alchemical ingredients he had been given before sitting down and having a short chat with Miranda about her plans upon returning to Earth. During this, he also reluctantly got one of the drops of venom from that accursed statue, and while he knew it would be useful, he didn’t like it.

Jake wasn’t sure how long he would be at Nevermore, but chances are it would be at least a few years in Realtime. You could be there for five years at D-grade, and that only increased in C-grade to a total of fifty whole years within the dungeon. A tenfold increase. With how the time dilation worked, Jake wasn’t sure exactly how long it would be, and no one else could be either, as the dilation increased the more floors you managed to clear.

He also decided to give her the spaceship the Automata Legion had gifted him and informed her of the plans of the United Tribes and their desire to send people, something she was in huge support of. The spaceship would go to Arnold to study, and the United Tribes members were more a gift to Miranda and the beast factions on Earth, so he was happy that this gifting session could benefit more than just him.

After talking with Miranda, Jake did his rounds and spoke to a few others to say goodbye before he headed off. Fifty years seemed like a long time, but when one could live thousands of years, it truly wasn’t, so those who were used to operating on the timescale of the multiverse didn’t even see this trip as a big deal. Irin and Draskil both at least didn’t seem to care much, and Draskil was also busy planning his own trip to Nevermore anyway. Scarlett seemed sad he would be gone for a while but didn’t say much as she had already prepared herself and was busy integrating with the Order.

Finally, Jake found his way back to the mansion, where he finally dispelled his mask and sat down to have a proper talk with Dina, Meira, the King, and Sylphie. Well, Sylphie didn’t talk much, and Dina was even shyer than Meira, so not much productive talking was done as they waited for the Sword Saint to return.

When he did, there truly was no more reason to delay as they headed off toward the most well-known World Wonder of the multiverse:

Nevermore.