Norvin woke up feeling refreshed. After tending to the remnants of the firewood from the night before, he took stock of everything he might need for his journey. He had decided to pack most of his belongings from the cave and begin searching for more Gale Howlers and another creature he had come across called a "Tinder Bat." Alternatively, he contemplated hunting down one of the stronger presences Echo had detected on the fringe of the clearing during his first day here.
Seeing how far he could take any one kind of elemental resistance was what he had in mind. How much would he need to eat to max out? Could he gain immunity to a specific element if he kept consuming Meta genes?
He wanted to find out.
Norvin figured that he would treat it like grinding levels or stats in an RPG video game.
He could still remember the density and power of the flames generated by the two fiery beasts while they squabbled with each other, glad that he had avoided them when he was forced to fight the Stormchaser and the Gale Howlers.
Norvin still intended to pay that lot back for attacking him; if he bumped into them out in the garden, he wouldn't hesitate to fight them on even footing now.
In particular, Norvin was after the boar. He had been craving bacon for quite some time and certainly didn't want to resort to eating a monkey if he could avoid it. Though there were also fiery bats that flitted around at night, they mostly traveled in groups. During his last encounter with them, Norvin had managed to kill a straggler, which was where he gained the fire resistance from... many nights earlier.
Norvin had been experimenting with as many of the transformations available to him through the Holodex as he could, as per usual, when a swarm of small but numerous bats passed by; they appeared just as twilight was setting in.
They had thick, red bodies, about a foot long from head to toe, with black wings. Despite their fiery nature, they almost appeared cute—except for the flames that erupted with each flap of their wings. Their large white fangs, protruding from their lower jaws, were also highly noticeable. Norvin definitely didn't want to get mobbed by a group of them.
Norvin and Echo stopped moving, observing the bats fluttering about with Cosmic Catalogue for a while before relaxing. The Tinder Bats were all around the E to D Grade level—nothing to be too concerned about.
They were nabbing large bugs from the trees, and any insects foolish enough to take flight had long since been eaten. The lack of easy prey had prompted the bats to move on in search of new hunting grounds after a few minutes.
One especially fat bat lingered behind its friends; it had noticed movement in a hollow in one of the thicker trees.
It flew toward the opening and brazenly shoved its head right in while hovering in midair.
As the fiery Tinder Bat moved its wings back and forth, it produced a large amount of heavy black smoke and a few dark red flames while it hovered in the air. It seemed to have nabbed an especially plump insect with two sets of wings that looked very similar to a dragonfly.
The last form Norvin had been playing around in before the bats showed up was a suit worn by the Marvel Hero Black Panther; specifically, it was the "Panther Habit" suit. He decided to try and get some fire resistance from the plump, fat bat.
The bat latched hard onto the armored midsection of the bug, creating more and more smoke while releasing bursts of fire with every wingbeat. Seeing that the little fire bat was focused on wrestling the plump bug from its hiding place, Norvin felt the weight of instinct kick in—an adrenaline surge that urged him forward. He remained crouched, muscles coiled like a spring, channeling the power of the Panther Habit that clung to him, enhancing every movement.
With a swift motion, he lunged. The world blurred momentarily, the smoke parted around him, and in that heartbeat, he struck.
Spurt!
The bat fell, its head sliced cleanly off; the lingering echoes of its final, frantic flapping moments were drowned out by the rustle of leaves in the fading light. Norvin held up his hand, examining his vibranium claws as if they held the essence of the hunt itself—sharp, lethal, and undeniably powerful.
He narrowed his eyes through the cat-like mask he was wearing, glancing at the black gauntlet before releasing the transformation. Norvin had quite enjoyed the feeling of this suit. While wearing it, he was close to Grade C+ in power, and that was more than enough to dispatch the fiery little mammal.
Norvin had used his ever-growing supply of herbs, vegetables and spices, along with some mushrooms he had found, embraced his inner chef, and made some kabobs out of the bat, turning it over the fire nice and slowly.
It had been delicious.
The cool juice of a cucumber-like plant ran down his chin as he pulled it, along with a chunk of steaming bat meat, off the skewer he was holding.
Norvin had scanned the local plants to see what was edible and what was not. So far, he had not come across a plant that held special powers like a Meta, even though Echo told him there were some plants somewhere out there in the seemingly endless expanse of the garden that held their own form of power and sentience.
He had found, however, that most of the edible plants here were highly nutritious, and some plant records even stated that a few had healing properties. Norvin had been quick to pick these and store them in his inventory. Most of these plants were quite tasty.
Norvin had been pleased to see the new entry for fire resistance appear underneath its wind and ice counterparts he had received. Nearly every day, he had been eating the remnants of the Gale Howler and the icy fish he had hunted on the river.
His supply had just started running low, and he had mostly been eating vegetation to compensate.
Luckily, he had come across the cow that could manipulate gravity and that had stocked him back up for the most part.
Being granted more resistance from the Gale Howler that the Graviton Bovine had more or less gifted him, he had wanted to get ahold of either more Howlers or more bats, as these were the only creatures he had noticed that grouped together with their own kind.
Aside from the fish in the river, of course.
The problem was, most of the fish that he scanned that schooled together were around the strength of an E-Grade super; they hadn't even unlocked any sort of abilities or anything. No elemental resistance to be found there.
So, he had decided to go out and look for either the Howlers or the bats when he wasn't sparring with Echo by using the "Mighty Brothers XX" form.
Norvin decided to spend most of the current day working on his base psychic and physical power while keeping an eye out for any Gale Howlers. As soon as night came around, he had planned to try and catch sight of any trace of Tinder Bat.
He hoped that their numbers and the flames created by them would be a dead giveaway in the darkness.
As Norvin ran through the trees while chatting with Echo, he pulled out the sword handle he had crafted and concentrated on channeling his Mind Blade into the end of it. After a stable sword had been created, Norvin used his Telekinetic Aura to control the blade from a distance away.
Norvin messed around like this for half the day; he noticed a few smaller animals from time to time but nothing worth hunting. His control using Telekinetic Aura was getting better and better after the last few hours. At first, he was having a tough time controlling the blade in midair while he ran.
By noon, he had become much more proficient; the blade had become an extension of his range at this point.
Norvin stopped by a small lake he came across and took a rest, sitting on a large granite rock that was near the water's edge.
"No luck so far with the Howlers. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to practice my swordsmanship while we wait for night to settle in."
"Not a bad idea, Vin. The hard work you put in every day is going to be worth it. I can tell that we are getting close to stepping into B Grade territory."
Norvin paused after hearing this and then smiled. "Excellent! I can't wait to power up... So, when you say the hard work is going to be worth it, what do you mean by that exactly? It's been months since we got here, and I still haven't gotten an explanation. I should have pushed the issue that first day of training after we moved into the cave but got distracted and put it off myself... What the hell are we doing here?"
He got off the rock and leaned over the water's edge, watching his reflection ripple and distort as the water softly moved with the gentle breeze, waiting for Echo to answer. The Norvin peering back at him seemed much tougher-looking than the one that had been changed in the bar that night months ago. The only other sign that he was different, aside from the larger muscles visible on Norvin's body, was his hair.
Norvin had noticed after that first night spent in God's Garden that he no longer had multicolored hair.
It had turned pure white.
"Sigh...I guess you deserve to know what's going on... It's a long-winded explanation, so you better pull out a snack..."
Norvin reached his hand into the inventory and produced what looked like an extra-large green apple with orange spots on it. This fruit was especially juicy, and Norvin had stored away every single one that had been on the tree they came from.
"Go ahead, explain away, Echo... munch munch."
"...It all started when an Atlas named Magus started to commune deeply with the Akashic Records, that the records became the Akashic Record."
"Munch... What's an Atlas?"
"...I'll get to that. Until then, quit talking with your mouth full, kid."
"Sorry." Norvin hurriedly swallowed the half-chewed bits of fruit and then waited for Echo to continue. It was time to finally get some answers.