Novaris: Adventure in the Shattered Fang Continent

The party noted a few things about their new smoky bodies as they made their way through the forest. One of them was that their shapes could change into whatever they wanted to. This didn't mean that they could grow powerful if they took the shape of a dragon. It was more of an aesthetic thing than anything else. Another thing that they found was that they were very limited in how they could attack. Luckily, their attacking capabilities were not needed, as being made of smoke and able to fly allowed them to avoid any monsters just fine.

Speaking of being made of smoke, one thing that they had worried about was the fact that the wind seemed to shift their forms slightly. At first, they had thought the wind would completely tear them apart, but luckily, that hadn't happened, and they had been able to stick to their chosen forms.

They made good progress through the forest as each of them took their situation in very different strides. Tesilim was having the time of his life, changing into all sorts of forms and having fun spooking all sorts of animals with his ever-changing yellow and purple smoke body. On the other hand, Alyx was experimenting to see if he could occupy the same space as other creatures, manipulate them, or even get inside their lungs. Some experiments worked better than others, but he was a researcher through and through, so no one was surprised. Lili, on the other hand, had first been a bit annoyed and worried at having to be smoke but soon had joined Tesilim in annoying various creatures throughout the forest, though not to the same extent. The white-haired elf was still a bit worried about their situation but was trying to make the best of it.

Rose had started rather sternly, unwilling to do anything, and had stayed in her humanoid shape, pretending to walk through the forest as she floated above the ground. However, as time passed, she saw everybody else having a good time, and her adventurous nature came out, allowing her to join them. She began changing her forms, experimenting with different things, and having a good time.

Out of everyone, the one that was most sour was Arelion, as he maintained a guard of sorts, making sure they weren't snuck up on or anything else.

Eventually, though, their new forms went away. The transformation happened slowly but surely as they slowly got more denser while returning to their original bodies. By the time they had completely transformed back to their original selves, they had made it to the area where they needed to hunt down the golems. The area was a bit far from the city, though not past the previously visited forest's edge. It was a spot filled with all types of rocks of varying sizes. If Tesilim had to guess, it was around the size of the place called the Mushroom Grove. Coming to the edge of this new area, the team prepared for combat, knowing they would find many golems within, along with other earthly creatures.

Tesilim quickly rolled his d6 and landed it landed on a five meaning he would get his katana. Hopefully, the thing would last a decent amount of time so he could use it and show off. They waited a whole minute to make sure it wouldn’t disappear, and well after a minute passed, and it didn't vanish, Tesilim knew it would last at least an hour. So, they headed into what Tesilim would call a rock grove. Internally naming it this caused Tesilim to ask Lili what the place's actual name was.

“Hey, Lili, so what is this place actually called?”

“It's called the Golem Fields,” Lili responded.

“So golems just constantly appear here? If so, how do they appear?” Tesilim asked, puzzled.

“In a way, they do appear here but it's more like they slowly come to be from the rocks nearby. In terms of how that happens, well, there's a small portal somewhere in here that slowly leaks in mana from the Earth Realm. That is what allows for the golems to manifest. It also lets other earth affinity creatures call this place their home.” Lili explained, dropping some quick lore.

“ What!? Isn’t that dangerous!? Just letting an army of golems slowly spawn in here!? Aren’t you worried about other threats coming through?”

“Right. I keep forgetting you’re from another world,” Lili mentioned before turning to Alyx,” Would you care to explain?”

“Sure,” the gnome nodded before starting his explanation, “Honestly, it's rather simple. Portals to the Realms open all the time. More often than not, they get shut down before they become a real threat. However, at times, they are turned into farms of sorts. This place is heavily monitored by the city to make sure that nothing too dangerous passes through the portal or causes the portal to grow. This then allows the city to build a nice hunting ground for new adventurers to start their careers. Mind you, Tesilim, this is only done here because the golems are fairly mindless and easy to kill. And it also helps the portal and its energies match its surroundings rather well.”

“Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Using the portals to your advantage helps you grow stronger adventurers who can then hunt down stronger things. It’s a very straightforward concept that we even used in games back on Earth. As for the other thing, do you mean that if it's a different type of portal, it wouldn't work?”

“Yeah, pretty much. To simplify, each Realm has its own type of mana that's different from our ambient mana. A portal lets this mana through. The problem is that if it's a portal to the fey or hell, it tends to corrupt the environment a little bit too much. A portal to the Fire Realm would turn this place into an ashfield, which is not something that the goddess Amphis likes very much. However, having a portal to the Earth Realm or the Lush realm is more than welcome as it helps this particular environment grow stronger.”

“I see, okay, that makes sense. What about monsters? Are all young monsters dumb like earth elementals?”

“No. Don't think of Elementals as dumb as you see them around here. The only reason why they aren't as intelligent as us is due to access to their home realms mana. However, age does play a bit of a role in that as well. Remember, overall, a lot of monsters are based on their base genetics, with some exceptions being some elementals, as their intelligence is based on a few other things. Look, the whole thing is complicated, and I can't explain it all right now.”

‘Ugh, alright.” Tesilim reluctantly agreed.

As they continued to walk further into this golem field, they finally started seeing the movement of their enemies. They were hard to miss since they moved rather slowly. Little boulders took slight humanoid shapes as they slowly but surely tumbled their way toward the party. These golems were the weakest of the bunch, not even being D-rank, and were quickly dispatched. They seemed to have to head further into the golem farm to find what they needed, as the lower-rank golems turned into normal dirt.

After about an hour of walking into the field, they started engaging D-rank golems. They moved slightly faster than their normal counterparts and were much tougher. However, due to their still rather slow nature, they were quickly dispatched especially since they only approached one by one. Ultimately, it wasn’t long before they had accumulated their 10 pounds of magical fertilizer, which to Tesilim did not look any different than regular dirt except for the magic imbued into it. Naturally, they could have just turned back then and there as Tesilim got the notification of being partially complete with their quest. However, they had also chosen this quest as a way for them to work together as a team, and according to Lili, they would find the strongest golems at the entrance that led further down into the cave system where the portal was located. Not that they could get to the portal itself as it was warded off, not allowing anyone outside of permitted individuals to enter.

The only exception to the wards were the golems, who were allowed to pass freely through. This meant that stronger D-rank golems made their way to the surface and stayed near the cave. Eventually, they made it to the center of the golem field to find a large cave carved out of an even larger stone that protruded from the ground. Shambling around this cave was the largest golem that Tesilim had seen. It didn't look like anything special being made of simple gray stone, but being the size of a minibus really put things into perspective. Additionally, it was surrounded by much smaller golems, all of which definitely ranked higher than the ones they had previously found.

The party stood some distance from the cave entrance and watched as one of the smaller golems attempted to fight the larger one for some reason, but it was quickly crushed. This showed the first hint of intelligence as the other golems backed away, and the larger one was more than happy to let them. It seemed that the smaller ones were looking for an opportunity to strike at the larger one but were quickly shut down.

Still standing there, they were soon put into motion while trying to implement a plan as the large golem finally took notice of them. Then, showing that it was in charge, it made a sound that Tesilim could only describe as rocks grinding against each other. A few seconds later, it was obvious what the noise meant as the other golems around the larger one began heading in their direction. It was obvious that the fight was about to start, and Tesilim felt Lili, Rose, and Arelion start their body enhancements. In the meantime, Alyx shouted out instructions while Tesilim relaxed as he calmed his mind before starting his own enhancement with a smile on his face.