Chapter 125 – The Gift of Patience.

Chapter 125 – The Gift of Patience.

“This plan is ridiculous,” John sighed while he was looking at the depression in the ground.

‘It will work, John,’ Gnome reassured. She and Sylph were the two familiars he had chosen for this attempt, or actually, which Gnome had chosen for this attempt.

“I believe you, otherwise I wouldn’t be here despite everyone else voting against, but that doesn’t make the plan any less grating,” John sighed. “I am not even sure this is worth the effort, it could take hours.”

‘You must learn to be patient,’ Gnome said, ‘Remember the vision of our contract. Be the earth. Be patient.’

“Do I have to be patient?” Sylph babbled, “Cause I am totally not good at that, I like to whoo-whoosh and wheeeeee and-“ The noise suddenly stopped, the small air spirit getting caught between Gnome’s hollow hand. Muffled noises from inside confirmed that Sylph was continuing to talk nevertheless. That girl loved the sound of her own voice.

‘Be patient,’ Gnome repeated, ‘Breathe in deeply, John. What do you smell?’

He had no idea what this was supposed to accomplish but he followed the instructions anyway. The air was filled with the smell of the forest, rich earth, plants, the soft aroma of pine needles. It was strangely calming. He heard nothing but the soft whisper of Gnome in his mind. ‘Do you trust me, John?’ she asked.Updated chapters on novelbin(.)com

‘Yes,’ was his immediate answer. Gnome had saved his life on numerous occasions. Often only because she followed his instructions, sometimes of her own accord. The latter grew more frequent, as she became more of her own person, rather than another shard of the elemental plane.

‘Then close your eyes, turn around and walk.’

And so he did. Gnome became his eyes as he felt how his every step shook the ground. He felt the different kinds of earth under his feet. Soft earth, where seldom a living being treaded, hollow earth, were a fox or some other animal had burrowed a hole, hard earth, where roots thickly winded through the consolidated dirt. There were more, specific variations, but through the soles of his shoes he was unable to pick up all of them.

Without thinking about it, just going with the flow Gnome dictated to him, he got rid of his shoes. None of this was part of her plan, but he felt committed to something greater. Every time he breathed in and filled his lungs with the smell of nature, he felt himself grow farther away from what he had perceived reality to be and closer to what it truly was. He felt how every step changed the make-up of the world. Just a little bit. Every displaced bit of dirt, every pushed away stone, every broken branch on the forest floor, it all changed the world, just a bit.

‘Careful, there is a slope here,’ Gnome whispered and John took a slow step, careful not to fall. As if nature wanted to repay his attention, he found safe footing every step down the slope, his eyes still closed. He even pushed his Possession consciousness far away. It now was little more than the light of the moon against his closed eyelids. Finally, Gnome told him to stop. ‘This is the place, sit down and when you are ready, summon the boss.’

John nodded to himself, slowly awakening from the trance, yet some part of him remained with nature, from this point and forever. Around him, earth shifted, enveloping him fully, then moving underneath him. He was sitting in complete darkness. This was part of the plan. The only things he saw were the window asking for his selection and Sylph smiling at him. “I will be very quiet,” she promised with a whisper. He was inside a bubble in the earth, somewhere. He didn’t even know himself, as he had only followed Gnome’s instructions. This was the first part of her plan, nowhere in the boss rules did it say that he needed to be around the spawn point. John only needed to hide, facing Nateward was an unnecessary risk for the plan and so all he needed to have was patience. Well, patience and air to breathe. That is what Sylph was there for, it would cost some amount of mana but she would be able to refresh the air inside.

“Try,” Gnome dared with the sweetest of tones. Nateward sighed and grabbed Gnome by the shoulders, trying to pick her up. He couldn’t. He tried a second time and heaved under the exhaustion. “The hell, what are you made of – stone?” he asked.

“Yes, and I am also part of the ground.”

Nateward looked at the girl’s feet where the light skin colour melded into the stone they both stood upon. “Oh,” was all he could say about that. “Oy!” he complained, when Gnome grasped his hands in turn.

Over at the other pillar John smiled and allowed himself a moment of smugness. ‘Gnome, would you explain the plan to our friend here?’ Gnome sent back a humoured approval and... shyness? Regardless, she started talking.

“We can’t beat your regeneration,” she said, “E-especially not if you can heal off Aclysia. However, you need actual materials to heal, so we took them away from you. To that end, John needed to give me lots and lots of mana. L-like a whole lot.”

“Why not just use the candle-chick for that? Burn the forest.” Nateward seemed more amused than offended by this plan.

“She could not have hidden John until he had given her enough mana. She, uhm, also wouldn’t have been able to give him air to breathe. It needed to be both me and Sylph. Also, Salamander would have been able to take your source of healing but not stop you from migrating somewhere where you could instead.” Gnome explained. “The only problem in our plan was the question whether or not you are strong enough to escape my grasp. Are you?”

Nateward struggled against the girl’s hands, fruitlessly. “Well, chucklefucks. I am not. Well, I will just Conshruume you then!” he threw a hand full spores at Gnome. They didn’t stick. “You needed to touch trees in order to heal, meaning that you need organic materials. I am 100% earth.” Gnome ended her explanation.

“Damn weak body limitations!” Nateward lamented, “Okay, so I can’t get away, but how are you planning to kill me, your summoner is what, 200 metres away?” Gnome said nothing and left the next part as a surprise. Then a blue blast flew right by them.

Aiming Mana Ray at this distance was iffy. Agility had slightly bettered his eyesight, or at least he felt so, but that didn’t mean he was a sharpshooter. Nateward was also struggling to try and get away from Gnome, now that he knew John had an actual way to damage him. Foot pressed against Gnome’s chest, he tried his best to pry open the grasping hands. “This is such a stupid way to die!”

“”I think this plan was brilliantly executed,”” said both Gnome and John at completely different places at the exact same time.



John smirked, then nailed Nateward in the shoulder with the next Mana Ray. The arm tore off at the joint, the second following immediately after. All the force with which the mushroom man was struggling against Gnome now catapulted him backwards. One long plunge later, victory was John’s.