Chapter 973 – Vacation Week 3 – Lady of Seasons

Chapter 973 – Vacation Week 3 – Lady of Seasons

One could have thought that the two of them moved soon after that window popped up. Instead, they were bound there for a while longer, John holding her until the tears subsided. Tears that kept flowing, albeit they changed from those of confusion and anger to relief and love.

When, finally, the streams did stop and he had dried her face, they stayed there until the red in her eyes disappeared. Only then did they make their way back.

It took a while, albeit not as long as it had taken them to get there. The path down the mountain and over the sand was the same, but the darkness that they had spent hours in was shortened considerably.

In the end, whether or not they had needed the Elemental Depths to sort out their issues was debatable. There was no challenge inside that they had faced, neither was there anything about the environment that had given them the clues they needed. Its existence alone had enabled the situation where Gnome’s bottled emotions had exploded out. For that, John had to thank the Elemental Depths, if nothing else.

It only took about a minute of walking through the darkness, before they were able to see the end of the tunnel. There was a light at the end of it, a bright light that shouldn’t have been possible at this hour. John and Gnome had spent most of the day in there. Even if the Weather Tower made it so the climate of the Guild Hall was always summerly, it couldn’t change the course of the sun. It was the last week of November and, in the northern hemisphere, the days were almost the shortest they would be all year.

The light greeting them was no other than Rave, making her hand glow with a shifting display of red, blue and green. It gave the cave walls a techno-party feel, while the Gamer and his earth spirit stepped out of the supernatural black. “There they are!” Rave shouted, a bunch of other figures appearing around the cave entrance.

Unsurprisingly, it was the harem. Whatever responsibilities and jobs they all had, they had gotten done with them for the day and were now waiting for the return of the two. The moment they stepped out of the Elemental Depths, Gnome and John turned into the centre of a cuddle pile. The mental connection had never broken off, so albeit they hadn’t involved themselves in any manner, the other girls knew what had been going on. Logically, John just got second-hand cuddles of approval while Gnome got all of the loving, supportive cuddles the harem had to give. Which was, by all accounts, a lot.

Even Scarlett and Lydia got in on that whole affair, the latter’s presence being somewhat of a surprise. “Are you well?” the queen of steel asked, following her embrace of the brunette. The question was accompanied by a number of inspecting touches.

“Better than before,” Gnome responded with the kind of firmness a shy person could only muster once in a full moon. “Much better... John?”

“Yeah?” the Gamer asked, busy holding an Undine in each arm.

“Since we’re all already here... do you want to...?”

John understood the implication, as did the rest of the group. They didn’t wait for his nod to start backing up from Gnome. From the very start, the decision was clear. Opening the Achievement Store, John selected the Skill Evolution Point option. 1000 GP were withdrawn from his savings and he immediately pressed the golden + that appeared next to Autumn Elemental Summoning.





With the last of his elementals reaching Tier 5 came an Achievement.



‘Good thing I already took the week off,’ John thought, repressing a sigh. Doubtlessly, there were some nerfs incoming. He couldn’t complain about that too much, Gaia only nerfed him as he could handle it and, factually speaking, it was her taking the training wheels off his Innate Ability. As for the other rewards, they were pretty amazing.

The Elemental Court required that John have all Elemental Islands built, which he did. However, the Room Slots and upkeep required to maintain it were not something he could afford at the moment. Its effects were numerous, primarily boosting the strength of elementals that could step over from their respective planes and the speed at which the Collimets formed. Both boons he wanted to have, but none he was so eager to get that he would restructure what he currently had over it. The last Tier of the Guild Hall would be achieved in its own time.

Getting 100 GP and 1 SEP effectively meant that John had been paid 100 GP for this final evolution. A small boon, but nice nonetheless. The Max Class Level was more a quality of life boon than anything else. John hadn’t been lacking access to Max Class Levels since the scaling had doubled in frequency. Having the level for Elementalist, of all Classes, guaranteed meant that he could pick it up whenever he finally beat those last Challenges.

John smiled when he looked up and saw his six elementals. Gnome, who had evolved the completely normal route. Salamander, who stood there proudly, having recklessly fought what she had to in order to ascend. Undine, who had forced a double evolution once and caused a mess because of it. Sylph, who was such a perfect representative of her kind that she got to skip Tier 2, but had otherwise evolved without dangerous happenstances. Siena, who he had contracted at Tier 3 and with her wanting to stab him, who had only let him choose her last evolution and who he now had a truly healthy relationship with. Finally, Stirwin, the Celestial Devourer whose true potential he still couldn’t awaken.

The Gamer hadn’t tickled all of the power out of his elementals he could. They could always get better at teamwork, combining their powers or their bodies to fit situations they hadn’t yet thought of. Only time would tell what the last level of the Elementalist Class truly offered. The last Perk was very likely to be the combination of all of his elementals, but the Modification and the Advanced Class that stemmed from it would be a different story.

This avenue of evolving them, however, had reached its final destination. It felt good to get done with one aspect of his powers. The completionist inside him rejoiced and his mind could stop considering the possibilities there and turn to other options.

“Ehem,” Gnome cleared her throat, trying to get everyone’s attention. “So, uhm, if I could... maybe make this night about me?”

“Of course,” John was quick to confirm. It was basically tradition that he gave the recently evolved elemental his exclusive attention for however long they wanted. “It’s all about you, my beloved cuddle rock.”

“Umu,” Gnome made a pleased, slightly embarrassed sound. She glanced at her fellow elemental girls, one after the other. “So... here is the thing...” she started.



And suggested a magnificently perverted scene.