World Seed

Author’s Corner: I swear I’m not a bear, I just like to hibernate.I thought about the offer for a few minutes, nodding my head. “Sure. I need some income, and this works out perfectly.”The officer flinched a bit when I mentioned money, but I really did need some income, and he had called this a job after all. However, the other voice seemed to understand. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had investigated me and knew about my financial situation. “Deal. But we’ll need you on call whenever a situation arises, until our own officers can handle the problems.”I nodded, understanding that. Monsters could appear in the middle of the night just as easily as during the day, so I couldn’t exactly ask for specific hours. This also meant I’d be unable to get back in the game very easily, since I could be needed at any time. “Alright. I take it you’ll just be calling me when more slimes, or other difficult monsters appear?”Again, it was the offscreen voice that spoke. “That’s right. And there’s a few you can take care of now. We managed to corral some slimes at the mall on 6th Street, but we haven’t been able to kill them. Head on over and take care of the situation.”With that, the connection was cut, leaving me blinking at where the hologram had once been. “Well, he was pretty rude.” Celeste spoke up from my wrist, making me smile wryly.“Yeah, but it’s a bad situation. You’ve got to remember not to come out around other people. They might want to take you to study, and we wouldn’t want that.” After I said that, her digital face paled a bit and she nodded. “You can talk to me through the Cybernetic eye, and I’ll respond when I can. Now… let’s go play at being a dragon.”Hearing me say that made Celeste grin broadly as I walked out the front door. Although I didn’t have my adaptive armor with me in the real world, which I didn’t think about until after I shifted. My body hunched over like a wolf, covered in green scales, with large bat-like wings coming out of my back. I could feel as the various spines protruded from my back and along my new tail… and as my clothes were torn to shreds during this process. Well… guess I won’t be changing back until I return.With a brief flap of my wings, I adjusted to the new flight method and awkwardly took to the skies. It took a few moments before I was able to fly the direction I wanted, but my practice with the lovebird wings paid off. As my mana began recovering, I also added in the aura I had learned from the lesser orthrus to let me breathe elemental magic. For right now, the element I aligned it to was Void, as it would do the least harm to the surroundings.