Chapter 321: Growth

Over the next few days, Kalli began to notice that something was off.

Not with the Heroes, who were doing as well as they could be expected to. And not with the civilians, who were actually gaining access to the system at an impressive and steady rate.

The issue was with the world itself.

When she went to refill mana into the training grounds for her morning exercise, it filled faster than it should have. When the farmers went out to check on the tubers in the fields, they were larger than they should have been, compared to the day before.

And the monstrous wildlife was reappearing.

Not coming back from some hiding spot, it was simply reappearing around the city, as if it were respawning, or being placed there by some unknown force.

The first instinct was to blame the System, as it was certainly capable of surrounding the city with monsters. However, this was not the sort of invasion they got with a Trial. Instead, they got a few wild chickens in the tree line near one of the outposts.

Squirrels visible in the forest, and far to the west, spotted with binoculars, a pack of wild armoured boars.

And while that was great news for the possibility of a hunting season, and the survival of the ecosystem, it was also highly concerning that they had all appeared overnight with the midnight reset.

There were no combat trials noted for this part of the missions, and if there were small monsters now, there might be large monsters later. Which brought them to the current moment, as Kalli sat in her office, sipping bubble tea and pondering the state of the world with a number of the group leaders.

"This might be the first part of the world ascending.

The Trials did so much damage to the planet that the System may need to repair some of it and bring back some of the essential life forms before the planet is ready for whatever comes next.

If that’s happening, then we will likely see mostly wild animals, but we might see other roaming small monster packs.

Things like Goblins and Gnolls.

Or the Flatfoot Hunters that came to hunt the crabs during spawning season.

Those sorts of things feel like they were natural occurrences, the sort of thing you should expect from this world. So, I wouldn’t rule out that they will happen again as the world recovers. Perhaps not immediately, spawning season is usually once a year, after all.

But I would say that they will happen again.

Marimgar is well positioned to deal with that sort of change, but there is something else wrong with the world, has anyone else noticed?"

Kalli paused to see if anyone would speak, and was not disappointed.

Both Yara and Sanchez raised their hands, and the Sergeant gestured for the healer to go first.

"I was healing some minor injuries this morning, and the effect of my spell was larger than it should have been. It felt like I was using more mana than I actually was. So, I tested it a bit further, and my mana recovery level is up as well," she explained.

Sanchez nodded. "That’s similar to what I noticed. I was doing night patrols, and picked a few tubers to fry for dinner just after midnight.

The soup tasted off, and the energy level was much lower than what was in the fresh potatoes.

Now, I know that the soup was fine, I had some of it near the start of my shift. But the new tubers and their higher energy level tasted right, while the previous day’s soup tasted bland, but not in a way related to spice.

I don’t know if I can explain it right, but if you eat a fresh picked tuber from the fields, you’ll know the difference immediately."

A few of the others were intrigued, but they had also noticed differences.

Vinnie knocked on the table to get everyone’s attention, and began to speak. "I went over to visit with a few of the lads at the Techno Wizard’s workshop this morning, and they noticed the difference too.

They just finished up a new helicopter, and needed to charge it up, and the charge went faster than expected, like they were getting more energy per mana.

Matteo is working on it now, but I didn’t have an answer before I came over here."

Kalli nodded in understanding, "Alright, if they’re working on it, we will let them work and not interrupt them. If you see any other strange changes today, let me know. Also, if there are Swineherd Demons with the wild boars, let me know

I suspect that they’re actually another of the factions in the Trials. Or, each of their tribes might be a faction.

But they’re definitely intelligent, and if they’re herding the boars, there might be more of a threat than a simple source of bacon."

The team leaders eyes gleamed with excitement at the possibility of a steady source of bacon.

The armoured boars had proven that they could be somewhat domesticated and controlled. Not by humans, but by the Swineherd Demons, and the Goblins, who seemed certain that they could lead a boar away.

If those two could do it, then humans could likely do it as well. They just needed to capture some and feed them until they came to associate the humans’ pens with food.

Then, they would have their second livestock species. Third if you counted John’s cattle.

The cattle were actually doing quite well, all things considered.

John had managed to save two bulls, so they at least had a chance of continuing the species, even without the System replacing them. But before anyone thought to mention anything to John about the change in the plants, the cattle had already started grazing for the morning, including some fresh cut tuber foliage that the greenhouses had sent down to the compost facility.

It didn’t seem to bother the cattle at all, but John’s careful eye was also noticing changes to his precious herd.

Signs that they were becoming more than just cattle.