Temporal Pearls

Sling!

Cabins slid close and the gamers dived into Asteroid Online.

Seth opened his eyes and found the wind blowing very strong, almost tumbling his cottage, there were also flashes of fire in the night with faint roars in the sky.

He was in the cottage and the Dragons were far away, yet he could feel their pressure making his body tremble. Seth quickly closed his eyes.

For every roar, his Pure White Stone Will crack before it heals back stronger. Without the Stone Will, he might have just died.

Seth sighed and he looked at the roof, and the lock he put on his emotions unlocked and an avalanche of emotions that carried his helplessness, self-pity, anger, fear and gladness washed over him and he broke into tears.

His mind clouded with so much intense emotion that he lost himself and started crying out loud like a baby.

Helplessness was when he watched Bunker Truck smashing and crushing people in their cars and there was nothing he could do, and neither could they. If not for his car being special, he would have been dead.

Self-pity was that he watched people in pain, screaming and dying, taking their last breath and he could do nothing to help them.

Anger at the murderer, the emotionless killer that kills more than a thousand people without batting an eye.

Fear of what would happen to him if people knew he knew the killers. His family and he himself will never see the light of day again.

And gladness was, at the very least he was still alive and sane. He was better than those that died miserably and he got to live.

Seth has not slept well ever since that day without a recurring nightmare. Maybe it was because of his strong will but he suppressed all those feelings till he was in the game.

Unknown to him, Raaz was beside his Cabin and his actual body was shedding tears uncontrollably.

At first, Raaz came with anger toward Seth but after hearing what he had been through, he became pitied the boy.

Seth's parents knew Seth was hurting inside and that was why he was busy with many things to distract himself. Now they watch him cry while gaming.

Sapphire herself felt the flood of Seth's emotions but she has no capability to appease him.

Hours later, Seth was lying in his tears and the trembling of the cottage was insistent due to the pressure of the dragons that were dancing kilometres in the sky. Seth sighed and sat down.

Ding!

[You have experienced extreme emotions and that warrant Pure Stone Will to level up]

[Pure White Stone Will 2]

Seth felt a burning pain in his chest and the white tattoo became more white and vivid. He also felt his mind at ease. He was still affected by what happened but not much.

He then brought out his book and began to record things he did in the real world. He has performed three major projects.

One, understanding Building Blueprints of different kinds. Seth has gone through a lot of different buildings that suit him and the clearing within the Living Roots.

Two, understanding buildings using natural and local materials. He had researched all the processes of making houses with clay, wood and local materials without the need for modern equipment.

Three, he delved deep into ceramics, art and other pottery activities.

All that was to change the place he was to be his own. As the Quest that said he should rebuild the village doesn't have a Penalty he was going to make the place his own.

Documenting the whole plan he spent weeks perfecting in the real world, Seth began to follow the guide step by step.

First and foremost was identifying the materials needed and confirming if they were suitable. That made him leave the cottage to go around Clay Spots in the forest and identify them and choose the appropriate one.

Then which wood to use, which took him some time to choose among the variety of them.

The next most important was how to start. And that was by making the equipment needed to be used. And that was where the problem arose, he had no shovels or Spade or hoe to dig the soil. But he has staff.

So, he abandoned equipment-making and estimated his blueprint with the surroundings. Confirming the size of the mansion he had in mind. After that, he packs clay to that place and moulds small depictions of houses he expects.

Finishing all results in a single hour before logging out. He went back to the cottage and opened First Painting and began to copy it. Ten copies and his mind was blank till logged out.

Sling!

Seth sat with a smile, his chest wasn't heavy anymore and seeing Raaz waiting for him he beamed.

"Mr Raaz, long time no see," but then he noticed some fresh scar on the man's face and asked, "What happened to your face?"

"I'm fine. How are you doing?" Raaz answered.

"Good!"

"It turns out your car is amazing!" Raaz inquired as he eyed the kid intently.

"Yep, she is great. The best gift so far I ever have. apart from my mother of course!"

"Good… and my Quest?"

"It's not time yet!" Seth said.

"Then you failed. Things are changing fast. The time I gave you was long and in just a week you could….!" He became silent as Seth handed him a paper.

"I finished it in the first week. I just felt like waiting for the time you asked."

Raaz took the paper and went through it as he nodded. The paper was a blueprint of a former city just Neighboring Saha city. Years ago, the city experienced power surges due to an illegal weapon company that hid there making dangerous weapons.

At that time, people caught cancer and other diseases which caused other countries to intervene and investigate the situation hoping it wasn't airborne diseases that could affect the whole world.

What they found was more dangerous. Weapons of mass destruction were being made by other countries. The thing turned into international squabbles and in the end, the city was evacuated and the company shut down.

That was 20 years ago.

The large coin Raaz gave Seth has a map of the city and also hidden underground locations where influential people go and chill far away from the eyes of the government and other prying eyes.

It says the place was safe now from radiation but because there were things that still disrupted Communication signals that was why the place was still abandoned.

"Good. How did you get this?"

"I have my ways!" Seth answered.