Ball of Nothing

Half Moon Village wasn't anything the gnomes or Jermine had expected. It was closer to a town under construction on the way to becoming a city. The amount of machinery at work was insane and from the moment they arrived from the portal, the gnomes could tell how advanced the technology here was. The village was a mix of magic and technology, something that amazed the gnomes because Gnaway hadn't even been this advanced.

Thomas looked around and noticed some strange water and portals by the waystone and paused. "Is this irrigation technology? How did you manage to do this without a pump?"

Zero blinked and paused. He was communicating with Zoe, informing her of their new guests when the gnomes started poking around at the village's technology. The people in charge were still on their way but Zero saw how the gnomes were immediately feeling at home with Half Moon Village's weird setup. On the other hand, Jermine looked like she didn't know where to start or what to do.

"Are you alright?" Zero asked her.

The blind girl shook her head. "I-I'm fine. There's a lot of mana here... it's slightly hard to breathe."

Zero felt slightly bad for Jermine and did a little something to the air around Jermine and created a seal on a talisman that he gave her. "Keep it close," he told her. "It's not the best but it'll have to do for now. I'm low on mana."

Jermine nodded and kept the talisman close to her chest while Truen greeted Cleo who appeared before them with one of her vine clones. Zero could tell at once how much Cleo had grown based on her ability to maintain several plant clones now.

"Zero!" she greeted with joy then it immediately turned to worry. "What happened?!"

The doctor laughed and brushed it off. Truen shook his head at Cleo's horror-stricken expression. It might not be obvious to others but to the dryad who was well acquainted with Gaia's spells, she was able to tell how badly damaged Zero's vessel was.

"It's a long story," Truen told Cleo who nodded even if she was still worried. To think that there would be something out there capable of destroying a vessel created by the six Great Gods and best magician... Cleo didn't know what to think.

Without wasting time, Truen told Cleo to take Olive under her tutelage. The gnome gardener was more than glad to work with the dryad. Cleo gave Zero one last look of concern before she left to explain how things worked around the village, starting with the portal to Heaven where they attend to magical crops.

Raj was the next person to arrive, followed by Wiser who looked like he'd aged terribly. Lovina also exited the portal and was aghast at Zero's damaged vessel. Clowis was the last to arrive but when he did, he immediately felt as if something wasn't right.

"Zero?"

"Hello," Zero greeted tiredly. With so much mana in the air, he was slowly recovering but it was difficult to stay awake. His body keeps wanting to send him to sleep so that it could recuperate quicker but Zero still had many things to attend to now that he was finally back.

Nobody had a chance to ask Zero what happened because the young village leader was already giving out orders left and right. Clowis was assigned to take care of Ginger and Turmeric. Wiser was told to give Pepper a task and Lovina was pleased to meet Wesley, a fellow alchemist. Raj felt slightly uncomfortable with Thomas who immediately took a strange obsession with him. In fact, the gnomes kept staring at him.

"Sorry, is there something you'd like to tell me?" Raj asked, unable to endure the silent stares before the gnomes left with their respective villager-in-charge.

"Pardon to ask but do you know who your parents are?" Wesley gathered his courage to ask.

Raj shook his head. "For as long as I remembered, I'd always been in this village."

Holding back tears in recognition of their lost prince, Thomas and the gnomes decided not to say anything else. It was good to know that their prince still lived on even if he didn't know about Gnaway or his parents. They felt like proud uncles and vowed to remain here as Raj's guardians. Who could imagine that they would find the last of their kin alive in a different country?

After some clarification, the gnomes left with the villagers assigned to give them their tasks. Zero was extremely tired but there was still one more person to take care of before he passed out.

"Jermine," he called the girl over.

The mole beast girl came over slowly and Zero smiled, patting her on her head when she was close enough. "You did well. I'll send someone to help you find your family. For now, please follow Zoe. She will take you to the other kids. Feel free to eat, sleep, relax and play but keep that talisman close. Once someone is free, they will arrange an escort party to Lycantopia to reunite you with your family. As agreed, you can bring your family and whoever you want over to Full Moon Village once it is ready in a few months."

Jermine was slightly frightened when she felt a chill. Zoe expressed remorse when she wasn't able to communicate with Jermine without frightening her. The ghost guardian sulked and Zero blinked. He'd completely forgotten about that.

"Zoe, take Zero to the room. He needs to rest now. I'll take Jermine to Karris or Grandma Moppo. Where is Seff?"

Zoe gestured that Seff was currently in Hell, getting babysat by Amon this time. Sekkin was responsible for teaching Seff and Truen thanked her before leading Jermine away.

Zero allowed Zoe to carry him on her back and felt his eyes slowly fall shut before even they reached the room. With this much qi and mana in the air, he would probably be recovered enough by tomorrow to pull himself to the mixed spring in the village. Mixing Trigression Falls and the Spring of Vitality was probably one of the best things the lab members did. Zero couldn't be happier with the strange healing bath that nobody else could use. He might not be able to recover his reserves fully but it would be sufficient.

Now that everyone left, Bob decided to visit his old friend in Sleepy Cave to check on how things were going. It might only be a few months since they left the village but Bob wanted to compare how much Kerberos had improved compared to him.