Being alone and useless had been quite a miserable experience, but the return of Sylphie and Vesperia had at least added something interesting to Jake’s everyday life. They naturally didn’t have much to do around the lodge either, and they had to keep things quiet and not make a mess, forcing them to stay inside most of the time. Something poor Sylphie had a hard time with as she couldn’t even fly around and have fun.

Vesperia was a lot calmer and seemed like the sort who could easily sit in meditation for a few centuries without complaint. Sylphie was really the exact opposite of Vesperia despite them being kind of siblings, something that was weird to think about when he remembered that Sylphie was the older of the two… a fact he made sure everyone knew about.

Jake had to wrack his mind a lot – which wasn’t a pleasant experience – to find a way to keep Sylphie entertained, which did kind of help keep himself occupied mentally. He had a few things in the lodge for entertainment, such as playing cards and a few board games that he wasn’t even sure when had gotten there.

Playing cards with three people was always hard, and poker with that few sucked, so he couldn’t really find anything fun there. As he went through the different board games, he found some of the good old ones there, such as chess, checkers, and a few different dice games, but also some more complicated ones that he seriously didn’t want to try and teach Sylphie in the week or so she would spend there.

Sylphie did turn out to be pretty good at some of the simpler games, and honestly, there was something precious about playing with a giant wasp amazoness and a small hawk moving her pieces with a talon while screeching in victory as she beat Jake and Vesperia by being better at rolling the special die Arnold had created that assured complete randomness with every roll.

Did Vesperia and Jake let Sylphie win? Of course not, fuck that. They were all way too competitive to let someone else win on purpose.

Anyway, Sylphie was good at dice games and she enjoyed it a lot, especially because Vesperia wasn’t a fan. Jake and the hawk also enjoyed teasing the eels, who were very scared of the green bird. Jake did have to remind Sylphie not to peck any of them, and eventually, he had to drag her off when a brave eel tried to bite the talon she was poking the surface of the water with.

Vesperia, on the other hand, turned out to be a big fan of chess. Chess was also one of the few games where Jake didn’t really have any advantages at all due to his Bloodline. His intuition didn’t seem to do much, and as there was no danger, but it was all just play, most of his senses didn’t seem to care much about what was happening.

Jake himself had never been a massive chess fan or super good at it, but he did at least know the rules and had played a bit in the past. Vesperia knew about the game, though her versions were a bit different and ones she offered to show Jake later.

Yes, versions. Plural. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a game like chess was also known in the wider universe, nor that there were numerous iterations, pretty much all of them far more complex than the Earth version.

The two of them ended up mostly playing basic chess, though. Jake was still in his heavy recovery phase at this time, and playing mega-chess was bound to induce a headache. Plus, ultimately, all of this was just an excuse for the three of them to relax and bond. At least that was one of the excuses Jake used for why he was constantly losing. They were just playing for fun, right?

Either way, despite playing games and messing about, most of their time was spent talking or chilling. Vesperia shared much knowledge about the Endless Empire and some of the other innate knowledge she had. She had a lot of exciting stories and legends from her faction, which both Sylphie and Jake enjoyed listening to.

Sylphie also shared some of her own adventures, though she truthfully hadn’t experienced much Jake or Vesperia weren’t aware of. She did have some unique stories from Nevermore, but other than that, it was mostly about times she spent way too long chasing down small critters only to let them go once caught because Sylphie was too strong and cool to hurt them.

Overall, Jake had six good days with the two of them, which included a lot of bonding. He still made sure to also consume some Serene Water during this time to help him keep a cool head and for its effect from continued consumption to stay active. He still wasn’t sure how much it helped, but at least it made him feel better.

By the seventh day, Jake was feeling a lot better. He had gradually improved ever since he returned to Earth and was healed by Eron, but on that day, it was like a switch flipped, and Jake felt power return to his body.

”You are looking a lot better,” Vesperia pointed out when she saw Jake walk out onto the porch after he’d woken up from his daily nap – because sleeping was truly the best way to recover.

”I’m also feeling a lot better,” Jake smiled as he cracked his head. ”Not back to full for sure, and my resources are still fucked, but I feel like I could take on Prima Guardian or two at least.”

”Recovery is still your priority, and you should stay here on Earth until you are fully healed,” Vesperia said in a tone that was a mix of scolding and concern.

”I know, I know,” Jake said with a sigh. ”And I will stay. It just feels good to not be entirely useless anymore. Now I can actually defend myself if necessary without doing something that could easily lead to even worse long-term injuries.”

”Ree?” Sylphie, who had already taken her spot on top of his head the moment he had been on the porch for three seconds, asked.

”If you want to,” Jake answered. ”I can take care of myself now if you want to go have fun elsewhere.”

”Ree…” Sylphie screeched, sounding a bit guilty.

”It’s fine. Go be the little feathered hero I know you can be,” Jake said with a big smile as he reached up and lifted her off his head for a good hug and head pat.

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Sylphie snuggled for a bit before raising her head with determination. ”Ree!”

”You go get ’em,” Jake shook his head and laughed as he let Sylphie take off with a triumphant screech as she prepared to conquer – eh, save – even more unfortunate planets of the galaxy.

He watched her fly away as Vesperia went over to the porch and sat down on the steps in front of him while also seeing her off. She sat there for a bit as she threw glances at Jake, who knew what she was getting at as he placed a hand on top of her head and russled her hair.

”Were you shy or something?” Jake asked jokingly, seeing as Vesperia hadn’t done this for all the time Sylphie had been there, but the second she was gone…

”She needed it more,” Vesperia said in a low tone, with a big smile on her face as she leaned into his hand. ”I will stay here for a lot longer, after all.”

”True,” Jake nodded as he stared toward the sky. Lots of things were happening, and Jake hated not being able to take part. It wasn’t that he hated not actually taking part. He hated the fact he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

During this week, the Fallen King had also returned to Earth again but hadn’t bothered to come by. He had just sent a quick message he would go recover on his own and then make use of Arnold’s teleporter to go visit some red planets.

According to the King, he doubted many planets would accept if he signed up to go and assist them, but if he went with Arnold’s teleporter, they would have any choice but to accept his help or face making an even more dangerous creature than the Prima Guardian their enemy.

Sylphie’s plan was to join some people from Earth to help those from the alliance still needing assistance. Kindroth still had an entire list, and with Jake out of commission and the Sword Saint busy taking over Jake’s beta-testing duties, they were severely understaffed. For Sylphie to offer assistance by going along with a group of pretty weak people to effectively kill the Guardian solo while just acting like an animal companion was not something Jake could see people reject.

He also knew that with time, others would also return to Earth, and more factions would begin to make their move. Valhal and the Court of Shadows would both offer assistance to whoever was willing to pay them. Maria had apparently already managed to get herself hired, and several more of the powerful fighters on Earth would begin to travel the galaxy more. Even if they weren’t strong enough to kill Prima Guardians themselves, groups such as the elite parties from the Noboru Clan could offer great assistance anyway. If not against the Guardians, then the regular Primas till they all felt ready to take down the final boss.

There was also what could only be called a domino effect as more and more planets finished dealing with the event. Powerful groups, including World Leaders, would travel elsewhere to help out, with those helped then able to also offer assistance.

This was especially the case with planets part of Ell’Hakan’s alliance. They were all far more stable civilizations from the get-go, while many of those Jake and the others helped had been less than organized, and the World Leader and other powerful figures had to stay back and stabilize things to avoid civil wars or deal with the fallout from the event.

On Earth, they were also dealing with their own cultural battle due to the continued establishment and development of the Risen. Casper was the guy in charge after he’d helped the one other Risen planet in the galaxy deal with their Guardian. To make this new land for the Risen, he had to put down a shitload of formations, and Jake also heard that Miranda had helped them get a Pylon of Civilization for their own little island.

Jake truthfully didn’t have many thoughts on the protests, though he did find it a bit hypocritical that some of the non-human freed slaves were complaining about the Risen being allowed to live on Earth, having somehow forgotten that just a few years ago, they were the source of protests.

Needless to say, Miranda kept Jake and the others updated throughout his recovery about everything that was going on with Earth and the galaxy as a whole. It didn’t sound like anything overly surprising was happening anywhere, and the only unsettling news was the continued spread of ”I’s” influence as even more planets were destroyed.

Not that Jake could do anything about it in his current state.

Jake recovering from the most immediate weakness, allowed him to do some more things. Alchemy was still a bit troublesome as he still felt a stinging pain whenever he strained his mana usage too much. However, he could now do one more thing… one very important way to spend his time had been unlocked, especially now that Sylphie was gone and Vesperia could dedicate herself more to her own tasks. Truly, he was blessed…

Because it was playtime with his little puzzle box!

With Vesperia busy and Jake chilling in his bathtub later the same day Sylphie left, he took out the cube and admired it.

[Puzzle Box of the Seeker (Divine)] – A puzzle box created by the god known as the Seeker. This box is filled with a total of 10000 levels of mana puzzles of ever-increasing difficulty. Fully unlocking the box will reveal an item sealed within. Soulbinds to anyone who beats the first level. Levels completed: (289/10000).

Jake had completed a few levels in Nevermore, but not that many, as he didn’t have as much time as he would have liked to play with it. Every level also only got harder and harder. With ten thousand levels total, Jake had so much to look forward to. From the beginning, he had known that the cube wasn’t something he would solve any time soon, but he still wanted to keep doing levels, primarily to avoid having an early Nevermore situation.

That’s to say, a situation where Jake was just breezing through challenges to get to the hard parts. Luckily, that wasn’t an issue quite yet, and with the Serene Water soothing his soul, Jake immersed his consciousness inside the cube as he appeared within to see his task for level 290.

Smiling, Jake saw he had to ensure a defensive wall was capable of holding against an assault from a projected army. This wall had the shape of a hexagon and protected a city within, with Jake’s requirement for clearing this level that no damage was done to the city at all. This meant the wall being damaged was fine…

Looking over the wall, he saw it was in utter disrepair and was filled with flaws, and the formation embedded in it to protect the city from attacks coming from below and above was utterly busted. Everything looking so shitty only made him happier as he had a good challenge on his hands, and it felt damn good to finally feel at least a little productive again.

Time to get to work!

Wariness was only to be expected when an unknown figure descended from the skies, seemingly out of nowhere. At least Miyamoto believed so as he arrived on the planet he had been teleported close to by the scientist’s torture device with a side effect allowing cross-galaxy teleportation.

The first thing he confirmed after he stopped dry-heaving from the experience of the atrocious device was to make sure his painting worked and would allow him to return at any point. With that confirmed, he spent a bit getting through the atmosphere of the planet, which was far from an easy or pleasant experience, but he had come prepared and managed to get through.

Descending down toward the planet, he wasn’t sure if he had gotten lucky or unlucky with where he appeared or if this was perhaps just how the teleporter worked, but he was already near the Prima Vessel and could see it in the distance as he broke through a few layers of clouds.

What he also saw was an army of beastfolk marching in formation toward the Prima Vessel. An army that quickly spotted him, and before he could even introduce himself… they overreacted to their own wariness.

A commander yelled; the formation changed, and Miyamoto sighed as the sky lit up with magic, arrows, and a bunch of other projectiles flying his way, as his interactions with the first red planet he’d come to assist didn’t come off to a good start.