Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Hill began to live in endlessly repetitive days, always feeling like he was dreaming of the past, working day and night in the wilderness. However, unlike those times, it’s much more dangerous now.

Every morning, Hill would walk with Haiweirsen to the cedar sapling forest on the north side of the mountain to release Nature’s Blessing.

No matter how careful Hill was, he couldn’t avoid the attacks of elemental storms. Just over a mountain, it felt like two completely different worlds.

Although Haiweirsen could shatter most storms, some damage was unavoidable.

Or rather, in Haiweirsen’s mind, those residual winds couldn’t even penetrate his fur, so the little cub should also be fine.

The first time Hill got injured, Haiweirsen was almost stunned in place, rarely flustered.

Hill stopped the concerned bear from wanting to shred the wind even more finely, willing to bear that bit of damage.

He treated it as physical training. Hill could feel that in just a few days, his skin had become much tougher.

In this world, being too well protected could also make him lose control of his own abilities.

Hill needed to prepare himself mentally to leave this world. While searching for a path in the starry sky, who knew if he would encounter a raging starstorm.

Just getting a little injured and being able to experience the environment of the starry sky in advance was a rare good thing for Hill.

Like now, he was already quite used to not breathing through his nose.

It was a habit that he couldn’t change, feeling normal only when he took a breath now and then.

Even when swimming in the water, the inheritance of the Crystal Flower allowed him to breathe freely.

A year of living in the wilderness only taught him to hold his breath when needed; he always found an excuse for himself.

But after spending a few days here, Hill obediently stopped relying on his nose to breathe. The storms here were so strong yet lacking normal air.

One breath could make him dizzy and nauseous for three whole days. Hill learned quickly.

Then Hill discovered the first problem humans faced when entering the starry sky: whether they could convert air using Mana, something he had already easily achieved.

Moreover, when casting spells now, he could manage to keep a completely expressionless face, making it difficult for others to guess his intentions from his expressions.

Without fur on his face, the layering of scars left Hill incapable of showing any facial expressions.

After finishing casting spells, Hill would use the Mana Restoration of Tranquility spell once. For the cedar forest, they not only liked Nature’s Blessing but also enjoyed the mixed spell of water mist and Water of Tranquility that Hill cast.

Haiweirsen would not allow him to exhaust all his Mana. Once the effect of the Water of Tranquility ended and Hill still had more than half his Mana, Haiweirsen would directly send Hill back to the south of the mountain to dig and fill the soil.

With Hill around, the only advantage was that the supply of cedar saplings was almost endless. Thanks to the relentless efforts of the young Earth Bears, the soil on the South Mountain was being filled rapidly.

Hill simply started planting trees by himself. When Aurelio wasn’t delivering saplings, he would accompany him.

For three whole years, Hill persisted in such days.

Hill realized he had been there for so long only when he saw almost boundless redwood trees planted on the mountain peaks.

At that point, Hill hadn’t been able to shatter demi-god artifacts directly, but fragments were no longer a problem.

Haiweirsen gave him many fragments to practice strength control.

Aurelio happily told Hill that with his current state, he had entered a formal growth phase. As long as he had enough energy, his strength would double.

He needed to get himself some high-energy food. Even if he couldn’t eat the high-level Magical Beast meat, at least he should grow some high-energy magical plants to eat the fruits.

The Earth Bears had now placed great trust in Hill’s abilities in this regard.

They had never felt the endless supply of cedar saplings before. In these three years, they had planted more trees than they had in the past decades.

The Earth Bears weren’t afraid of hard work, but cedar saplings also needed time to cultivate.

But now, all they had to do was call out, and Aurelio would quickly deliver saplings to them.

Haiweirsen no longer cursed the Natural Consciousness; he found the price worth it. However, he pitied Hill, not all high-level Magical Beast meat tasted bad!

They quite enjoyed eating sea monsters, especially the meat of Demigods. Probably because the sea was still predominantly Water Elemental and not as chaotic as the land, the taste was quite good.

Unfortunately, it required traveling too far, and the Earth Bears couldn’t afford to waste that much time.

After hearing Aurelio’s words, Hill felt a bit dazed. Had he really become this strong already?

Silently, he took out a demi-god longbow. Compared to an elf’s, this dwarf longbow was neither aesthetically pleasing nor energy-efficient.

It seemed that only Earth Bears could use it with ease, yet Earth Bears preferred throwing and wouldn’t transform into a human just to use a shabby bow.

Among the Earth Bears, fewer than ten had followed Haiweirsen to learn some Druid spells, and they had no desire to transform into human form while living among their clan.

Although demigod beasts could transform into human forms, it required a very precise transformation spell, which consumed too much Mana, so most bears hadn’t even learned it.

In their hearts, the bear form was the most perfect.

After thinking it through, Hill decided that the demi-god longbow was an item he could waste a bit.

Every day, he played with the bow, bending it back and forth until it moved from static to flexible, leaving Hill very satisfied. He began to fantasize about the feeling of shattering a shield with one punch.

As winter approached in the wilderness, Haiweirsen led the Earth Bears on their journey home. Having completed their tasks well over the past few years, they could take a longer rest this time.

Hill once planned to return to Saral to buy some food, but Haiweirsen directly stopped him.

They didn’t want to deal with humans for the time being, including eating the livestock humans raised.

Hill didn’t quite understand, considering that humans were also the children of the Goddess of the Earth, weren’t they?

But since Haiweirsen didn’t explain, he didn’t ask.

As the Clan Leader, Haiweirsen understood many things better than he did.

Before they reached the camp, the ground suddenly shook violently.

Haiweirsen quickly scooped Hill onto his back and, along with all the other bears, made a mad dash back to Ring Mountain.

Fortunately, this place, prepared by the Goddess of the Earth for her beloved children, was stable and unmoved.

The Earth Bears lay dumbfounded on the mountain top, staring at the trembling ground outside, unsure of what had happened.

Hill, leaning against Haiweirsen, suddenly felt the Natural Consciousness’s immense joy.

”It’s a good thing,” Hill said softly. ”Nature is very happy, almost to the point of celebration.”

Haiweirsen’s huge bear claws gripped the mountain peak tightly, and the other Earth Bears did the same.

Even when the Abyss was repelled and the Dwarves were annihilated, the Natural Consciousness hadn’t been this joyful.

Hill, like all the Earth Bears, felt full of hope.

He closed his eyes, even though the elements in the air were still chaotic, he could sense that amidst the chaos, some threads seemed to emerge.

At the very least, Hill could now recognize what these mixed elements were.

He waited quietly, accompanying the now-excited Haiweirsen.

The earthquake lasted for seven days and seven nights.

Hill couldn’t help but glance south a few times, wondering about the Crystal Flower’s trench and if anything had happened in Saral.

When the earth finally calmed down, a figure landed directly beside Hill: Agleya had arrived.

”Hill Dad! The planet is whole again!”

Hill looked helplessly at the godpower-wasting Little Sea God, ”Agleya.”

”Hill Dad! I missed you so much!” Agleya, now a grown woman, didn’t rush into her dad’s arms but kept her shiny eyes fixed on Hill, ”Don’t worry about me, Hill Dad! My Divine Power has been extending into the wilderness. I’ve taken over most of the Wilderness Sea.

If the laws up north weren’t so chaotic, I would have found you a long time ago!”

”Hill?” Haiweirsen turned to look at his descendant, ”Aren’t you going to introduce your daughter to me?”

Hill couldn’t help but laugh and made a brief introduction.

Agleya already knew her dad had an Earth Bear ancestor. Haiweirsen had seen the Sea God become a Deity during the world’s live broadcast.

So, they quickly began communicating happily.

”Are the world laws really starting to restore?” Haiweirsen immediately asked about what he was most concerned about.

”Yes,” Agleya confirmed cheerfully, ”Thankfully, in my effort to find Hill Dad, I was organizing the law lines here. When I realized I could see them clearly, I took control directly.

Lucky, or else there was a strong Demigod here! If she became a Deity, she could have competed with me for the laws!”

”The one in the northernmost trench?” Hill asked directly.

”Exactly!” Agleya answered seriously.

Haiweirsen suddenly burst into loud laughter.

”Hill Dad?” Agleya asked curiously, looking at the laughing Earth Bear, ”Is there an issue?”

”Yunifrola is a Water-Wood dual elemental Crystal Flower; she might not choose to become a Water Deity,” Hill chuckled, ”Moreover, her Water-Wood is my Water-Wood. Perhaps my Moon Elf heritage is almost nonexistent?”

Agleya was stunned. ”Crystal Flower? Hill Dad’s other bloodline is that of a Crystal Flower? Aren’t they supposed to turn to water upon leaving it?”

She floated around Hill, stabilizing her emotions. ”No wonder Hill Dad is the only one who can plant Crystal Flowers.”

Aurelio suddenly shouted as a cedar tree fragment within his Mental Sea flew out, landing in the middle of the valley and growing rapidly.

Soon, it exceeded the height of the Earth Bears standing on the mountain peak, stretching towards the sky, piercing the clouds, almost touching the World Membrane.

”Our World Tree has awakened!” Haiweirsen’s face showed a blissful smile.

The awakening of the Goddess of the Earth was close at hand.