บท 28: Meditation takes time

, Yes, I am."

, Excellent, now that you managed to hear and see nature for what it really is, it is time for you to feel it."

, Feel it? How am I going to do that?"

, As the rest of us before you. You must meditate. By meditating in the forest, you should after some time manage to feel nature's energy. After you do that comes the final task. Harnessing nature's energy. But first, you must meditate. Go again into the forest and find a quiet place. There, you should start."

, Very well. I will start as soon as possible." I said and moved back into the depths of the forest. Around me, I could hear Veran's voice.

, You do not need to hurry. Have a rest and calm yourself before you begin. And know that feeling nature's energy is not that easy. You may need even more time for that. More than you used to observe nature."

Then his voice faded away. Only, the forest could be heard now. I decided to return to the place I managed to finish my first task. This time I sat in front of that big tree, crossed my legs and closed my eyes trying to feel nature's energy. I soon gave up, my legs cramped and after the last success, I felt like I should rest up a little. I should also log out for a bit and get something to eat.

Since day and night are reversed in game and reality, I almost slept over the whole Saturday. I was up just in time for lunch. As I was exiting my room Hope was right in front.

, Oh big bro, you are up. What happened in the game? Mom and dad wanted to wake you up, but I told them to let you sleep. Did something good happened?"

, Thank you, Hope. Because you did that I managed to get one step closer in becoming a druid."

I then told her what happened to me in the game and what am I supposed to do next.

, Hm, that sounds boring, I certainly won't become a druid."

, Well even if you want to, you won't have an opportunity. There are almost no druids in towns according to my teacher. Players will need to go into the forests to search for instructors."

, Realy? Well, that is one more reason not to be a druid. But, brother there is something I don't understand. You are still not level 10. How can you already get a class? In other games you need to reach level 10 to get a class, my friends all said that."

, Well, I have only one explanation. In Age of Gods, it appears that you don't need to reach a certain level to gain a class. If you find an instructor that will teach you even being level 1 or 0, is not an issue to gain a class. So what class are you interested in. We still don't know what classes are available, but you should have some idea right?"

, I want to have many pets!" she said loudly.

, A hunter then. Understandable you would choose that." For all her strengths, Hope has one weakness. And that weakness is animals. Cute animals, scary animals, animals of any kind. We had one pet dog as kids and I remember how sad Hope was when it died. Since then mom and dad haven't brought any animals home. Hope always wanted to have many pets and playing this game will make that wish a reality.

, Well then, big brother will help you to have as many pets as possible. But let me remind you, in this game, there is no inventory so I doubt there will be separate space for pets. They will probably be with you all the time in the game so you will need to look after them at all times."

, Even better." she said with a big smile. Ha, I should not worry about her. She always finds positive things in any kind of situation.

We then went downstairs into the dining room for lunch. Dad and mom didn't ask me too much about why I didn't wake up sooner. Since they were already in bed when I arrived home yesterday, they just asked me how was my date and when will I bring Maria home. I said that I will see. After lunch, I went back into the game to continue my meditation.

I reappeared at the same place in the sitting position in front of the big tree. My first try at meditation didn't pass very well so I decided to just chill out a little. I lied down and listened to the voices of the forest. I should try to hear forest more and then start with meditation. Grass, trees, leaves, flowers, animals, everything in the forest has its own voice. I listened for a while and then started to meditate.

I sat like before. I crossed my legs and leaned onto the tree. I closed my eyes and tried to feel the energy of the forest. I was sitting there for a couple of hours, as long as I can tell. For that time I only got sore but so far. Veran was right. It won't be easy to feel nature's energy. Even though nature is all around me. Since I haven't made any notable progress I decided to go for a little walk.

After a short walk, I returned back to my meditation spot. I ate a little to sate my hunger and returned to meditation. All day passed like that. I didn't have much success. I wonder how much time I will need to finally feel the energy of nature. I shouldn't rush, I guess. When the time is right I will be ready. When I returned back Veran asked me did I make any progress. When I told him that I haven't he said that I should be patient.

, How long did you take to feel nature's energy?" I asked him.

, I don't remember. Its been a long time." he said with a face full of reminiscence.

, How old are you exactly teacher?" I couldn't help but ask him. I think I saw him smile. Whether it was because of question or because I called him teacher, I don't know, either way, he did answer to my question.

, Hmm if I remember correctly this is my 163rd fall since I was born." having seen my blown away expression he continued, haha you think I am old? Some of my brothers lived twice as I so far. I don't even know how old my teacher is. We druids my live long, but that is as long as we stay in our own territories. That is maybe one of the reasons we do not exit our forests."

163 years old. And there are even older druids. I would sure like to meet some of them. With that said Veran asked me for a dinner. We eat some sour fruits and I shared some of the apples I had left. I remembered the jerky I had left and I asked Veran do druids eat meat. With all that nature staff I wasn't sure. He just smiled and said that druids live in balance with nature and use everything they need from it but nothing more, including meat.

Sunday came and after I finished my preparation for classes next week I went back into the game.

Two to three hours into meditation, just when I thought that I grasped something a notification appeared in front of me.

, Region announcement

A player ????????? reached level 10, opening the carriage system. Carriages will arrive on Mondays at every beginner village and will leave on Tuesdays. Only players that reached level 9 will be eligible to ride on them. New carriages will arrive on next Mondays. A trip to the town will be from 8 to 10 days depending on the distance from villages to towns.

A player ????????? has gained 100 fame and 10 silver coins from God Horz for being first to reach level 10, let's congratulate him."

Someone already reached level 10. That guy must be real leveling fanatic. Before I could continue my meditation a call came. It was Wolf. What does he want now? I agreed to the call and heard his voice.

, Haha, have you seen it? Haha, I am the best there is. Why are the two of you still level 9? With this, that bet is mine for sure."

I saw that Marco is also here. At first, we were wondering what is he talking about, but when we saw a number 10 beside his name on the chat option we were both shocked.

, That was you?" We asked at the same time. Who would have thought that Wolf would be the first in our region to reach level 10.

, Haha, are you jealous? Do you see my might?" he laughed and asked.

, There is no one mightier than you Wolf." I said.

, And we are not jealous." responded Marco, but I could hear that he was, a little.

, Don't mind that now." I said, is there anything different now that you are level 10.

He returned to his serious mode and answered.

, There is one thing. It seems that from level 11 onwards we will be getting 10 more usable stat points."

, Realy, that is a good thing right?" asked Marco.

, It should be. But even if that will make us stronger Boss monsters are still very hard for solo players to kill." I said.

, You didn't let me finish. Those 10 points can be only used for class specific attributes." with that Wolf finished his explanation.

. Well, it doesn't matter. It's on to the players to distribute their attributes in the end."

We talked for some time and then we continued what we were doing. I returned to meditation. This day also didn't bear any fruit and I returned to Veran with a downcast expression.

, Don't be down. All it takes is time." he said.

, Is my intelligence low for this?" I had some suspicions so I wanted to be sure.

, Haha your intelligence doesn't have anything with it. If I had to say something it has to do with your body. You must feel that energy with your body so you can harness it later. That is the only way to become a druid."

, Okay." I said and then logged out. I guess I was overthinking it. I should take my time.

At work, I talked to Maria and Anna about their plans for the future. Both of them managed to reach level 9 and Hope and Mia are also close.

, The two of them should reach level 9 by tomorrow so we will probably ride the carriage to the town." said Maria and Anna nodded her head in approval.

, Very nice." I said, tell me to which town you are going when you find out."

, What about you, professor?" asked Anna, how are you doing so far? Have you managed to gain a class yet?"

I told them that it is taking longer than I thought and recounted my days so far. They encouraged me and said that I should take it easy. And maybe I should. There is no point in hurrying this process. Just like I managed to hear nature, feeling it will come as well in due time.

Back at home, I continued with meditation. To somehow get used to it I also meditated in my room outside the game. As I let go of the pressure of finishing this task as fast as I can, during the next few days in the game I walked around the forest and meditated. My effort finally paid off three days later, on Thursday, when I finally managed to feel nature's energy.