Path of Dragons

Elijah knew the grove had grown, both in terms of literal size as well as density. His domain was about ten feet wider than when he’d left, which according to Nerthus, was due to his increasing levels as well as the steady spread of the ancestral tree’s roots. That was cause for celebration on its own, but what was even more interesting was that the heightened ethereal density had finally started to change the island. Never was that clearer than when he knelt beside a rabbit the size of a golden retriever.

He’d seen plenty of enlarged animals before, and he’d even encountered a few hares that were at least as big as the fluffy grey-furred creature in front of him. What made it unique, though, was that it was clearly much more intelligent than any normal rabbit. Elijah wasn’t certain how he knew that, but he could sense it with every fiber of his being. The beast hadn’t reached the level of intelligence of a guardian, but he could easily imagine that, in a few generations, its descendants might cross that threshold.

Tentatively, he reached out and laid his hand on the beast’s soft fur. It didn’t even flinch at his touch. Indeed, after only a second, it hopped closer and flopped onto his lap. Like that, Elijah remained, stroking the rabbit’s back until he felt Nerthus approaching from behind.

The tree spirit was a creature of the forest, and so, he didn’t alarm the rabbit. However, the beast took Nerthus’ arrival as a sign that it needed to get back to what was important – chiefly, its quest to consume as much vegetation as possible. The thing hopped off, disappearing into the brush a moment later.

“They’re getting stronger,” Elijah remarked. “I guess that’s the density of the ethera?”

“In part,” Nerthus answered, standing over Elijah’s still-seated form. “It is also the grove’s influence. It elevates all things attuned to nature, including resident beasts.”

“Will it become a guardian?” Elijah asked before elaborating his previous thoughts. “In a few generations, I mean.”

“Unlikely. It takes more than that for a beast to become a guardian. However, the animals on this island may develop unique characteristics,” Nerthus answered. “They will always fit into the ecosystem, though.”

That last seemed perfectly timed to answer the question most prevalent on his mind. Rabbits were sometimes seen as an invasive species – he remembered the story of Thomas Austin, who brought thirteen European rabbits to Australia; it only took fifty years for the species to spread across the entire continent. He’d often thought about the crabs moving inland, though their numbers seemed to regulate themselves as they increased in size.

There were countless other examples of populations growing out of control, so he sometimes worried about mutated creatures taking over. He voiced his concerns to Nerthus, who reiterated, “There is always a balance enforced by the Mother. It is stronger near the grove. Do not trouble yourself about such things.”

Elijah nodded. He trusted Nerthus’ assessment, but it was in his nature to worry about those sorts of issues. He’d keep an eye on it, one way or another. After another moment, he pushed himself to his feet and asked, “You want to show me what you’ve been up to since I left?”

He could sense most of it, but he knew just how much Nerthus enjoyed his work. And everyone liked talking about things that excited them, regardless of whether they were human or spryggent. Predictably, Nerthus brightened at the notion, and what followed was a lengthy tour of the grove that included a check-in with the coffee trees, which were thriving, the new fruits Nerthus had begun to cultivate, and a little update on the status of the ancestral tree.

“It has grown a few more seeds. I don’t suggest you remove them from the grove until you are sure where you wish to plant them,” Nerthus advised. “These will be far more powerful than the one you planted in Ironshore, and they will connect much more quickly. They will become even more potent once you evolve your class.”

“I’ve felt the density of the ambient ethera rising lately,” Elijah remarked, looking at the seeds. They were nearly thirty feet up, but he could see them clear as day. They looked a lot like walnuts, save that they were white in color and featured blue veins of ethera running through them.

“It will continue to rise over the next forty days,” Nerthus said. “It will settle there.”

“I’m guessing the timeframe of the Primal Realms isn’t a coincidence, then,” Elijah posited.

“Indeed not,” Nerthus responded. “The ambient ethera of the world will continue to increase, and as such, so will the levels in and around the grove. In addition, my efforts to promote more harmonized growth have born fruit, further separating our home from the rest of the world. By the time Earth settles into its grade, this grove will be at least three times as ethera-dense as the average levels on this planet. More, if you have reached the ascendent level.”

That made sense. As Elijah’s level rose, so too did the power of his grove progress. So long as he kept going, its growth potential would be nearly infinite. In most cases, the increases would be slow, but that was fine.

“I think it’s time we go over some things,” he said once Nerthus had guided him to an open area near the ancestral tree. “I got a lot of rewards in the Trial, and most of them seem like they might be of some benefit to the grove.”

“Let us not do it here,” Nerthus advised. “The balance within the grove is a delicate thing, and I do not want to upset the equilibrium by introducing powerful sources of foreign ethera.”

After that, they left the grove behind and headed to the other side of the island. For Elijah’s part, he shifted into the blight dragon form and leaped from one tree to the next as he raced through the forest. Once, that was his preferred method of traversing the island, but of late, he’d begun to lean on Shape of Sky for travel. However, he had to admit that there was a certain joy to be found in sticking to foot travel – especially within the familiar confines of his island.

It wasn’t just home. It went far deeper than that, and with that connection singing in his veins, he couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of belonging as he ran through the forest.

Meanwhile, Nerthus flitted from tree to tree, traveling through the roots and branches. In the past, Elijah could have never felt him, but now that he’d chosen Connection as his first Specialization, One with Nature was powerful enough to detect the tree spirit’s mode of travel. Idly, Elijah found himself wondering if Nerthus even thought about it, or if the spryggent just did it instinctively. Perhaps he would need to ask at some point.

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Eventually, he reached the small clearing that was his destination, and he slowed to a stop. As soon as he shifted back to his human form, Nerthus stepped out of a tree trunk and said, “You have evolved that shape, have you not? It feels powerful.”

Elijah answered, “Yeah. I’ll show you the others when we’re done here. I have a new form that I need to test out anyway.”

Indeed, the Shape of the Master was begging for his attention, but he’d so far resisted trying it. Some of that was because he had other things that required his focus, but he had to admit that part of it was because a little delay would make the final reveal all the sweeter. It was like denying himself a cookie until after he’d done his chores. Sure, it wouldn’t really make a difference one way or the other, but it did increase his enjoyment of the reward.

In any case, he’d brought Nerthus out into the middle of the island for a reason, so he wasted no more time before he reached into his Ghoul-Hide Satchel and pulled the first item free. It was the Trunk of the Frozen Oak, and with its size, it had barely fit into his satchel.

He plopped it down and launched into an explanation of how he’d gotten it as well as a description of how it had taken root in his temporary cultivation cave. Nerthus, of course, didn’t approve of the tree’s rough treatment – planting and uprooting it was apparently quite traumatic for trees – but given the circumstances, even he had to admit that Elijah had done the only reasonable thing. After all, if he’d left it in place, the tree would have been lost to the void.

“I’ve got a bunch of other plants, too. They feel like minor natural treasures,” Elijah said. “Do you think we can do something with this?”

“I do,” Nerthus said. Then, he detailed plans to create a small dell where the ice-attuned plants might flourish. “I cannot regulate the temperature, but if we plant these during the winter, they will have time to take root before the weather changes. Until then, I will keep them in storage.”

In the blink of an eye, all of the plants were gone. “What just happened? Where’d they go?” Elijah asked. He couldn’t sense anything.

“I can store plants. It is a recently acquired ability native to my people,” the spryggent stated. “We are grovetenders at the core of who we are, and we are well-equipped to meet those responsibilities.”

Elijah didn’t think he was going to get much more of an explanation than that. Maybe it was because Nerthus didn’t want to reveal too much, but he suspected that the tree spirit simply didn’t know how it all worked. Much of what he did was governed by instinct, which didn’t work well with explanations.

Regardless, the idea of a secluded area with the powerful ice-attuned natural treasure at its center was an appealing one. In the back of his mind, he imagined different parts of the island being devoted to various elemental attunements. He didn’t know how that would benefit him, but it was, for lack of a better word, cool to contemplate.

That led him to the next item on his list, which was the Shard of Nature’s Might. He already knew it was an extremely potent natural treasure, but seeing Nerthus’ reverent expression opened his eyes to how truly powerful it could be.

“I was thinking about using this as a core for a new staff,” Elijah admitted. “I don’t know how, but –”

“I have some ideas,” Nerthus said, his eyes never wavering from the jagged crystal. “I believe I can incorporate it into a cutting of the ancestral tree. It will likely be absorbed during the tree’s growth, but that will give it unique properties that make the final plant far more powerful than it normally would be.”

“And you think it would be okay to use that for a staff?”

“If it is a cutting, yes. I would not dare to use a seeded plant in such a way,” Nerthus stated.

That didn’t really make much sense to Elijah, but he didn’t argue with his tree spirit friend. He had no compunctions about taking what he needed from the grove, so long as he didn’t ruin it in the process. Instead, he likened it to hunting animals – it was just a necessary part of existence.

He handed the Shard of Nature’s Might over to Nerthus, then moved on to the Seed of the Ash Lotus, which drew a similar reaction from the spryggent. “What did you do in that Trial to earn such treasures? The Ash Lotus is a well-known fire-attuned natural treasure. It requires an ample water supply to grow to its potential, but –”

“What about an artificial pool? I was thinking about building a hot tub, but I had no idea how to heat the water,” Elijah said. “Would this Ash Lotus do that?”

“Of course. Most people would be incapable of withstanding such heat, but you would have no issues,” Nerthus answered.

That was the best news Elijah had gotten so far. The notion of having his own hot tub was something he’d latched onto long ago, and his mind whirled as he pondered ways of making it more than just a place to relax. Perhaps Carmen even had some leftover dragonstone he could use in its construction. Maybe she would even help with it.

“You seem quite enthusiastic about this,” Nerthus said.

“Everyone wants a hot tub, man,” Elijah said, grinning as his plans came together in his mind. “But for now, take the seed, and we’ll move on. I’ll let you know when I’ve figured out how to make it work.”

“And I will find a suitable location within the grove,” promised Nerthus. “Yes. Such a pool could provide many benefits to the balance.”

“Glad you’re onboard,” Elijah said. Then, he retrieved the Will of Iron that he’d received from completing the Trial in one of the top spots. As it turned out, it was a pill, and Nerthus had no idea as to its purpose. The same was true of the Minor Potion of Body and the Minor Potion of Mind. They were both contained within finger-sized vials, with the first being a red liquid and the second taking on a blue hue. Judging by the amount of ethera they contained, Elijah expected that, whatever their effect, it would be powerful.

Finally, Elijah asked, “I still haven’t chosen my final reward. I have a choice between equipment, a resource, or a natural treasure. I was leaning toward a resource, but seeing how excited you’ve gotten about these natural treasures has be rethinking it. What do you think?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Nerthus answered, “A natural treasure.”

“What’s your reasoning?”

“There are two factors,” Nerthus said, holding up a four-fingered hand of gnarled roots. He extended one finger, saying, “First, nurturing any natural treasure near this grove will make it a good deal more powerful. Even if all you do is leave it here for a few months, it will be far more potent than when you acquired it.” He extended another finger. “Second, natural treasures have the potential for multiple uses. For that reason, I advise you to choose the natural treasure option.”

Nerthus was right. A resource could be as potentially valuable as a natural treasure, and it could benefit from the grove as well. However, it would only provide a one-time benefit. The only issue was that it would take a little while for a natural treasure to bear fruit.

Still, Elijah wasn’t averse to taking the long-term approach, so he took Nerthus’ advice and chose the option he’d suggested.

Immediately, a small chest appeared before him. Constructed of silver, the box bore intricate engravings and pulsed with powerful ethera. He knelt beside it and flipped the lid open, revealing a small jar of what looked like water.

You have chosen the Natural Treasure as your reward for completing the task (Excised Fate) and delivering the system’s punishment upon Yloa K’hnam. Reward: Leviathan’s Bones

Elijah took the jar and, for a moment, stared at it in confusion. By the amount of ethera contained within, it was clear that it was more than just water. However, it was difficult to marry the name of the reward to what he saw. Or didn’t see.

At least until he looked a little closer via One with Nature.

The water was absolutely teeming with life, and it only took him a further moment to recognize them as spores. And what’s more, he could tell what they would one day become.

“They’re maerl spores,” he breathed.

Indeed, they seemed almost identical to a specific type of red algae that formed beds of hard, calcified, and branching structures. Elijah had studied it during a brief stint off the coast of Scotland, and he’d always found it fascinating.

And given its nature, it wasn’t long before he knew precisely where to put it.

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