Having the munchkin by my side made things far easier than it should have by any measure known to me. There was something about her presence, something beyond the skills and affinities she had been blessed with that made working magic flow smoother, as if an unknown obstacle was removed. The change wasn’t truly major but it was noticeable, her presence adding just that little extra to make me feel content. I wasn’t about to question the effect her presence had on me, but I certainly took note.

In addition, there was the very direct effect her skills had on me, especially now that we were working in close contact with another magical entity, even if that entity was a large tree. The tree had enough power to have gained a level, something I was made aware of by Luna. Otherwise, I’d never have thought to Observe a mostly ordinary tree, certainly not unless it started to move. But when I did on her suggestion, I became aware that the tree was actually level eight, which I considered fairly impressive for, well, a completely immobile tree. It wasn’t as if it could go out and hunt some rabbits or something like that, it hadn’t even shown the mobility to hit something that came into its range. The only plausible way I could currently imagine for it to gain those levels was a mechanic similar to the one giving me EXP when I taught people about magic, though given that I had no idea how that actually worked, it didn’t help much.

However, Luna, and possibly her affinity for Life-Magic, made working in close proximity to the tree even easier as if the tree was actively trying to support our work. In turn, I noticed that the air was filled with a distinct and fairly pleasant scent, making me think of spring and renewal, the scent of Life-Magic. Studying the air around me, I realised that Luna was, maybe subconsciously, letting her Astral Power fill the air and some of it was absorbed by the tree. If I had to guess, I’d think that the flow of Life-Magic was beneficial for the tree and in response to that gift, it was releasing some of its own powers over the Earth to help us.

The whole exchange made me wonder how far Luna might be able to push that connection. So far, she had only worked successfully with plants and their seeds, animals had demonstrated the need for a delicacy she had yet to achieve. That inability also proved that attributes were only a part of the equation, or that maybe her attributes were suppressed, for lack of a better word, by her immature physical body and mind. It would certainly go a long way to explain some of her troubles, she simply wasn’t mature enough to handle the powers pushed upon her by the system and me.

But what was done in the past couldn’t be changed and even if I could change it, I still wasn’t sure if I should. I doubted there was a good answer out there, only varying shades of bad and I doubted anyone but a Deity of the appropriate domain could give an educated answer of which was the least bad option. We’d have to live with what had happened and try to make things go as smoothly as possible, to give the munchkin a decent childhood.

And in this case, that meant giving her a nice shrine to Hecate, maybe her own room for a bit of privacy, even if our new home was anything but normal. Unless one was a hobbit, in that case, our holey home would likely be seen as normal, at least once we had done some work to make it nice.

Opening up more space by compressing the ground was exhausting work, even with Luna and the tree above helping me, it took time. Not endless amounts but to open up more than a simple cavern took hours, especially due to the ever-increasing need to keep things stable, to make sure that the stress from above didn’t make everything collapse. With that in mind, I didn’t try to push things just yet and kept things to a pair of chambers, one for Lia and one for Luna while I’d simply take up what would eventually become a hallway. There was still a lot of work to be done, but for now, it was enough.

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Creating the shrine to Hecate was a similarly fascinating work, only this time, I was the one taking the backseat, while Luna was doing most of the work. Watching her move slowly and deliberately, as if guided by some unheard melody and unseen instructions was fascinating, especially when I noticed the glow from her eyes, strong enough to be visible through her closed eyelids. Unless I was completely off-base, she was strongly communing with Lady Hecate, getting the instructions on how to make the shrine just right directly from the source. It was the only plausible explanation I could come up with as I watched her start to sing in an unknown language, causing the air to be filled with Divine Power and making the tree react far too fluidly for any plant.

A single root grew from one of the walls, before thickening and hardening into a woody structure. Under Luna’s ministrations, the treetrunk-like root changed, turning into an idol of Hecate, one that greatly resembled the one I had made from Ice, back before Luna gained her class. There were some distinct differences, for one the face of the Mother looked suspiciously like me, the face of the Maiden like Luna and, to my surprise, the face of the Crone was that of the Grandmother. Given that it was impossible for Luna to know that face, I could put down another mark for divine inspiration, though I wasn’t sure what to make of the whole thing.

But what definitely caught my interest was the way the power filling the space just moments before was suddenly sucked into the idol, only to billow out seconds later, not loose like it had been, but clearly structured. Letting my senses spread, I realised that the power had turned into a ward of some sort, radiating out from the idol and encompassing the entire hill and a few metres beyond that. What the ward did, I had no idea but there was a definitive feeling of welcome, coupled with a serene peace. A sanctuary, a space where violence had no place, at least that was my best guess of what happened.

“That was something,” I grinned, my arms steadying the exhausted Luna. Noticing a change in the corner of my eyes, I realised that I had received a notification.

“Mhm, we now got the Lady watching over us,” Luna grinned as she replied, “We won’t stay forever, but for now, we’ve got a home,” she declared, before leaning back into my embrace and seemingly nodding off.

Shaking my head, I glanced at the notification, learning that we had established a sanctuary of Hecate, though the notification didn’t give any additional details. I’d have to guess what it meant, but it was something I’d have to explore later, as so many things.

For now, I had to take care of my exhausted munchkin, make up a bed and get her to rest. By the looks of it, she really needed it, maybe her dreams, or later mine, would give some insight into the whole situation.

Once Luna was put to bed and deeply asleep, I moved back out of the shelter we had created. Looking at the tree above it, I realised that it, too, had changed massively. Not so much physically, it was still the same size and species, a yew tree if I was correct, but the feeling I got from it was completely different. Using Observe again told me that the tree had gained multiple levels, bringing it to level fourteen, and in addition to the levels, there was something else, a distinct connection I recognised from my contact with Luna and Silva.

For a moment, the image of the tree, dressed in its Sunday’s finest, knocking on some doors to spread the message of Lady Hecate flickered through my mind, making me giggle just a little. I had no idea how that was supposed to work, but apparently, the Gods didn’t really need their followers, or their Blessed because that tree wasn’t moving anywhere, to be sapient, or sentient for that matter. Shaking my head, I decided that I shouldn’t even try to concern myself with who the Gods wanted to bless, if Hecate felt the tree made a good addition to her congregation, who was I to question that decision?

It certainly would give us shade and shelter, so maybe it wasn’t even a bad decision, just an odd one. At least to my sensibilities, but given that I had no idea how a deity thought or related to the world, maybe there was little difference between the tree and humanoids in their eyes.

Either way, we now had a new home and I’d soon be able to explore the forest around us. I could hardly wait, new things to explore were always welcome.