As the bolt struck down I lost all senses. For a few painful seconds I found myself numb. And then the senses returned. Not pain, not surprise, but an overwhelming dizziness. Within seconds, I was asleep.

----------------------------------------

(Moriss-The tree that Altura was talking to, the three question one)

Moriss could not control his laughter. The old man's precious staff. Great elder Betaca, that emotionless woman, would be thrilled. Perhaps she would finally smile a bit? Little would please her more than her father's staff being used by a female ruler. The scandal! The staff of patriarchy, the greatest symbol of what the Narfinlans had named 'sexism' was now held by the first genius to claim one of the nine weapons.

This just made dealing with all of these kids worth it! If just the first of the nine had yielded this, he could just imagine what would happen in the rest. But he had other matters to deal with if he wanted to see the staff plunge the world into chaos.

Moriss waved his hand causing an old man to appear. The one that called himself grandpa Beluviar. But in truth he was anything but human. Another wave of hand had the man transforming into a single flower.

"It has come to my attention that you, Plant Queen Ariasna have attempted to sneak into this realm through the use of a space token. Tell me, what shall I do with you? " Moriss threatened the flower.

"Nothing, I know you have no power here you freak! This is your spirit realm, your weakest point! Even I can kill you here. " The little plant roared. How idiotic. Someone had not done their research.

A presence suddenly filled the room, drowning it with such levels of pressure that space itself began collapsing.

"I think you are mistaken. What you speak of would hold true if I were a mere Grand Tree. But I am not. I am Moriss, Elder of Spirit, and I assure you, my soul realm is not my weakest point. Quite to the contrary in fact. " Moriss stated in a matter of fact manner as his aura destroyed the flower. No mere Tree could ever withstand his presence.

But he did wonder how the little brat had still managed to get something more from him. The death of this Queen would put her little forest in chaos and buy her the time she needed to grow in power. What was she up to anyway.

Moriss shifted his eyes looking into the distance to where the exit portal had deposited Altura. A secret realm? One that was breaking down… must be the old man's doing. And what was this. Was that… the Royal Lightning? The very same element that the old man had wanted? Had conspired for his entire life? And the girl had gotten it from the staff by just touching it? Perhaps it would be prudent to find out more about this Land of the Six Jewels. A land that gave birth to this monster in the making was sure to be interesting.

----------------------------------------

Kerrin

Kerrin was happy. After spending weeks planning, debating and farming, they had finally decided on the solution to the farming problem. There was only one thing they could do, cultivate.

With an increase in beasts within the forest, a suspicious lack of manpower, and a growing need in the city had convinced him. It had become apparent that the plants needed to grow more. And to do that, new fields had to be opened and kept clear of the snow. This took a large amount of men, and the villages were already lacking them.

But cultivation solved that problem. A cultivator had access to magic. Earth magic in particular was extremely helpful. A single cultivator with an Earth affinity could plow an entire field in a single day. A water or ice attuned would keep out the snow. Earth attuned could also check the growth of plants and address any needs they might have.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

And so Kerrin had helped half a dozen men from each village begin cultivating. But there had been a problem. What were the mages with Fire and Air elements supposed to do? The first thought that came to Kerrin’s mind was that they would protect the farms from beasts.

But there was a little problem there too. Killing beasts was not something they were used to. Not only that, it would allow the villages to form their own guard that could one day rebel against the Archduchess. So he sent them to the city. According to Aswelth the city had plenty of space to share. To be exact, ‘Unless for some reason, several thousand people decide to make the city their home the city has more than enough space.’

Well, there were only a few farmers. And so they left for the city in search of employment. According to what he knew, they all joined the guard soon after arriving. And then there was the guard. It had been growing, growing at a rate prodigious enough that it seemed unbelievable.

Kerrin wondered why other nobles did not just make an army like this. Just say that anyone who joins was given the opportunity to cultivate after they proved themselves and people would come running. Though he supposed it would be a very different scenario if the Clans were in charge.

People hated the Clans. Every second person the Clans taught cultivation to would rebel, and they wouldn’t be able to kill creatures so easily. From what he knew, Aswelth had been injuring weak beasts and killing the strong ones so that the guard could level. Most of them gained seeds like soldier or guard that leveled on following orders. Without an Aswelth to handle everything that came their way there would be far more deaths.

Then there were the farmers. Village Head Verrin hadn’t been lying when he said that the farmers were very creative. In days, they’d set up a system to divide the available cultivators. The crop this harvest was expected to be thrice that of last year.

The only real worry was that the Archduchess had not returned. It had been three weeks since she left and some people were getting antsy back in the city. At this point though, all Kerrin could do was hope that everything would be alright.

----------------------------------------

Grand Elder Betaca (the one referred to in Morris POV)

Betaca awoke to a shifting within her mind. At first, she thought that someone was attacking her, her mental defenses went up in seconds and fire covered her body. But it was all useless. There was no attacker, it was only an alarm. An alarm set to go off when someone inherited her father’s staff.

Moriss could block her from directly accessing his spirit realm, but she still had some tricks. There was a reason she was a Grand Elder after all. Accessing the memory she observed a girl choose her father’s staff.

Strange features. Low cultivation. Unrefined body. Something of a genius maybe, but it was unlikely that she would get anywhere with her background. Even if she somehow managed to unlock a third element from the staff, royal lightning, at the end of the day, the lightning was just that, an element.

Hard to duplicate perhaps, but it would not allow her to bridge the gap between her and the other geniuses. But enough about the girl, what was more interesting was the flower. Betaca could feel it try to invade the realm, and fail as Moriss detected it and destroyed it.

Foolish. Even she would be hard-pressed to defeat Moriss in his own spirit realm. The tree was an expert at manipulating it. But that was not the intent, was it? Betaca concentrated on the flower for a second, letting her senses focus on one part of it near the base of its petals.

Ah, there it was. A mark of Itacia. The stupid woman had decided to go around snooping again. Did she truly think that she was the only one that could play the game? Well, she was not. Betaca was not about to let her get away with whatever she was up to.

First to find out what it was that had her sending one of her subjects to die. A thought and she was able to trace the flower. The Land of the Six Jewels. The flower had been in a valley of sorts for a few months. Before that in the forest near it, then to the Mountains of Isfelt on the other side.

Wait. The mountains of isfelt. Betaca’s face darkened as she realized one very important thing. This flower, a minion of Itacia’s had been in the Mountains of isfelt at the very same time as her son. The same son that had disappeared there. Betaca had the sudden urge to go to one of Elder Nerriss’ casino’s and bet her entire wealth on one single fact.

That stupid woman had kidnapped her son!