Chapter Forty-Nine

Solanine eyed the tree, pausing near where the core rested within the tree.

Arden followed her gaze. When he focused on the territory core worry flashed. The line between the tree and the core barely existed. Soon, they would be the same. Was it a good idea to turn the tree into an extension of the territory core? What if someone killed the tree? Would that destroy the core? It would be better to hide the core within the tree but leave the tree separate.

He delved deeper, trying to pick out any changes, but all he could tell was the core and tree fed mana to one another. It was a symbiotic relationship boosting both of their growth. At least it seemed that way.

Upon taking in the melody, it only further proved the fact they were becoming one. They still had different tunes, but not by much. It was only a matter of time until they had the same tune and, as such, were the same.

As a last test, he checked his equilibrium sense, wincing when he felt a strong pushback at the thought of separating the core and tree. They passed the point of separation. All they could do was wait and hope it didn’t cause them problems in the future.

So many things he didn’t understand kept happening. It was so hard to keep up. He almost felt like he was along for the ride. Well, not really, as most of what happened was because of his or Solanine’s actions.

It was a dangerous mindset to just let things happen. They needed to keep control of the situation. Even if he lacked understanding, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t in the future.

Hopefully, the surprises slowed down to let him catch up. Unfortunately, he had a feeling more surprises were on the horizon.

To take his mind off the frustrating situation, his mind shifted back to his idea of making a tree house.

Could he make a hut like in the dungeon? Maybe he didn’t need to. He activated his Nature Manipulation and focused on the tree, finding it easy to connect to it. The problem was the nearest branch was too far away to manipulate, and he didn’t want to risk the tree but damaging the trunk.

On that thought, he shifted to his bird form and spread his wings. Unlike in his previous mana starved state, it was effortless to take off far easier than ever before.

He flew above the spot where the trunk branched off, then shifted back to allow him to land in the nook.

Ideas of making a home stalled soon after. While the tree was big, it was far too small to make a home big enough to be comfortable. Even a small hut wouldn’t fit without some major modifications, and he liked the nature look of the tree.

Even if it was safer up in the tree, the soft ground around the tree sounded much more comfortable. Maybe if the tree grew to the diameter of the stump, then he could make a nice home. For now, they would have to settle for something else, at least until the tree grew larger. What that something would be, he wasn’t sure yet.

The perfect home would be within the trunk, but even that wasn’t big enough to accommodate anything comfortable. At that idea, his equilibrium sense remained silent, so it probably wouldn’t harm the tree.

Arden shifted to his bird aspect and took off, then circled the tree. Already, the tree looked bigger than the initial growth. Maybe two and a half meters wide. If it kept its current rate of growth, it wouldn’t be long until it was big enough to make a trunk home.

The more he thought about a trunk home hidden in plain sight, the more he liked it. A hut in the tree would be obvious, but if they hid inside the tree, they would be safer.

To make it better, the tree may even mask their presence. Could be a perfect last stand ambush tactic. He really hoped it didn’t come to that, though. They needed more time before someone found their territory.

At the thought of their territory, he itched to explore. As much as he wanted to practice longer, they needed to know more about their territory. Maybe their fears of discovery already happened. A shiver ran through him, imagining groups of people surrounding their clearing just out of their range of perception.

The logical part of him pushed that fear down. Even if someone noticed, he doubted a large group would mobilize so quickly.

Still, he needed to do some scouting. Hiding in the clearing wasn’t going to do them any good.

While circling around the tree, he glanced down at Solanine, who surveyed the edge of the clearing with a calculating gleam in her eyes.

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He opened a line of communication, only to notice a line already formed. Probably the bridge. “Do you want to check out our territory from the sky?”

A visible shiver ran through the girl as she shook her head.

Now that he thought about it, she seemed to avoid her snake form since escaping the dungeon. To be fair, it hadn’t been long, but in the dungeon, she shifted back to her snake form as soon as she could.

Whatever the reason, it was her business. They were corulers of the territory, but it wasn’t like they knew each other.

That would have to change soon if they wanted to succeed. They needed to build trust, but he wasn’t sure how.

Arden soared upward. Without a scaly cargo, it was effortless to ascend over the trees. He had to dodge the dense canopy of the central tree, but compared to the dungeon, it was easy.

When he broke through, he flew up and looked down, marveling at how massive the tree looked from a bird’s eye view. It definitely stood out. Worse, it would only stand out more with time as it grew larger. In a healthy forest, it would just be another tree, but in a stone tree forest, it was an outlier.

He turned his attention away from the tree and onto the area beyond. Even from his high vantage point, the stone treetops went on forever. It was like pictures of the ocean. The water seemed endless.

Was everything he saw a part of their territory? How did his mother drop him in the middle of this massive forest? He knew how fast she could travel, and this was far beyond her. Things didn’t add up.

More reason to find them and force some answers. The problem was, where was he? It didn’t help his mother blinded him on their way to the forest.

The only option was to fly in one direction until he saw something different from stone treetops. Fortunately, he had a way back with the territory card. If he didn’t have a teleport back, it would be too risky to leave the area near the core.

Despite knowing the answer, he asked anyway. They needed to learn to communicate regularly. “I’m going to explore our territory. Do you want to come along?”

A shot of fear snuck through their bond before she could snuff it out. When she responded a moment later, it was with her usual emotionless tone. “No, I will work on our defenses.”

Deciding to give her a little trust, he sent his assent, then took off in a random direction. She seemed to know more about the inner workings of a territory, anyway.

Minutes passed as he flew, the endless stone trees blurring together. Despite flying far faster than he could run, nothing changed. For as far as his eyes could see, there were stone treetops, and his bird eyesight was quite strong.

As he flew, he spread all his senses, but the further he flew, the less he got back. The melody was silent same with his equilibrium sense as if the stone trees below meant nothing to the balance of nature.

Even his ears failed to pick up anything. That was when he realized there was no wind. Everything was dead. There wasn’t even earth mana like back in the village. They had a massive territory, but there was nothing to rule over.

The longer he flew, the surer he became, no one noticed them claiming the territory. Even if someone stood at the border of their territory, which he was nowhere near reaching, there was no way they could sense the center. The territory was simply too massive.

He couldn’t even imagine what the forest looked like before it turned to stone. It was a world on its own.

After what felt like an eternity, he saw a slight change in the distance.

At the edge of the horizon, there was something poking up through the treetops. If he could see it from so far away, it had to be massive. To compare sizes, he circled back to look behind him, just barely spotting a hint of green on the horizon.

A hint of worry ran through him. If what he saw had people living in it, they may see the tree. He flapped his wings, shooting toward the shape as fast as he could, trusting his bird form would pass as a regular bird.

Though a single bird flying through a dead forest may stick out. If he saw any hostility, he would teleport back. This was a scouting mission, not an assault.

Despite seeing the shape, it took him what felt like hours to feel like he made any progress.

When he reached it, any thoughts of inhabitants vanished. It turned out to be a tower, but one look at it told him it was years since the last time someone set foot inside.

Still, despite its worn exterior missing chunks of stone, he circled it several times while sending his senses downward.

At first it seemed as dead as everything else, but when he peered deeper, he caught a hint of mana. However, the melody remained silent, so there didn’t seem to be anyone home. Every living being gave off a melody, after all.

His cautious side told him to scout more, but curiosity pushed him to want to check it out.

Deciding to take a middle ground, he focused on his bond with Solanine. “I found a tower. It seems abandoned. What do you think?”

There was a brief delay either because of their distance or she took her time responding. When she did, she sounded almost out of breath, though as always, she masked it well with an emotionless tone. “Scout it out. We need to know every point of interest within our territory.”

Not needing any more incentive, he flew down, transforming just before he landed on the top of the tower. Staff at the ready, he scanned for a way in, finding a rusty hatch moments later.

He set the staff down to grab the handle with both hands, allowing the staff to vanish.

His arms bulged, but the rusty hatch remained welded shut. That was when an idea came to him. He dug into his pocket to grab a few nearly forgotten seeds.

When he made them, they were his greatest creation, but now, they were pretty much useless. He put his Convert Seed card in his active hand, joining his Resurrecting Growth card, then used what felt like ancient knowledge to convert the seeds to vine seeds. He placed them in a tiny gap around the hatch near the handle.

Next, he pushed mana into the seeds, willing them to grow. They rebelled as there wasn’t soil, but with extra mana he felt the seeds sprout.

Soon he felt pressure, which he expected, but he kept pushing. The groaning of metal reached his ears as he kept pushing and pushing.

Suddenly, both an audible and internal pop sounded. His bracelets went dim, sending a wave of weakness through him, but the hatch popped open, allowing him access.