Chapter Sixty-One

The Patriarch smirked at them, hands clasped behind his back, waiting for their next move.

Instead of digging himself into a hole, he communicated with the silent snake through the bond. “What do you think? He knows everything besides our prime magic. What other bargaining chips do we have? He doesn’t fear your poison, either.”

Solanine flashed a smirk, mirroring the patriarch. “Ask about the Deficient.”

Annoyed being the spokesperson, Arden shot back. “Why don’t you?” A shiver was his only response, causing him to sigh.

Not bothering to push the issue, he returned his attention to the Patriarch. Based on the name, they must be having problems with the disease that hit them a few centuries back, or at least something similar.

Arden’s eyes widened as he thought about it. They were perfect to help fix it. With the melody, it shouldn’t be hard to pinpoint the issue.

Now a little more confident, he spoke once more, keeping a businesslike tone as to not give anything away. Though his previously wide eyes probably already did. “I hear you have issues with the Deficient. If we form an alliance, we may have a solution to your problem.”

Contrary to his expectations, the man didn’t visibly react, but the haze that blocked his melody wavered just long enough to get a read on it. It was light which gave Arden hope, but with how it fluctuated, he wasn’t so sure.

Not that he trusted the melody with this man. The man knew how to mess with it and he couldn’t ask how without giving too much away.

Maybe it was an instinctive thing. It made sense. If he could consciously manipulate the melody, that meant he knew about life mana. Unless he kept that knowledge to himself for later, the patriarch didn’t notice the life ambient mana filling the clearing.

Well, it wasn’t much of a clearing any longer, with the capital tree covering the entire area and beyond. He needed a better name for it, but that wasn’t the most pressing issue. They needed to get an alliance set.

Fortunately, if they came to an agreement, it wouldn’t be hard to seal the deal being territory owners. He may not know much about the hidden features of a territory, but even he knew territory owners could enter alliances. The best part was Ortus enforced the terms using their territory cards. No need for a separate contract that may have hidden loopholes.

Before he spoke further with the Patriarch, who stared up at him with intrigue and a little more hope, Arden turned toward the bond with Solanine. The same hope he remembered seeing earlier. Maybe his goal all along was to find a solution to this Deficient problem. If it was, it would be perfect to push the alliance into favorable terms.

“How certain are you about us fixing this Deficient problem? I don’t want to enter an alliance on terms we can’t fulfill.”

Solanine tilted her head toward the capital tree while giving him a raised eyebrow. “We resurrected a long dead charred stump and a stone forest. Some diseased flora shouldn’t stop us. Worst case, we need to train for a little while to gain more power.”

Her chest puffed with pride as she added, “My parents informed me of key points to ensure a strong alliance with several of the nature attuned clans and families. The primary point with the Ashwood clan is helping with the Deficient.”

A flash of jealousy shot through Arden as he realized just how little his parents prepared him for his situation. If he was an earth mage, he would be golden, but they taught him next to nothing about nature magic. Though it might have been on purpose.

Solanine and his situation were similar in many ways. However, the key difference was her parents gave her pretty much everything, including valuable resources and knowledge. While his parents only taught him fighting and survival skills and gave him some starting cards.

Yet again, he shoved those thoughts out of the way for later. Instead, he turned his attention to the patriarch, who was trying his best to keep a blank expression, but his eyes gave away what he wanted. “I think we can both agree we need to get an alliance done. We need support as a new territory, and you need help with the Deficient. I think we can work something out.”

The patriarch gave him a nod to continue. “We are confident we can solve the Deficient but we might need more power so it might not be right away. In exchange, we want all the information you have about the Great Stone Forest, including other claimed dungeons. As I’m sure you understand, we can’t have vulnerabilities like that.”

“I can agree to the information exchange on the condition you allow access to the Ash Forest dungeon and limited access to the trial dungeon.”

Instead of agreeing, Arden added, “While not essential, as we have other options, we would like help to enroll into Magna Schola Magica. Preferably without the strings attached. Of course, a nonaggression and assistance pact as well.”

Silence fell for several seconds as the patriarch mulled over the conditions. “I can agree as long as you allow access to this cultivation paradise to a limited amount of my potentials.”

Arden glanced at the rainbow wall surrounding the clearing before speaking. “The problem is, it isn’t easy to reach this far in and we would like to keep it that way. We don’t want to create a security vulnerability.”

The Patriarch waved the concern off. “Once we form an alliance, I can set up a secured connection between our territory cores with your agreement, of course. That way, we have free travel with mutual vulnerability, not that mutual vulnerability will be an issue if we agree to a binding, non-aggression pact.”

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As to not show his ignorance, he spoke to Solanine. “Is the secured connection similar to our territory teleport?”

“Yes, it is the primary method territory allies support one another. Either side can disconnect it, and, with a binding non-aggression pact, they give up the right to attempt a takeover, so there is little risk involved. Just the point he offered means he is serious about making the alliance work. He already knows where our territory core is anyway, so turning down the connection is pointless. I’m leery about letting other people into our paradise, but we must make sacrifices to build an alliance network. We might need to create a public area to maintain our privacy.”

Arden nodded his head in agreement. The clearing was plenty big enough to wall off a section. A simple rainbow wall should suffice. If they wanted to survive, they needed to create a network of allies, and that meant giving access to their capital. As long as all allies agreed to a binding non-aggression pact, they should be ok.

Plus, if they allowed access to the dense nature mana, there would be less reason for hostile takeover. At least he hoped so. If they allied themselves with every nature attuned faction, they had little to worry about. The factions would help defend the resource against any other force just to keep it alive.

The longer he thought about it, the better it felt. If they made safe alliances, they may not need as much individual strength to defend their territory. It was risky, though. He doubted every nature attuned faction would willingly give up the right to take over the budding paradise.

They would still need to make a name for themselves, but there may be a more permanent route forward in the future.

He doubted it would be easy or even possible, but it had potential. Much better than scrambling to amass strength to catch up to multi century old monsters. He was getting ahead of himself, though. First, he needed to seal in his first alliance and see how it worked out before thinking about adding more.

Before he continued, he turned back to Solanine. “Anything else you want to add?”

“Yes, but we don’t want to bind ourselves with a faction too tightly. If we aren’t careful, we may turn into a sub-territory. With our territory’s potential, I know we won’t need much. We just need a starting point, and this alliance is that.”

Solanine has been talkative through the bond lately. Maybe she was warming up to him. Or, much more likely, she saw the necessity. If only she helped with vocal negotiation. She was must better suited for negotiation. Solanine knew a lot more about how territories worked, after all. Though in the future the knowledge gap should narrow.

Exhausted from the ordeal, he returned his attention to the patriarch, who seemed content to let the negotiation drag on. One would think he had better things to do than sit in a rainbow prison cell poisoned while waiting for two green territory owners to make up their minds.

“So, to summarize. We offer our assistance with the Deficient and access to the Ash Forest dungeon, our own trial dungeon, and a section of this clearing for cultivation. In return, you offer a non-aggression and assistance pact. Expedited enrollment into Magna Schola Magica and all knowledge you have on the Great Stone Forest Territory. Including any other claimed dungeons. I’d also like to add access to further information we may ask for about other factions.”

Upon catching a flash in the man’s eyes, Arden added. “The access to our capital and trial dungeon requires direct approval from one of us. We want to maintain our privacy and work on our territory, which could stall if we have to supervise too many visitors.”

Almost too quick for Arden’s liking, the patriarch responded. “Of course. You may limit access via the connection as long as we receive a fair amount of access.”

He wasn’t sure what a fair amount would be, but he was sure they could work something out in the future. As he went through the conditions in his head, he felt it was weak in what they received compared to what they gave.

The problem was, he wasn’t sure what else he could get out of them. Really, the two important points were the non-aggression pact and the information. The expedited enrollment wasn’t as important because they could find other ways in.

Maybe it wasn’t so unbalanced, though. The only part that required anything of them was assistance with the Deficient. The rest was just access to resources they already had. In fact, giving them access to the Ash Forest was favorable to them as it was far from their territory core, so it was hard to defend.

Plus, with the territory core connection, they gained access to their territory as well. Maybe he should add a condition about that, though. If he could block entry with the connection, so could they.

“I’d like to add access to your territory equal to any access we give your clan. That way, we keep things even. If we block access for a period, so can you. This access would include any dungeons you control. The trial dungeon alone is very valuable. Especially since it has a trial specifically for the Ashwood bloodline, so it’s only fair we gain access to dungeons as well.”

Arden knew he had him hooked the moment he perked up at the mention of the Ashwood bloodline trial. “I can agree to these terms. Anything else before we seal the alliance? I would like to rid myself of this poison and return to my clan to set up arrangements.”

Yet again he turned his attention to Solanine, but without saying a word, she nodded her head. Not needed any other encouragement, he fed mana into his territory card with the intent to form an alliance.

The patriarch’s gaze turned distant for a moment, then a grayish green line of mana shot from the man’s Ortus bracelets toward Arden and Solanine’s. Their bracelets flashed, then opened on their own to display the agreed upon conditions for the alliance.

Alliance between the Great Stone Forest and Ashwood territories formed.

Condition 1: Both territories agree to a non-aggression and assistance pact. This pact includes assistance for the Deficient.

Condition 2: The Great Stone Forest must provide access to dungeons named The Trials of the Nature’s Firsts and The Ash Forest. As well as limited access to a designated cultivation area near their territory core. In exchange, the Ashwood territory must allow access to all controlled dungeons. The access must equal or exceed the access allowed by The Great Stone Forest Territory.

Condition 3: The Ashwood territory must provide all knowledge they have of The Great Stone Forest territory. As well as any further information on factions, as long as the information doesn’t compromise the Ashwood territory.

Condition 4: The Ashwood territory must expedite enrollment to Magna Schola Magica for Arden and Solanine of The Great Stone Forest territory.

Arden read through it several times to ensure everything was correct before giving his acceptance. The moment he did, he felt a burning in his mind as the conditions solidified. He knew if he broke any of them, his territory would face serious penalties decided by Ortus at the time of infraction.

The moment the alliance formed, he also received a territory connection request, which he accepted. There was a momentary delay, probably waiting on Solanine before he felt another connection form on the territory core. A prod of the connection told him it led somewhere to the west.

As soon as the connection formed, the Ashwood Patriarch vanished. Where he once stood a wilted black flower laid.

Both Solanine and Arden locked eyes in shock, then those same eyes rolled back as a flood of information jammed its way into their minds.