It only took three hours before Alyssa communicated with him.

“I have found something,” her words sounded in his mind. “A large treant. It feels powerful.”

“Good, I’ll be there shortly.”

Mark stood and called Gavin, one of the advisors.

“What can I do for you, sir?” he asked while bowing.

“I am heading out for a while; keep an eye on our people, and notify me if anything important happens.”

“As you will, sire.”

Mark mentally prepared himself, summoned his chakram, and teleported to Alyssa. His ability to teleport to his Royal Guards and have them teleport to him was a very powerful ability that was likely meant for them to help fight anything threatening their king or for him to escape, but it was handy in other situations, like now. He merely needed to focus on one of the Royal Guards and activate Blink, and the Blink skill transformed from a short-range teleport into a very long-ranged one. They hadn’t had a chance to test the limit, but as he appeared next to Alyssa, he knew he could teleport several kilometers.

Alyssa was crouched behind a tree when he appeared and merely pointed around it. Mark didn’t see anything, but Alyssa explained.

“Around three hundred meters in that direction is a large glade,” she said. “The treant is standing in the center of it. It probably has some way of sensing anything approaching since it launched a few roots at me, which burst from the ground, though it didn’t follow when I left it.”

“Thank you, Alyssa. Let’s see if it can provide a challenge. Do not interfere unless I ask for assistance.”

“Yes, sir!”

Mark waited a few more minutes for his mana to recover fully, as teleporting this distance had cost a bit before he headed off. True to Alyssa’s word, the treant stood stoically in the center of a clearing, standing over five meters tall with gnarled bark and long limbs. It didn’t was immediately apparent that the treant had sensed his approach, as Mark could feel the roots' movements underground, and he Blinked several meters closer, avoiding the initial attack.

The Blink brought him close enough to send his chakram flying, and it cut through the air with a sharp whistle before Mark created a small tear before it, which caused it to move behind the treant.

The treant had seen the attack coming and launched several thick roots from the ground around it to form a shield, but Mark’s maneuver circumvented it, and the chakram dug into the treant's back, though not as deeply as Mark had hoped.

Before he could adapt, another surge of roots burst from the ground, forcing Mark to Blink once again, though this time the treant was expecting it, and it whipped its branches in a large area around it, and Mark had to form a rushed barrier of hardened spatial mana. The strike took a large amount of mana to counter, but he had plenty, a benefit of a purely Intelligence focused build.

Taking the opportunity, when the branches were still close enough, Mark formed several tears, which cut through them, littering the ground with broken wood.

The treant roared, sounding like bark rubbing against bark, and a massive number of roots burst from the ground all over the clearing and started thrashing.

The roots swung in a frenzy, slamming into the ground, the trees, and anything in the area, once again forcing Mark to shield himself, and he retrieved his chakram while protected.

Funneling mana into the chakram, Mark formed a large, spatial edge around it before sending it soaring out, circling him. The roots were far tougher than the branches, apparently being the treant’s primary weapons, so the chakram didn’t immediately cut through them, but they were still heavily damaged. It did take quite a lot of effort to keep the chakram flying, though, as the roots were pummeling it this way and that. Mark gritted his teeth and kept the chakram flying true, and by the time the treant retracted its roots, several had been cut through, though Mark felt the drain on his mana reserves.

He didn’t get any time to recover, though, as the treant had used the cover granted by the roots to uproot itself. When the roots disappeared into the ground, the treant was almost upon him, and a thick arm branch swung at Mark. His eyes widened, but he reacted quickly enough and Blinked back, leaving the treant with a surprise.

He’d left his still-charged chakram behind, and just as he reappeared from the Blink, he bore down his focus on keeping it immobile, and the treant slammed its hand down on it.

Another roar sounded from the chest of the tree-man as it severed its own hand on Mark’s chakram, though he didn’t come out of it unscathed. The immense cost in mana took Mark by surprise, and he stumbled to his knee. He coughed and tried to recover his composure, but a branch swung at him before he could adjust, and he was sent flying.

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Mark skidded across the ground before slamming into a tree, where he crumpled to the ground, coughing blood. He knew he had a couple of broken ribs, at least, and likely a punctured lung, but he didn’t yield to the pain. He grunted and returned to his feet as he noticed movement in the trees.

“Don’t interfere! Not yet,” he told Alyssa, who was rushing through the woods. She stopped, though Mark could sense her reluctance. “I’m not beaten yet!”

He felt his ribs move in his chest, the pain was immense, but he couldn’t keep the grin off his face. This was precisely what he’d been hoping for, waiting for; a challenge. An enemy that forced him to push himself, to reach for greater heights, and test his limits.

Mark looked at the treant as it lumbered toward him, knowing it was a ploy, as the roots were moving to surround him underground. Mark spat a glob of blood on the ground before he Blinked out of the trap and again when the branches came for his new location. The treant had found a way to sense or anticipate where he Blinked, and he had to Blink several times in succession before he got a second to breathe.

He summoned the chakram to his side and started infusing it with mana again, this time for another purpose. He had to keep Blinking and sometimes form a barrier to protect himself during the channeling, and he felt his reserves dropping rapidly, but he kept going, and soon enough, his chakram was fully charged.

Mark brought the ring to his front and aimed through it at the treant as it seemed to take a short second to breathe; apparently, it wasn’t cheap for the beast to use so many roots and branches.

He channeled his Star Concept into the chakram, and a small ball of light appeared in the center of the ring. The treant sensed it and started using its roots and branches to drag it away, but Mark used most of his remaining mana to increase the gravity on his enemy manifold. Its feet sank into the ground, and he could hear the groaning of the wood that made up the treant’s body as it was immobilized.

Mark couldn’t keep it up for long, but he held it long enough as the small star grew to fill the entire inner area of the chakram before a concentrated beam of light and heat shot toward the treant’s chest.

The beam of light struck the treant in the chest and quickly burned through, and Mark adjusted the aim and cut it in half, from shoulder to hip. The beam continued into the forest, creating a forest fire, but Mark didn’t concern himself with that yet. He fell to his knees, gasping for breath as the last of his mana left him, and the nausea and dizziness that came from overextending his mana made its presence known.

Alyssa rushed to his side and handed him two potions, one for health and one for mana, and Mark downed them both before stumbling back on his feet.

“Thank you, Alyssa,” he said as he returned the empty bottles. He grinned from ear to ear as he looked at his fallen enemy. “That was a good challenge. I don’t think I’ve run out of mana since just after the Tutorial ended. I hope we can find other challenging opponents. For now, I want you to focus on yourself for a while; I’ve had my fun.”

“Yes, sir!” she said, looking at him strangely. Mark didn’t push her on it, though. “What now?”

“Now? Now I summon a few more Guards, and we bring this back to the Mountain,” he said as he reached out to his Guards. “I bet someone can make something from all this wood. And I should probably do something about that fire. Neal’s a water mage, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is. I’m sure he can put out the fires in no time.”

“Good. Good, then let’s get to it,” Mark said as the first Guards appeared.

Getting the wooden corpse back to the Mountain was pretty simple, as Mark took as much as he could carry and teleported to his Advisor, Gavin. After waiting for his mana to recover some more, he teleported his Guards to him, who all held a bunch of wood. It still took a few rounds, meaning one Guard had to remain behind to facilitate Mark’s teleportation. Still, they eventually gathered all the bits of the treant, including some roots they dug up from the ground, and Gavin set off to check on the people.

They hadn’t really performed a census, as Mark wanted to ensure everyone worked together in building the homes before he asked them to perform more specific, designated tasks, but Gavin would make some inquiries to see if there were some woodworkers or something around.

Mark didn’t think there was much more than construction work, staves, or bows the wood could be used for, but Krister used a bow, and both Percival and Neal used staves, so his Guards would benefit if they had someone able to work the wood. At the very least, someone might be able to use some decent-quality wood to practice their craft.

“Alright, Guards. You can head back out if you wish. I apologize for taking you away from your training.”

“No worries, sir. Aiding you is a large part of our classes, and we benefit from doing so.”

“Good, good. Dismissed.”

The Guards headed off, but Mark noticed they didn’t immediately leave the Mountain. They headed to one of the newly constructed buildings and entered.

Alyssa exited a little while later and returned with a deep bowl of stew, which she handed to Mark.

“They people prioritized a kitchen and canteen for one of our first buildings, and a few hunters have been gathering some meat and herbs,” she said. “It’s not much, but it’s hearty and made by Claire, who gained a cooking class in her Tutorial. I hope you like it, and I apologize if it’s not up to your standards.”

“Thank you, Alyssa, but I think there’s been some misunderstanding,” Mark said as he looked at her. “I don’t have such a refined palate that this would taste bad. I wasn’t anyone special in the old world, and everyone acting like they are have been somewhat jarring. I played along since it would be in line with my class, and I suspect it’s the same for you, but know that you don’t have to walk on eggshells around me, alright?”

She seemed surprised at his explanation but took it in stride.

“Good. Thank you. I was worried about how I should act, and I know many others are as well, so it’s a relief to hear you say that.”

“Do let the others know as well. We may act in a certain way to gain the benefits of our classes and such, but I was just an ordinary man, and I still am inside,” he smiled at her before tasting the stew. It was thick, chunky, and surprisingly tasty. “This is pretty good! My compliments to the chef!”

Alyssa smiled again before taking her leave to join her fellow Guards.