Around seventy-two hours later we were back in the elf village, back in the meeting room inside the tree, back with Petal and the Magikist. Only this time, we came bearing a gift.

“This will really work?” Salvia said, examining the staff in her hands.

“It should,” I said.

I knew it worked on the wall of thorns, we’d tested it earlier ourselves. The million dollar question was if it would work for her. Jane, Sam, and I had all been able to channel Nature through it to affect the wall, while Sigrid lacked the proper affinity. All the elves I had evaluated had the Tree Hugger power, which in effect gave them all an affinity with Nature, I suspected, and a modicum of affinity control, I hoped. Whether or not it was limited to plant life was fifty-fifty. Probably.

But if!

If I was right, with her Master level in Tree Hugger Salvia should have been able to clear away much more of the wall than we could with each usage. It hadn’t been tested yet if it could cure the Blight that was affecting the trees near the swamp, but it probably would.

That was a lot of ifs and probablies.

The three days since I went to bed and Byron started fabricating the staff were spent synthesizing new powers and enchanting it with them. It was touch and go for a while, and it was only Byron’s Adept mastery of Artifice that made us successful in the end. I was pretty proud of the results.

Staff of the Magikist

Crafted using the finest mithril wood from the Eastern Forest, this staff enables those with a connection to the Green to heal plant life and make it flourish.

Powers:

Every Tree Gets A Heal - Heal plants; Affinity with Nature required

I Draw Upon The Power Of The Green - Absorb mana from the environment and store it; Affinity with Nature required

In order to enchant an item with potent powers I had to seriously restrict them somehow, and limiting their use to someone with a specific affinity was the most effective way. It would all come down to these affinity restrictions. NPCs didn’t have affinities. Not that I could see, anyway. The closest I’d seen was that Tree Hugger thing, and I had no way of knowing for sure if that would count as Nature affinity, just a hunch. If I was wrong, it was back to square one.

I suppose it might seem like I was being pretty bold when I made the decision to risk things on a hunch like that, but I didn’t see it that way. I didn’t think anybody really expected it to work anyway, and I figured it wasn’t like we’d just up and fail the dungeon forever if it didn’t. We could always clear the Blight ourselves and see how things unfolded along that branch from the story node. And if that didn’t work, it’s not like we couldn’t try something else after that.

I was betting that if we ever truly messed up trying to beat a dungeon there’d be something like a built-in respawn for the story in case it was horribly derailed by our bad ideas. Like if we really get off track, we could leave it for a while and it would reset things so we could choose a different path next time. A regression sort of thing. No harm done, we learned something, just try again.

And if it did work? Well, we’d learn something even better then. Was it really so bad to hope?

Back in the meeting tree, Salvia examined the staff we’d given her.

“The wall should be no problem for you to clear away now,” I said. "Though it will still take some time to remove all of it." I hadn’t told anybody about how much was riding on nothing but a hunch, and I can still feel the guilt and anxiety that was gnawing away from inside me. “But you also mentioned how the Blight began corrupting the trees close to the swamp at the same time the wall appeared, so the real test will be if it can reverse that.”

“Then let us go now and give it a try,” Salvia said. Excitement and anticipation were written all over her gaunt, withered face.

“I shall get your litter ready,” Petal said quickly, but the Magikist put up a hand to stop her.

“That will draw too much attention,” Salvia said. “We elves pride ourselves on our stealth, let us show our new human friends what we can do.”

We wanted to keep the party small so Sam and I took on the roles of the Magikists’ assistants, and wrapped in elven cloaks and under cover of darkness we helped prop her up on either side as we slowly made our way out of the village and went further East to the affected area near the swamp. It didn’t feel particularly stealthy to me, and I had no clue how going this way would draw any less attention than if we’d carried her in a litter.

If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought that there was some logic override in the game code that made NPCs ignore you if you were involved in a quest and their storyline didn’t naturally collide, because Sam and I did a terrible job of supporting the Magikist stealthily. Petal was absolutely silent and her cloak seemed to help her vanish among the trees, but I’d say we humans were the exact opposite of stealthy. Honestly it all seemed so ridiculous that Sam and I were always on the verge of laughing at how things had gone since the bonfire.

I hadn’t been around elves that long, but I knew darned well there was no possible way those ears of theirs couldn’t pick up a bunch of humans stumbling around in poor disguise. But the story went with it, so I did too.

We reached the blighted trees before we hit the wall of thorns. The shift was jarring; first, the forests’ majestic trees loomed full and healthy around us, then all of a sudden we found ourselves surrounded by husks of trees, their leaves stripped, branches gnarled, and bark flaking off. We stopped, then gave Salvia some space. The moment of truth had come.

The old Magikist held the staff in a bony hand and faced a blighted tree.

Nothing happened.

Salvia looked at me, concern etched on her crinkled face.

I had no idea what to do. Since this was a day for hunches and instincts, I went with it.

“Just relax,” I said, “and feel the flow of the Green.”

She nodded, then closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She raised the staff, then opened her eyes again and stared at the tree with laser-focused intent. The green mana crystal at the staff’s head glowed, then the glow spread out to envelop the tree. As we watched, the cracks in the blighted tree’s bark closed and leaves sprouted from the tips of its branches like exploding fireworks.

“It works!” Petal said. “Oh grandmother, you did it!”

Salvia raised the staff and turned to a new tree. It also revived as the Blight was eradicated by the staff’s power. One after another, all the surrounding trees were cured.

When Salvia turned around Petal gasped. “Grandmother!”

Salvia seemed surprised by the look of shock on Petal’s face. “Is something wrong?”

There was an unexpected side effect to healing the Blight. With every tree the old Magikist healed, she herself became stronger. Her hair turned from white to chrome to black, the skin on her face drawing tighter, becoming smoother, younger, and even her posture improved visibly as all the signs of frailty were swept away. Her connection to the forest, to the Green, must have been very powerful for the Blight to have affected her this much as well, and with the healing power of the staff the ageless beauty and vigor of the elven race returned to the Magiskist.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Who knew how long elves lived or how old she actually was, but she ended up looking barely middle aged. The whole transition felt like System was taking an airbrush to the character model.

“It’s...you’re back,” Petal said. “You look like you again.”

“You mean...?” Salvia’s hand went to her face, fingers tracing delicate lines along her perfect skin. Then she smiled.

“I wish you could see yourself,” Petal said.

“I can help with that,” I said. Remembering how Morgan had created a mirror to help fight the Gorgon, I copied her power and created a small hand mirror, then showed Salvia her reflection. Her eyes widened as she watched her own hand glide over her smooth face.

“It’s a miracle,” Petal said.

System: Eastern Forest Blight resolved

System: You have solved the Nature Dungeon

An unnamed observer thinks that was too easy

A mysterious observer didn't know it could be done like that

A curious observer is just glad to be able to talk again

What the heck?

“Are you guys seeing this?” Sigrid said.

“Yeah!” Sam said. “We beat the dungeon!”

System: Error - multiple teams involved

System: Resolving - calculating contributions

“Uh oh,” Jane said. “I know where this is going.”

System: Resolved - contributions calculated as follows: Team Maple Leaf 20%, Team Player 80%

System: Distributing Quest rewards - Reward Tokens 25 (+5)

System: Transferring Nature Dungeon control to Team Player

“Oh man, not again,” Jane said.

“Can’t really argue with the contributions, though,” Sigrid said. “Daniel did do most of the work.”

This wasn’t right. Jane was the protagonist here. Her team should get the dungeon.

“Hang on,” I said. “System? Can we talk about this?”

There was a pause, then:

System: Is there an issue?

“Yes, there is a big issue,” I said. “Why am I getting this dungeon too?”

System: Dungeons can only be controlled by a single team

“Yeah, but—”

System: Team Player contributed the most to the Nature Dungeon’s solution

“Okay, but—”

System: Transferring Nature Dungeon control to Team Player

“Wait! Can’t you give this one to Team Maple Leaf? I’ve already got the Light Dungeon.”

System: Team Player contributed the most to the Light Dungeon’s solution too

“That’s not true. I just happened to be the one to pick up Daedalus’ diary. You can’t give me two dungeons.”

System: Teams may control multiple dungeons

“That doesn’t seem fair. Won’t it upset the balance of the game?”

There was another pause, then:

System: Multiple dungeon control is integral to the game

“All the more reason why Team Maple Leaf should have it.”

“Daniel,” Sigrid said, “you were the one who figured it all out. We helped a bit, but you actually solved it.”

“Truth,” Jane said.

“But you guys—”

“Listen,” Jane said. “It’s very sweet that you want us to have this one, but there will be other dungeons. You earned it. Just accept it.”

We looked at each other for a long time.

Controlling more dungeons was integral to the game. Not simply part of the game, but integral to it. That was the first bit of information we’ve got about how the game worked. I’d already sort of figured that out, but I wonder if System was supposed to let it slip?

“Fine,” I said, “but only because there are other dungeons for you to beat.”

“That’s the spirit. Just don’t be so helpful in the future,” Jane said.

“Right. From now on I’ll do my best not to do my best.”

System: Any more queries?

Everyone looked at me expectantly.

“I guess not,” I said.

A curious observer raises its hand

A curious observer has a query

System quirks a virtual eyebrow at the observer

An unnamed observer puts its hand over a curious observer's mouth

A mysterious observer shushes a curious observer before we get muted again

A curious observer shushes up

System thought as much

System: Control of Nature Dungeon transferred to Team Player

“You’d better let me stay a friend of the elves, though,” Jane said.

System: Global notification – the Nature Dungeon has been solved and is now controlled by Team Player

“Kiki’s gonna blow a gasket when she sees that,” I said.

“That alone makes it all worthwhile,” Sigrid said.

“Wait a second,” Jane said. “If the other dungeon made you Lord of Light,” she made a gagging gesture, ”does this make you the Nature Boy?”

“I am so jealous,” Sam said. “If anyone’s Nature Boy it should be me.”

“Actually, I got a title earlier, I just didn’t mention it,” I said.

“Of course you did,” Jane said. “What was it?”

“Defender Of The Green.”

System: Conditions for bonus reward met

“Oh god, there’s more?” Jane said.

System: Forest elf village power dynamic changed; Magikist influence greatly increased; Forest elf isolation ended

System: Calculating bonus reward

System: Reward Tokens 28 (+3)

System: You have received a Gold Random Reward Box

We all got one. The boxes appeared in front of all four of us and I was relieved to see that they were all Gold. I felt guilty enough already, if my bonus reward was better than theirs I would’ve had to go live under a rock.