Zalia finished packing away her clean clothes, threw the bag of dried lavender in and closed the lid on the trunk. She sighed, stretching her arms up and arching her back.
Back in the days she had been adventuring across Endaria, she’d had one set of clothes that both repaired and cleaned themselves. Now, she had more outfits than she could keep track of. That wasn’t because she went out and got them herself but because the people of Nature’s Reclaim dropped off food, clothes and other useful items on a regular basis. It was because of the way that the Ancient of Wisdom ran the town that the people were so happy they did this of their own free will.
The animals of the town often did the same but those items were usually a lot less… useful. Boreal loved their gifts though, so it wasn’t an issue.
She turned around and went to the door, opening it. To her surprise, all five of Boreal’s children were lined up, politely sitting, with Boreal behind them. With a little nudging from Boreal, the five young cats gave a discordant chorus of apologetic meows.
Zalia raised her eyebrow at Boreal.
“An apology, for disturbing your ritual so much,” Boreal explained.
Zalia held back her laughter and tried to look serious, nodding as if deep in thought.
“Apology accepted.”
She reached an arm to her right, picking up a hairbrush she kept there for Boreal’s children specifically. An item that brought terror to them.
“Now run!” she exclaimed evilly, raising it high.
The five young cats scattered, dashing away at their top speeds. Zalia only gave a half-hearted chase, letting them get away.
She put the hairbrush back and started walking towards their home’s exit, Boreal following along.
Over the past four years, the armies of Endaria had grown in strength significantly. With the Morning’s Shade now a force controlled by the council, many people from around the kingdom, strong through their survival of the invasion, had joined one group or the other. The continued need to destroy nests of demons had provided a constant stream of experience for both armies, the average level much higher now.
Ro-ak had spoken to her after his return, informing her of the Thousand-eyed one’s burial. He had also told her that it was almost time for the next war.
She didn’t know why or how Ro knew that, but believed him all the same. Anxiety wracked her body every day now, dreading the return of the horrors of war distracting her mind. It was why she had created the anti-teleportation ritual now of all times. Preparations had to be made.
This ritual wasn’t the Grove’s only defense though. She hadn’t been lax in the past years, experimenting with her powers as much as possible while bringing some of her passives and weapon proficiencies up to speed.
Profile - Zalia Taori
Health - Excellent
Mana - Full
Stamina - Full
Class one - Hunter - Silver 4
Linked attributes - Strength, Dexterity
Active skills
Kill Shot - Silver 4
Hunter's Mark - Silver 5
Fight or Flight - Silver 4
Passive skills
Hunter's Sight - Silver 6
Survivalist - Silver 8
Class two - Herbalist - Silver 6
Linked attributes - Vitality, Resilience
Active skills
Flora Identification - Silver 6
Natural Matter Alteration - Silver 8
Druid’s Grove - Silver 9
Passive skills
Harvester - Silver 8
Herbal Magic - Silver 10
Unity class - Druid - Silver 5
Linked attributes - Wisdom, Intellect
Active skills
Nature’s Wrath - Silver 5
Protection of the Wilds - Silver 5
Passive skills
Healing Presence - Silver 11
General Passives
Heat Resistance - Silver 8
Cold Resistance - Silver 8
Aura Observation - Silver 1 (MAX)
Enhanced Vision - Silver 1 (MAX)
Poison resistance - Iron 7
Mobility - Silver 10
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Stealth - Silver 8
Trapper - Silver 8
Teaching - Silver 1 (MAX)
Flight - Silver 1 (MAX)
Physical Resistance - Silver 8
Mental Resistance - Silver 8
Weapon proficiencies
Bow - Silver 1 (MAX)
Sword - Silver 1 (MAX)
Throwing Knives - Tin 17
Bonded Items
Druidic bow, Blessed by Starlight (Blessed Heirloom) - Deeply bonded Bronze rank.
Druidic Armour, Blessed by Nature (Blessed Heirloom) - Deeply bonded Bronze rank.
Ethereal Vault Gauntlet (Heirloom) - Deeply bonded Bronze rank.
Blessings
Blessing of Scour, The Desert Storm.
Aura Observation - passive
Tin - you are able to identify what rank a creature is by sight, unless it has a method of hiding that information.
Iron - you are able to identify a creature's general progress to the next rank.
Bronze - your strength of observation increases. Fluctuations in the auras of undisciplined beings can give insights into their emotional state.
Silver - You are able to see the aura of beings in their magic. This allows you to identify the owner or controller of magics. This is the maximum level of this passive.
Enhanced Vision - passive
Tin - You see better in low light areas.
Iron - Your vision is able to pierce magical darkness of the same rank or lower of this ability.
Bronze - You are able to filter out too-bright light to a certain extent, as well as gaining the ability to discern details at greater distances.
Silver - Your vision is no longer dependant on your eyes. This is the maximum level of this passive.
Teaching - passive
Tin - you gain a better understanding of what methods of teaching will work with certain people, scaling with the level and rank of this ability.
Iron - when teaching someone, they have an easier time grasping concepts that you explain, scaling with the level and rank of this ability. You are also able to convey simple concepts even when there is a language barrier.
Bronze - Attempting to teach someone about something you aren’t fully educated in will give you insights into the subject, allowing you to learn even as you teach others.
Silver - You become a master of the craft of teaching. You know what others need to learn even before they do. This is the maximum level of this passive.
Flight - passive
Tin - Your manoeuvrability is increased and your air resistance is reduced while in flight. This scales based on the rank and level of this passive.
Iron - Your ability to perceive your surroundings while flying becomes exceptional. You can spot distant details and potential threats with remarkable clarity, allowing you to anticipate and counteract aerial assaults effectively as well as see threats on the ground.
Bronze - All flight based abilities are easier and cheaper to maintain. This effect increases based on how many allies you also give flight to.
Silver - You are an expert in flight and may maintain flight abilities on yourself indefinitely. This is the maximum level of this passive.
Mobility - passive
Tin - Your speed is increased. Your stamina is less affected by movement.
Iron - You may step on air one time before stepping on a solid surface once more.
Bronze - You are able to step on air three times before resetting this ability. Additionally, you may perform a short range teleport with a long cooldown. Finally, when travelling long distances, you are able to maintain a fast pace while maintaining your stamina indefinitely.
Silver - You can set a point in space over the course of an hour. You may teleport to this point from anywhere with a seven day cooldown.
Bow - Weapon proficiency
Tin - Arrows shot from a bow you are using have increased speed based on rank and level of this skill.
Iron - Arrows shot from a bow you are using have increased penetrative power based on the rank and level of this skill.
Bronze - Bows you use will now shoot entirely silently. Additionally, when you draw the string back, you will gain insights into the weak points of your target.
Silver - You no longer need to hold your bow to shoot it. It floats next you to, acting by your will. This is the maximum level of this skill.
Sword - Weapon proficiency
Tin - you can wield a sword faster and hit harder with it based on the rank and level of this skill.
Iron - the durability of a sword wielded by you is increased based on the rank and level of this skill.
Bronze - When you successfully parry, you gain a burst of speed for a short time. Additionally, you can gain slight insights into the movements of your enemies when engaged.
Silver - Your strikes now create slashing winds that may hit targets from afar. These winds are weaker than a normal strike and are blockable. This is the maximum level of this skill.
The biggest change in her passives was something entirely new to all of her abilities. They were at their limit. The final rank abilities were stronger than was normal for passives yet she could not rank them up any further.
Because of Flight’s Silver rank ability, she always had her wings active these days, folded behind her back but at the ready. She still walked everywhere unless she was really in a hurry and had grown used to the feeling of weightlessness the wings brought.
She had also made a few more defenses using Herbal Magic, living rituals that she had come up with.
Scattered around Nature’s Reclaim were living rituals using Zephyr, Manifest and a lot of Bitterbalm. These rituals were inactive most of the time but when activated by the Ancient of War, would summon earth golems around the perimeter that would defend the town. That, along with all the permanent traps she set around the place provided a good amount of protection.
There were also hundreds of smaller living rituals set and ready outside the walls that would create various effects from explosions of fire to poisonous living vines to blasting winds. All of these were inactive as well, Zalia not wanting to accidentally blow up or otherwise kill the people of the town. All someone had to do to activate these rituals was remove the Frozen Time that sat at their centre. Anyone could do so, yet only herself, Ember, Aylie, Boreal and the three ancients protecting the town knew about it. The people of the town knew to avoid any living ritual and so far, there hadn’t been any incidents.
The two of them stepped out of their home and looked out at Nature’s Reclaim. It had grown in population quite a lot since its creation, housing more than five thousand people and animals at last count.
“War is coming again Boreal, I can feel it.”
Boreal said nothing as Zalia turned to look up at the Ancient of Life, a giant tree looming over the entire Grove. It had grown with the town, now standing at over a hundred and fifty metres tall, its base split around the house it sat atop. It had become more and more awake as the years passed, in control of the healing aura permeating the entire town. It had yet to learn to speak but still used its control of the aura to amazing effect, ensuring that the life within the Grove was kept safe.
She looked around the town square, wondering what to do today. Ember and Aylie had gone off for some lunch and she knew that Boreal had plans to go hunting with her children. Similar to Zalia’s wish to get Aylie to Silver as quickly as possible, Boreal also wanted to get her own children to Bronze. They were getting there, having started at Iron rank and making quick progress under Boreal’s teaching.
Maybe she should check the defenses again, to make sure they were in good order. She’d done that only five days ago though, so perhaps it could wait.
She could go hunting with Boreal and her children but it didn’t hold any appeal. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend time with them, more that she found no joy in hunting down and killing defenseless animals. She didn’t even need to eat anymore, so what was the point?
With Mobility’s Silver rank ability, she could teleport back to the Grove in an instant. That meant she could pretty safely travel a much further distance without having to worry about either herself or the Grove being attacked.
She shot off a quick message to Ember through their bond and gave Boreal a quick goodbye hug. In a burst of motion, she took off into the sky to begin the short flight west to the Capital. While she wanted to find out what had happened between Indis and Faian, the main reason she was going was to see Hildebrandt. She had a few questions that needed answering.