Somewhere, in the domain of The Great Ancestral Tree. In a clearing, there was a wide circle of stumps scattered around the massive stone table; the table was laden with forest bounty: fruits, nuts, vegetables and foods alike. Further away, the trees bordering the clearing were full of squirrels and spiders, so full that the branches were bending and buckling under their combined weight. The critters were here mostly to congratulate their saviours.
“Welcome, Guests.” The Wisp greeted expanding its wispy body.
The stump seats were mostly occupied by Drow. This feast and this bountiful table were mostly for them, but also to honour the King of Spiders.
“First, we would like to thank the Drow for assisting us with the infestation.” The wisp pulsed rapidly. “Without you, it would have been impossible.” It buzzed.
The High Chief stood up, Devouring Spear still in his hand. “Well, we once were one with the forests so it’s natural that we were able to navigate it and cleanse it so successfully.” He bowed towards the green orb of light. “But even then, without the King’s weapons, it wouldn’t have been so effective.” Then he bowed towards the King.
The rest of the Drow nodded in agreement. The warriors here still wore their iconic red FireWalker Suits and had downsized versions of the FlameThrower by their sides. How they ‘cleansed’ the infestation was quite clear.
The King of Spiders worried slightly. If they needed a weapon so destructive the infestation must have been quite bad. “I’m just glad it got sorted, think nothing of it. After all, I’ve benefited from your hard labour too…” He gazed upon the weapon he had lent. “Did you manage to fill the spear for me?”
“Indeed I have, it's brimming full with life.” He raised the spear higher showing the red glowing tip. “If I remember correctly, you wanted the souls exchanged?”
“Yes, insect souls for Amber.” He looked at the flying wisp. “If you don’t mind?”
“Ha! Insects you say, I have to agree on that classification. But even then, it would be cruel for me to absorb something like this.” The wisp shrunk to a tiny ball.
He looked at the wisp slightly confused, because before It never had a problem with taking centipede souls.
Then it expanded its wisp form again and buzzed with confidence. “Oh, you'll get your Amber, you will. But I have a proposition.” It flew closer to the King and only inches away from his face.” You see we, and I, were visited by your White Sprigans; creatures most magnificent and pure. Not puppets but real people, and of your creation! Somehow you achieved something that I couldn’t…”
He could tell where this was going. “You want me to create more of them?”
“Yes! We’ll use the souls contained in your spear.”
“I guess, it might work… but then I want to reincarnate the rest of the human souls I still have in the Soul Well.”
“You have obtained something powerful, I see. I’ll provide you will all the Amber you might need.”
“Won’t you end up drained a bit too much? We talking about over a thousand pieces here.”
The wisp shrunk. “It will, but only for a time. You see, we’ve claimed a neighbouring forest, so my power will be replenished eventually.” It expanded. “Doubled even.”
“Hmm, then I’ll tell the spiders to start carving their new bodies.”
“And I’ll help you with the ritual.”
Oh, so the wisp will help to fuel the mana necessary. “I can’t refuse that. Thanks.”
“No, no… Thank you, King of Spiders, you don’t understand just how helpful you are. The best Ally of the best.” The wisp buzzed happily.
“How about the Drow?” He asked hoping that they had finally forgotten the old unpleasant past.
“They’re good Ally too…” The wisp circled above the drows. “You did well to reform them. Now, let's feast!”
Drow dug into foods they almost had forgotten. He too did the same, after all, it was so fresh and fragrant, real organic stuff.
…
What is there to say apart from that the ritual was a great success, and this time he didn’t even have to go negative in mana.
Thousands of new White Sprigans opened their eyes, taking a new perspective of the world around them.
The wisp was there, drained to a tiny speck but still buzzing energetically. “King, I have new land for them. That is if you don’t mind.”
“Why would I, if they want to go there they can. They are free to do as they please.” He didn’t hold a claim on sentient souls which weren’t his to claim.
And surprisingly the ‘insect’ souls from the Devouring Spear behaved just like the human ones he had just Reincarnated.
“Well, then. Let’s come together. Lead our children King.”
“Our?” He wondered if the wisp had made a claim while he chose not to. “You mean yours and the forest’s?” He asked for clarification. And, after all, sprigans were born out of wood and wisp’s mana so maybe it had a genuine claim.
“Yes, but no.” The wisp buzzed. “I mean ‘ours’ as in yours and mine, we made them together. But, yes, the Spirit of the Forest is strong in them.” The wisp circled around the heads of the White Sprigans. “We are their parents, let's guide them back to their home. Come, King.”
Wow, the wisp just put a lot of responsibility on his shoulders.
“My children, huh?” He scratched his chin. “An interesting interpretation.” He clapped his hands creating a loud and thundering sound. “Okay children, let’s go, follow this sparkling light.” He pointed at the wisp. “And let’s go to your home.”
The White Sprigans, very much like cats, were captivated by the moving and pulsing light and started to chase the wisp giddily.
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“Wisp, where are we going exactly,” He asked because he’s never been briefed about this.
“Past the old border, and back to the nest of the infestation.” It buzzed avoiding the playful hands of the sprigans trying to catch it.
“Nest?” It sounded scary. “You cleared that right?”
“Cleansed.” It corrected. “We had to, you’ll understand after seeing it. Now, less talking more walking. Come children, come!” It invited flying around the sprigans’ heads.
The Wisp never seemed to understand that some walks were just… too long! Maybe because it didn’t have legs which could get sore. But anyway…
He finally reached what must be the border. Considering the choice of weapons he expected some damage, but still he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Clearly, here used to be a forest but now as far as he could see he saw only charred stumps and a thick carpet of ash. Complete and utter devastation. There was no life here.
“What happened?” He asked with worry.
“Cleansing.” The Wisp replied as if it was nothing.
How… Just how. How could a Nature aligned spirit do this? His head spun and he struggled to wrap his mind around it. “The infestation must have been of terrible proportion.” He reached his conclusion.
“They were quite persistent, yes.” It buzzed again. “I see the worry on your face, you're a real friend to all Forests. Worry not, King, the forest will grow back.”
What he was seeing was just wrong. It would take decades, unless…
“Is this why we’re taking the White Sprigans here?”
“Why else. Look at their faces, they already know what they need to do. The nest isn’t too far. Come, come.” It urged.
They have reached some decrepit ruin, all the soot and ashes made it hard to guess its real age; but it looked ancient.
“Ah, I see, it's common for the monsters to make nests in old ruins.” He remembered reading that somewhere. “It looks like ruins of some ancient and forgotten civilisation.” He wondered if he should open an archaeological dig site here.
“Ancient?” The Wisp buzzed in confusion.
And of course, it did, he knew that the soul of this wisp was thousands and thousands of years old, that’s why it didn’t feel the ruins old.
The wisp continued. “Forgotten, yes. Nothing remains of them.”
“You don’t mind if I dig around, for artefacts and the like?”
“No, why would I.” It herded the sprigans further into the ruins.
The ruins weren't quite empty, in the middle of the ruin and in a large crater there was an entire legion of squirrels, no, a horde. Actually, after he had a better look, they were everywhere, on charred walls and on burned stumps. Their otherwise white fur was stained with greys of ash and soot. If anything there was another infestation here, a nest of squirrels.
“What are they doing here?” He asked curious.
“They brought the seeds from my forest. Children, take them and bring life to this ashen place.”
“Oh… Oh!” Indeed, the squirrels' cheeks were full of seeds.
One by one the squirrels jumped on the shoulders of White Sprigans and spat the seeds for them to plant. Seemingly out of instinct, the sprigans knew what to do already. They walked outside the ruins and started planting.
“King, I want you to plant your IronOak here too. And other plants of yours.” The wisp requested once again.
“I’m not sure I have enough seeds, but I do what I can.”
He now knew why he was here. Yes, the Sprigans could [Grow] and [Plant], but they didn’t have specialised skills like [Unnatural Selection] and [Acclimate]. The environment here was different from the Spider Kingdom, so he had to do the planting by himself. A good thing really, he remembered what it is to be a farmer.
At a random, then planting yet another plant, the ever-unpredictable perk of Chaos Blessed activated.
[BanditAgave evolved into AshenClower]
The plant glowed brightly blinding him momentarily. Once the light dimmed he found a four-leafed and completely grey-coloured sapling instead of the usually spiky plant.
“It changed completely.” He remarked with wonder.
A nearby Sprigan ever so helpfully cast [Grow] on the evolved plant, and its leaves got ever so bigger.
“Please watch over this plant so it can spread.” He asked the sprigan. “And I…” Despite his previous words, he plucked a leaf, but only one. “I’ll send this to be investigated.”
The happening gave him an idea.
“Hey wisp, why don’t I evolve those seeds you have.”
“Hmm…” The wisp buzzed. “Why don’t you? Here.” It sent a flock of squirrels to him. “Make something that animals could eat. Something that would grow well here and that would take little care.”
This wisp was very demanding. He had no control over evolutions. “I’ll see what I can do.” He gathered the seeds. “Evolve.” He began, but also. “Imbue.” For the latter, he used the remaining Amber to give the seeds nature affinity.
“Hey, wisp?” He was about to make a request of his own. “Is Dark Affinity alright with you?”
“Anything is fine. Do as you wish, King. Go wild… but maybe not Fire?” it only suggested. “I fear the balance might tip and the biome would change.”
“You’re right this place has seen enough of that.”
He drained his mana further transforming the seeds into something else. Then he would plant them and a helpful sprigan would cast [Grow], so the result was immediate.
He had some peculiar and quite random plants. Some looked like they'll be useful but others were completely pointless – failures. To name a few of the better ones: ShadowVine, EarthenYam, CageBush, BerryNut. And for their appearance:
The ShadowVine was a vine similar to BitterVine, it needed another plant like a tree to support it. It was an interesting plant because it would cloak the tree it clung to in shadows, obfuscating its appearance. Scary! It was likely a parasitic plant.
EarthenYam was a root vegetable, big like a handball and of earth-like colour. It was very starchy and looked like something his Enchanted Boars would like, or just your normal boars the ones native to the forest.
CageBush, was peculiar because it refused to look like a bush. Its long branches were bending only at right angles giving it that rectangular look. Bending and bending, making a spiralling cage-like structure. And it didn’t even have any leaves or buds, just perfectly smooth and otherwise straight grey wood. It looked like it belonged more in a modern ‘art‘ museum as a sculpture than a plant in the forest.
BerryNut was just that – a bush which grew not quite berries and not quite nuts. The fruits had the shells like nuts, but the insides were soft and jam-like, the taste both sour and nutty. For the right person, it would be delicious.
If one cared about how a failure looked at all, he would need to simply gaze at FaultyCabbage. Again it was probably affected by the abundant ash and was a pale-coloured vegetable(?). It was a cabbage, but it sort of failed to form that head, it was left malformed and there were countless holes in the leaves. And for the taste, it just tasted foul, so bad it was that not even a starving animal would eat it.
There were quite a few failures like that in this experiment.
He gathered some samples for further experimentation and left the White Sprigans to do their thing. They looked very busy but positively happy at the job they were doing. Ever so slowly the forest was regrowing. Well, no, this wasn’t slow, it was quite fast! The area they were in was brimming with plants, it's just that now the sprigans needed to expand it further, a task which will take them months even at this pace.
He looked again at his changed surroundings scratching his head.
“It doesn’t look quite right.” He continued rubbing the back of his head.
Indeed, it looked weird. Yes, this was a forest now reborn but due to his influence the plants were just odd, it didn’t look like your normal forest anymore. If he wasn’t here from the very start he would think that he was either dreaming or hallucinating.
“Uff… A Magic Forest then.” He concluded by looking at the mishmash of failed plants, normal plants, and evolved plants.
But that was not all, because all this hard work rewarded him with:
[Congratulations! You have reached Farming lvl .4]
[Requirements have been met. Hidden perk unlocked.]
[Perk Mutate obtained.]
Yet, another hidden perk.
“But how is this different from Evolve?” He had to wonder. ”Ah…” He sighed. “Let's test this out.” He picked an already-grown plant. “It’s not like this forest can get any weirder, [Mutate].”