Mike was looking around for any familiar faces, but none stood out to him. He did walk through the settlement, and he was pretty surprised by just how different Gratsden was from Thudfall. Each and every building was made from trees. Most were made from roots, some of the larger and more important looking buildings were made from the trunks of large trees.
The entire settlement was also directly under the shade of the massive tree, which made visibility not the best. Anyone with over a hundred perception could barely even notice the shade, but it still just felt different to look at the dim environment. Thankfully, the dirt roads as well as every building had bulbs growing out of the wood that emitted light.
Speaking of the giant tree, Mike was getting quite close to its base, and he saw an entrance to it that was comparable to the opening in the outer wall. It led directly into the trunk, and a large open room lay past it. He walked into the bustling area, which had many people milling about. There was a staircase that had several guards stationed in front of it, which led up about 50 feet before going into the next floor of the tree.
If Mike had to describe the room in one word, it would be “busy”. He saw people bartering items, eating, talking, and he even noticed a pickpocket. The woman getting pick pocketed also noticed, and punched the thief across the room with a swift strike. Nobody reacted to this, which worried Mike more than seeing the man committing the crime in the first place. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, a hand grabbed his shoulder.
“Mike, glad you could finally come. Took you a while didn't it?” Lila said from behind him. The mana made woman looked different from the last time he had seen her, and her torn up armor from the fight with the earth elemental had been replaced with a verdant green set of leather armor. Her staff was slung over her back, and was fastened in place with a thin sash.
“It only took me a few days.” Mike protested. “Besides, I come bearing gifts. I have something I think your druidic leader would enjoy having.”
“Oh yeah, and what could that be?” Lila asked.
Mike unsheathed the sword, holding it out for the mage to look at. Nature aligned mana slowly trickled from the blade, and was absorbed by the tree they were in. The sword was only an epic rarity item, but it had turned heads when the magic around Mike began changing. The room fell deathly silent, with none daring to speak. Mike looked around confused, wondering why the sword garnered so much attention. These people couldn't be strangers to the affinity, as they lived in a settlement that seemed tailored to the natural magics.
Like the red sea, the crowd parted as a man dressed in intricate plant-like clothes walked over to Mike, each step slow and deliberate. Mike knew the second he laid eyes on the man that this was the leader of Gratsden. He thought briefly about how both him and Raj had been dressed in ornate and lavish clothing, while Mike simply wore his armor every waking moment. ‘Maybe I should get some more formal attire’ he thought as the leader of Gratsden stopped before him.
“Greetings, fellow druid.” The man said. “While I appreciate your eagerness to spread life, I must ask you to sheath that blade.”
Seeing no reason to argue, Mike did as he was told. He put his weapon back in its sheath, and the natural energy ceased pouring from the blade. “Hey there, nice to meet you. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I am not a druid.”
The druid looked at Mike confused. “Then how could you create nature affinity mana?”
“It's not me, it's the sword.” Mike said.
“Ah, I see. In any case, I must request that you either hand over the sword, or allow me to put a small seal on the nature magic so that it does not pose a threat to the city around us.”
“Why would it pose a threat?”
The man gestured to the wooden walls all around them. “If a nature mage was to begin enforcing his will upon the plant life around us, all that we have worked towards here could come crashing down upon us. It is why unlicensed nature magic is prohibited here.”
“Unlicenced?” Mike asked. He didn't like the idea of people needing a license to do what the hell they wanted, but he supposed it had been quite prevalent in the old world. You needed a license to hunt, to fish, to drive, and for various high stakes jobs like medicine and being an attorney. For all of these, it made sense to Mike why some people simply shouldn't be able to acquire such a license. In the case of using nature magic, the person in question would have already proved their worth by just learning to do it in the first place. If the druid was nervous that a nature mage would turn on him, then that was his own problem.
“Yes, did you not read the rules before entering through the gate? Our receptionist should have handed you one when you entered.”
“I didn't get one, I think she was a bit nervous seeing me and my level.” As soon as the words left Mike's mouth, he wished he could take them back. Both the inspect and identify skills sent out a small bit of magic whenever they were used, and much like light would bounce back to bring information back to its caster.
The tiny bit of magic was typically very hard to detect if you weren't specifically looking for it, but when several hundred inspect skills hit Mike all at once, he certainly felt it. He didn't want to be the least informed person in the room, so he went ahead and scanned the druid in front of him.
Human (level unknown)
“Quite the impressive level, I can see why Dalia was so nervous around you. Tell you what, I will allow you to freely brandish the sword here, as you clearly don't need it if you wish to wreak havoc.” The druid said. The more he spoke, the more Mike thought he sounded like an overly immersed LARPer.
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“Thanks, I guess.”
“Now, I would like to speak with you up in the canopy if you would be fine with that. It's more private than anywhere else in the settlement.”
Mike saw Lila behind the druid, shaking her head vigorously at him. Against Mike’s better judgment, he accepted the druid's request.
“Sure, let's go.” Mike also made a second poor decision in rapid succession. If he wanted to get up to the canopy of the tree, then what better way was there to do so than to fly. Sure, it wasn't quite flying, but it made burst step a bit cheaper when he used it to travel through the air. His wings shot out from his back, nearly smacking a poor bystander across the face. This made the circle around both Mike and the druid grow larger.
Mike's face grew a bit red, and his face became a bit sheepish. They walked outside, with Mike pulling his wings as close as he could to his body so as to not hit anyone with a stray appendage. This didn't matter much, as you could pass a parade float through the berth that he and the druid were being given. When they made it outside, a massive leaf was lowered by vines that descended from one of the top branches. The leader stepped onto it, motioning for Mike to follow. When they were both on top, the leaf began rising at a fast pace.
“So, a leaf elevator. You call it the Trelavator?” Mike asked, hoping the joke would land.
“Why would I give it such a horrid name?”
“Horrid, what do you mean Horrid? That is a genius name!” Mike said. While he had said it as a joke, he was pretty upset at the accusation. He was never known for making good names, but he was pretty proud of trelavator.
“No, no it is not.”
“Well what do you call it?”
“I don't have a name for it. It is simply an elevator.”
Mike and the druid reached the top shortly after, and they entered a room that was at the top of the tree trunk. It was carved into the wood, just like the room in the base had been.
“Is this entire tree hollow?” Mike asked. “That must have taken forever to do.”
“It is hollow, but it didn't take much effort to do. All I needed to do was to persuade the tree to grow this way.”
“So you talked real nice to a tree, and it talked back. Does that make you a crazy person?”
“No, it would be crazy of me if the tree hadn't listened.”
They sat at a few wooden chairs that sat on either side of a wooden table, which were surprisingly comfortable considering they were sitting on bare wood.
“So, why did you bring me up here?”
“You are clearly very strong, and someone who I do not want to get in the bad graces of. I brought you up here to ask if you would like to be the secondary leader of my settlement.”
Mike stared for a few seconds, not sure he had heard correctly. “Slow down a bit, I don't even know your name. My name is Mike by the way, which you also should have known before asking me.”
“My name is Roots. Yes, I am aware of the coincidence.” Mike giggled a bit when he heard the name.
“My friend, that is no coincidence. You were fated for this the second your parents named you. May I ask, what did you do before the system?”
The druid hesitated, not looking Mike in the eyes when he responded. “I was studying to be a botanist. I was going to work on better ways to grow crops.”
“Fate, like I said. Anyways, did you just bring me up here to ask me that, or was there something else you had in mind?”
“Yes there is.” The druid said as he regained his composure.
“In the event you had said no, like you did, I was going to offer you something.”
A section of wood no larger than a basketball shifted on the table with an almost sand-like consistency. A green glowing orb rose up from the hole in the table, and bathed the room in a green light. Nature magic in a far more pure form than his sword made was coming off of the orb and getting sucked into the tree they were in. Mike identified the orb, and had to restrain himself from grabbing it to inspect it better.
Forest Core (Rarity Unknown)
If Mike got one more unknown in his identify, he was going to choke somebody. “I cant identify it fully.” He said.
“Apologies, one moment.” The druid waved his hand over the orb, and a new screen popped up in front of Mike.
Forest Core (Heroic)
A core of mana made from the combined nature mana of a weak forest. The conditions in which these cores are created are rare and only occur once every year on average.
That was a good item, but on its own it didn't seem to do that much on its own. Mike could only imagine the things he could make if he got his hands on it.
“Why would you offer something so precious? Surely it must be of great use to you.”
“It would be, if I didn't already have a second one.” Another orb rose from the table, making the green glow in the room even brighter.
“Is there anything I could do to get one that doesn't involve serving you?” Mike asked, still eyeing up the orbs like a grandpa at hooters.
“There is. Make me a sword of heroic rarity that is similar to the one on your back, and one of these orbs is yours.”
“Could I use one of these orbs to make it?”
“Only if you are willing to part with your reward.”
“Alright I will try and figure something out. By the way, why is everything here so difficult to identify?” Mike asked, tearing his gaze from the cores.
“It's part of my skill set, and thanks to my trait it extends to my plants.”
“Wait, your trait is focused around plants?” Mike asked, failing to not grin again.
“Yes, what of it?”
“I think you need to consider that your fate truly was to become a gardener.”
“Shut the hell up and go make me my sword, and don't fall off the leaf lift on your way out.” Roots said in a joking tone, pointing to the trelavator. Mike hadn't realized the implications of what had been said until the leaf began lowering.
“I knew you had a name for it!”