"Special circumstances?" John asked.

"If at all possible, I want to avoid causing trouble for the elf Druids." Alea said in a sad voice.

"I'm confused, how would you asking them for help cause them trouble?"

Alea sighed before explaining.

"You see I have a class quest from the order I am part off."

"When a player chooses to become either a Cleric or a Guardian in Genesis their first-class mission is to go to the temple of the order they wish to join and complete a mission so they can join that order."

"For cleric's this mission is normally to heal x number of individuals and for Guardians it is to hunt down some slave traders and kill them."

"Like all first-class missions it is not hard and then you just have to hit level ten before you can rank up your class."

"Ohhh so that's why my first-class mission seems so easy, all I have to do is learn a spell or skill from each circle and hit level ten." John said as realization dawned.

"That's correct, the first druid class quest is actually very similar to the Sorcerer, they also have to learn a spell or skill from each of the four base elements and then three from the arcane after which they just have to hit level ten like all the other classes."

"Arcane?" John asked as he had not heard of this before."

"The Arcane is where dedicated spell casting classes like Sorcerer and Warlock get most of their utility skills, each of the four base elements focus on one or two things for example."

"Fire is more focused on pure damage though it can also burn a target for DoT damage."

"Dot?" John asked

"Wow, we really need to get you an idiot's guide to gaming." Alea giggled at John's frown before explaining.

"I'm kidding, kidding, anyway DoT stands for Damage over Time, your Moonfire spell's ticks for example are DoT's."

"Oh, I see." John nodded and Alea continued.

"Wind is more focused on CC for the enemy although it also has some damaging abilities, and before you ask CC stands for Crowd Control, it's skills that hinder or disable your opponent."

"Earth focuses more on DoT damage than the others since most of its skills cause the bleed effect though of course they also do some direct damage."

"Water is a bit different here as it can be used for support in healing the caster or their allies, while it can also be used as ice which is more damage focused with CC capability in the chill effect that slows your opponent's actions down and can even freeze them all together."

"Sarah or Blue Ice Queen is a Sorcerer who is mainly focused on the ice element."

"Now arcane is where they get the majority of their utility spells from, for example they have a buff spell called Arcane Intellect that increases their Intellect stat or they have a shield spell that protects them from all damage until it is destroyed."

"Wow, sounds strong." John said after whistling.

"Meh, Sorcerer's are more of a glass cannon class, they hit hard but if you can lock them down, they die fast, that's one of the reasons Sarah was so popular in the game because she was so hard to defeat and now, she will be even harder." Alea answered with a smile.

"Anyway, we got off topic so back to my quest."

"My class quest requires me to discover the identity of a traitor in my order 'The Order of the Mother Tree'."

"I have been trying to find clues to this traitor for weeks and recently I learned that the remains of a dark magic circle were found in an abandoned building not far from the temple in Thamethalas."

"After investigating this magic circle all I could learn was that it was made from the blood of dead rats."

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

"Seriously? What is it with using the blood of animals to write magic circles at the moment?" John said, rolling his eyes.

"I know, I thought something similar when you told me about your fight earlier and that's one of the reasons, I wanted to ask for your help as they may be connected."

"Anyway, I want to ask you to speak to the animals in the area and see if they can tell us anything about the night this magic circle was used."

"Ok that's fine but you still have not told me the reason this would cause trouble for other elf Druids." John pointed out.

Alea sighed before saying.

"Nature's Guardian."

"Nature's Guardian? Wait, I have heard of that name." John said while trying to remember where he heard it.

"I'm not surprised, Natures Guardian or Aiduin Petvalur as he is really known is a young elf who is the son of council member Elashor Petvalur."

"He is a very popular elf player with his own following."

"He is also one of my suitors who has been trying to persuade me to marry him for several decades now."

"Every week he sends a marriage request to either myself or mother along with flowers and gifts that we have to politely refuse every time."

"Ah ok I get it now." John said before continuing.

"Because of this Aiduin fellow who won't give up on you you're worried that if you go to any other elf Druid to ask for help and he learns about it then he will use his father's position to make life difficult for that person and their family."

Alea nodded and sighed before saying.

"Correct and if Aiduin learns of my quest and a need for a Druid he will insist I use one of his Druid followers and that will give him the perfect excuse to tag along with me to which I won't have a reason to refuse."

"Follows? Oh, now I remember Natures Guardian team member Ayen and Natures Guardian team member Dain." John said.

"Oh, sounds like you met some of his followers, for some reason they all use 'Natures Guardian team member' followed by their own names."

"Yeah, they were the elves in a party of four bullies I defeated, they wanted to know what I talked to the Mayor of Yesta Village about."

"Yeah, that sounds about right, Aiduin himself already has a big head and gets away with a lot of things thanks to his father's influence, then add in his followers and it just gets worse."

"Can't the queen do something?" John asked.

"Unfortunately, mother is a queen not an empress, and even Empress Alexia needs a good enough reason to execute someone of high standing or the nobility may turn against her."

"As for mother, remember we are really only the royal family in title, while the ordinary populace may love us and that gives us the power to pass out some laws and commands, mother still needs the council's approval for anything major and Aiduin's father Elashor Petvalur holds a lot of sway on the council."

"If it was not for the people's love for us and our direct blood lineage to Elmyra, mother and I may have already been pressured into arranging my marriage to Aiduin."

"I see, I'm sorry to hear that." John said.

"It's fine, as it stands, they won't dare pressure me into a marriage with Aiduin as even the council members want to keep the populace on their side." Alea replied with a smile as she once again brought her hand up to the necklace John gave her.

"Anyway, I am more than happy to help you in this quest, though I am unsure what support I will be able to offer being so much lower in level than you."

"Don't worry about that as all I need you to do is ask the animals in the area if they have seen anything."

"Very well then I will send you a message once I arrive in Thamethalas."

"Good, then I will let you get back to Genesis so you can come join me in game quicker."

With that Alea got up and waved goodbye before leaving.

"Someone was in a hurry." John said with a grin before he cleaned up the plates from their food and leaned back on the reclining chair before saying.

"Genesis Sync."

***

After Alea left John's room she did not immediately return to Genesis as she knew it would take him a bit of time to learn the spells he needed to and return to Yesta Village before being transported to Thamethalas.

Instead, she decided to visit her mother and inform her about John's accomplishment.

As she reached her mother's office and knocked, she waited a moment before Saida opened the door to see who it was and usher them away if it was not important.

Seeing it was Alea, she turned to Tanelia and spoke.

"It's the princess, my queen."

"Ah allow her to enter I am sure Alexia won't mind if Alea is here, will you?"

"Of course not, Alea, how are you?" Alexia asked through the access band.

"Very well thank you Alexia and yourself?"

"Better now that your mother has accepted my proposal of aid."

Alea looked at her mother and raised an eyebrow before Tanelia said simple.

"Stone-mist Castle."

"Ah I see." Alea said as she sat down.

"What do you need my daughter?" Tanelia asked.

Alea looked at the image of Alexia for a moment and figured it would be fine for her to know since she already knew who John was and she would find out eventually anyway.

"It's regarding John."

"Oh, what about him?" Tanelia asked with interest as Alexia and Saida showed similar expressions.

"He just became the first human Druid."