Novaris. Sax (June). 905. AGC.
Nodel. Waning Gibbous🌖. Day 19.
Tesilim woke up feeling great. After the bath with the dryads, Tesilim was over the moon, Eldritch God or not. Last night had definitely been a new experience for him since he had never done it with so many partners. The experience had also made him extra thankful for the vitality of his new magical body since it came in handy. Additionally, by the end of it all, he had gained some new knowledge about the world.
Tesilim had questioned how any activity would happen considering that the ladies were part tree, but they had been happy to explain some of their biology during the less demanding parts of the bath.
Apparently, when a dryad is born, she starts at common rank, making them a regular person in terms of strength. At that stage, they were nothing but a conscience inside a tree, unable to do much. Then, after about a decade of sleep, they gained some control over their tree and could direct its growth and make some minor movement with its branches. Another decade after that, they gained full control of their tree, which became their body, able to stretch and bend in unnatural ways. Finally, the dryads achieved D Rank by the time they were 30 years old. They did this naturally by absorbing mana and refining it with their tree.
Tesilim had questioned whether that hurt them as it did for him, but for these dryads, it turns out that refinement did not hurt. Instead, they had to wait longer for the process to rank them up since that’s just how their souls functioned. And no, combat did not help them, like humanoids such as Tesilim, which could reach A or S Rank in a decade or two, provided they didn’t die fighting first.
More importantly, however, upon reaching D-Rank, they were able to form a body. This body was wooden but beautiful and smooth and was nothing more than basically a puppet that stopped the dryad from going more than a few dozen feet from her tree. And, as they grew in power, they could wander further away from their tree while also gaining greater control of their Innate Magic.
For the specific scenario that had taken place the night before, the change that allowed the dryads to enjoy mortal pleasures came at C Rank when they reached around 80 to 90 years of age. Not only did the rank allow them to move hundreds of feet from their trees, but once outside of this range, a dryad could persist for a couple of days. More importantly, they now held control over their own bodies. This mainly meant transforming their wooden structure into something made of flesh and bones. This change allowed them to taste and feel much more than they ever could with their wooden bodies but, of course, made them less resilient while also making it a bit harder to channel their magic.
After the explanation, Tesilim asked how they survived in the inn since it was their mother's tree. And their answer had surprised him so much that he had begun to second guess whether touching the dryads had been a good idea.
The dryads were the daughters of Jolly, and their trees were in the weird realm that Tesilim had visited. However, the dryads had stated that they were their own trees and could do as they wished and had pulled Tesilim back into the water. Tesilim had tried half-heartily to escape afterward and had ended up being convinced that if their mother truly cared, she would have already done something.
That had been a reminder that the powerful dryad was always watching, which had put Tesilim off his game for a whole thirty seconds until he quickly overcame it by sheer force of will with additional support from the dryads.
Anyway, having learned some more about dryads and honest-to-gods sex magic the night before made him feel like it hadn’t been a complete waste of time that he could have spent refining one or two new spells he had been working on. So, whisking away the memories, he quickly got up and got everything he needed, basically just putting on his armor, getting his dice, and camping gear. Then he headed to the breakfast area and made himself a quick ham, egg, and bacon sandwich before making his way out of the inn, knowing he was going to be late.
As he was running out of the inn, Tesilim stopped, his eyes going wide due to the words he heard in his mind that made him reconsider life.
“Don’t make me wait too long for grandchildren, alight?”
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Alyx was not surprised that he was the first one to arrive at the guild. What surprised him was that Lili was not the second or third to arrive. Instead, it had been Rose and Jasmine. The pair had found him rather quickly, and they all sat in the corner of the bustling guild, snacking on cookies and tea, waiting for the last two to arrive.
As usual, Lili felt the stares of many adventurers as she made her way through the guild. She was well known as the elf who always wore a white dress, and rarely did she dawn her armor. So, when she did, it attracted a lot more attention. However, like usual, she ignored the gazes as long as those behind it didn’t try anything.
Looking around, she spotted the party members, except Tesilim, sitting together and having snacks. As she approached, the first to notice her was the redhead, whose shocked face made Lili smile. Jasmine was the second to notice, though she had actually noticed Rose staring and had shifted her gaze to follow the redheads. Upon seeing her, the half-elf had also been shocked but didn’t stare as hard as the redhead.
The last to notice was Alyx, who had already seen her in armor but whose gaze stayed longer than usual.
Of course, the surprise was warranted by the two new members of the party. Lili’s tight leather armor showed more of her figure as if she were almost wearing a second skin.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Wow, you actually wear armor?” Rose asked Lili as she walked up, almost like the redhead couldn’t believe it.
“Of course, I wear armor. I thought we already discussed this, or maybe we didn’t. Anyway, I only wear it when there is a need. And a bunch of Low D-Rank monsters aren’t worth it.”
“All right, that's fair. So does this mean you think we will be sent into the cave?” Jasmine questioned.
“More than likely, yeah,” the white-haired elf answered, finally sitting down while throwing Rose a glance, a smirk, and a questioning raised eyebrow. The redhead’s eye hadn’t left or stopped scanning Lili the whole time and, upon Lili’s attention, looked away, a bit flushed.
Jasmine hadn’t noticed the exchange, still deep in thought, and Alyx had already returned to reading his book on celestial souls. Rose was glad no one had noticed. She wasn’t sure what had come over her. Did she find Lili attractive? Could she like girls? She had never questioned it before, as she was too busy training to become a paladin. Or maybe it was just the shock. Rose’s head was in turmoil. It's not like girls were bad, but neither were boys. Thankfully, before her head could spiral further, Jasmine spoke up.
“Lili, since it seems you have the most experience. What do you think of our performance so far?”
“It's alright. All of us have been taught or are being taught by good teachers. We can all handle ourselves in a singular fight, and I am sure if push comes to shove, everyone has things they have yet to show. However, there is a difference between putting some good fighters in a team and an actual good team. As we are right now, we can handle all the weak monsters this area can throw at us. The issue is that when it comes to a real fight, we have yet to develop the trust and knowledge of each other's capabilities to make split-second decisions.”
“Which is why we are still fighting all the weak monsters. So, we can slowly get the hand of things.” Rose added, though still not meeting anyone's eyes.
“Exactly,” Lili answered.
“Wait, so is it a good idea to head into the fey cave then? Wouldn’t that put too much pressure on us?”
“Yes, and yes, but that is exactly what we need. The cave might be dangerous, but it shouldn’t be anything we can’t handle. We probably still need more experience fighting with each other, but doing it safely is slow. And I am sure everyone here is eager to rank up.” Alyx added, looking up from his book to meet everyone’s solemn eyes.
The serious moment was quickly shattered as Tesilim came running, eyes wide, giving off the manic energy of someone that had possibly screwed up big time.
“Hey everyone, how are you? I'm sorry I'm late. I overslept.” The elf addressed the group as he hurriedly scanned everyone while moving toward Alyx. Alyx noticed this and stood up to meet him.
“What's wrong, Tesilim? What did you do?” The gnome asked half-jokingly and half-not.
“Nothing.” An answer that just caused Alyx to give him a “bullshit” look while gaining the rest of the party's attention even further by the sheer amount of denial and guilt in his voice.
“Look, dude, just pop open your privacy barrier. This is important,” pausing to eye the rest of his staring companions, Tesilim added, “Just you and me, though.”
Alyx, who had watched Tesilim eye the rest of the team, understood this was something severe and possibly related to a guy's ears only, so he complied. The barrier of silence appeared around them, and Alyx went to speak, “So-” but was interrupted.
“Dude! Can I get dryads pregnant?!” Tesilim shouted with fear. However, the words made Alyx stare in shock as he attempted to wrap his head around the question.
“Seriously, man, gnome, answer the question. Can I?” The elf said, pausing to point the finger at himself, and then continued pointing at the general area of the tree, “Get a dryad pregnant!? Is that possible!? I mean, they are tree people, after all, so it shouldn’t be possible, right!? Right!? RIGHT!?” Tesilim finished yelling in desperation, his finger motioning back and forth between the tree and him.
“Yes, you can get a dryad pregnant,” Alyx answered with a huge smile, having understood what was going on. Then Tesilim fainted, and the gnome burst into laughter, dropping the privacy barrier.
Lili was the first to react and headed towards the pair.
“What was that?” She said as she went to pick Tesilim up.
“Apparently, our elf friend here had some fun with a dryad last night and was wondering if it was possible to get one pregnant,” Alyx answered, a bit proud yet clearly still trying to hold his laugh from the stupidity. Having heard this and considering they had yet to partake in such actions, Jasmine and Rose looked at each other as they blushed slightly, thinking about whether the other had actually done the deed and with whom.
A few seconds later, Tesilim was woken up by a slap to the face and was greeted by a smiling Lili, her grin telling him everything he needed to know. Alyx had spilled the beans. Looking towards the gnome, he gave him a “what the fuck, dude” look, but his eyes quickly came back to Lili as the questions began.
“Soooo, who you do it with? Was it Puddin? Because if it was Puddin, then that's one hell of a relationship twist. From enemy to lovers and all that. Or maybe”
Lili paused, giving a fake gasp, her face full of shock and surprise, “Tesilim! You didn’t!” She yelped before her face went serious as her voice entered conspiracy mode, “Did you do it with Jolly?”
Of course, before Tesilim could reply, she butted in, “You did! Didn’t you!?”
“No, I didn’t!”
“It makes sense. And you sucked so much that she kicked you out. It's alright. You just need more experience.”
“No, shut up! It wasn’t Jolly!” Tesilim blurted, his face flushed with anger and embarrassment.
“Then who Tesilim? Who!?”
“It was her daughters!” As soon as he said it, he knew he messed up. The grin on Lili’s face was unparalleled.
“Daughters!? Meaning more than one!? Tesilim! I didn’t think you were the type!”
“Shut up, leave me alone. Apparently, their mom now wants grandchildren, " he said, deflating on the couch he sat on.
Lili didn’t stop laughing for quite a while.
Luckily, as it turns out, Tesilim had been too in the moment and hadn’t noticed that Alyx’s privacy screen had been on while he was interrogated. However, with Roses and Jasmine's flushed faces and Alyx’s prideful face, the party wasn’t left out of it.