It was like a bomb going off in Elijah’s head. If he’d thought using One With Nature was a little overwhelming, then the deluge of sensory input that came when he’d completed the Grove nearly crushed his mind into pulp. He could feel everything, right down to the smallest insect, screaming inside his head. But more than that, he knew things he had no business knowing.
Like the existence of forty-two squirrels within a hundred yards of the Grove. Or exactly how many trees comprised the forest in that same area. Or how many leaves were on the ground. If he concentrated, he could even say precisely how many grains of dirt were within his range. And given that he could sense everything within a hundred yards of the outside edge of his Grove, that was a lot of dirt.
That sudden awareness washed over him, and for a long time, he was rendered insensate. Drool fell from the corner of his mouth as he lay there, staring up at the sky but seeing nothing.
Elijah very nearly lost himself to it.
Even as day wore into night, and the night into the next day, Elijah didn’t move a muscle. Then, suddenly, he began to acclimate. The adaptation took another day, during which he gradually filtered the awareness down to a minimum. It was still there, hovering at the edge of his consciousness and threatening to overwhelm him. However, he kept it at bay via sheer concentration.
It wasn’t pleasant, but he could do it.
Probably. So long as he didn’t lose his grip. Which didn’t seem all that likely. But he’d survived it once, and he could do it again, even if that definitely wasn’t his goal.
But what if he increased his Mind’s cultivation? Would that ease the burden? Or was that completely unrelated? He’d long since decided that the term didn’t really refer to his mental capacity. Instead, it seemed wholly focused on his ability to draw Ethera into his Soul. But it couldn’t hurt, could it?
So, sitting there, Elijah went back to his homemade Mind cultivation technique. When he first pulled against the ambient Ethera, he nearly lost control and let the awareness blanket his consciousness once again. However, he barely managed to maintain the partition he’d created to hold it in place. Still, it made things that much more difficult because he had to split his attention into two directions.
Gradually, he funneled more and more Ethera through his mind and into his Soul. It had nowhere to go, so it slowly seeped from his pores and dissipated back into the air, but Elijah kept going. In some ways, it felt like lifting weights with his mind. Each pull was like a bench press repetition, though with the added difficulty that came with maintaining the partition, it was probably more like doing so with one hand while drawing a portrait with another.
Or something like that.
In any case, Elijah didn’t have the mental capacity for metaphors. Instead, he focused his entire brain on the task at hand. And slowly, the depth of his pulls began to increase. Bit by bit, his capacity for input grew. However, as he worked, Elijah noticed an issue. The more Ethera he absorbed through his Mind, the flimsier the partition became. So, he had to spend almost as much concentration keeping it in place as he spent increasing his capacity.
It was as if, for every step forward, he took two steps back.
So, after a while, he started shifting some of the Ethera into the partition. It seemed counterintuitive, and Elijah had no real idea what he was doing. Instead, he was just going by instinct. Fortunately, it seemed like that was the last piece of the puzzle, and only an hour later, the Ethera took on a mind of its own. He barely even had to focus, and a river of Ethera flowed into his Mind.
Wider and wider, the aperture of his Mind grew until, at last, something shifted, and the flow stemmed down to a trickle, leaving placidity in its wake. It was only after a few minutes of that peace that he realized he had a new notification:
Congratulations! You have cultivated an Opal Mind!
“You did well,” came the rough, yet curiously high-pitched voice of the tree spirit, Nerthus. Elijah looked up from where he was sitting to see that the spirit had once again taken on its tiny humanoid form, but this time, it had descended from its customary tree branch to stand beside him. Only then did Elijah realize that it was resting a hand on his shoulder. Unknowable energy flowed from its touch; it felt like the natural Ethera he’d experienced when cultivating his Body of Wood, but it was far deeper and infinitely more powerful.
“What are you doing?” Elijah croaked, his throat raspy with thirst. “H-how long?”
“You have been cultivating for a week,” Nerthus replied. “Before that, you were lying here in the Grove for three days.”
“Ten days?” Elijah said. “I…how am I still alive?”
“I lent you some of my power,” the spirit responded. “After all, you are the protector of my Grove. Or you will be. The bond goes both ways.”
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That was news to Elijah. He’d just wanted to empower his spell so he could teleport around. But now, it seemed that he’d made some kind of pact with a nature spirit of indeterminate power. That didn’t seem like it was going to go so well, especially considering the disparity in Strength and Elijah’s admitted ignorance.
“What does that entail?” he asked. “And I thought you said that completing the Ancestral Circle would bind us together.”
“I may have stretched the truth. You must consent to the bond, lest I be expelled from your Ancestral Circle,” Nerthus stated, looking down on him with its wooden eyes. Its face was capable of movement, but only just, so the effect was akin to talking to a puppet. “But it benefits you in a number of ways. I will manage the Grove, empowering it to levels far beyond what it could reach naturally. And you will guard me against all external threats.”
“And this benefits me how?” Elijah asked.
Nerthus answered, “Cultivation beyond compare. You will advance faster and more easily than any of your contemporaries. In a year’s time, this Grove will be home to the densest nature-attuned Ethera on this planet. And that is just the beginning. I will also prevent any intrusions from the Voxx. No towers. No portals. You will have a safe place to call home.”
That certainly sounded good to Elijah, but he felt that his end of the bargain might prove more than a little difficult. After all, he wasn’t very strong; indeed, he wasn’t even on the power ladder, so he wasn’t sure exactly how well he could protect himself, much less the Grove.
Likely seeing that Elijah wasn’t convinced, Nerthus said, “I will also grow you a home. Yes – in a few months, you will have a home worthy of the dryads of Drathimar.”
Elijah had no idea where Drathimar was, but in mythology, dryads were nature spirits. Perhaps they were just another race of creatures similar to the dwarves, gnomes, and goblins he’d seen across the strait.
Still, he wasn’t convinced. So, he said, “I don’t know. This doesn’t –”
“Please,” Nerthus pleaded, more emotion than it’d thus far shown evident in its voice. “If you do not agree, I will be cast back to my home world. It is terrible there. No chance of advancement at all. That is why I chose to…”
Its voice petered out, and Elijah expected that it was because the System didn’t want Nerthus to say anything else.
“I’m not against it, okay?” he said. And it was true. The tree spirit had already helped him quite a bit, giving him as much information as it was allowed to give. And it had just kept him alive while he’d cultivated his Opal Mind. Couple that with how desperate it seemed, and Elijah really did want to help. He just wasn’t sure he could protect himself, much less the tree spirit or its Grove. He said as much, adding, “What am I supposed to do if something attacks? If one of those Voxx things comes out of the ocean, I’m done for. The only reason I survived last time was because of the panther that lives here. And even that was probably only because I’ve been feeding it.”
Nerthus cocked its head, saying, “Do not underestimate yourself. You have unlimited growth potential. You may be weak now, but in a month, you will be stronger. And a year, even more powerful. In a decade, you will have power incomprehensible to your current incarnation.”
“If I survive.”
“If you survive,” it agreed. “However, I feel obliged to point out that you have survived this long, have you not? You have Strength of heart, conviction, and willpower; those will take you much further than anything else.”
Elijah shook his head and looked around. It was a clear night, so the glade was well lit. However, he saw everything with far more acuity than he ever had before. Even in the light of day, his vision was never so sharp. Perhaps that was a result of his Mind cultivation.
“What about this…awareness?” Elijah asked, his thoughts barely brushing against the partitioned portion of his brain. Even that threatened to overwhelm him. “How do I deal with it?”
“Awareness?” the tree spirit asked. “Ah – it is called Locus. Or Presence, by some. It is your greatest asset, but it can be overbearing. I can guide you through learning to deal with it, though if you had asked me, I would have suggested that you partition your mind before the Grove’s completion instead of after. People have died from less.”
“I can believe it,” Elijah muttered. Then, he asked, “Will you be able to give me more information if I agree to be your protector?”
Nerthus answered, “A little. Not much, though. The System is very strict with what information is to be made freely available to newly integrated worlds. As time goes by, those restrictions will lift, but it will be years before I could reveal everything I know without dire consequences.”
Even a little more information would help, because ignorance seemed to be the biggest threat to Elijah’s survival. He’d managed to secure food, shelter, and water – the big three, as far as he was concerned – so basic necessities were covered. However, he would’ve died if it wasn’t for the tree spirit’s intervention, and all because he had no idea what he was doing when it came to the System and cultivation.
That alone was probably enough to make the choice for him, but it also came with other benefits. Like better cultivation and a home that would presumably improve upon his current situation.
And all it would take was for him to play security guard for a magic tree.
But wasn’t that kind of in the job description for a druid anyway?
He sighed, then said, “Okay. I’ll do it.”
The tree spirit managed to look relieved despite being unable to contort its face into an expression. It said, “Thank you. You will not regret this.”
Then, a new notification appeared before Elijah’s eyes. Instead of the unadorned boxes he normally saw, this one bore a golden border. It said:
Do you wish to become the Protector of the Grove, binding your fate to Nerthus, the ancestral tree spirit? This bond is irrevocable and unbreakable by normal means.
Elijah hesitated for only a moment before giving the notification his consent. And then…nothing happened.
“Uh…”
“Thank you!” exclaimed Nerthus. “You will not regret this! I can already see the home I will grow for you. You will be very pleased!”
Elijah couldn’t help but smile at the excited tree spirit. Still, he asked, “Is that it? I expected more.”
“The bond is more of a formality that lets me stay on this planet instead of being sent back home. The benefit to you is in the environment,” Nerthus said, regaining some of its composure. “You should notice an increase in ambient Ethera within a day or two, and I will begin growing your home soon enough.”
“I’m more interested in information for now,” Elijah said. “This Locus sense or whatever – how do I deal with it? It’s locked away for now, but you said it was important.”
“Indeed, indeed. It is not meant for the mind of such a low-level druid,” Nerthus said. Raising one wooden hand, it continued, “But that does not mean you cannot make it work. It merely requires practice.”
“Well, considering I’m stranded on a deserted island, I’ve got nothing but time,” Elijah said. “So, let’s get to it.”