Len followed Rick through the doorway, immediately noticing the stark difference in this tree's interior. Gone were the graceful curves and natural flow of the other spaces. Here, clean geometric lines dominated the walls, covered in detailed diagrams and illustrations.

His translation spell revealed combat stances and weapon forms. He got to see his first image of the people who lived here.

The figures were humanoid, with larger eyes, a flat nose and wider mouth.

"Guessing this is a barracks or training area," Rick said.

The diagrams demonstrated precise movements with staffs, spears and bows.

The skills progressed as they went higher. Showing the use of mana entering into the fight. Going from different kinds of weapons to different kinds of combat, physical and magical.

Wooden practice dummies lined one wall, their surfaces marked with target points corresponding to vital areas. Many showed signs of repeated strikes, deep gouges and splintered sections speaking to countless hours of training.

Rick moved ahead, his boots silent on the polished wooden floor. The space opened into what could only be an armory, though unlike any Len had seen before. Instead of metal weapon racks and armor stands, the equipment seemed to emerge organically from the walls and floor.

Living wood curved and spiraled into holders containing staffs of various lengths. Spears with crystalline heads Bows hung in graceful arcs.

Racks of leather armor reinforced with overlapping wooden scales filled another section. Each piece showed the same integration of natural materials with careful magical enhancement that seemed to be this group's hallmark.

"Magical armor and weapons, this is going to help the Isendia mercenaries a great deal," Rick said.

Len ran his fingers along one of the wooden staves. The surface felt alive under his touch, responding to his mana with a subtle vibration. He picked it up, testing its weight and balance.

"Look at the grain pattern," he said. "It's not carved - these were grown into shape."

Rick nodded, examining a spear. "The wood's still living. Bet these get stronger the more you use them, like training a plant to grow a certain way."

Len's domain warped in the armory.

He channeled a small amount of mana into the staff. The wood absorbed it smoothly. He attempted a simple light spell, but the magic was being hampered, taking a lot more mana before it could properly form.

"They disrupt spellcasting," he said. "Not completely blocking it, but making it harder to control. That would be incredibly useful against dungeon creatures that rely on magic."

He tested a few more weapons, finding similar properties in all of them. The bows particularly interested him - their draw weight adjusted slightly with each pull, adapting to the user's strength.

"That'll be damn useful as people increase in strength," He put the weapon down.

Rick pulled a cloak from a hook on the wall. Leaves rustled softly as the garment moved, despite the still air. "Look at this craftsmanship. Be hard to see you in the trees with this."

In alcoves along the walls, sets of armor stood like hibernating guardians. The bark plates flexed as Len ran his hand across them, responding to his presence. Unlike rigid metal armor, these pieces seemed almost alive.

"The armor messes with mana too," Rick said, holding up a chest piece. "Wearing this would make it much harder for something to land a spell on you."

Around the neck of each armor set hung wooden amulets on vine cords. Len lifted one, feeling the stored magic within. A nearby plant shifted slightly in response.

"They control plants," he explained to Rick. "Also feels like my mana's not being impeded. Guess it bypasses the disruption of the rest of the armor and gear."

Scattered throughout the room, they found small carved tokens depicting various forest creatures and trees. Each one bore careful details - a fox mid-leap, an oak spreading its branches, a deer raising its head in alert.

"Seen a lot of these throughout the homes," Rick said.

"Not magical," Len said.

"Gifts, tokens?" Rick said.

Len turned them over and read the back.

"Meant to exemplify other's gifts and offer protection," Len said, turning a bear token over in his hand. "Made by close friends or family members. If anyone was to get them it would be those that put their lives on the line.

"Better than what we got on," Rick said.

Len shrugged off his old gear, setting it carefully aside. The living armor responded to his touch as he lifted the chest piece and pulled it on over his shirt. Once the straps were connected it wrapped around his body, adjusting and flexing until it fit perfectly. The sensation was strange - like wearing a second skin rather than rigid protection.

"This is lighter than I expected," he said, testing his range of motion.

The wooden scales shifted smoothly as he moved, allowing complete freedom while maintaining solid coverage. He pulled on the cloak next, feeling the leaves rustle against his shoulders. When he tugged the drawstring, the garment gathered neatly at his back, out of the way but ready to deploy in an instant.

Rick fastened the last of his belt pouches over his new armor. "How's your mana flow?"

Len channeled power through his core, preparing a simple light spell. The magic formed easily, unhampered by the armor's usual disruption effect. He created a complex enchantment blueprint, watching the energy weave exactly as intended.

"Working perfectly. The amulet must create a channel through the disruption field." He touched the wooden pendant at his throat. "Try yours."

Rick's hand glowed briefly with gathered mana. "Same here. All spells functioning normally."

They transferred their weapons and supplies to the new gear's various attachment points. Everything integrated seamlessly - clearly designed for practical combat use rather than just ceremonial display. The armor moved with them rather than against them, enhancing rather than restricting.

Len adjusted his sword belt, finding the perfect balance point. The armor adapted slightly, compensating for the weight distribution. He drew and resheathed the blade several times, pleased with how naturally the movement flowed.

Len picked up his old armor vest and threw it over the living armor. Never hurts to have another layer of protection.

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He kept his metal bracers on his knees and legs and strapped a bow and a quiver of arrows to different sides of his pack, leaving them easy to draw out if the need arose.

He checked his belt and pouches once more, recognizing the placement of the different items by feel alone.

"Ready?" Rick asked, already heading for the doorway.

"Ready." Len followed, wearing his 'flicker boots' that were silent on the wooden floor. He shifted the armor around. Damn that feels good.

***

Len entered the final structure, immediately struck by the different atmosphere. Unlike the practical training areas and living spaces they'd explored, this room felt like stepping into a story. Carved reliefs covered the walls in flowing scenes, telling tales through images and text.

His eyes darted around, trying to find a starting point.

"Guess they were called the Sylvani," Rick said. "Not sure if I'm pronouncing that right."

He pointed at a section he'd read.

Len read around it. "They came to this place to learn about the forest and deepen their knowledge. The village was seen as a place for those that wanted to increase their connection with nature to retreat to."

"Learned the ways of the forest, magic to manipulate trees, magic to work in tandem with nature," Rick said.

They moved through the space, stairs leading upwards, the walls carved throughout, dense with information.

"This place tells their history," Len said.

"They were doing all well, they'd been working on growing trees that were able to alter the function of mana," Rick squinted at what he was reading.

Len looked over, getting drawn in. "That's, wow that's complex."

"What am I looking at?" Rick asked.

"They turned the trees themselves into enchantments. They altered the mana channels that ran through them turning the whole tree into a continuous enchantment?" Len read further. "That's what they did with the renewal tree and what they were doing with the other trees in that one building."

"So mana goes into the tree and then the tree creates an effect based on the way it was grown?" Rick asked.

"Hit it in one. So they had trees that would regulate the temperature, heal people, others that would aid the other plants in the area in growing. Looks like that was one of the things that they sold the most to others. Huh."

Len moved along the wall. "They grew out our armor and weapons too."

"Because of course you can grow weapons and armor, these people are wild," Rick chuckled.

"I think that they took all their armor and weapons with them. What we're wearing is actually freshly grown from the tree," Len said.

"What?" Rick read the section as well. "This says that they were able to grow all kinds of things. So they were growing all of the stuff that we saw in the different buildings. It just keeps on replenishing even if there is no one here."

"Guess we just found a source of armor that will keep on making it over time," Len said.

"Grandma is going to love this place," Rick muttered.

"We should remove the other sets from their alcoves and see if that starts the process of growing more sets of armor and gear," Len said.

"Alright," Rick said.

"Looks like we're getting to what made them leave," Len pointed at a section of the wall.

New figures appeared in the carvings - hostile forces pushing in from outside the forest. The Sylvani retreated higher into the canopy, fortifying their homes.

"Mana mutated creatures," Len said, noting the deformed beasts.

"Started to corrupt the trees," Rick said.

The next series of panels showed the Sylvani's desperate attempts to defend their home. They created new types of guardian creatures, enhanced their weapons, but the corruption kept spreading.

Then a tree was planted and under its branches corruption was removed and creatures returned to normal.

"They came up with the renewal tree and it worked," Len said. "Then they headed off on an expedition to find the corruption and cure it. They sent the families away somewhere safe."

"And never came back. It must have been decades or centuries for the spell to corrupt and then shift the entire space here to create a dungeon," Rick said.

Len touched the unmarked wall that was supposed to tell the tale of their return.

He let out a sigh, wondering what happened to them. "Well now we have their information to work from. Won't let it go to waste."

"No," Rick agreed.

"It said that things will regrow with time and mana. Thinking that we should check on where we took the armor and weapons from, see if its growing more gear," Len said.

"That would be awesome."

***

Len pulled the last set of armor from its alcove, carefully setting it with the growing pile. The living wood seemed to hum against his fingers, still responsive even separated from its growing space.

"Len! Come look at this." Rick called out.

Len exited the room, there were already growths starting int he alcoves he and Rick had taken their armor from.

He found Rick studying a curved hollow with his fingers. "There's some kind of receptacle here. I injected some mana into it and it sucked it right up."

Len pressed his finger into the space and injected mana. It sucked it all in hungrily.

"Some kind of mana receptacle?"

"Here try this," Rick handed him a mana piece.

"Len put the pale blue crystal, into the depression. The crystal melted into a liquid and sunk into the depression. The wood around it began to glow with a soft blue light that spread through the grain patterns in the wall.

Len ran for the armory and looked inside.

The empty alcoves stirred with new growth. Tiny buds emerged from the wood, unfurling into leaves and spreading into branches that curved and wove together. The process that must have normally taken days or weeks accelerated under the influence of the stored mana.

"Well that's something," Len said, watching as new armor pieces began taking shape.

The returned back to the receptacle, there was no sign of the mana piece anymore.

"Try a core?" Rick asked, pulling one out.

"Sure," Len said.

Rick put it in and the core dissolved like the mana piece had. A trip to the armory showed production has accelerated.

"If we feed cores and mana pieces into those receptacles, we could just keep producing weapons and armor," Rick said.

"Its slow," Len said.

"Have it handed out to those who are going on expedition. It resizes to them anyway," Rick said.

"Fair, the meat of the dungeon beasts has probably spoiled already. You take the formation I made already, I'll rough up a second one and we can leave those going to condense the bodies into mana pieces and cores, feed that into the tree to keep up production and the extra we use to speed up our cultivation," Len said.

"And that big tree at the center?" Rick asked. "Still haven't gotten a good look at it."

"That'll need careful examination." Len gathered his tools. "The carvings mentioned it was important to their whole setup here. Kept the corruption out."

They hadn't stayed long in the area once the dungeon was clear. Being close to the site of their friend's death would've worn on the squad.

***

Len pressed the formation marker into the ground. The Stalker corpses had already begun breaking down, their experience flowing into the main enchantment condensed into mana pieces.

"Between this and where we fought the thornback beasts and that giant should get a good haul of mana pieces and cores," Len said, standing up and brushing dirt from his knees.

Rick was digging through a cache that was hidden between the roots of a tree.

"With the three dungeons in the area might be an idea for us to start getting Warwick under us."

"Could be a good idea, what you find in there?" Len asked.

"Lots of food rations, some ammunition, potions. You got all your potions?"

"No," Len fingered a few empty loops.

"Fill on up, might as well put it to use." Rick held up potion vials. The glass was hardened amber.

Len took them and slipped them into his gear, then crouched down and gathered more potions.

"First time we've been able to actually resupply on potions," Len read the engraved vials, stamina, health and mana potions he slid away, making sure they were protected, easy to draw out and he knew which ones they were by feel.

Rick's own pouches were organized the same so they could use one another's supplies knowing exactly what they were.

Rick offered him an opened bag. Len looked inside finding nuts and berries.

"Won't kill you I don't think," Rick said around a mouthful.

Len took a handful and ate it, nodding in appreciation. Not bad day rations at all.

"Central chamber?" Len asked, standing once more.

"Sure thing." Rick rolled up the bag and put it into a pocket. They headed off deeper into the dungeon.