Chapter Fourteen - Animation

The next hour flew by as Jade worked on bringing her cherry trees to life. Camille and Hunter chilled at the side to play with their bonded, given that she’d learned a new trick with her domain. Instead of making an equal sized black hole of darkness around her when she absorbed the sunlight, she realized she could extend it much like her bubble of awareness. She left in front of her clear so she could see what she was working on, but the shroud expanded in all other directions to make up for the power she was using as she sucked in the energy.

Despite knowing the darkness was harmless, she could imagine that being inside it would be unnerving, so she didn’t blame them for chilling on the grass. Instead, she used the blood liberally as a second battery to help keep her costs down, creating an entire rainbow of cherry trees that showcased all the elements. She manually tweaked a few to get the last, rarer elements without using blood as a base. Her own magic was sufficient fodder as long as she pumped it in.

She had a couple favorites, like the bright purple and teal tree that she made with her spatial and gravity magic. She might also have done a few variants that she thought would be helpful for her upcoming alchemy lesson. Mixing the pearly white of special, the silver of time magic, and the gold of creation with the pale green of spiritual magic made lovely trees that shimmered in the light, and she collected plenty of branches, leaves, and flowers from them on the off chance she could make a tea or something that would help. If direct magic didn’t work, she’d try slowly nurturing it with whatever materials she could make.

This was also an easy way to get more material without the taboo of collecting from the funeral woods, and she casually collected some of everything she made for further experimentation. You never knew what would come in handy!

Once she had the full spectrum of magical trees, she pulled out her poor peach tree. It looked a bit bedraggled as she removed it from her temporary pot and transplanted it into the enclosure, stimulating it to grow far larger and regain its lost luster. And if she grew about a couple hundred peaches to put in her ring, well, who was to stop her? To that end, she also went and made a bunch of the cherries mature from each tree, because again, magical food was awesome and she couldn’t wait to taste it.

As long as she didn’t think about the blood. She just had to remember it was like cooking with alcohol. It got burned off in the process. Besides, everything she’d already been eating was basically grown the same way, only probably with a lot less magic pumped into it.

Taking a small break, she pulled out three cherries from each tree and a peach that she cut into slices, plating them as she dropped her energy vamp and rejoined the royals. “Here, try these.” She didn’t think it would ruin their appetite, and they still had an hour before lunch so a snack wouldn’t hurt.

Looking at the rainbow of variety, Camille asked hesitantly, “Are you sure these can all be eaten?”

Jade studied them, noting that a good chunk looked more than a little unnatural with their vivid colors. Shrugging, she selected one of her time and spiritual variants and popped it into her mouth, using magic to keep watch over her spirit like a hawk to see if anything happened. To her disappointment, she didn’t notice any immediate effects, so she opened her eyes again and casually explained, “They’re just pumped full of different kinds of magic. They should be fine, but no worries if you don’t want to try them.” It was yummy and packed full of energy, but that was all.

Hunter seemed to hold no reservations as he eagerly reached for several that were red and brown first. He groaned in ecstasy as she watched him, mana sense active to make sure nothing bad happened.

Was she treating him as a test subject? Maybe. Wasn’t the first time today. To be fair, she had tried one of them first. Casually, she picked up another as she continued to monitor him, just in case. It was one of the regular ones, and to be fair, it didn’t taste quite as sweet to her, but it was still chock full of magic.

Camille was still skeptically watching her brother, which gave her mixed feelings. Her natural reaction was to be annoyed that she didn’t trust her, but at the same time…she was just casually experimenting with them so honestly, healthy skepticism wasn’t a bad thing.

After running out of earth and fire cherries, Hunter grabbed a blue tinted one, popping it into his mouth before immediately frowning. “Is something wrong?” Camille asked quickly, ready to grab her brother.

He almost choked as he laughed, then quickly swallowed and said, “No, it just doesn’t taste as good as the ones I was eating before.”

Thinking about it, Jade was reminded of a book she’d enjoyed, where they served different elemental fowl based on what day of the week it was, and how he got a lot more out of the days when it matched his affinities. How it just tasted better to him.

Poking the same cherries on Camille’s plate, Jade said, “Actually, I have a theory about that. Cami, I’m pretty sure if you eat the exact same ones he did, you’ll have the opposite reaction.” Everything tasted the same to her because she had access to the whole gamut of magic. Thinking, she said, “Well, okay. You’ll probably also like the earth ones, but the fire ones won’t taste great to you.” Water and fire were still opposites, after all.

It was like the lightbulb went on. “Oh, they taste better according to what magic we have?”

Nodding, Jade agreed, “That’s what I think, at least. I can’t really tell a difference, but I’ve got everything, so…”

And that was apparently all the push the girl needed, popping a blue cherry into her mouth. She closed her eyes in bliss, a far more graceful appreciation and one that wouldn’t cause unnecessary mishaps if they were accidentally overheard. She quickly reached for a fire one next, frowning before she quickly swallowed and nodded instead of savoring it like she had the last one. “You’re right. It’s really not as good if you don’t have the element.”

Well, that was one theory that actually checked out. Nice. “All right. Then I guess there’s no need to try all of them.” With a casual wave, she left only the ones with their affinities, which meant Hunter’s were all gone, save the portion of peach since he’d already eaten the few with earth and fire. Camille’s later start and a third affinity netted her more options.

Hunter looked a little sad at his snacks being redacted, but curiously picked up the peach section. “What’s this?”

Smiling, she introduced, “Oh, this is a fruit I replicated from my world. They’re called peaches. I didn’t make them with any specific affinity in mind, so they’re just pure energy.” A small shadow fell over her face as she thought about how the downward spiral of her interaction with the dragons started with the peaches, but quickly quashed it. The fruits were innocent.

Camille quickly abandoned the cherries to taste the peach, and she hummed softly in appreciation. “Oh, this is lovely.”

Grinning, Jade nodded and ate her own, enjoying the taste of home, except improved a thousand percent. “It was one of the few fruits I was regularly allowed to have, so it’s always been a favorite of mine.” Anything was better than the plain gruel she survived on most days, if they weren’t directly injecting nutrients into her system through the IV.

While she was enjoying her peach, Hunter had already finished his section and sneakily grabbed one of her earth cherries, popping it into his mouth before Camille noticed. Jade just grinned at his antics, because he rightfully didn’t try to touch her plate.

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Even though she didn’t like gold as a color in general, the creation cherries were noticeably sweeter than the rest. Glancing at the trees she’d created, she winced slightly. “I think…I’m going to need to upgrade the security here.”

Understanding visibly dawned on their faces, but Cami was the first to point out, “Yes, but also no. Aren’t the fellacai the best protectors?”

Jade smiled awkwardly. “Yes, but no. Not with the suppression magic they’ve built in. I’d need to modify that, and to be fair, I trust them, but keeping them here isn’t about me.” She paused, then quietly spoke the plain truth, “If I’m ever not around, it’s still better to have fail safes.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Hunter quickly cut in, his playfulness vanishing almost instantly.

She gave him a sad smile. “Look. I’m not trying to be fatalistic, but this world…is dangerous. I almost died multiple times in the last week. I can’t predict the future, and with this psychopathic Dark One targeting me…I dunno. I just feel like it’s better to be prepared for all the possibilities, including the one where I’m not around.”

Obviously they weren’t happy about it, but they didn’t have a good counter-argument. There really wasn’t one. It was common sense to be prepared for as many scenarios as possible. She looked around, noting that she’d accidentally grown the trees mostly around the perimeter. Mentally cataloging the meanings of different trees she could remember, she walked to the center of the enclosure.

She didn’t remember Ren teaching her about the tree she wanted, and maybe that was better. She figured growing it from scratch and implanting her desires onto it would have a better effect anyway. Probably. She hoped.

Sitting on the bare ground, she let her fingers sink into the dirt as she called on her magic and skills. She’d never really tried to incorporate a skill into her casting before, but she wanted to tap into the warding skill she’d folded into resistor, as well as her magic resistance. Then there was aura manipulation, disguise, and stealth from obscured. From merchant she pulled sense motive, intimidation, and persuasion.

She mentally coded all of them into the DNA of the oak tree she began growing as her pièce de résistance for the space. She wanted it to protect the place from those who had ill intentions, to disguise it into stealth mode so people thought it was pretty, but were persuaded against ill intentions. To disguise the aura of what was presented as being colorful, but completely normal so it wouldn’t attract monsters. That it would confuse any who entered with nefarious plans and send them packing. Shielded from scrying and resistant in general to the magic of others. That it would be a living sentinel and guardian of both the fellacai and the orchard.

It was that last thought that made something shift, and she felt a power she’d never used before taking the wheel, breathing life into her creation. The mana drained from her rapidly, sucking it from her as it took her intention and forcefully stole her energy to make it happen. It was like a whirlpool made a direct connection and was siphoning everything she had without a stop button.

Desperately, she reached for the light and pulled out a fresh barrel of smoothie with a straw, trying to replenish herself as her reserves approached dangerously low. Back and forth, she fought a silent battle, and she was pretty sure her nose was bleeding as the copper tang invaded her senses. She was starting to lose the fight when she felt the brush of a leaf against her face, acting like a tissue to mop up the blood she was losing.

And then finally, it stopped, snapping into place. She frantically kept pulling at the light, feeling weak as she nearly fell back…only something was supporting her. Wood. Or rather, roots.

Once she was back to about a quarter full in her magical tank, she dropped the absorption, wanting to get a good look at whatever she’d just done.

As light flooded back into place, she blinked, noticing there was a branch that had stooped low and the leaves were stained with her blood, which was quickly vanishing as she was replaced with an awareness. Her body was cradled by roots that rustled around her as if testing their limits, branches swaying in a nonexistent breeze as they tasted the air.

“Jade?” Camille’s voice was half hesitant, half terrified as she saw the two royals inching towards the door.

Patting the root, she said softly, “Stop scaring them, they’re friends.” The intimidating aura she realized she could feel directed at the royals vanished, replaced by a welcoming curiosity. And that’s when it hit her.

She’d just created a sentient tree.

But how? Flipping through her skill sheet quickly, she pulled up her profile, but it didn’t take her long to find it. Because there it was, sitting at the very top of her skill sheet.

Animation Magic

Beginner 7

85%

It seemed she’d finally figured out what that copper magic she’d seen shimmering at the edge of her aura was, because as she activated mana sense, the living tree in front of her shone with it.

“What…what’s going on?” The princess’ voice was still shaky as she slowly moved forward, staring unabashedly at the tree and nearly jumping a foot when the branches acted more like vines as they beckoned the royals eagerly. Meanwhile, they also helped her stand up as she kept a hand on the trunk that radiated happiness towards her.

Blinking, she answered, “I uh…I think I played god? And uh. This tree is alive now. Not like, living like all normal trees are. But it’s sentient. So you know, it should at least protect this place?” She offered an awkward smile, trying to make it sound less crazy than it was.

Hunter breathed out softly, “You created a machran? I thought they were just legends.”

Blinking at the unfamiliar term, she shrugged. “I uh, don’t know. Is that what this is?” It wasn’t a dryad, but she could absolutely see the similarities to what was described in books. At least that meant she didn’t have to name it.

Camille nodded, still staring at the tree in awe. They’d drawn close enough now that it sent a branch down to greet them, and she placed her hand on the leaves, closing her eyes as she seemed to feel the intent of the tree. It felt like she was communing with it before she opened her eyes again and stated confidently, “Yes, it’s absolutely a machran. This is incredible.” She gave Jade a wry smile, “Although it means we should definitely not let anyone else in here without you, because I’m fairly sure it will be hostile unless you introduce people personally.”

Jade nodded, because she could feel the same thing. To be fair, that’s basically what she created it to do. She could feel a tenuous bond to it, too. It wasn’t like her fellacai in that it was a permanent companion, but it was connected to her.

Tapping into that mental line, she sent an image of handlers coming to feed the fellacai, and people coming to look from the other side of the glass. How it should restrain itself around them so as to not draw attention. She could feel a sense of sadness, so she backtracked a little and promised that she would let the handler spend time with it.

Seeming to accept the compromise, it sent a query to ask if she would visit. “I’ll do my best.” She promised softly, not wanting to abandon her accidental child. She’d imprinted enough of her magic onto it that it didn’t quite feel like a newborn, but it was still a child processing everything that was new and exciting. She silently reminded it that the fellacai were also there, and it seemed excited as it realized it had thousands of companions, even if right now they were being a bit cautious still.

Smiling, she patted the bark again as she spoke aloud, “We should give you a name. How do you feel about Oakley?” Okay, so she might not have the best naming sense, but it was possible this was the only oak tree on the planet, and quite likely the only living one. That was a little depressing, and she was already considering making it a friend. It would have to be later though, because she was still pretty tapped out.

Regardless, the tree seemed excited about the name, happily waving its branches, and its existence seemed to become sharper, more pronounced. She probably wouldn’t have noticed if not for the double whammy of their bond and her domain.

Trying to put aside the implications of that, she absently gathered the empty barrel back into her ring, ignoring that she’d somehow emptied it and still felt like she could eat a horse.

“Does Oakley mean something special?” Hunter asked curiously.

Laughing softly, she could feel the query from the tree as well. “Sort of. Oak is the type of tree I grew, and from what I remember, Oakley means sturdy or strong.” Good thing she’d spent so long on baby name websites. She’d always thought the etymology of names was fascinating, especially across cultures.

She could feel the pride radiating off Oakley and couldn’t help but pat it again. Still, she reached out again, trying to convey once more that when others were present who she hadn’t introduced, it was best to pretend to be a normal tree unless they had bad intentions. There was also the added factor of stealth and being more effective if they weren’t expecting him to protect the place. She knew Oakley could feel their intent…because she’d built it into their core code.

Man. She didn’t want to think about it. Was Oakley like some sort of AI golem or had the magic made them so much more? Either way it was crazy. A sentient tree. At least she hadn’t made them a mad willow who whomped people indiscriminately.

With her constant warnings, Oakley radiated understanding and gave her a promise it would be like the other friends she grew here. She chose not to address that little nugget of knowledge.

And then Oakley’s animated stirrings went still as she registered the door to the enclosure opening.