Chapter 13: History and politics

“Stalemates,” he muses to himself. “Where should I start…”

I hop towards the branch he’s sitting on and take place behind him. I look at the jagged pieces of wood that stick out of his back as if he is a porcupine. And he called them splinters…

I grab onto the largest one that sticks out of his cape, and I pull it out with a single motion.

His musings are cut off by a painful, strangled growl.

I hold the spike of wood in my hand. You can see how deep it was embedded in his body by the blood sticking to it. I stare in disbelief, looking at it. How could he have run back to his tree? I’m no medic but these should have punctured his lungs.

Another spike of wood is pulled out of his back, forcing him to speak up, “Do you remember the nations around Luxia?” he asks.

I take a bit to form an answer in my mind, “Uh. Something about a Plateau, some mountains and a dragonfly?”

Sairal sighs at my answer, “In short, To the north are Siruna’s mountains. That is just rough terrain. To the east, there is Zulis, a human city-state. To lie the south the wetlands and the purple bog. And finally, to the west lies the Plateau; a human kingdom.”

I motion for him to continue by pulling out another spike, “Most, if not all groups and nations in this world are stalemated. They are stuck; restricted by each other. Arg!” I pull out a splinter and get rewarded by a spurt of blood through his cape. He takes in a ragged breath, “Like all of them, Luxia is stalemated too. We have reached an equilibrium with the three main forces around us. First the World below. That is something everyone needs to deal with by the way. The other two are more difficult. They-”

I pull out another splinter, this one close to his neck. Honestly, how can he still be alive?

He hisses in pain and gives me the stink eye. “Almost done with all the bigger ones,” I comment, only slightly wincing as his cape begins to get matted with blood.

Sairal shakes his head in defeat and continues, “The other two stronger forces we need to keep at bay are Zulis and the Plateau.”

“What does this have to do with the beavers?” I ask, not getting the point.

He pulls out the strange red orb he picked up at the dam, and gives me time to inspect it.

Fortress beaver heart (D)

“It doesn’t tell me much,” I say disappointed.

“You need to level your skills more. Very well, this heart attracts beavers and when they eat it they gain experience without having to fight. That is why there were two (E) grades.”

I stop pulling splinters out of his back. Two (E) grades?

“I’m almost certain that the Plateau planted it along with some beavers. They built a dam all according to plan. Then the Weatherman spent weeks channelling a rainstorm. Zulis helped them by sending out a fire mage to break the dam and causing this part of the outer forest to flood and weaken us.”

I try to wrap my head around it all. This all just seems so unreal. “Why though? This seems like a lot to do just to weaken a forest.”

His head turns around and he eyes me, “You don’t understand how valuable territory is.” He shakes his head but doesn’t elaborate further. “Anyway, I haven’t told you this but a large Zuzillian army has entered a bit north from here a few days ago. This flooding will give them an opening.”

“But that isn’t enough to take the forest down,” I comment as I begin to work on the smaller splinters.

“Indeed. The King and Queen can handle such things. But you need to understand that the spell the Weatherman cast leaves a lot of residual mana that will wreak havoc throughout the forest. It might even be bad enough to draw more attention from the pests. Besides, this is only the opening salvo. Now that the Plateau and Zulis are working together, the future seems to be grim,” the dryad says.

Fuck.

“Will Zulis send more troops this way?” I ask.

“Unlikely. They barely have a functioning teleporter a good hundred kilometres away from the forest. From what I know, it can’t even teleport (D) grades,” he gives me a glare as I pull out another splinter, this one also close to his neck.

Wait huh? I turn towards him, “Isn’t a hundred kilometres away a lot?”

He pauses and fully turns around, his eyes looking away from me. “I might have forgotten to tell you about something important,” he says shily.

I fold my arms over each other.

He scratches the back of his head, “In your world, it might be, but here? How far away do you think that Zulis is?”

I shrug, “Not that far away because else more humans will be here.”

He gives me a faint smile, “Correct but ‘not that far away’ in this world is around 1600 kilometres.”

My mouth falls open as he continues, “You see, this world is a bit larger than your entire universe.”

I shake my head, “That can’t be or else the gravity will be far too strong to survive. Besides, don’t you know how big the universe is? It’s endless.”

This time it is Sairal’s turn to shake his head, “The universe isn’t as big as you think. According to some information I came across a long while ago, the lesser universes only have a single galaxy. The others are painted on the Illusory walls, seeming to exist thanks to the Illusory wind.”

“You still imply that this world is as large as an entire galaxy, don’t you understand how big that is?”

He shrugs, “I do, but when it is easier to travel, does that even matter? When people can conjure up storms that cause floods over large areas what does more space even mean? When there are beings alive in this world who can travel dozens of kilometres with a single step. And don’t forget how an area is destroyed when higher grades fight, is it really that weird that this world is larger?” he unfolds the moss around the tree, revealing the flooded forest around us.

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Water steadily flows past the few trees that remain standing out here. “The Weatherman created this storm with possibly some extra help. Which grade do you think he is?”

I frown, “I don’t know. I don’t even know how high the grades go…” I look back at the ebbing flow of water. This all was caused by a single person with some help, “He has to be strong, really strong. Maybe (A) grade or so? Maybe even higher.”

Sairal snorts, “If an (A) grade attacks this forest, not a single tree will be standing. All will be turned to dust with a single attack. No, the Weatherman is peak (D) grade. But it has to be mentioned that he is specialised and therefore far stronger in some areas and weaker in others.”

My frown deepens, “And how do you know all this?”

Sairal smirks, “Information is a power the weak hold over the strong. With the right preparation and the perfect tools, even the mightiest can be defeated up to a certain point. I’m no fool, Green. You might look up to me but in the grand scheme of things I’m worth almost nothing.” He sighs, “Even in this forest I’m worth barely anything.”

I finish pulling out the last of the splinters. I reach for the smaller ones but he waves me away, “Don’t bother. My Constitution is high enough for it to take care of it.”

I go over the gaps in the information I have. Right now, I can milk him for anything. I feel like I’m taking advantage of him as he seems to be a bit out of it, but then again, just like he said; Information is also power.

“Mind telling me more about the forest? I want to know a bit more about my home and all. Like what lays inside or is it all just like this?” I wave my hand around motioning around us.

Sairal chuckles again and pulls a knife out of his pocket space and begins carving the beaver heart into pieces, “All like this? Green, I barely know anything about the human universe since the information about it is more than scarce, but you still don’t understand the scale we are working with. Luxia alone must be the size of one of the largest nations on your planet.”

I find myself rolling my eyes, “How far away is the other side of the forest from here?”

He moves towards one of the (G) grade mushroom guardians and taps its back. The pale flesh of the monster pulls away at its heart. Sairal lays one of the pieces of beaver Heart in the hole and lets it form back up.

“I don’t know that,” he says which takes me by surprise. Usually, he knows it all, “What I do know is that the border where the Plateau meets the forest is 1300 kilometres from the capital.”

“The forest has a capital?”

He sighs as he puts another piece into the other (G) grade, “Green, you have only seen the very outskirts of the forest, let alone the inner and central forest.” I motion for him to elaborate, “Fine. There isn’t much to do besides waiting the aftereffects of the storm out. The outskirts is the smallest part of the forest where the King's power is almost non-existent. The closer you get to the centre, the more it becomes like a real forest; endless trees with thick underbrush where monsters fight in a delicate balance watched over by the dryads and forest dwellers.

“The inner forest is much like that, though the terrain is far more uneven having small hills and plenty of caves. The mana is far thicker there allowing it to have a strong, varied ecosystem unlike the few species of monsters that roam out here. Most of them are dead now anyway so…” he trails off with a sad look on his face.

“Anyway, the central forest is where the King and Queen reside. It might as well be another world compared to this. Trees there are just larger and more. Everything is more there. Even the air is more…breathable,” he reminisces?

I hang on to every word. This sounds like a story but here is all is real. What draws my attention most is that this forest has two rulers. Earlier Sairal said something about dryads and politics. So in the most delicate way, I can say, I ask about it, “The forest has a King and Queen? How strong are they?”

Sairal turns to me and gives me a knowing look, “The King is peak (B) grade. The queen is peak (C) grade. And before you can ask me how I know this, this is common knowledge amongst the dryads. We all like to gossip through our trees and roots.”

“Why is everyone ‘peak’ at a grade? What does that mean?” I ask.

“Simply that they have reached the highest level for their possible grade.”

“Why don’t they evolve?”

He looks away, “That is a story for another time.” He deflects.

An uncomfortable silence falls over us.

“The rarity of my evolution was Epic,” I say with all the force of a wrecking ball.

Sairal seems to have focused on looking at system windows as he continues to talk, “That’s pretty good for a second-lifer. But next time you should level your skills more before you evolve.”

“That’s pretty good for a second-lifer?” I repeat the words. Nothing I have is Epic rarity so how can it only be ‘pretty good’?

“Second-lifers that have reincarnated as a monster always deviate from standard instincts. Because of that they rack up far more feats and will unlock better evolutions. That is also why most of the Greater races fear you all and actively put bounties on your kind.”

“Greater races? Is that something else that you forgot to tell me about?” I fold my arms over each other.

“Yes and no. They aren’t as important as other things for you. Only know that most will kill you. But as long as you stay in the forest, you won’t meet any of the greater races. Except for humans.”

“So humans belong to the Greater races?”

“Yes and now be quiet. I need to recover my resources. I don’t have the power to protect us from anything that might happen and my head is killing me. Besides this is not important compared to how skills work and all. Maybe you should look through the skill list?” he deflects.

I open the newest menu and find that there are new notifications.

*Congratulations. Thanks to your feats you can now gain the skill Climbing (O).

*Congratulations. Thanks to your feats you can now gain the skill Claw Slash (B).

*Congratulations. Thanks to your feats you can now gain the skill Swimming (O).

*Congratulations. Thanks to your feats you can now gain the skill Social Flair (O).

*Congratulations. Thanks to your feats you can now gain the skill Aid (B).

That is new. (O) as a rarity?

I poke Sairal until he lets out an annoyed groan and decides to elaborate on rarities, "I forgot how little second-lifers know about how the system works. Fine, the rarities I know are from low to high: Ordinary, Basic, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Elite, Epic and Legendary. Everything that is rated as Ordinary is not worth picking up. They take too long to improve and often aren’t worth the hassle."

I look at the skills that I have access to, and all of them with (O) are trash?

But more importantly, "Are there rarities beyond Legendary?"

Sairal doesn't respond. I poke him a few more times to get an answer, "There are but I don’t know them.”

So I can pick skills now, "Should I just choose everything and fill my skills slots? Can I discard skills?"

The dryad gives up and pushes himself from the branch, sitting up again. "Fine," he says, "You can discard skills but only if you have filled all your skill slots. Some people pick a lot of skills but I find it to be unwise and too distracting. In my opinion, it is better to have a few high-level skills instead of having lots of low-level ones. High-level skills also unlock better evolution. And discarding a skill gives a killer headache or worse if it is a body enhancement skill."

I look at the skills I have unlocked at this moment. Some of them are a bit less useful than others. Do I have anything that will help me fight on that list?

I focus on the skill called Claw Slash for it to display a description.

Claw Slash (B): Infuse your claws with stamina, creating a fierce slash that wounds more than normal. Expending more stamina increased the damage delivered.

I shrug and pick the skill. The number of my occupied skill slots ticks down as the skill appears in my overview. Like I expected it starts off as level one and has a cap of 20.

With more poking and prodding Sairal explains more about the system and skills. A few topics he doesn't bother to elaborate on, claiming that they are not important for my current grade.

The day passes like that and the water already begins to recede.

I find myself telling him about my new skill and how I tried to use it.

Sairal just shakes his head, "You are using it wrong. If you want to make weapons you need to get a skill for that. Besides, it's best for you to stay close to using your root manipulation and all. It seems to be the core of your path. You can still shy away from it, but your next evolution won't be that good if you do that."

Soon enough we both fall silent and tiredness sets in. I find myself falling asleep before the sun sets on one of the branches of his tree. A blurry thought of safety passes through my mind but it is quickly discarded as I look at the dozens of mushroom guardians that also laze on the upper branches. This is safe enough, I think as I fall asleep.