Chapter 14: Goodbye

I got to know Sairal a bit more as we wait for the water level to descend, which it has been doing relatively quickly. I’m quite lucky that I spawned before this. After that tsunami, there wouldn’t have been anything to kill.

There isn’t much to do up here in Sairal’s tree. I can’t test out my new skill, afraid that I damage his tree. All I can do is catch the few rays of sunlight that hit the branches in the morning and the evening which has netted me two levels in Photosynthesis, bringing the skill to level 6.

Besides that, I practised with Roots of Nature a bit. But since the skill is so new, and I want to be careful with it, I haven’t gained any levels. Once I’m more confident and have a bigger Stamina pool to undo bad changes, I’ll take a dive into the deep.

The only other thing that happened is that I manage to squeeze some more information out of Sairal in the past few days. Most of my questions focused on Zulis since it’s the closest threat. Everything I found is a bit disturbing, to say the least.

I know that everything here is scaled up in this world, and yet it’s weird to find out that the total population of Zulis is over 500 million. And according to Sairal, it is only a small city-state compared to the others that lay in the east. All these city-states together form some sort of kingdom or nation called the United Human Federation.

I keep firing questions throughout the day, slowly watching the water recede further until Sairal, who has been lazing against the tree's trunk, fully jolts awake by something.

I turn towards him as he rakes a hand through his hair while having a salty look on his face, “I’ve been summoned by the High Courts of Luxia,” he says with bitterness.

“The High Courts?” I repeat, making him elaborate.

“It is one of the few official organs Luxia has. The Courts mainly consist of (D) grades. They follow the King’s and Queen’s orders and carry out other tasks. I need to visit them and give a report in person instead of through the roots,” he grimaces.

“Isn’t that bad?” I point out.

Sairal nods, “Very bad, but it might be worth it…” he trails off, a smirk growing on his face and nods, clearly conjuring up some plan. “They won’t hurt me. I’ve done nothing wrong, technically. This will mean that I will be gone for at least a week or two if not more,” he says.

“Will you be okay? They won’t be happy if everything you said is true,” I jump to another branch with more sunlight.

His grimace returns, “Oh, I certainly will be punished but don’t worry about that. Dryads never kill other dryads…directly.”

I let out a long sigh that is a mix between relief and fear as my leaves take in all the rays of sunlight they can get their hands on. “That doesn’t make me feel better,” I say.

“It’ll be fine. They can only do so much. You should worry about yourself. Remember the army that should be a bit north from here?” I nod at him to continue. “They vanished into thin air. The King’s reach is weak out here, but he should still sense something. Someone is using a strong artefact or an impressive skill. Yet another sight that war is on the horizon.”

“There are skills like that?” I ask. Sairal has been lecturing me on skills and the system, though everything is still a bit hazy and he has skimmed or skipped over some subjects.

“Everything can be a skill, Green. Everything.”

I wrap my head around it, “Even something like Death Glare?”

He chuckles, “There is certainly something like that. The skills the system offers are endless. And the skills we can make with Pursua’s hammer are unique. Who knows what you can smith with it in the higher grades,” he stares into empty space again, his eyes scrolling through something. He nods and turns back to me, “Anyway, I need to head out once the water has drained away. Can’t be more than another day. And you have important things to do.”

“Such as?” I ask, already feeling dread.

He notices my expression and gives a wry smile, “Nothing too dangerous. For now, you need just grow stronger and nip some upcoming threats in the buds. Now that all the monsters have either fled or died, this area is desolate. New, weeds and pests will try to grow in their place.”

I fold my arms over each other, “I won’t take on any wolf-blooded alligator I see, even if they are in the same grade as me.”

“I wasn’t talking about those. They are monsters with a high base strength. Only fight one if it is an entire grade below you and even then be careful,” he presses his finger on his lip, thinking. “You must have encountered some Segriad specked snails right?”

“Oh, the stupid snails. What about them?” I ask.

Sairal’s tone becomes serious, “Kill any you find. And I mean Kill. Every. Single. One. They start weak but gain more and more advantages as they grow. And if you somehow evolve before I return, you should find a cave that leads into the Depths, or rather, hold back the things that are trying to rise. Defending one of the small entrances to the forest should provide enough targets to level from.”

I take in the information. Those weak snails can become strong? I mean, their shells were resistant to my claws when I was in the same grade and even now I have to put in some effort to kill them.

I nod at Sairal. This forest, however long I’ve been here, feels like home. I don’t want it to get destroyed. Besides, killing threats preemptively sounds like a good way to survive.

“So, speaking of killing things. How did you manage to take on two (E) grades and dozens if not hundreds of lower-grade beavers at the same time? I don’t think I was able to take on several (I) grades in an open fight. I don’t think I can even do it now.”

Sure, I did take on three scorpions at once, but how I handled them was almost unfair.

The dryad nods approvingly at my question, “There lies a valuable lesson. You saw the ending of the fight right?” I nod for him to continue. He pulls out one of the vials he threw around in the fight.

Chokedeath spores (G)

A vial of special spores infused with nature magic. Once in contact with any non-nature-aligned creature, it will cause mushrooms to grow on them.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“You used these to make all the weaker beavers choke to death on mushrooms,” I state.

“Yeah. Preparation is key, Green. While having all your skills related to combat is an easy path to power, it often pays off to be able to produce some tools or items you can use. And to answer your question further, the difference in each grade grows the further you go. Not only does the maximum level increase, the stats gained per level for each creature can also vary drastically.”

“Are you strong for an (E) grade?” I ask.

Sairal shrugs, “Stat-wise? No. But all of my skills are far stronger than usual. And using the spores I craft gives me a good advantage.”

We keep talking about the best ways I can take care of some common threats in this part of the forest. But all too soon the night settles. Sairal also has grown occupied with going over his needed supplies. With him being a dryad he barely needs to eat, however, he needs far more water than any human.

I fall asleep and the next thing I know I’m being shaken awake by Sairal.

“The sun has risen above the horizon and most of the water is gone. I need to head out,” he straps his bow to his back and crams one more spear into his pocket space.

He jumps on the moss and I follow him, “If you ever are in danger, head towards my tree. I don’t have that many mushroom guardians left, but the few I do have should provide some help.”

Sairal has a grim look on his face as he heads out. Halfway towards the now much bigger lake, he stops, “Oh Green?”

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Don’t die.” Before I can reply he speeds out of hearing.

I watch him build up speed. Now that there are barely any trees standing, I watch him move over the horizon.

I let out another sigh. Lonely and busy days are up ahead. I too, move out of the clearing. It’s time to hunt snails and other threats.

***

The forest is truly desolate. No monsters, and almost no trees, there is only the wet, torn-up grass and the spare white cloud in the sky, as an after-effect of the Weatherman’s spell.

Who knows how far this area without monsters stretches? For all, I might know I need to travel far towards the north to find a few monsters to take down.

Defeated, I return to the abnormally large lake and decide to work on my skills first. It seems unlikely that monsters in (I) grade cap out their skills, even in (H) grade it seems to be quite a feat. And I don’t believe for a second that I will somehow manage to cap all my skills. But it’s worth a try.

I look over my skills and decide to work on two at once. I move towards Sairal’s tree. All of the mushroom guardians except for the two (G) grades have gone into hibernation. Sairal said something about them taking up his resources but with my limited knowledge about the system it went a bit over my head.

The two guardians sit on the moss, lazing about as they watch the forest around them with a new curiosity. I wave towards them, getting their attention. They stare at me with their small beady eyes and do nothing. I guess that is as good as it gets, with me not knowing if they recognise me.

I step onto the moss, close to Sairal’s tree and feel my crown of leaves untangle and stretch out to catch every ray of sunlight. The energising, yet somehow sleepy rush of energy flows through my veins as my stamina regeneration gains a boost.

The system doesn’t show the flat values of the stamina increase, though I feel like it is only a few per cent and that I have to stay relatively still to gain that boost.

I look at my claws and activate my second skill Roots of Nature, I don’t fully understand it yet, however, I should be familiar enough with it to make some small changes.

I can’t sharpen my claws further with my current skill level. So instead, I focus on lengthening them. Currently, they look much like hands but I want real claws, not just claw-like hands. A few centimetres more of reach won’t matter in the grand scheme of things but every small bit helps.

One by one I lengthen my fingers over the next hours. My Stamina dwindles each time I finish one and I have to wait a while to recover. Slowly, I gain more of a feel for the skill and get used to the strange sensation of pushing my body into a new shape.

On my second to last finger, I gain the notification that Roots of Nature has levelled up. I’m now also certain that skills with a higher rarity require more experience or practice to gain levels. it’s yet another way the system seems to balance out everything.

Already I feel like I can do more with the skill than the one I had before my evolution. That is also what terrifies me the most. If I make a mistake it will cost lots of Stamina to fix it, but can I fix larger mistakes?

Having finished with my hands, I decide to work on my feet. I look down at them, four toes on each.

Sairal kept slipping on the slick grass and as anyone knows; footing is important during a fight. So for my feet, I want to make the soles of them a bit more grainy. Essentially creating the profile of a shoe on my soles so that I’ll never slip. It should be doable with the skill. Besides, I have a couple more hours of sunlight left.

It takes me several attempts to get it right. My first try gave me too little grip and the second try gave me too much, making me stumble or catch on every small rock when I tried to run. Luckily, after two more tries, I find the perfect amount of grip I need on the grass and moss. I still need to test it out on a few more different surface areas like rocks or mud, though I’m happy with it.

I’m less happy about the lack of skill levels. Photosynthesis didn’t gain a single level today, however, I feel like I’m close somehow. Roots of Nature isn’t close at all. It seems that I’ll need to make bigger changes to myself to push it to the next level. It makes me wonder what I will need to do when I level the skill to 100. Will I need to morph my body into something else entirely?

I watch the sun set and retreat to my home quickly after, the memories of what kind of monsters roam at night still fresh in my mind, even after everything that has happened.

Like at my first home, I pack dirt into the entrance and find a comfortable position to lie in. Only, I don’t have to do yoga anymore now that there is plenty of space. All too soon I fall asleep, haunted by tidal waves that swallow me up and spit me out on foreign shores far away from the forest.

***

It’s day two after Sairal has headed out and I already begin to feel lonely. Has he made it to the inner forest already? Maybe he is doing something else. That smile he wore when he talked about the journey, poorly hid some plan or schemes he’ll likely do on his way there or on the way back. Then again, the fear on his face also spelled out something else. He dropped some hints accidentally that he was familiar with the central forest and perhaps by extension the Courts. But why is he out here then?

I can’t just ask about something like that since it will almost be a sore subject, to say the least. Maybe I can ask about it when I meet another dryad? Though, they seem to be rare in these parts.

Anyway, I stretch out, flexing my longer claws and the rest of my body. As much fun as yesterday was, getting more familiar with my skills, I really want to test out said skills against some kind of monster. Heck, I will even give up some Health points just to get my hands on one of those snails.

I head out of the clearing and move to the north where the army of humans was supposed to be. I should be worried about it, but with most of the trees toppled over, there don’t seem to be many places where an entire army can hide.

It takes me a few hours to find something, and it takes me by surprise. It is a new kind of monster that I’ve never seen before. There have been a few insectile monsters that I have seen at the stream or in other parts of the forest but this creature is something else.

This thing looks nasty as if it is made for killing and only killing. It shares quite a few features with an ant, such as having six legs and a set of barbed mandibles. But that is where those similarities end. On its butt it has another set of pincers much like an earwig, only these seem like they can truly cut things apart.

With a flick of my skills, I receive some information about it.

[Cave crawler wood biter] lvl 3/10 (H)

Wait a minute. It’s a wood-biter. Roots are made out of wood, right? Fuck me. This is like the Cokoca all over again.

The monster seems to notice me as the two sets of beady eyes it has focus on me.

I stretch out both my claws and take on a challenging pose.

Ah shit, here we go again.