Xander had been reluctant to use his power to fell the tree. The risk that the white slash went further and harmed the bushes was too great and he clearly didn't want a repeat of their earlier blunder. Thus they had opted to go at it the old-fashioned way. "Or, maybe you can cut it yourself Connor?" he asked. "With your Ability?"

The unfortunate crafter shrugged. "Don't know if it will work. But I can try."

This had required a bit of logistics on their part, as the tree was just out of easy reach. They had to climb over a ball of meter-high brambles. We probably should call them Blade Bushes at this point. Those things don't joke around... Xander thought as he helped Connor touch the tree. Sadly, the crafter's Ability didn't work on the tree, which seemed to add another layer of disappointment on his friend's shoulders.

"Hacking it down is the only way then," said Connor. He looked at his machete. "This won't do. It hasn't enough reach," he mumbled. Xander could see his friend's cogs turning and left him to his thoughts. He was sure Connor would come up with something.

The mood is quickly turning sour, he observed. Takeo is freaked out, and Connor is disappointed. And I feel just as inappropriate in this setting. He sighed. Hopefully, the next Challenge will be more in line with our Abilities.

Connor suddenly summoned a bunch of bones, remnants from the previous Boss, if the size of them is any indication. He then proceeded to fuse scapulas around his machete's blade. With a few swipes of his hand, he smoothed the edges and secured the bones to the handle. Using two of the larger and longer bones as some sort of shaft, he bound the machete to it. It now looked like a ghastly two-meter-long poleaxe. It looked heavy, but apparently not heavy enough for Connor, as he added a lump of metal both at the bottom of the shaft and on the back of the blade. After a few more iterations of this process, he seemed a bit more satisfied with his creation. He added another swipe on the blade this time probably to sharpen it. It had taken at most ten minutes.

Takeo's eyes hadn't left the crafter's hands. "That's... impressive," he said. "I didn't know you could do that."

"I hope the bone will hold," he mused aloud. He looked at Xander and Takeo. "Takeo, let's get out of the way, just in case. And Xander, have at it!" he said, handing the poleaxe to the young swordsman.

As if I had any more experience with that kind of monstrosity... he thought, but of course, didn't voice it. "Sure," he said, taking the weapon. He tried his best to impersonate a Barbarian. He tried a few swipes in the air and shifted his grip a few times. He needed to have a long reach, and enough power to cut through the tree. For some reason, he felt the Black Jade influence reaching out to him and assisting his position, his footing. It's a bit longer than my usual sword. Larger and heavier as well, but it seems to please my Guide, he observed.

He let himself get into the flow of the weapon. It was one of the lightest forms of meditation he knew, it helped focus on his body and the mechanics of movement. A swing, some adjustments, another swing, again, again, again. The philosophy behind his Jade's weapon was decidedly more aggressive than his Master's. While he barely did more than a few different forms, the forms themselves were telling enough. He clearly wasn't ready to use such weapons in a true battle, but to chop a tree? I think I can manage that. Let's hope the forest will forgive us for the slight haircut I'll inflict on its brambles...

"Okay, be careful," said Xander, "Prepare to run, if it triggers an angry reaction..." He barely heard his companions' replies. One step, two steps. He shut out the pain he felt coming from his legs. He armed his blow and cut diagonally, putting most of his body power into it. The blade shaved the top of the brambles and bit into the tree, the resistance was strong, but was it sufficient to stop him? He pushed harder, and the tree groaned. His weapon was stuck in the tree, more than halfway within. The tree didn't fall or move. How can a thing that tall stay standing with only half a foot on the ground? He pulled it out and was stopped by Connor.

"Waaait!" he shouted. "We need to guide it in the right direction!" He pointed toward the spit tree with two trunks.

The tree was still standing despite the damage it had taken. It would fall soon enough by itself, probably. "Sure, but how?" asked Xander. At the moment it didn't seem to be inclined to indicate in which direction it would fall. "Pushing it will be hard without shredding our legs on the bushes." He pointed at his already wounded knee.

The nearest V-shaped tree was only two meters away further to the right. If the tree fell over their head, it would be a pain and a half to get it out of the bushes and into the bridge sockets. Besides, it only needed to be vaguely falling in that direction, the split trunks will guide the falling tree themselves. "I can probably Teleport myself there," muttered Takeo. He didn't seem that much enthusiastic about the idea. "If you can get a rope around it and send me the other end, I can pull it in the right direction."

"You find within yourself the spirit of a pancake?" asked Connor incredulously.

"Well, I don't plan to stay there once it begins to fall. I'll just Teleport back here," he replied. "I'll be fine. Probably"

Xander frowned. "You're sure about yourself?" he asked.

The young man nodded, "I can try, if it doesn't work, well you give it another shove with your axe and we hope for the best." He shrugged. "I don't see any other way."

Connor shrugged as well. "I don't see any other way either. Let's do this." As any good adventurer, they had several meters of ropes on hand. Besides, Connor could probably whip something with all the leather and sinew he'd gathered from the goblins. "It's not much, but it should be enough to guide the tree in the right direction."

Thankfully, this tree didn't have any true thorns, otherwise, the rope wouldn't have lasted more than a second. "Okay, let's do this," Xander agreed. As he already had a foot in the bush, he didn't move and helped Connor tie the rope around the tree. Takeo hyped himself up and prepared to Teleport. His target wasn't that far away, probably two meters away, and two meters high. His line of sight was better thanks to Xander's cut, but if he could get himself on the crook between both trunks, he would be fine. If he couldn't he would be in deep, thorny trouble.

"Let's go!" he shouted and in a flash of light, disappeared. And reappeared a few meters away, right where they wanted him to be.

"Good job!" shouted Connor. He turned toward Xander, "Lend me your shoulder, will you?" he asked. Xander nodded, helped him to get up, and then handed him the rope. The crafter-to-be grabbed it and made a loop at the end. He then made a few test twirls. He had to be careful not to get caught in the bushes, as it would probably mean the end of the rope.

"Okay, I'm ready," he said. "Here it comes!" he shouted at Takeo and let the rope fly. He was happy to have trained this exact move hundreds of times in his youth. Of course, his goal then was to be able to set a climbing rope to reach the roof of a house. But the principle was the same. Well, he hadn't tried to do it atop his friend then. But still, the rope flew, and Takeo caught it. He almost lost his balance in the act but managed to stay on his feet. He then pulled the rope taut and waited.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Great!" shouted Connor and jumped off his friend. "Now, Xander, you know what to do!"

Xander nodded and prepared himself. He took a few steps back, then one step forward, and swung, this time from the left with all his might. The tree groaned and cracked. Ever so slowly, in a long moan, it fell. And Takeo pulled, pulled so hard his face was red. Feeling like it wasn't enough, he took a step backward and angled himself to add the weight of his body to the pull. High above, the branches in the canopy cracked and broke, falling along with a rain of leaves. As the drag lessened, the tree fell faster and let himself be guided by the rope.

"Come back!" shouted both Xander and Connor. Takeo dragged himself back up, and right before the tree smushed him, he Teleported back to his friends. The tree fell, its trunk breaking some branches of the V-shaped tree that guided it into its crook and finished with two loud thuds, and the ground shook. Sadly they hadn't thought to get the rope back, and it was now lying in the middle of the thorny bushes.

The forest had suddenly turned silent. Even the wind had decided to keep quiet for a moment. The three companions looked at each other and then at their surroundings. Takeo grabbed his Staff with both hands, probably more panicked than battle-ready. Connor summoned his bow and nocked an arrow. Xander had his new bone poleaxe at the ready. The silence was heavy, and the tension palpable. Barely a minute afterward, the forest came back to life. The wind blew again, the birds sang, and the bushes rustled.

"Well, it worked," whispered Connor. The Newcomer nodded eagerly but didn't seem quite ready to unclench his Staff.

Xander sighed, he had been holding his breath along the other, but he also had a few thorns that had found their way into his left leg and he needed to deal with it. He sat down and pulled out his greaves, reinforced tasset, and boots. Thankfully Connor had added a layer of iron wherever he could that wouldn't impede practical movement, but those thorns weren't a laughing matter. "Guess I'm going to need your assistance here," he said to Connor. The defacto repair specialist grumbled but came to help anyway. Meanwhile, Xander cleaned his leg, balmed it, and then wrapped it in bandages. They had other medical supplies, more efficient and quick to act, but those were meant for graver injuries or more urgent settings than this one. Connor's repairs were quick and hopefully didn't leave their gear weakened. He even had a look at the bone poleaxe. "It already needs repairs," he lamented.

He dressed himself again and stood up. The pain was still lancing through his leg, but within a few hours, he should be as good as new. Both thanks to his Seal's Constitution improvement and the effect of the Balm. "Okay, I'm back in shape. Thank you very much Connor!" he said. "How do you feel Takeo? You did an impressive job up there." Xander took it upon himself to try to lift both his comrades' spirits. "That weird poleaxe of yours, Connor, is truly a thing to behold," he complimented Connor, lifting the bone weapon and taking a better look at it.

Takeo nodded, still a bit shaken, but the lack of immediate danger and the return to normalcy seemed to have calmed him down. "It's nothing, really..." he muttered, and a slight blush even appeared. "The Ability did everything, I just had to aim and pull..."

Connor grunted, "I... improvised." He hesitated, and added, "My Guide seemed to like working with bones, I just went with it. But there are some tricks to bone hardening I am not privy to."

It clearly wasn't a work of art. The bones were uneven, and the iron lumps were not the same size, nor correctly aligned. But it was a beginning. "If you can somehow extend the blade so that it takes up most of the shaft, it would be great," he said, "It resonated well with my Guide as well." He handed the poleaxe back to Connor. "I think it's a good start. You'll be churning weapon after weapon in no time!" he said, trying to cheer up his friend.

That didn't seem to enthusiasm him much. "I hope so," he said, "I hope so..." He looked at the felled tree. "We should probably get going. I don't know how long the day lasts here, but I clearly don't want to be caught in the dark here."

Now that was an interesting observation I've totally missed, thought Xander. We've been here for maybe six or seven hours. A shame the sun wasn't visible from under the canopy. He'd need to get up there to get a better idea of the time. "I agree," he said, "Let's get going."

----------------------------------------

The Challenge was clearly on their side now. Felling the second tree was both easier and more difficult. Easier because their current bridge had landed barely ten centimeters from a second candidate. More difficult because the tree that was their bridge was barely more than fifteen centimeters large, at that point, which didn't provide much space to work with.

But it did work. And pushing it in the right direction had been a breeze. When they jumped ship, Connor tried to grab their old tree-turned-bridge and pull it into his spatial ring. Of course, it didn't work as the thing was enormous. But it would have been practical. On the second tree, they had a choice, either they moved forward and began to climb the hillside, or they took another tree that was leaning toward the hill's foot where stone boulders showed. It was another set of stones than those Xander had spotted earlier, which seemed to excite Connor. "That may be a good sign," he said, and Xander tended to agree. "Endurance tests like these can take a long time and there are usually a few safe spots to rest and recover. I think we should go for it."

"Or it's a side Challenge," said Xander, "Maybe a small den of monsters to clear, or a puzzle to solve." He shrugged, "Hopefully something manageable." And there was no way for them to know before reaching it. Takeo didn't have an opinion on the subject. He trusted them to make the right decision, so he followed them.

They quickly found their way toward the clearing. Three massive boulders had been stacked by a toddler. It could provide a sufficient shelter for the night, with a bit of imagination. But it wasn't anything as impressive as a monster den, or a strange puzzle. It was a source of bubbling water, in the middle of which a sad little stone Reward chest was standing. "Oh, that's good," said Connor, "A Reward Cache!"

The swordsman agreed, "Indeed, that's fortunate." He looked at the Newcomer, "These Rewards are usually less impressive, especially in terms of value. But they're usually life-saving in some way."

Connor opened the Chest first and took out six little paper envelopes. Three of which held a small depiction of a drop of blood, and the other held a simple red dot. Besides these, there was a small clay pot of some greenish balm. Xander took out the same envelopes and a small paper bag containing a few handfuls of berries that seemed freshly plucked. Takeo plucked something unexpected from the box. A single, little Yellow Jade.

All were intrigued, and their unsaid question was soon answered as the young man pulled his book open. "Uh, Thorn Identification. That's, well, definitely lame?" he asked uncertainly. "It's probably situationally useful, like here, but otherwise, probably not?" He looked at Xander, "Is that right?"

The swordsman nodded, "Passing grade, yes. It's probably useful to Herbalists and Alchemists as well. But not useful for us, no." He handed Takeo an example of both paper envelopes. "I've my opinion on these, but could you tell us what it is?" he asked.

Takeo just touched both envelopes and read, "These are Clotting powder and Healing powder?" he asked. "By the description, it seems to be quite useful. When you said Alchemy earlier, you really meant potion making and stuff like that?" he wondered intrigued.

"Yes and yes. Alchemist's first creations are probably such powders as we have there. They are 'easy' to make and for low-level injuries, they are quite more efficient than a simple bandage and our balms." Xander eyes bore into Takeo, "But these won't regrow an arm, or close a gaping wound. They are for small cuts and bruises. Perfect for puncture wounds, like the ones we got from the bushes. So long as they don't rip our flesh, of course."

Connor seemed happy, "We have both of us had to save money to buy some of these. They aren't that expensive, now that we are Sealed, but it had plucked a hole in our pockets." He looked at the Newcomer, "Can you tell us what the balm and the berries are?"

"The balm is some antidote for some kind of poison. It's not very specific, it says 'low-grade poison'", he grumbled. "Any idea what that means?" he asked, but got only shrugs in reply. His eyes widened as he read the description of the berries. "Oh, that's nice!" he said. "It says, three are enough to satiate any of us. It's called Feast Berry. Depending on the coloring, they'll have a different flavor. And they are quite nutritious."

Xander looked at the bag and made a quick calculation, "Hmm, that would amount to maybe three full meals for all of us. That's good, very good even." He looked around. This clearing came with a gap in the canopy. The sun wasn't visible but it seemed it was getting darker and the sky was beginning to turn orange; "We should probably set up camp here. It's probably getting late."