While surveilling the Sisters for hidden codes or slip of tongues I start a new project. My sign should be something, that can not easily be duplicated. For this I create a substance infused with Miasma.
The way I do this is with a small pearl and inside that pearl I put the warding Miasma. With copper rings around it I have a place to bring some runic circles in place. The Rings are layered over each other to keep the glow unobstructed as much as it gets.
…
Seventh try is the charm… I think.
With the rings I finally have made a rainbow glowing pearl with a miasmic warding capability. It can not beat the Craters bubble but can hold of normal Miasma quite easily.
The light is for Monsters rather annoying, as I tested with different bodies, and should deter them coming too close.
Demerit is the necessity for Sunlight to be present. So I can only use the warding in the open, but the rainbow glow is there even at night. With weak bodies I can only walk at Daytime while a strong body can punt the Monsters at night and still have a sign with him. I make it an Amulet and create for now two. A third will be in the works later, when I have the time. Right now I need to accommodate our small crew, as they are already here for two nights and not only one.
…
“It might be time to go Home, do you not think so Miss Petal?”
“Yes, I have strained my welcome here a bit too far. I thank you for your hospitality. Please keep my… Please keep Falling Leaf safe.”
“I will try to do that. By the way, I have created a sign.”
“So soon? Be wary of plagiarism.”
“It can not be easily copied. Here is the prototype. It will help as a reference.”
Giving her the Amulet she looks at it. Rainbow light is seen inside the small pearl in the middle of three rings held together by three bolts. The top bolt has a hole for a small chain or band to wear it. Runes are seen over the rings and show they have meaning.
“And this will be the sign? What do those Runes do?”
“By passing Mana into the amulet the glow intensifies and deters Monsters from getting close. I have only tried it with smaller Monsters, so I do not guarantee the effectiveness on stronger ones.”
Using her Mana she tries and the glow got stronger. Behind me I hear a hurt squeak and see Snow look away from us. Sorry, forgot you are a Monster too.
“A quite nice bauble. I will bring it to our Queen to explain it to the tender. It will be known in one Mon…” ahem “…one Week. A Week will be enough time to send the information to everyone.”
Falling Leaf really wants to let everything go as smooth as possible. She even intervened right away, when the time got stretched. Maybe in time I can really trust her and even let her go back to her City for vacation?
…
“Master Null?”
While I create a place for a living gazebo Falling Leaf approaches me.
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“Yes?”
“I would like to… Please do not Misunderstand, but I want to know your history. Before you came here.”
“You want to know, who I was to better understand who I am right now?”
“Something on the line of that. I just want to know what happened to better understand the Master I now serve.”
“I am no Master. I did not leave you alive to be my maid or slave. It rather irks me, you think like that.”
“I… I understand that, but I have dedicated my life to you…”
“To stop my rampage against your kind.”
“...well… yes, but also to further our understanding to each other. I want to know what happened to be more insightful and not accidentally step on an injured root.”
“The trust is not there right now. We were enemies just two weeks ago.”
“Not quite enemies… I was just following orders, as both Eastern Redwind and Dancing Wind were under my canopy, so I took it on myself to step in for them.”
“In Reds mind you were a vague shadow. You were there at his Judgment but only a shadow of a memory otherwise.”
She flinches.
“So, Redwind never really asked for his mentor… It makes so much sense now.”
In the other minds of the Roots I understood what she meant. Guidance is already signed off right after they got plucked. The only thing that needs happening is for those saplings to official want guidance and they will be introduced to their Guardian. Until then they can learn from others however they think it would fit.
Quite a special way to make their schooling. They wait for the children to play as much as they want and get put in jobs here and there while learning, but when they desire to learn something intensive they will meet their Teacher. Red never asked, and never knew about his true teacher. He wanted to show how good he is without help, as all thought of him as damaged and rotten.
“He was rotten, but not only because of the dying Tree Mother Leaf.”
That shocked her out of the melancholy.
“Most people looked at him with pity. Not that it may be true, but he saw it for himself like that. To show he is a worthy Root, he did his best to learn alone, never realizing he might be better with a Mentor.”
“He was thinking, that he was ostracized?”
“In a way, yes. The only respite he found was with the hunters, as they were a rough bunch to begin with and thought he could win his place with them. That was the reason I thought of all of you as extreme Xenophobes.”
“So, you understand now, we are not that?”
“No, I believe you are still rather Isolationists, but not as ruthless as I first thought.”
“...it is a beginning.”
Maybe, maybe not. I still keep my mistrust with me, as I still remember how they stole from me my wolves.
…
The Gazebo is slowly blooming. Leafy is the one who creates the place, as I do not want to show her, that I can do that too with Reds body. If she knows about him being Root and sees behind the bandages, she might get scared into something desperate. Reading Brains made her already uncomfortable, taking over Bodies will definitely make her think horrible things.
Right now I take away the bandages and give Ava an iron Mask. The Mask can be taken away later, but my face and race should not be made definite, because she sees my second Avatar. Why I need that is, because I am finally ready to go to the first city.
First I check all my readied possessions for the trip ahead. The first thing is my Equipment. Gauntlet, Robe, Amulet, Sword, Bomb, Potions, spacial Bag, Backpack… Get out of there Snow, you are staying here!
Where was I? Ah yes, further Items. Five copper, seven Silver and three Gold. Rather meager, but the second expedition did not have any Money with them. Luckily their Money is base ten.
10 Scrap = 1 Copper
10 Copper = 1 Silver
10 Silver = 1 Gold
10 Gold = 1 large Gold (looks like a bar)
100 large Gold = 1 Mithril
And this is only legal tender in the eastern and southern parts of the Continent, as the Merchant Country has their coins spread into other lands, and everyone else assimilated them. There are even Coins made with their own banners, but no one would mix in metals or make them lighter, as this would make them a laughing stock for other Countries. So every Coin is worth the same in every country because of pride.
Next up, what I want to maybe sell. Pelts, Cores, Herbs and clothes. The female clothing of Mink is unusable as I have no female Avatar, and Leafy just wears… leafs! So I pack everything I do not need and buy cloth and books for it.
...Why is this Backpack so heavy? ...Snow, you are staying!