40) Someone to watch, over…

The familiar gray square appeared in the air above me as the sound of a running faucet came from the bathroom. Good, she figured out how to turn the knob in the sink.

Or maybe the shower, but that works too.

[ Harold Wallace Bright ]

[ Hermit 2 ]

[ You have 18 out of 10 Advancement points needed for level 3 Hermit ]

[ Might 11 { 7 due to Conditions }]

[ Health 21 { 17 due to Conditions}]

[ Agility 10 {6 due to Conditions}]

[ Insight 10 { 8 due to Conditions}]

[ Grace 7 ]

"Well. Ain't I the overachiever? Go ahead and do it Brackets. Take me to level three."

This time it didn't go through all the same alerts about me not being able to spend my four free points freely. Instead, it just gave me another point into Insight, which raised me up to what the internet said was the average of ten after the negative two penalty I had for my conditions.

"Woo hoo." I said in a dull, unexcited voice. "Now I'm a real boy. Psychopathic disregard for the safety and feeling of others free."

It also informed me that I was now third level, and have been granted the Life power. Guardian.

"...what the crap is a Guardian you stupid set of grammatical symbols?"

See. I'm all about caring about the feelings of others. Even artificial beings who dragged me into an alien death game. It's all soft and fluffy Harry from here on out.

[ A Guardian is a semi automatous device constructed from materials in your domain that obeys your orders and acts to protect your domain in your absence ]

I narrowed my eyes at the blue letters and carefully read them over rather than just start protesting over getting stuck with another mouth to feed…

Shit. That's from Insight, isn't it? What's going to happen to me once I buy off the conditions keeping it down to just being a normal person at a ten?

In any case, with the way it was written…

"Is this another spirit? I don't want to make another person that might get mistreated once I'm gone. Is there another option for me other than just refusing to use it?"

[ Guardian is directed by both the spoken and unspoken directives of its creator. It does not possess a spirit unless awoken. In the absence of its creator, it can not act if its directives are in conflict. It may be directed to obey the orders of others by its creator, but it will never follow those orders above the directives of its creator ]

I read that over twice. "So it's a robot… No. It's more like a copy of me… or kind of like an extension of my will for lack of a better word?"

[ It is the physical manifestation of what you would consciously want someone of limited mental ability to do if you left them in charge of your domain. ]

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"...so like a guard dog. Bark, but don't kill anyone unless they are trying to burn the place down or hurt someone…"

Like Acey, or the coyotes… or heck, even me.

[ Yes ]

...I'm not going to wake it up. I can put Acey in charge of it since she's stuck on my land because of her tree being on it. Can it leave?

"Can this thing go off my land?"

[ Leaving your domain begins to immediately drain the Guardian of the Life Essence powering it. The longer it is away from your domain, the greater the amount of Life lost. The farther it goes from your domain the faster the amount of Life drains ]

"So I'm not taking it into a dungeon. Got it. What happens to it if it gets fully drained?"

[ The Gaurdian would be reduced to its component parts until recreated. An awakened Guardian would be restored with its spirit fully intact if recreated ]

"...I didn't ask about that last part. And I ain't doing it."

What the hell does this thing keep wanting to surround me with people, the whole Hermit thing started with the special power to be better off without others, what changed?

Crap… It's me, isn't it? I've changed.

I groaned and rubbed the base of my hands against my eyes. "I didn't want this… Worst birthday gift ever."

A gentle tugging pulled at the sleeve of my hoodie and I looked over to see the green girl in a tee shirt that was now splattered with damp spots from what sounded like a still running sink. She smiled as I looked over at her and then pointed at the window where I could see that the sun was going down.

"Guess it's bedtime for you. You got your rock?"

She held it up in both hands as she nearly began to do a happy dance as she stood beside my bed. I guess she can't just eat it with her girl puppet. It had to go to the tree itself.

Me and three coyotes trotted out to the apple tree out front, well I shuffled, while the quadrupets did the trotting. I had my putter in hand just in case I had to brain something, not because I needed it to keep my balance in case I stumbled on something in the dim light.

Acey got to her tree, turned to me, and smiled, before pushing the redish orange gemstone into the bare spot on the tree, and then followed it right in as she left her shirt behind her.

The coyotes seemed to have gotten bigger once they got their stones, I wondered if the apple tree would get bigger, or would the girl?

"Crap…" What if she got.. older?

That's how the myths about Dryads went, wasn't it? Nubile young women prancing around without any clothes on.

I didn't want to see that. I knew she wasn't a real girl, but still… She was older than me as a tree, but as a girl, as a person, she was still just a child. I didn't need some teenager following me around hugging and kissing on me and trying to hold my hand all while stark naked or wearing just a tee shirt.

At least not one I knew.

I'm old, not dead. But she was my responsibility besides being in most ways a kid. That wouldn't be right. There are some things you don't do if you want to call yourself a man rather than just a male.

Shuffling back into the house, I went and dug out one of the longer tee shirts I used to wear at work so I could tuck it into my pants deep enough to keep me from showing off my butt crack whenever I bent over.

Beryl had used to wear them as night shirts so if the girl did get bigger one of them should cover her to at least halfway down to her knees at least. And if she didn't get bigger it should go down to her ankle.

Wylina got in my way as I headed back out so I had to push her snoot out of my way as I tried to get back outside. "Yeah I'll feed you in a minute, just let me get this outside."

I left the shirt folded up in the spot where the upper branches of the tree split out from the trunk. I think it was called the crotch, but that sounded… improper to call it that in regard to the girl's real body.

Back inside I found the coyote mom staring me right in the eye as she made a chuffing sound at me. I tried to go around her to get to the kitchen, but she moved to block me.

And thumped her paw on the floor in front of me three times…

"Oh."

I got her rock out of the magic storage space and set it on the floor in front of her. "Here you go."

She whipped her head around as Blue began to creep up behind her, sending the now larger pup scrambling back.

Then she nosed it over to Chubby, who sniffed at it for a moment before looking away indifferently.

Wylina gave me an expectent look, then tilted her head over to her as yet, unmagicaly changed pup.

"Crap…."