The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1)

CHAPTER 17

It turned out the magical core was a clockwork sphere. Through the gaps in the mechanism, red and white light shone through, and the feeling of a strong electric field was palpable when held. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, more like feeling static in the air. The description of the item was written in gold lettering upon the prompt. It was the first time he had seen this. The common items he had found were white, uncommon blue, and rare was written in red. It appeared that golden items were epic! Fingers crossed, he could figure out the color of legendary and artifact items soon.

You have found: Magic Core. Durability 15,000/15,000. Item class: Epic. Quality: Masterwork. Weight: 12.7 kg. Magical Cores can be used to power any number of devices.

A few more questions to Futen revealed that he could access the mana generated by the Place of Power anywhere within the boundaries of his domain, an area of roughly eighty square miles. The benefits of increasing the level of his village were becoming clearer. The higher the level, the greater the reach of his magic, and the more mana he could personally access. Even with the village at level 1, the 1000 mana available was the equivalent of investing one hundred points into Intelligence!

Excited about the possibilities, Richter loaded the ponies with the loot from their battle, and made their way back to the village. During the journey, he invested his new skill points and examined both his and Sion’s current status. He placed two points in Intelligence, two points into Constitution, and two more into Dexterity.

Name: Richter

Age: 24

Level: 8, 41%

Health: 160 Mana: 180 Stamina: 160

Strength: 15

Agility: 17

Dexterity: 30

Constitution: 16

Endurance: 16

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 18

Luck: 14

Abilities:

Limitless

Gift of Tongues

Fast Learner

Skills:

Herb Lore Lvl 3; 92% to next level, 100% affinity

Alchemy Lvl 1; 0% to next level, 100% affinity

Analyze Lvl 1; 77% to next level, 100% affinity

Stealth Lvl 4; 49% to next level, 100% affinity

Archery Lvl 4; 85% to next level, 100% affinity

Imbue Arrow Lvl 3; 93% to next level, 100% affinity

Focus Lvl 1; 76% to next level, 100% affinity

Swordsmanship Lvl 1; 73% to next level, 100% affinity

Small Blades Lvl 1; 0% to next level, 100% affinity

Light Armor Lvl 2; 88% to next level, 100% affinity

Air Magic Lvl 1; 0% to next level, 100% affinity

Life Magic Lvl 1; 11% to next level, 100% affinity

Marks:

Master of Mist Village

Resistances:

Air 50%

Mental 15%

Spiritual 15%

Race: Human (Chaos Seed)

Reputation: Lvl 1 “Who are you again?”

Alignment: Neutral

Language: All

Name: Sion

Age: 44

Level: 8, 71% to next level

Health: 210 Mana: 180 Stamina: 120

Strength: 17

Agility: 18

Dexterity: 46

Constitution: 16

Endurance: 12

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 9

Luck: 12

Abilities:

Wood Craft

Forest Concealment

Skills:

Herb lore Lvl 3, 40% to next level, 91% affinity

Alchemy Lvl 3, 31% to next level, 88% affinity

Archery Lvl 10; 22% to next level, 88% affinity

Imbue Arrow Lvl 5, 11% to next level, 74% affinity

Tracking Lvl 5; 51% to next level, 93% affinity

Swordsmanship Lvl 8, 79% to next level, 81% affinity

Light Armor Lvl 4, 79% to next to next level, 65% affinity

Air Magic Lvl 1; 0% to next level, 93% affinity

Marks:

None

Resistances:

Life 10%

Earth 10%

Light 10%

Race: Wood Sprite

Reputation: Lvl 1 “Who are you again?”

Alignment: +2

Language: Sprite, Common Tongue

His friend had increased several of his skills. That was expected, but what was interesting to Richter were his affinities. If Richter remembered correctly, Sion’s affinities had been a bit higher last time he had checked his status page. If the sprite was any indication, then it appeared that for most people and creatures, as they leveled up their affinity decreased. It meant there was a theoretical ceiling for everyone in how far they could progress that would vary from person to person and skill to skill. If his ability to teach Air Magic was any indication, a skill could not even be learned if a person’s affinity was less than 50%. Richter was finally starting to truly appreciate his ability. The potential for Limitless was, well, limitless!

The trip back to the village was uneventful, but they were thankfully able to find several more healing herbs. Arriving back, Richter placed the magic core in the vault. He was sure that it was worth a fortune if he sold it, but was equally sure it could greatly increase the power of his village down the road. An item that was epic class and masterwork quality had to come in handy!

The staff seemed like it could be powerful in the right hands, but the corruption severely limited its usefulness. Richter really didn’t understand the importance of alignment yet. It was easy to think that negative was bad and positive was good, but he had a feeling it was more nuanced. Sion was positive alignment, but his people had shoot on sight orders for anyone in their territory. Not exactly a cute and cuddly policy. Despite being unsure of what it all meant, he still wasn’t in a rush to let the staff fall into the hands of a creature of negative alignment. Maybe he could purify it though.

“Futen, can the corruption on this staff be removed?”

“Yes my Lord, either Light or Life magic can be used to remove corruption. One of the few forms of magic available at Level 1 of the village is curse removal. The cost is 200 mana. Would you like to use it?”

“Yes, do it. No wait! I will do it myself.”

“Very well, my Lord. The spell will have a higher likelihood of success if you cast it in the room with the Great Seal.”

“Why,” Richter asked.

“Just as the village is the physical manifestation of your Place of Power, the Great Seal is the physical representation. That is why it has the strength to keep monsters of the catacombs at bay. Though your domain extends beyond this village as we discussed, your powers will always be greatest at the core.”

Richter nodded, then climbed the small hill that led to the Great Seal. When he got there he was somewhat surprised. The mosaic had changed. At least part of it had. The clear spiral that was set in the floor had changed from tiles to a solid piece of crystal. It was now shining a faint light. The other three arms remained the same. It appeared that when Richter had claimed his power it had awakened part of the design. He felt a faint thrum in the room that had not been there previously. He walked to the center of the Great Seal. A quick check showed that most of the mana from casting Confusing Mist was restored. He then found the proper spell under the village interface and cast it.

Motes of light began to fill the chamber they were standing in. They coalesced around the staff, and when they disappeared, the black stains that had been present at the end were gone. It was also the clear blue of artic ice now, rather than the opaque blue it had been before. Examining it again he found it had increased in strength.

Staff of the Ice Wizard. Attack 14-18. Durability 30/30. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight 5.1 kg. Traits: -10% Cost to Water spells.

He checked his status page again, and saw that his progression in Life Magic had progressed from 11% to 49% just by casting one high level spell. Just another little perk of being a Master he supposed. Gotta love it when you can power level!

Sure that the staff would come in handy, Richter packed it on the ponies. He also loaded them with the better weapons they had found so far. Counting the coins from the chest that had been in the treasury, he found 55 gold coins, 215 silver, and 174 copper. Unfortunately he had no idea if he was a wealthy man or a pauper. Even though in the game a copper had equaled one dollar, Richter couldn’t trust that the conversion held true. A loaf of bread could be worth a gold coin for all he knew. Sion was no help in this. The wood sprites had a clearly xenophobic attitude, and didn’t mingle with the humans of the neighboring kingdom. Richter would just have to figure it out on the way.

One thing was clear, it was time to grow his village, and that meant getting help. Even though he was chomping at the bit to unlock more of his Powers, the next quest required that he be at least two levels higher. Presumably the subsequent quests would have level requirements as well. Waiting around just wasn’t his style! He needed to travel into the Kingdom of Yves to find people that would settle in his village.

Richter instructed Futen to continue collecting resources for when he returned. Futen surprisingly took some initiative, and told Richter about a nearby quarry that had provided the stone for the village in the past. There were several tasks Richter wanted Futen to attend to: quarrying the stone, harvesting iron from the mine, widening and deepening the trench surrounding the village and clearing trees for two hundred yards around the borders of the village. Warning the remnant to always leave enough mana to pay the Confusing Mist upkeep, he and Sion turned to leave. Futen gave his customary, “Yes, my Lord,” and that was that.

The next day, Richter and Sion started on their journey through the forest. The basic plan was to follow Hisako’s directions and head west until they reached the edge of the forest. Using Tommy Lee Jones’ math, a fugitive could move over uneven terrain at four mph. That fugitive was obviously not going through mountainous terrain and virgin forest! Even though they walked a solid twelve to fourteen hours a day, there was no way they traveled more than twenty five to thirty five miles before they rested for the night. Of course that didn’t factor in having to backtrack around obstructions, their slowed pace with the ponies, or the most important issue: neither Richter nor Sion was as badass as the man that played Indiana Jones and Han Solo!

Sion didn’t understand Richter’s obsession with distances or hurrying. For the first few days it frustrated Richter to no end. The laissez faire attitude of the Wood Sprite was so… un-American. After that ridiculous thought, Richter realized that maybe he was being a bit silly, and with a small laugh at himself, relaxed and decided to enjoy the journey.

They moved beyond the borders of the mist during the first day, and had no issues until the second night. A pack of wolves was seen that evening. They made camp early and built the fire high. The wolves started approaching, but lost interest after a sizeable portion of the lead wolf was turned into bloody chunks by Sion’s Imbued arrow. While not able to salvage the pelt, that night Richter discovered that wolf meat was quite tasty, despite being gamier than what he was used to. They were able to kill several rabbits, foxes and one small brown bear during their trip. They only hunted at the end of each day though, when they had time to skin the animals and dry the pelts over a low fire.

The first few days they traveled along the small river that flowed by the village. It rejoined the larger river that Richter had followed upon arriving to The Land, and they continued west. In addition to hunting, they practiced their Haste spell as often as they could hoping to advance their skill. They both increased their Air magic by one level, Richter slightly ahead of Sion. The Herb Lore skill also increased for both of them gradually as they picked useful plants along their journey.

About a week into the journey, Sion suddenly motioned for him to lower himself to the ground. Tying up the ponies, they moved at a slow crawl to look over a drop off in front of them. Just about fifteen feet away from the lip of the small cliff, was a ten foot tall green humanoid eating a stag. It didn’t show any squeamishness as it reached into the animal’s body. Its oversized hands were tipped with black thick claws, and it pulled meat and viscera indiscriminately into its maw. The jaw must have been able to dislocate like a snake’s because it shoved almost a whole leg into its mouth before chewing loudly, the sound of snapping bones clear. Richter used Analyze on it.

Mountain Troll, Lvl 22. Health: 1100/1100, Mana 0/0, Stamina 520/520.

Richter face froze into a twisted expression as if he had eaten something sour. Making eye contact with Sion, he motioned sharply with his head for them to leave. Sion gave him a perfect, ‘What the hell did you think we were going to do expression’ and nodded back. With slow deliberate moves, they eased back from the edge on their stomachs and then collected their mounts. They backtracked a good half an hour before setting on a path that would take them well wide of the creature. Sion later told him about the troll. The creatures were apparently brutally strong and fast. They were aggressive almost to the point of insanity. They were driven solely by the desire to feed. Worst though was that they regenerated so fast that even massive wounds didn’t slow it. Without dismembering it and then lighting it on fire, it would not stop until it had eaten you, most likely alive.

Though the troll was the greatest threat they came upon, it was not the only one. A few days later, while taking a break to eat, Sion was ranging around the campsite. It was something he had a tendency to do. Richter wasn’t sure if constant movement was something endemic to the Wood Sprites or if Sion just had a bad case of ADD. Whichever was the case, his friend would often scout in small circles around any area they paused at or stopped at for the night. This time Sion came back to the camp excited. “I need some time to do something. It might take a bit, is that all right?”

After Richter’s nod, he pulled out his mortar and pestle and started grinding. Richter didn’t recognize the herbs, but they made a greyish red paste. Sion scrapped it onto a piece of bark he cut from a nearby tree being careful not to get it onto his skin. He left camp again with no explanation, moving quickly back the way he had come.

Bemused but not concerned, Richter simply continued to relax. It was nice taking a bit of a longer break. Walking for days on end was not as glamorous and restful as it might seem. He laid on his back with his pack as a pillow, and looked up at the forest canopy and the snatches of blue sky that could be seen between the leaves. About twenty minutes later, Sion came back smiling broadly and said, “I found something. Come with me, I’ll need your help.”

Richter got to his feet, “Where are we going?”

“Just come, and leave the ponies. They will be safer here.”

Not exactly sure what he meant by ‘safer,’ Richter just shrugged and did as he was asked. The two of them walked two hundred yards from where they had been eating. Sion stopped walking and pointed to a large dead tree. The trunk was about three meters wide and six meters high. The top was jagged and irregular, clearly only the base of a once much larger tree. There was a large hole at the bottom of the trunk leading down into the earth. The opening was about three feet tall. Richter could probably make his way into it, but it would be tight.

“Okay great. An old dead tree. Is it a long lost relative?”

Sion huffed in irritation, “No gyoti!” (The translation was something like ‘irritating fool’ as best as Richter could make out with his Gift of Tongues ability) “This was an Offshoot! It was the beginning of a Hearth Tree long ago. Something obviously happened.” Sion picked up the bark with the grey-red paste on it, and tossed it down the hole.

“But the Hearth Tree is huge,” Richter protested. “This thing is a toothpick in comparison!”

“That’s because our Hearth Tree is built on a Place of Power. Normally Hearth Trees are just the center of a Wood Sprite community, though a few sprites may live within if it gets big enough.”

“So finding this is like finding a piece of your history,” Richter asked. History had never really been his strong point. He still shuddered when he thought about the historical tours his grandmother would drag him on. At some point people just need to admit that looking at old homes in Gatlinburg is not that great!

“Yes, it is that,” Sion said with his previous excitement. He either did not pick up on or decided to ignore Richter’s nonplussed tone. And why not, he was just talking to a gyoti after all. “More important though, is that the Seed Core might still be viable!”

Richter just looked at him.

Sion peered at Richter from the corner of his eye, then looked back at the tree, then peered again this time with a small turn of his head, then looked back at the tree. This continued for a good five minutes, with Richter just staring at the sprite. The human’s stubborn resistance finally won out.

“Do you know what that means,” Sion asked exasperated.

“You know that I don’t! You knew before you said it, that I didn’t know what a Seed Core was! You could have just called it a mystical booty scratcher! I still wouldn’t know! Just tell me!”

“Fine! You humans are so cranky and impatient. A Seed Core…,” Sion paused for a moment, Richter was sure just to mess with him, “is how you make a Hearth Tree, a Guardian Wood or a host of other magical trees. One of the sacred duties of my people is to further the cause of good by growing magical trees for the betterment of all.”

“Oh, so it’s like a stem cell?”

Sion looked at him confused.

Richter gave his best sarcastic grin, “Not so fun when someone drops a term you don’t know, is it?” Changing his expression to one of gracious forbearance, he said, “You may continue.”

Grinding his teeth, Sion said, “The point is, the Hearth Tree only makes a Seed Core once every few hundred years, if that! If the Core is still viable, it will be a wonderful boon!”

“This tree looks like it has been dead for a long time, Sion. Why would you think that this Seed Core thing wasn’t dead too?”

“The Core is a source of great magical power. It gives to nature, but also is maintained by it. As long as its power is not drawn upon too much, or too fast, it can sustain itself almost indefinitely

“Okay, okay, I’m sold,” Richter said. “How do we check?”

“We simply need to go down into the bowels of the tree, and see if we can find it. I should be able to feel a resonance if I am close enough. It will be a round sphere about yea big,” Sion held his hands apart showing something the size of a grapefruit.”

“Okay, that won’t take long. Let’s do it,” Richter said.

Sion looked at him a moment opening his mouth to speak, and then closing it again, looking indecisive.

“What is it,” Richter asked.

“Well, from the stories I have heard, if a Seed Core is ever left out for a long period of time, it has the tendency to attract monsters. The healing and regenerative properties of the Core can be used to make the monsters stronger, more resilient, or… bigger.”

“What do you mean exactly by bigger?”

“Just that. The elders told stories of giant ants or snakes. I’m sure that they were exaggerating. Besides, we don’t need to worry about that here.”

“Phew. For a second I thought we were going to be overrun with flesh eating beetles or something,” Richter said with a small laugh. He had never really been a big fan of bugs.

The sprite laughed in return. “No, no. There are no flesh eating beetles in the Forest of Nadria.” There was a short pause, “What we DO have is a vicious animal called a skeeling. It’s usually only about the size of a badger. It is completely blind, but has excellent hearing. It’s subterranean, and they don’t wander to the surface. It has ridged scales and a very distinctive smell. They have been known to burrow under trees and eat the roots, killing the tree. It’s a pest we try to get rid of whenever we can!

Richter nodded along, thinking it was remarkable that Sion had so much information about one forest creature, but wondering why he was focusing so much on it.

The sprite continued, “Now skeelings are mean and fast. They have two rows of sharp teeth that can tear through an animal in seconds! Luckily, they hate the extract of red vine mixed with iron leaf. It’s bad enough that it drives them out of their holes and above ground. Then they are easy to kill! Now when I was wandering earlier, I found this.” He tossed a flat palm sized rock to Richter. “I didn’t know what it was at first. It had ridges like a skeeling scale, but was way too big. Most scales on adult male skeelings are about the size of your thumbnail. Are you following me so far?”

Richter nodded again, starting to feel uneasy about story time.

“Well, now that I have found this old Hearth Tree, it makes sense that a skeeling might have made its home underneath.”

“Okayyy. So you want to drive it out from underneath the tree?”

“Yes. As I said, it would only take a mixture of red vine and iron leaf. We toss it down the hole and the skeeling is so angry it comes to the surface. Then we can kill it and look for the Seed Core.”

“Sion,” Richter said quietly, “does red vine and iron leaf make a greyish red paste when you mix them?”

“It does,” the sprite said in an innocent voice.

“Would you want to avoid getting it on your skin?”

“Oh yes, it causes horrible itching,” the sprite replied, “That’s why it’s best to keep it in a container or on something like a bark plate.

“Hmmm,” Richter said. “And if you were to throw something like that mixture down a hole, how long would it take for the skeeling to react.”

“Hmmm,” Sion replied. “That’s actually a fascinating topic. Now that you ask, it would depend on time of day. Skeelings are nocturnal. If it were to be exposed to red vine and iron leaf at night it would go into an immediate rage. If, however, it were to smell the mixture during the daytime,”

“Like now you mean,” Richter interjected.

“Yes, Richter, like now. Well in that case, it might take a few minutes to wake it up, but I can promise you it would be EXTRA furious when it did.”

“So it might take, almost exactly the amount of time it took you to relate all of this information.”

“About that amount of time, yes Richter,” Sion replied.

Losing patience Richter asked, “Okay, so what do we do after it comes up?”

“Well,” Sion replied with an evil grin, “depending on your perspective, this is the easiest part. Just run and I’ll kill it before it eats you.”

The ground in front of the tree exploded upward, and a shrill screech filled the air.

The skeeling was NOT the size of a badger. The thing was the size of a black bear! It had an armored carapace like an armadillo. The four legs of the creature ended in three fingered paws. Each finger was tipped with a wicked black talon, arched slightly inward towards the palm. It was off white in color and its face resembled a rodent of some kind. The eyelids were closed, and two large triangular ears stuck straight up from its head. The snout was rat like, but when it threw back its head and shrieked, the teeth were flat, but tapered to be sharp at the bottom.

“Run,” Sion shouted. The sprite had begun imbuing an arrow as soon as the creature appeared. He struck it in the side, and the arrow impacted with its customary boom. The skeeling fell, knocking over a small tree, but got back up quickly. The arrow hadn’t pierced its hide!

“Well this might be a problem,” the sprite called.

As the skeeling began running towards them, attracted by the sound of their voices, Richter looked over, “You think??”

“Move!”

The sprite jumped up into the tree he had been standing underneath. Richter didn’t waste time firing an arrow, but cast Haste on himself instead. Then he enacted the second phase of his master plan, he ran his butt off.

Haste let him keep ahead of the monster that was clearly attracted to his footsteps. Not by very much however. Sion rained down shots on the creature which slowed it down, but did little damage against its armored hide. As Richter ran for his life, he realized his current situation was probably due to poor communication. He was all for taking initiative, and pursuing one’s own personal bliss, but Sion could have given him a better heads up. He really needed to have a discussion with the sprite and teach him that communication was the foundation for any true friendship! Then maybe in the future, he could avoid narrowly being eaten by a horrible albino rat monster! Of course, maybe all of this was happening because Sion was just a dick, and needed him to act like bait…

“Ahhh, ahhhhhh,” Richter screamed. The tip of the skeeling’s claws had caught him on the back. Most of the damage was blocked by his armor, but blood freely flowed down from his right shoulder. He put on a burst of extra speed to add some distance between himself and the monster.

The running and dodging had taken them exactly opposite in the small clearing to the tree that Sion was hiding in. The sprite was imbuing his arrow for another strike. Richter began running at the tree and counted the seconds that he saw the aura. Four, five, six, seven, eight, the blue aura was blinding! The churning of earth and heavy pad falls of the skeeling could be heard getting closer behind Richter. At a distance of only ten yards, Richter dove forward and a split second later Sion released. He landed badly, wrenching his ankle. He turned and drew his short sword. Hopefully he could at least wound the creature and drive it off. He REALLY did not want to be eaten again!

He was worrying for nothing though. The last arrow had connected! Whereas strikes to the beast’s body had failed to produce an effect, Sion’s overpowered shot to the skeeling’s face made it nose dive into the ground and create a furrow ten feet long. It lay motionless for a few moments, and then lifted its head to screech again in rage and defiance. Richter had not wasted time though. He hobbled forward, arm held low and cocked, then rammed his blade into the creature’s eye. A faint pop could be felt up his sword arm as he penetrated the eye, followed quickly by the crunch of facial bones and then a meaty resistance as his blade entered grey matter. Without even a death cry, the skeeling’s head became dead weight, and Richter withdrew his weapon to the sound of further grating of bones. He looked up at the sprite’s triumphant face, and communicated what was in his heart.

“You’re an asshole!”

His companion lightly dropped down, and did not deign to address Richter’s assertion. He merely slapped him good naturedly on the back as he walked past to the skeeling’s body. He looked up at his friend and said, “Good job! I couldn’t have done it without you!” The grin had not left the sprite’s face.

Richter shook his head, and repeated silently to himself, ‘This is what happens when you have poor communication.’ He resolved to make more of an effort to engage his friend in the future, specifically about his sick sense of humor. Sion had not stopped looking at the creature, and was walking around it now, marveling at its size. After two complete laps, he looked back and said, “Now let’s see what we’ve got!”

Richter took a healing herb out of his pack and started munching on it. He barely noticed the slightly bitter taste anymore. Honestly it wasn’t any worse than some of those fru-fru salads that were so popular back on Earth. He walked along behind Sion, and reflected it was strange that he didn’t really miss his old life. The action, adventure, danger and reward he had found in the Land resonated with something inside of him. True, he missed his family and friends. He would also kill for a chicken biscuit! Here though, he felt like he had… purpose. Even running from the skeeling was more satisfying and exciting, than almost anything that had happened to him back on Earth. This was where he belonged. He had also leveled his Light Armor skill which was nothing to sneeze at.

Sion had reached the tree oblivious to Richter’s introspective thoughts. The wood sprite began immediately lowering himself down into the hole. Pushing his musings aside for another time, Richter took his pack off, leaving it at the entrance to the tree and climbed down as well. The space was actually reasonably large, for a subterranean gopher hole that is. A phosphorescent blue moss gave faint illumination. The ceiling was about four and a half feet from the floor, so while he couldn’t stand upright, he could move along at a reasonable comfortable crouch. The small area they were in couldn’t have been more than forty square feet, but in front of them was another large hole leading downward at a gentle slope. Sion’s sword was out, and he moved forward warily.

They dropped down to the second level. It was a larger cavern about twenty yards across and thirty yards deep. There was nothing living, but the floor was littered with hundreds of bones. Many seemed animal-like, but more than a few were the long bones or skulls of humanoids. This thing had been preying on passersby for quite a while. The stench was also a bit overpowering as it had placed its waste wherever it wanted apparently. Richter tried not to think too much about the overly soft earth or the fact that his shoes sank several inches into the ground.

Sion moved to the center of the room. He closed his eyes and held both arms out to his side. He stood like that for over a minute, and then walked with certainty to the back of the cavern. He started digging in the ground with his bare hands, throwing clods of dirt to the side. Sighing, Richter thought, in for a penny in for a pound. He knelt beside his friend and began digging as well. He was sure that the stench was permanently sinking into his skin! After digging for three feet however, a smell began to compete with the offal. The new scent was like clean earth.

A memory came to Richter’s mind. He was standing in the park with an old girlfriend. They had stood under a willow, the branches reaching almost to the ground, and around them a seriously intense rainstorm had let loose its fury. Only a few drops had made their way through the canopy to fall on the two of them, and they had just stood there in silence. It was the last time they had touched. After that day, the inevitable arguments of youth had broken them apart. Even though it was a bitter sweet memory, Richter had always still cherished it. The faint, clean smell of rain on grass was somehow the same as what he was experiencing now.

Richter shook his head, clearing his mind. Sion was standing in front of him, holding a brown sphere with light green veins running across the surface. The veins glowed with a gentle light. Sion was smiling, “I don’t know what you were thinking, but I know it was a reassuring memory of nature. That is what the Seed Core truly is. It is the potential for something wonderful. I know I was cavalier earlier, and should have told you what I had planned. I was excited to find an Offshoot, and possibly find a Seed Core. More than that though, I could not let such a wonderful talisman of good be used to feed the power of whatever evil creature had found it. Thank you for helping me, my friend.”

Richter was moved by the sprite’s sincerity. He told him, “I’m here for you man. I will fight beside you, and what is important to you is important to me.” Sion smiled in appreciation. “But you’re still an asshole, buddy,” Richter finished. Sion’s smile grew wider, and he gave a small laugh.

“Well now we’re even for the goblin pot! Now touch the Seed Core, and get your reward, my friend,” the sprite said.

With a smile and a confused cock of his head, Richter reached out and laid his hand on the brown sphere. The light from the green veins pulsed, and a prompt filled his vision.

Congratulations! You have found a Seed Core. This can be planted to grow almost any type of tree. It will grow into whatever best fits the needs of the region. Will you plant the Core in a safe area?

You have been offered a Quest: Tree of Power I. Plant the Seed Core in a safe area. Reward: Unknown. Yes or No?

Well this was a no brainer. Even if Sion wasn’t cuckoo for this thing, it seemed like a good cause anyway. He selected yes.

Alert! As Master of a Place of Power you have the chance to grow a high level tree if you plant within the boundaries of your domain!

Another exciting opportunity for his village! In addition to the Seed Core there were other items at the back of cavern, many buried just below the surface. They spent the next hour searching and found a multitude of packs and weapons. The faint light from the moss and Seed Core was not enough to truly inspect the items. The stench was also growing unbearable, so they dragged everything they had found back with them to the surface. The first taste of clean air was a relief!

They set the items they had found to the side and just sat breathing fresh air for a few minutes. A thought intruded on Richter’s recovery time. “Will Hisako be okay if I plant the Seed Core at the village? If it takes centuries to make one, then she might want it back.

Sion shook his head, “The Seed Core was found by us. The Forest obviously wanted it to be part of our destiny. I believe in you Richter. Just use it for good! Now,” Sion said, “one last task. Skeeling armor is usually resilient, but that monster was something else. I say we skin it and see if anything useful can be made!”

“Of course, my friend, of course,” Richter said with a smile. “But after that, we HAVE to take a bath in the river!”