Path of Dragons

Elijah sat upon the tree limb, high enough that no one could see him, and closed his eyes. Placing his hand on the rough bark, he pushed his awareness through his expanded channels and into the tree. Only the thinnest tendril of ethera – barely perceptible even to his trained and powerful senses – extended from his fingertip, but the moment it passed through the outermost layer of the tree’s bark, a wealth of information flooded his unprepared mind.

He let out a silent gasp as he nearly toppled from his perch, but it only took a second for him to clamp down on the cascade of input. When he did, he managed to regain his balance and, after only a few more moments, he’d tamed the tidal wave. Not through his own efforts, but rather through a web of ethera that originated with Soul of the Wild. It was only through the system’s assistance that he could even begin to parse the immense weight of the tree’s essence.

Even then, it was nearly overwhelming, and not only because it was his first time using the expanded capabilities of the newly evolved Soul of the Wild. If One with Nature had granted him awareness, then its evolution gave him understanding. The only issue was that his mind simply wasn’t prepared to deal with that intense of a connection.

However, he did manage to sort a few basic impressions out of what he felt. The tree was healthy, but he already knew that. As far as he could tell, it was as much an entity of magic as it was a natural being, so it wasn’t really beholden to mundane problems like drought or lack of nutrients in the soil. And given the density of the ethera in Druid’s Park, it didn’t lack for magical energy either.

He could also feel a strong desire for connection. That was part of the reason Elijah had been so overwhelmed. It was like trying to talk to an eager child who only wanted to hug you and tell you about her day. In that sort of a situation, it was impossible to get a word in, and the best course of action was to simply smile and listen.

That characterization was probably even better than Elijah had first realized, because the tree definitely gave the impression of youth. And exuberance, at least as far as her nature would allow. It was only after a few moments that Elijah recognized that he’d been thinking of it in feminine terms, but even if it didn’t fit perfectly, he felt that it was appropriate.

For a while, he just basked in the tree’s presence until, at last, his store of ethera began to dip into dangerous levels. So, he retracted that tendril, surprised that connecting to other creatures via Soul of the Wild was so energy intensive. It was almost as draining as using Domain of Lightning at full blast, so he knew he wouldn’t be making a habit of it. Still, the fact that it was possible at all was absolutely mind-blowing, and it hinted at something he'd long hoped would lay in his future.

After all, what kind of Druid would he be if he hadn’t dreamed of communicating with trees and other animals? That seemed like the natural progression of Soul of the Wild, and he couldn’t wait until he was capable of carrying on conversations with various animals.

As for the rest of Soul of the Wild, it was a bit of a mixed bag. The evolution of One with Nature had made the ability much more powerful, but being able to sense things for another fifty feet wasn’t really a game-changer. He did like that he could peer deeper, though, even if that depth hadn’t given him any more insight.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, though,” he muttered to himself. Indeed, he knew that reaching the abilities of an Archdruid would take decades. Maybe centuries. There was even a chance that it would require millennia of constant and incremental improvements. His days of enormous leaps forward were probably in the past.

All except two.

He still needed to take the next step with his Core cultivation, which, aside from being a huge deal on its own, would mean that he could finally evolve his class. It hadn’t been that long since he’d decided to delay, but it felt like years had passed since then. His willpower was strong, but he wasn’t immune to the effects of anticipation. In some ways, that was kind of the point.

As he withdrew from the tree, those thoughts raced through his mind, but with some effort, he pushed them away. It wasn’t the time to think about the future. Instead, he needed to focus on the present. To that end, he cast his attention toward the other side of Druid’s Park, where a strange scene had unfolded.

When he’d first arrived, he’d found Miguel sparring against Colt. Neither had noticed his arrival, so he’d quickly climbed the tree so he wouldn’t disturb them. That was when he’d decided – on a whim – to try out Soul of the Wild. But now that that was done, there were no distractions from his nephew’s progress.

The clack of practice swords filled the air, almost like a solid wall of sound. Colt and Miguel were both expert swordsmen, and their efforts made that absolutely apparent. But there were two things that surprised Elijah. One was what he’d first noticed upon arrival in the Druid’s Park, but the other hadn’t become obvious until he’d watched the pair of swordsmen for a few minutes.

Miguel was far, far stronger than Colt.

Maybe not in terms of levels – Elijah still got the impression that Colt had a quite a few on Miguel – but it was obvious that the younger fighter could have overwhelmed the one-armed Samurai if he truly wanted to. Instead, he was holding back, constraining himself to something close to equal footing.

That showed that Miguel was much more skilled than Elijah had expected. Clearly, his experiences – and likely, his determination – had pushed him further along that path than anyone could have expected. He wasn’t even sixteen yet, and already, he was a master with the blade.

But Elijah also got the impression that his nephew had a long way to go yet. His potential seemed endless, and he appeared dedicated enough to reach it someday. He had talent, a good class, and the will to get the most out of both.

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The other, more obvious thing Elijah had noticed was that the two swordsmen had gained an audience. They were all young, and Elijah knew that none of them had gained an archetype yet. However, most of them carried homemade versions of their own practice swords. In a few cases, those makeshift weapons were just long sticks, but in others, they’d clearly been made by someone with a little talent.

A couple of them even had their swords in hand.

Was it because they were inspired by Miguel and Colt? Or was it a natural reaction to the war? After all, those kids had lived through two major battles, one of which had made it clear that their city was woefully outmanned. Perhaps they wanted to skew that balance and protect themselves as well as their families.

Elijah continued to watch for a while until, at last, Colt called for a halt. Only then did Elijah leap down from his perch and approach the two. The children scattered as soon as they realized who he was.

Except one familiar gnome girl.

“Hello Rosabella,” Elijah said. “How are things?”

She’d grown a little since the last time he’d seen her, but she was still only about a foot and a half tall. He didn’t know how old she was, but the little girl still had a lot of growing up to do.

“Why did you scare everyone off?” she asked, her tiny hands on her hips. She’d exchanged her dress for pants, and she had a wooden dagger strapped to her back. She was so small that it looked like a sword. “Now I don’t have anybody to spar with.”

“I didn’t mean to,” he said. “Besides, I thought you were going to apprentice with Mari as a Tailor.”

“I’m not a little girl anymore,” she huffed in her squeaky voice. “Things change.”

“Right. Obviously,” he agreed.

“What’s up?” asked Miguel, who’d noticed Elijah’s arrival. “Is something wrong?”

Elijah shook his head. “No. I just came here for two reasons. I need to get my armor repaired,” he said. “And I want to teach you a little something about woodworking. If you want to take me up on that – totally understand if that’s not something you’re interested in – I’ll be back in the grove in about an hour.”

As expected, Miguel chose to take whatever lessons he could get. Not only was he seemingly obsessed with improvement, but he also clearly idolized Elijah. So, the opportunity to learn something from his uncle was too great to refuse.

After that, Elijah explained pleasantries with Colt, who took the time to remind him about the refugees from the plane crash. For his part, Elijah hadn’t forgotten them, but the way he saw it, those people had survived for more than half a decade, and as far as he knew, their situation wasn’t urgent. Dire, certainly. They needed help. But it probably wouldn’t make much difference if they were rescued in a week or six months.

So, given that his time was not infinite, Elijah had to make choices as to his priorities. For better or worse, the refugees were not at the top of his list, even if he intended to take care of it eventually.

He didn’t say as much to Colt, instead opting for a generic, “I’m working on it.” That wasn’t what the Samurai wanted to hear, but it was the best Elijah could offer.

Once that unpleasant interaction had finished, Elijah left Miguel to his own devices while he headed into town to hunt down the Leatherworker who’d created his Armor of the Boar King. He found the little goblin holed up in her shop, which featured boarded windows and looked more than a little worse for wear. If Elijah hadn’t been able to feel her presence inside the structure, he might have thought the place was abandoned.

As it was, he knocked on the door, and predictably received no answer. When he called out her name, Gavina finally answered, “I am not taking new customers! Go away!”

Elijah rolled his eyes and pushed through the door. The second he did, he was forced to dodge to the side to avoid a thrown knife that thudded into the doorframe. “What the…”

“Oh. It’s you. What do you want?” she demanded, holding two other knives.

“You just threw a knife at me!”

“I thought you were a dark elf.”

Elijah just stared at her for a second before saying, “I look nothing like a dark elf…”

“Whatever. You’re tall and dangerous. What do you want?” she asked.

Elijah pulled his armor from the Ghoul-Hide Satchel, then handed it over. In addition to being damaged during the final fight of the Trial of Primacy, the ability was spent. When he asked if she could restore it to normal, she told him to stop being stupid. “Everyone knows that’s not possible. I can mend the tears, but it won’t provide as much protection as it did before.”

“That’s fine,” Elijah said.

“Wasn’t asking for your approval. Now go. Leave me be.”

Elijah left the taciturn and paranoid goblin’s shop, then returned to his island, where he quickly found Miguel in the grove. After that, he led his nephew through the forest on a quest to select a perfect branch for the planned crafting project. The idea was simple – Miguel needed to be a little more self-sufficient. Having armor and weapons made was all well and good, but there was no substitute for the ability to do it himself.

Sure, the final product might not be quite as good as if it was made by someone with a woodworking class, but even if Miguel only used the crafting techniques Elijah meant to pass on for a back-up, it would still be a valuable lesson.

So, after finding an appropriate branch – to Elijah, it felt like precision and durability – they settled in to carve it into an appropriate shape.

“Slow and steady,” he advised his nephew. “Use your Dexterity. This isn’t a task that can be accomplished in a day. You need to feel the wood. You need to understand it and what you want it to become. Let yourself sink into it.”

Miguel didn’t quite feel it the way Elijah did, but that was not unexpected. Still, over the course of the rest of the day – which was all Elijah could spare – the young Green Warden managed to rough out the shape. As he did, Elijah used Nature’s Bounty and Healing Rain to bathe it in ethera in the hopes that it would improve the quality.

Along the way, Elijah gave Miguel step-by-step instructions on how to keep going. The method would be similar to the one he used for his staves, but altered slightly to accommodate a different shape as well as Miguel’s different set of skills. For his part, Miguel absorbed Elijah’s advice, which was both a little scary and extremely gratifying. The first because Elijah felt pretty certain that he shouldn’t be anyone’s example, but the second because he truly wanted to be seen that way.

Regardless, it was a rewarding experience that Elijah felt was necessary for him to reset his mind after what he’d experienced while cultivating his Soul. That had given him a look that told him just how deep the world went, but his time with Miguel told him that just because reality was far more complex and overwhelming than he could have expected, it didn’t negate the actuality of his everyday existence.

But he could only focus on those things for so long. He had other things to do, after all. So, when the sun set, he left Miguel to his own devices and headed back to the center of the grove, where he resumed work on his core. As he’d expected, cycling ethera through his newly expanded system of channels and into his core was far easier than it had been before he’d progressed his Soul to the Student tier, which gave him hope that he would be finished with that portion of his development sooner rather than later.

Regardless, he still needed to put in the work, so he leveraged the entirety of his focus to that end, and like that, the night passed.

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