"Just to be clear, if it seems dangerous I'm getting all three of you out of here fast, even if it isn't very dignified." Dad stares at Tir, Mera, and I sternly, then nods before turning around to start climbing the lighthouse. Even going up, it only takes him a couple minutes, and shortly after he reaches the top he throws the end of a rope down.

After a moment of no one moving, Mera makes a shooing motion at Tir, who shrugs and starts climbing, hands on the rope and feet finding traction in the cracked stone.

"Why'd you want him to go first?" When she doesn't respond I speak up. "Mera?"

"Oh, sorry, just wondering if I want to watch you climb up, or if I want you to watch me climb it." After seeing my confused expression she taps her thigh, drawing my attention to her tight knee length shorts.

I have to think a moment still, but when I get it my face flushes. "M-Mera! Dad can hear us from up there, you know? Ranger, remember." I shake my head and walk up to the base of the tower, though I wait till Tir is at the top before I start climbing.

When I reach the top, I look out at the ocean. It looks like a boundless stretch of flat blue cloth, barely a ripple that can be seen from here, let alone waves or monsters breaching the surface. I have an odd notion of the world holding its breath, but dismiss that a moment later. Then I go and wait several minutes by the rope to help Mera up over the edge.

She smiles in thanks, then walks to the middle of the platform. "Well, what's everybody waiting for? I can't be the only one who wants to try. Something to do with this brazier and weird, tree?"

"Yeah, the ghost lady showed up when I touched it." I lean against one of the pillars holding up the roof, and try to keep an eye on the ocean while I watch.

Mera hums softly, then reaches out and gingerly strokes a finger across a bar on the brazier's cage. She steps back a few paces when the flames change to white.

The transparent woman steps out, and her gaze locks onto Mera. "Analysis: Local Human hybrid with mixed foreign humanoid genetics identified. Subject possesses both the capacity and the potential for a Unique Skill. Proposition: The Guardian Light system will awaken your Unique Skill in exchange for granting a quest that will benefit the Isles of Origins as a whole."

"Mmhmm. I see. And, can you perhaps tell me what Unique Skill I have the potential for?" Mera is leaning forward and smirking at the strange figure.

"Processing: . . . There is a ninety eight percent likelihood that the subject's Unique Skill will manifest under the name 'Nature Worshipper', possessing the ability to allow the user to treat aspects of Nature as deities for worship. Attention: This Unique Skill will synergize well with the 'Holy Knight' Class Soul."

"And the other two percent?"

"Unknown."

"Oookay. Then can you expand upon what Nature Worshipper can do?"

"Processing: . . . Full applications of skill unclear. Estimation: Basic use predicted as the ability to pray to natural concepts to grant resistance or empowerment based on individual elements. Synergy with 'Holy Knight' estimated as the option to substitute natural concepts for the deity normally prayed to using the prayer skill line."

"Having a lot of options could be, helpful. Well, I'll take you up on your offer then."

"Attention: Direct spiritual interference activating, you may experience some discomfort."

"Huh? Eeeek!" Mera visibly shudders then starts rubbing her arms. "Yuck! That was weird." She shakes her hands and sticks out her tongue, then shakes her head.

"Success: The Unique Skill: Nature Worshipper has been awakened. Deeper Analysis: Subject traits identified, formulating quest. . . Attention: Two viable quests determined. . . Subject may chose between two quests: Option one, Grow an adequately defended Grove of at least one hundred Hesvunt trees. Option two, Exterminate 'Undead Terror: Corcalus' in the mesopelagic zone off the north-eastern coast of the Isle of Origins. . . Processing modern maps, estimated location, ten to twenty kilometers north of the coast on the boundary between the kingdoms of Engale and Velitrus. Special condition: Party Member 'Aradain' must be present for quest to be completed."

"I can't imagine why I wouldn't have her with me, but why does she, have to be there? For that matter, both of my quests need her help? That's a little, odd." The spectral figure shows no reaction to those questions. "Hmm, how strong is this Corcalus, then?"

"Categorization: Undead Amalgamation, Estimated threat level: Three Hundred plus. Full capabilities unknown."

Mera blanches at that. "Ahhh probably, not, that one then." She pauses, seemingly thinking about what else to ask.

I scoot down along the pillar and stretch my arms before interjecting. "What rewards would she get for those quests?"

"Processing: Response: Quest option one reward, stewardship over Hesvunt grove, and Advanced Class Skill Mystic Herbology Lore will be granted in exception to typical Class Restrictions. Quest option two reward, joint Dominion over the portion of the Ocean of Chaos currently ruled over by 'Undead Terror: Corcalus', with Party Member 'Aradain', and Unique Skill 'Soul Force' will be granted to all present Party Members."

"Rewards after too? No mention of time limits, either. Hmm. Okay, I'll bite. What can Soul Force do?"

"Unique Skill Soul Force: A mass produced Unique Skill that enables the use of the energy type Soul Force in place of Spiritual Energy."

"Haa~ Can you, explain the difference between Soul Force and Spiritual Energy theeeen?"

"Soul Force: The raw power of the soul, Spiritual Energy: Energy produced as a biproduct of the soul. . . Potential circular logic loop detected: Seeking resolution. Clarification: Soul Force has a potency quotient of roughly ten times that of Spiritual energy when used for directed energy attacks. Substituting Soul Force in use during a prayer will only increase potency of autonomous divine reaction by two to five times, however Soul Force will be much more likely to elicit direct divine attention in response. Additionally Soul Force is very slow to recover after use, recommended for use in emergencies only."

Mera taps her lips as she thinks, then smiles. "Can I take both quests? Or, start with the Hesvunt growing quest now, and take the extermination quest later?"

"Quest option one prioritized. Quest option two reserved, barring any alternative qualified subjects appearing."

Mera waits a moment, then nods and walks over next to me. "So, I think the extermination quest would be a stepping stone to finishing your quest. Since I'd have to have you with me. Hopefully, we'll see eventually."

Tir approaches the ghostly woman, once he's within a few meters of her she speaks again. "Analysis: Local Human identified. Subject possesses the capacity for a Unique Skill, but no particular potential. Proposition: The Guardian Light system will assign specialized challenges to create the potential required for Unique Skill awakening."

"That sounds quite a bit different from what you said to Mera. What sort of Unique Skill could I gain?"

"Unknown. Formulating challenges. . . Option one: Defeat one thousand monsters with magic attacks at a range of two meters or less. Option two: Keep an individual offensive spell charged without casting for one hour during active battle. Option three: Spend a total of one hundred hours in a mana-sick state. . ." The figure seems to disappear for a second before returning. "Challenges and progress will be listed in your status page. Complete one or more of these challenges and return to Guardian Light node to awaken a Unique Skill."

"Feels like she's being a little brusque with me. But fine, I'll try ehm. Guess I'll try all of them?" Tir's eyes take on an unfocused look as he walks away from the brazier.

Dad sighs, then approaches. "I'll take your challenges. Just tell me what they are."

"Unnecessary speech omitted. Challenge one: Kill ten thousand monsters with a single attack each at maximum effective weapon range with a bow. Challenge two: Tame one thousand distinct animal companions. Challenge three: Slay one creature categorized as a Divine Beast." She disappears as quickly as a blink, and doesn't reappear this time.

"Heh, challenges are almost as bad as the quests." Dad shrugs, then sweeps his gaze across the ocean. "No point in sticking around. Might as well start on Mera's quest. Those Hesvunt seeds are from treants, right?"

"Uhhh. Yeah. We're, gonna need to kill a lot of them." I bring up the entry to double check. "The seeds are five hundred treant material each. And we were getting, like five points each for lesser treants."

"That was when we were saving the leaves for a quest! You got twelve from one, with leaves. Think you said it was a little stronger than the rest too? So maybe ten for the basic lesser treant?" She mutters under her breath a moment, then looks to Tir with an eyebrow quirked.

"We'll need to kill at least five thousand treants, if they're all worth ten points. Nothing saying you have to plant them all at once though. And, hopefully we'll find some higher tier treants. Because that is, quite a lot."

After looking around a bit, we all head back down. We split up, Mera and I hunting for lesser treants, starting in the woods around my house. Dad runs off to scout through the full territory he owns for any strong monsters, while keeping an eye out for treants of any kind. Finally, Tir heads to town to buy some mana potions for one of his challenges, with the statement of not wanting to use up all of my slime materials.

Our previous strategy, me focusing on random trees to see if they are any threat to single out the treants, then us attacking them, still works. But, no reason not to test out our new skills.

We make idle chatter for a while as I search. Once I find a treant, I hold up a hand and point it out from about seven meters away. I vaguely feel like it has noticed us, but it isn't moving yet. "Seems a little stronger, but still. I wanna try the Art of Deception here. Kaay?"

"Wait a second. If you're gonna creep in on your own, I'd like to use my Prayer of Protection on you first. Hmm, should I try to use it with Nature Worshipper? But what do I do with it? Aspects of nature. Like, elements?" Mera tilts her head. "PoP is a basic defensive miracle. When dedicated to Vestria it increases fire resistance on top of boosting defense. What would help resist plants? Fire? Or would that be the same as praying to Vestria?"

"Aha! Got it! Ice, bad for plants, and it's hard, so like armor. As for the prayer, it should be, 'O Lady Ice, I plead your protection for my comrade'." At the start of the prayer, there is a crackle of energy, a bit like static. Halfway through there is a whisper of the odd humming sensation from when the priest chanted. Finally, I feel something, cool creeping across my hands.

I hold up my left hand to see a nearly invisible shine growing from my fingertips. I try tapping my index finger and thumb together, they don't quite reach, and there is a soft clinking noise. After several seconds I seem to be totally covered in it, it's flexible, doesn't seem to get in the way, and is only cool rather than cold. "Um okay. Is it supposed to be like, this?"

"Maybe? I don't know what it's like normally." Mera grabs my hand, then knocks on my arm lightly. "Mmm. The skill description says the defense buff lasts half an hour. Or, I could use it on myself in a minute when the cooldown ends." She smiles wryly and shrugs. "Well, are you gonna test your skill?"

"Right, uhh." I take a couple steps away and plant the pommel of my spear on the ground. "Art of Deception." After a moment I feel a thin pulse of energy shoot through my body. All three basic types, Ki is the main one for certain, but even that isn't much. "Mmm, anything happening?"

Mera peers at me, then shrugs. "Nothing I can see. . . Maaybeee you have to actually try to hide?" Her grin makes it seem that she finds the idea amusing.

"What? Like crouching and pretending people can't see me?" We share a laugh at that, then I shake my head and stop to think. "Well, normal rogues would have something like 'shadow sneak' right? So if I just, move my ki to my skin and try to use it to cover myself in shadows. . ." Even as I'm reasoning through the idea, I'm testing it.

A startled yelp from Mera tells me I've done something. A moment later she takes a deep breath. "That partly worked. I guess." She walks closer, and points at my left arm. "You're half in the shade half in the sunlight. The part in the light looks like, a shadow monster. And the rest is just, gone?"

I look down to see what she means, then nod. "Great! I can stick to the shade." I step into the darkness offered by the trees. "Looks like I can get to it without being seen."

"Just a second. Cooldowns over." Mera straightens up, holding her shield and knife at the ready. "He-heem. O Lady Vestria, I plead for your protection." In a flash, she's covered in ghostly armor that flickers with nearly invisible flames. "Woo~w."

My jaw drops. "Okay. That's. . . Even more than the ice version." I shake my head and start stalking towards the treant. "Ready to rush in after I hit it?"

"Sure! Just be careful." Mera edges closer to the treant while skirting the trees' massed shadows.

I slip to the other side of the treant while breathing steadily. Once I'm in place, I wind my right arm back, spear clutched tight. Finally I lunge forward while thrusting the weapon. There is a loud thud and the wooden creature flails as it falls over. At the same moment, the ki coating my body and equipment seems to snap back, leaving me visible again. After a second to register the change, I notice that I'm holding out the blunt end of the spear.

"How'd I get that wrong?!" I flip the weapon around and jab at the treant again even as it tries to right itself. It evades the spear tip, so I swing upwards, sending it tumbling away with a resounding crack. Somehow in the process of rolling away the monster regains its footing, swinging itself about to face me a moment later.

This treant is an especially tall one, easily three meters, and very lanky. It also seems to have, five arm like branches, each as long as my spear. I jab upwards at its face, it deflects the spear with one limb, then lashes out with all four of the others in an odd twisting motion. The icy shell around me barely cracks from the blows, though I can feel each impact through it.

Before it can right itself again, Mera slams into its side, knife braced with both hands. The blade lodges halfway into its trunk, and the monster swipes at her with the nearest limb, to no apparent effect.

I put both hands on the haft of my spear and note that the tip is closer to the left hand, then shroud myself in shadows again now that the monster is distracted. While they struggle, I sneak in from the side, then stab directly where the treant's left leg meets its body. The spear easily pierces deep enough to sever the thin limb. The monster falls again, and I start grabbing at the branches to further immobilize it making it all the easier for Mera to go in for the kill by stabbing the face.

Once we've had a moment to catch our breath, I convert the treant. "Oh. That one was worth twenty. It did seem stronger."

"Think that was enough to make it a full treant instead of a lesser one?" I shrug, then we continue hunting.

Despite being better at fighting lesser treants, we don't find many very quickly. It takes until mid afternoon before I reach five hundred points, and I already had over three hundred stored up from before. Once it hits that point I sigh. "This is gonna take forever. Wanna take a break and plant the first one? I think I know a good place."

Mera's face lights up. "Yeah! I'm really curious what the seeds look like. And the sooner we plant one, the sooner we can see the trees too."

I lead the way to a long clearing a few kilometers from my house. It's roughly twenty meters wide, and almost three hundred long. Even the grass in the area is sparse, excepting the last thirty meters towards the south. Which has grown out a lot more by comparison.

"What, happened here? This is, weird." Mera frowns at the clearing. But looks a little thoughtful.

"About a year ago, a slime wandered through here. It suddenly got really big over there," I point towards the north end of the clearing. "and just, ate its way through the forest until dad killed it at the end." My gaze sweeps over the area. "Back then I thought I'd keep the area clear of new trees and try to set game traps in the clearing once the grass was more consistent. But, well. You've got some special trees to grow. . ."

"Ohh~ In that case, this is probably perfect. The land is already good for trees, and the grove will be surrounded by normal woods, so it should be inconspicuous." She leads the way towards the lush patch of grass at the end. "I'd guess the leftover slime stuff, enriched the land here. So the best place to start. Hand me a seed?" She kneels down and uses her knife to clear away a bit of grass.

I select the option from my menu, only to gasp in surprise upon finding a hard nut larger than most fruit and covered in a maze like texture, balanced on my free hand. It's probably about twenty centimeters across, and heavier than it looks.

Mera looks over and echoes my gasp. "I'm gonna need to dig a bit more." She giggles, then the only sound for a little while is the scraping sound of the knife digging through grass and soil.

I lean my spear in the crook of my right arm and hold the oversized seed with both hands. I shake it around, and even knock on it a bit, curious about the odd thing. It seems completely solid when shaken, but makes a noise almost like a bell when I knock. The latter causes me to furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head.

Eventually Mera holds up her hands for it, so I pass it over. Her hands drop under the unexpected weight before she applies enough force to actually lift it. After a moment of almost reverent consideration, she drops it into the hole she dug, then pushes the small pile of dirt back over it. She dusts off her hands, then stands up and starts walking. "Well, let's go to your place for a quick break, then we can bring back a pitcher of water."

I barely heard her talk, because I'm distracted by a new feeling. A feeling that reminds me of a deep drum beat, almost more felt than heard, slowly drawing down into the area. It feels somehow, wild, unrestrained, but concentrated here for some reason. The closest thing I've felt was from one of the dungeon cores I picked off in the last month. That was a, wild natural energy type core? Certainly less than this feeling though. "Something's not right. . ." I look around uncertainly.

There are several wooden figures beginning to shift around the edge of the woods. There is a sudden cracking noise from the ground where the hesvunt seed was planted. Then, a shoot pops from the ground, ten centimeters tall, and almost as wide, with two broad leaves on the top. The next moment, it feels like half the forest is charging into the clearing.

I level my spear at the nearest treant, and Mera hastily reapplies her Prayer of Protection to both of us. Due to the situation, I don't try to make it so we can both contribute, just stab the nearest enemy as hard as I can. The spear goes right through the first one, so I use that treant as a bludgeon to hammer the next aside.

I see Mera tackling a treant and shoving it over into another one to trip both of them up before engaging a third. But there are dozens of them.

After my third kill of the insane charging trees, I feel the energy rush of a level up, faster and easier than ever. But, before I can fully register that, let alone do anything with it, something else happens.

All of the nearby treants collapse, and a ghastly groan rings out behind me. I turn to find a treant hunched over the hesvunt sapling. The monster and the tree are, growing into each other. In particular the treant is growing larger and sinking down closer to the plant, even starting to grow roots into the ground around it. The worst part is, the monster seems to be growing stronger moment by moment. Even the wild energy in the air is being drawn in.

Then a thick green pollen rolls off of it like fog, and its branches start elongating and lashing out. Some of them catch hold of the other nearby fallen treants and drag them in to add to the creature's growing mass. One branch shoots past me, clipping my right side and cutting straight through the icy armor. I yowl and clutch the wound, dropping my spear in the movement. Then, I grit my teeth, and lunge over to scoop up Mera. "Running now!"

I run hard north through the clearing, ignoring Mera's protests. Once we're past the halfway point and I'm breathing heavily, wincing from my injury on every drawn breath I stumble and drop her. She manages to get her feet under her in time to support me. I hold a hand up to prevent whatever she might try to say, then I straighten up and breath as deeply as I can before yelling at the top of my lungs. "Dad! Monster!" I cough a couple times before wheezing in a quieter tone, "Terrible, weird monster."

There is a flash of green off to one side, and when I turn to look Dad walks right out of a large tree. "What's happen- . .ing?"

The treant is now a ten meter tall, twisted, bone white tree, its face set into the middle of the trunk, a carved mask of agony leaking black sap. The spore cloud pouring from its branches drifts outwards, the trees touched by the pollen start to twist and pull themselves from the earth. The horrid tree starts shifting its roots, pulling itself towards the deeper woods, ever so slowly.

"That is not happy making. . ." Dad shakes his head and readies his bow, then his energies start stirring. "Hunter's Choice!" A trio of arrows pop up from his quiver on their own and hang in the air. One covered in golden flecks, the second shrouded in shadows, and the third aflame. He squints at them, then focuses on the monster. "Critical instinct. . . Looks like, holy is the best choice? And dark is better than fire? Weird for a plant."

He shakes his head and grabs the sparkling arrow. The other two return to normal and fall to the ground, apparently unharmed by their previous condition. He nocks the arrow he chose, takes aim, and looses it, all in a moment. The holy light grows as the arrow flies, until it looks like a great gilded spear just before skewering the monster. Black ooze spurts from the wound, but seems to dissipate into the air as the radiance from the arrow builds even after impact. Finally the arrow explodes in a blinding flash.

When I can finally see again the thing is motionless, and there is a hole in it I could walk through with my arms outstretched. I clear my throat and turn my head to spit out a glob of grayish phlem. "Ugh. Remind me to never plant one of those again."

Mera shakes her head. "No uhmm. I'm pretty sure that's why the Guardian Light lady said the grove needed to be defended." Her gaze drifts to the hoard of new treants that are beginning to flee the area, expanding the end of the clearing. "We just need, to do it right next time."

Dad approaches me. "Let's get over there so you can convert that, thing. We need information."

I step away from Mera, wincing at the pain in my side. I pause to look at the spot. There isn't, too much blood, so I shake my head and start walking, though my toes feel tingly. I look around the area as I approach the monster. "Where'd my spear go?" I shake my head. "And why does the grass look like, that?"

The grass has turned to a rusty red color, and grown taller and rigid. Dad leans in for a look. "Razorgrass? Never seen such a big patch." His gaze shifts to other newly strange plants. "Bloodthorn shrub, strangle vines, and corpse lilies? Least that one's good for alchemy. Don't touch any of the plants. That, thing made most of them dangerous. . ."

I try to convert the monstrous tree from outside the grass. After putting a little ki into the effort, it works.

[3500 units of Treant Material obtained] [Treant variant: Origin Treant, converted. Recipes Unlocked; Treant Antibody Serum 500 Treant Material and 100 Slime Material, Breath of the Dark Woods 1000 Treant Material and 500 any Demon Material, Ancient Wood Plate Armor(Full Set) 5000(Variable) Treant Material, Ancient Wood Wagon 800 Treant Material and 200 Lumemoth Larvae Material, Twisted Stave 400 any Nether Attribute Plant Monster Material and 100 any Demon Material, Holy Leaf 1000 Treant Material, Vestria's Favor 1,000,000 Treant Material and -Unknown- and -Unknown-]

"Okay, that's a lot. Apparently it was an Origin Treant, I got three thousand five hundred material from it, and unlocked several recipes. A couple sound, weird or bad. And. . . What does variable mean?" I sniffle, then cough a few times, my next breath sounds kinda wheezy.

Dad grumbles, then steps in front of me. "Open your status."

"Soggy tinder! I've got five status effects!" I rub my right wrist against my nose. "Moderate hay fever and paralysis, minor curse, minor blight, and petty enervation. Ughh. What even are those last two? Curse is kinda vague too."

Rather than answering, he picks me up. Then he picks Mera up, and shifts us around so he has her in a princess carry with me sitting in her lap. Before either of us have an opportunity to object, he's running towards town. "None of those are, great, but Blight gets worse over time and Enervation persists unless cured. Curse is the opposite, wears off slowly, but hard to cure." He shakes his head. "Generic Curse slows down natural healing, Enervation slows energy recovery and leaves its victims tired. Blight is really bad. It's like an open wound, but makes everything worse instead of just itself. Injuries will be more likely to get infected, other status effects will persist longer, and the stronger the Blight is, the weaker you'll feel."

Mera holds up a hand to speak. "Umm, I don't have Blight. So hers is probably from when the origin treant hit her. My curse is petty, and enervation is at moderate though."

He runs the rest of the way in silence with nothing more than a, "Going to the church." to the gate guards. When we get to the church he takes us to a side section with dozens of evenly spaced cots, though none are currently occupied. He drops us off on adjacent cots and continues further in. A short while later he returns with two other people. A green haired man I don't know who looks a little older than him, and Virn, though she looks professional instead of smug.

The man looks between us, I feel a flicker of mana, but it's muted compared to my usual senses. After a moment of thought he approaches Mera, leaving Virn to approach me.

Virn leans forward, then pauses. "Since she has multiple status ailments, should I perform a Prayer of Cleansing dedicated to Evarious or to Meliange?"

"Normally Meliange would be the better choice. Medicine rather than Healing. But in this instance, since they were inflicted by a plant monster, a Prayer of Purification dedicated to Vestria would be best. Though you wouldn't have access to that until level fifteen. For now, Cleansing dedicated to Vestria. Nothing you can do about the Curse anyway. So I'll check her over when I'm done here."

She nods then folds her hands. "O Lady Vestria, mother of the guiding flame, this lost child seeks the removal of all afflictions."

At the same time the man intones a similar prayer over Mera. "O Lady Vestria, matron of virtue, your faithful servant casts away all things impure in your name."

Two bright lights overlap causing me to squint. Once they fade away my nose itches. I turn away from everyone else to sneeze again. "Ughh, why do I feel like I just snorted hot ash?" For that matter, my voice is raspy all of a sudden, and my muscles ache.

"Poor affinity for fire? Hmm, that wound probably needs healing too. Virn. Do you know enough about Keldin God of Springs to offer him a prayer of healing?" She shakes her head. "Then you probably don't know Urobos of the Abyss or Fenilia of Rain either."

"S-sorry. I haven't picked up the Pantheon Lore skill."

"Don't. Waste of a skill point. You can learn just as much in a week or so of study." The Priest pinches the bridge of his nose. "Just, get her a glass of water and make sure she isn't bleeding too much."

I sip at the water Virn fetched as she starts raising the hem of the damaged side of my shirt. "I'm not worried about that scratch."

"Just- Rrgh." She manages to cut off whatever she was going to say. Then she yanks the shirt up before sucking in a sharp breath. "A scratch? Well I could lay a finger down in that scratch and it'd barely be level with your skin. It's not bleeding much though. That's ehmm, a little strange."

"Hmm, regeneration skill. Minor, anyway." I figure that explains it. I lean in for a closer look at the injury, then lock up. The main gash is deep enough to be carved through the muscle of my abdomen on the lower right side, and the skin around it is torn and bruised. My eyes widen and my breaths grow shallow.

Suddenly Virn's hand is over my eyes as she tries to push my head back. "Don't stare at it! You'll just freak yourself out. It looks worse than it is. I promise." Once I lay back to humor her, she walks over to talk to the priest. "Teacher, I used most of my spiritual energy, but I managed to level up again."

The man has a hand on Mera's forehead and seems to be pouring spiritual energy over her. "That's nice. Eh? Wait, already?" He furrows his brows, then looks to dad. "How high a level was that monster you mentioned?"

"Thirty five? Under forty for sure." Dad rubs his chin. "Still enough to give a Ranger with a total level of sixty two a petty case of hay fever off of the lingering pollen when I actually approached. Didn't catch the other ailments though."

"Heh, won't waste energy on you then." The priest makes a shooing motion at Virn. "Go take a break kid." She runs off without wasting a second. After a while he seems satisfied with whatever he's doing to Mera and approaches me. He pauses and tilts his head to the side. "Your curse has already degraded from minor to petty. That, should take a few days. How? . . Nevermind, not my business." He places a hand on my head and releases spiritual energy. At this range I can sort of feel what he's doing. It seems like he's using his spirit to push something away from mine.

A short while later he removes his hand. "Keldin, font of life, grant your healing." After that short prayer a cool feeling spreads across my wounded side. Then he's rushing off before I can say anything. He casually calls back over his shoulder. "Alright Tiruse, four silver or so as an offering in the main building later? Or not. I'll not be bothered either way."

Once we're alone, I look between dad and Mera. "Might, be a bad time. . . I have another idea for where we can grow the hesvunt grove." I hold up my hands placatingly. "Not being an idiot and just doing things this time. But, I think it's a good idea. Hmm. Basically, we have a Dungeon we're on good terms with. Right?"

Chaos_Sinner777

You know, the whole gaia collab project thing doesn't seem to be continuing. Unfortunate. It was an interesting idea. Guess that means I can just focus on doing my own thing then?

Anyway, what would happen if Tree-Tree from Tree of Aeons got Origin Treant pollen on him? Muah ah ha! Well, from my end, I'll go ahead and say once he's started on the path to divinity it would do nothing. Plus with all his plant hax he might be able to just say no a fair ways earlier than that. But, not my character so I can't say for sure.

Oh oh! Also I finally decided on what distinguishes a monster in this series/world. Aaand some of the stuff I've said previously even works to foreshadow what I settled on. Unfortunately I'm not quite certain how to explain it in story. Monsters grow stronger by directly integrating supernatural energies they take in, all other things have energy compatibilities whereby the energies they take in become potential before their energy pools grow at each level mark.

SO basically if a monster kills a bunch of mages, it will end up with a ton of Mana, even if it was originally strong with Ki. Though if a non monster animal kills a bunch of mages, it will still grow normally. Of course, the monster would gain more levels from the same number of kills though. In a way, a high level animal could be more dangerous than a similarly leveled monster with poor energy distribution. Though Monster Conversion works based on Aradain's thoughts, so like, a normal bear wouldn't be a monster, but she could still use it on one. "Bear dangerous, basically a monster, right?"