Chương 31: Chapter 30 – Circle

~ Goblins slain. 84 EXP awarded. ~ Congratulations! You have reached Level 8. ~ 10 Attribute Points available. Following Daniel's recommendation, Laura immediately raised Perception to five and Constitution to four. Perception would award five SP for each odd value. Constitution was just her vanity asserting itself. Now, she was sitting on… ~ SP available: 21 ~ Available Classes (Tier II): ~~ Treewarden (26 SP) Much closer, thanks to her earlier purchase of Root Grip reducing the price by four.

Now she could buy 'Focus I' for ten SP, which would also count towards Treewarden. Still not quite enough. The Brandts had paid a small fortune in cores to lure multiple raiding parties into Laura's garden, where the monsters had subsequently… perished. Not that they were hurting for cores; Daniel's many purges had left them sitting on a literal pile of the things, waiting in a sealed barn to fuel the village's economy. Carefully.

"I still think it's unfair that the System does not grant me more experience points for solo kills," she told her husband with a petulant frown.

"It really wants people to act in groups of four, eight, or sixteen," he patiently replied to the sixth time she had asked. But for the first time, she felt curious enough to inquire further.

"... Why?"

"I have no idea." So much for my curiosity. She spared a glance for the half-shredded, partially dissolved goblin corpses slowly being dragged underground by her roo– her garden's roots. Their distorted mouths were still foaming from the nasty poison of her thorns. She was slowly getting used to the sight, after… What was it? Six or seven groups of goblins over the course of two days.

"I just wish I would get quests for this," she sighed.

"Getting SP only from level-ups sounds like a terrible idea for multiple reasons."

"It is," Daniel confirmed.

"It is slow and inefficient, but most importantly, it carries significant risk later on. High-level individuals with comparatively few SP will be easy pickings for redcaps."

"Though this risk is somewhat mitigated by your presence." Daniel hummed in agreement.

"For now, at least."

"So, nothing to bank on indefinitely. I should probably find a way to go on quests."

"I'll come up with something," Daniel said. With a crack of bone and a nasty squelch, the last monster corpse disappeared among the roots. As Laura looked on with morbid fascination, she suddenly felt a shudder run throughout her entire body. Daniel flinched next to her, looking around in alarm.

"What was that?" he asked.

"The mana is–" ~ You have established a Grove. ~ NEW QUEST ASSIGNED ~ Establish a Circle. = = = = = Marie passed the stone golem at the Brandt residence's gate with a small wave. As usual, it did not react, but something about the small act made her feel better. The first time she had visited Mrs. Brandt's garden, she had been intimidated. The second time, she had felt much safer. Now, the plants seemed to greet her like an old friend.

That feeling only intensified as she came closer to the main house, beyond a point where she could pass it off as 'just a vibe'. Something is going on here. And indeed, there was another woman sitting next to Laura in the garden. She recognized her as Kerstin Herbst, one of the Druids tending the communal herb gardens and growing ornamental plants. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Hello Marie," Mrs. Brandt greeted jovially.

"As you can see, we have another guest today." Mrs. Herbst smiled.

"I believe we've met before, right?"

"We have," Marie confirmed, sitting down on the free cushion, laid in a triangular formation with the others. Around them, a circle of potted plants made the arrangement seem like some kind of witchy ritual.

"We briefly worked together, back at the village gardens."

"Right, I remember. Then you went to join the hunters. Looks like you already made a name for yourself."

"Thank you, Mrs. Herbst," Marie replied, blushing lightly.

"I try my best."

"Please, call me Kerstin, sweetie." Mrs. Brandt laughed.

"Believe me, I've tried that. Give her some time." Marie choked on her own embarrassment, the resulting cough only serving to make the other women giggle.

"Ahem, I… Kerstin. Laura."

"Much better," Laura chuckled, then got back to business.

"We've been experimenting a little. I'd like you to try connecting with the geranium to your left, and to tell me if something feels different." Marie nodded, then got to work. She lightly touched the plant's petals, sending a minuscule thread of mana together with a simple thought image. Roots. The flower sent… something back, though Marie could not quite interpret it. Still, she marked down the experiment as a minor success.

"It was a little easier this time, and I think the plant tried to tell me something," she dutifully reported.

"Very good. Try again, please," Laura said, both older women closing their eyes in apparent meditation. Marie followed suit. When she mentally reached out to the flower, she flinched. Something, no, someone was softly prodding at her senses, carefully making contact through what reminded her of a tin cup telephone. She didn't receive words, per se – just a vague impression of summer sun on skin. Then, a small push. Marie understood immediately, relaying the feeling to the plant under her fingertip.

With the other Druid's guidance, the result was markedly different – her crude 'roots' thought had not even remotely encompassed enough feeling. The plant responded almost eagerly with a transmission of… uncomplicated joy. Simple pleasure, a full belly.

"I-It worked!" Laura and Kerstin opened their eyes, wide smiles on their faces.

"Good job," Kerstin praised.

"That was you, wasn't it?"

"It was," Kerstin preened.

"We just figured it out twenty minutes ago."

"Thank you so much!"

"No problem. Let's try again!" Many attempts later, Marie had gotten the hang of it. At first, the process was completely counterintuitive – humans communicated in a very different manner, after all – but at some point, she could establish and maintain connections on her own.

"I would like to try something else," Laura finally said.

"Let's move away from the potted plants."

"What do you mean?" Kerstin asked.

"I'd like the two of you to try connecting to the garden."

"All of it?"

"Exactly. It's like… It's probably best to show you." Laura closed her eyes and lightly put her hand on the grass. Kerstin and Marie followed suit. At first, there were only the few stalks of grass underneath Marie's palm. It was slightly disorienting, connecting to multiple plants at once, but she understood the process quickly – it wasn't about focusing on each of them separately, but viewing them as a whole.

Like looking down from a stage and seeing the 'audience' instead of individuals, but in addition to standing up there, she was a member of the audience herself… It was difficult to put into words, and she could easily see why the other Druids had struggled to explain the concept. Another awareness, one she quickly identified as Laura, lightly poked at her senses, then pulled. And suddenly, Marie felt everything. The vast carpet of grass, fungi underneath. Flowers, shrubs, herbs, the large oak.

It was so overwhelming that Marie lost concentration and snapped back to her own, half-forgotten body. She instinctively took a deep breath, choked and coughed, unable to truly make sense of what she just felt.

"Are you okay?" Suddenly, Laura was there, steadying her. For some reason, the absurd first question that came to her mind was, "Why fungi?" Laura cocked her head, taken aback.

"Come again?"

"There were fungi in the soil. A lot of them. They're not plants."

"I– I have no idea," Laura replied, utterly baffled.

"I did not even think about it. They were just… there."

"... I see," Marie said, not seeing it at all.

"Can we try again?"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." The Druids spent the next two hours slowly easing Marie into the complex system that was the garden. It became a lot easier once she started working her way 'up', using the fungal layer as a baseline. If she simply imagined every other plant branching away from it, she could make sense of the entire thing. For a while, Marie simply revelled in her newfound awareness.

Laura taught her how to communicate with faraway plants through the fungi, Kerstin showed her the right way to encourage a shrub to grow. They spent hours in the garden, exploring its intricacies and enjoying the strangely comforting experience. Even Laura, who started out radiating stress into the net of plants, gradually mellowed out. Suddenly, a ripple of power flowed through the network. It did not register as a disturbance, but as… reinforcement. The old oak grew new branches. The shrubs blossomed.

The grass became thicker and juicier. The fungi thrived. Marie opened her eyes, having easily located the source of the change. Laura was sitting cross-legged on her cushion, smiling broadly. ~ Treewarden, Level 8