The limbs branching off from The Mother Tree became thicker the further down Pel’s group travelled. Passing more than a kilometer downward, they reached a section of limbs that were easily twenty meters in diameter, with flat tops filled with planted fields. He could see limbs with orderly rows of flowers, some with overgrown, tangled vines dotted by giant melons, and others with bushes drooping under the weight of berries. With all of this up here, what need is there to ever go down to the ground?

Ino led the group toward one of the flower fields. Looking past the fields reminded Pel of the only time he ever went skydiving, several small cumulus clouds were floating past The Mother Tree below the branches while above numerous wispy ribbons of cirrus clouds sailed across the eastern sky. I wonder why clouds form layers?

It wasn’t until Pel landed on the field that he realized most of the flowers were way taller than him. Taller than the ones Clover kept inside, those seemed like simple houseplants in comparison to the large and orderly ‘free range’ plants of the field. Big happy bees buzzed around the flowers and plants, seemingly content to leave the Fairies alone. Everyone settled in on the wooden edge bordering the dirt the plants were growing from as Ino hovered in front of them smiling.

“As I stated before, I’ll be teaching you about plants and flowers,” she said. “This is just the first day, so I’ll keep things simple. I’ll cover the basic plants for medicine, resource potions, and insect and monster repellant. These are important to know because for non-healers, understanding how to heal yourself and others without magic can keep you alive. Understanding basic resource potions can keep a party fueled through periods where resting isn’t an option, and knowing where you can hide from monsters and animals can provide you safe haven even in dangerous areas.”

“Why do we even need to know these things?” someone asked.

“Yea, if we just stay with The Mother Tree won’t there be other people who already know this?”

One of the Protectors sounded the loud acorns again, this time catching nobody off guard. Seems like everyone’s wising up.

“You’re all very new,” Ino said, “you likely don’t understand our history yet, do you?” Pel shook his head along with quite a few of the gathered Fairies. Many nodded, indicating that they had at least some information already. “Truth be told, even our current oldest Fairies only have knowledge handed down from others who had it handed down to them, who had it handed down to them. There are some tablets in the library with plenty of details, and I’m not going to go into in depth since that isn’t what this training is about, but I’ll give you some information that will help you understand why we all learn these things now.

“A little over 2000 years ago the entire world was wrapped up in a war against the Demons. No nation or race was able to stand aside, even the Fairies secluded in our Mother Trees. Does anyone know how many Mother Trees there are?” Ino asked. Pel shook his head along with most people, but few heads nodded including Mat’s. “Well, there are five Mother Trees spread across the world. We’re living in the Gladeheart Mother Tree, the northernmost of all the Mother Trees. But there used to be nine.”

Many young Fairies gasped, others looked sad, and some nodded their heads already aware. Many questions were asked all at once. Four Mother Trees had been destroyed? How could this happen? Something so large and powerful, defended by hosts of Protectors had fallen? What could do this?

“Each Mother Tree was protected by millions of Fairies,” Ino continued, even more gasps sucked the air away. “Yes, even our Mother Tree. Our current population is but a fraction of what it used to be. While the times before the war weren’t necessarily peaceful, we had more safety in numbers than we have today. Fairies as a whole lived much longer lives, and our communities were far more populated and livelier.

“A faction of Fairies from three of the other Mother Trees chose to side with the Demons, these were named Evil Fairies, or Dark Fairies. These were mostly Blood, Bone, Shadow, Poison, and other types of Fairies the other Races didn’t like. Did you know that each Mother Tree is predisposed toward giving birth to different types of Fairies in addition to Wind and other Elemental types? There used to be a balance between the types until those Mother Trees were burned to the ground during the war by the other Races,” Ino said sadly.

“All of this is to say, that the Fairies had to leave their Mother Trees to participate in the war. Because we had lived such carefree lives before and didn’t understand how to survive away from our safe places, we struggled to endure the outside world where many things can easily kill us. Despite our speed and size, we’re what many Race consider ‘naturally naïve’. It’s in our nature to trust, and listen to others. We can’t help it. Now, we do our best to prepare our young ones to survive beyond the safe embrace of The Mother Tree,” Ino explained. “Many of you here already understand the fragility of our lives.” Liki grabbed Mat and Pel’s hands tightly.

“But with all the things the instructors and Protectors are teaching you this week, and in the many years to come, we hope that everyone will be safer. Medicine plants are a good first step,” Ino said. “Now, enough of this sad talk; let’s learn us some flowers! Everyone, turn into a mote and follow me.”

That’s some heavy shit, Ino. Millions of Fairies protected each Mother Tree? Pel’s mind was churning. That meant that between five and six thousand years’ worth of Fairies at least protected each Mother Tree. Maybe even twice that many. Tina was the oldest one living in the Gladeheart Mother Tree, she would still be considered a child back in those times. What must their Levels have been like? What enemies could be strong enough to overpower all of them and burn their Mother Trees down? Pel was feeling extra small today.

Ino brought them to a row of vibrant flowers. They were twice as tall as Ino, and the petals were colored like the flesh of an orange. Each flower poked out from above large green leaves with sharp looking frilled edges, really making the orange color pop.

“These are Buronia flowers,” Ino said to the glowing cloud of Fairy motes. “You’ll find them close to shady areas, and they’re easily visible because of their color. The petals can be dried, and brewed into a tea that reduces the pain, and heals the damage caused by Manaburn. Additionally, fresh petals can be ground into a paste and applied to actual burns to reduce pain and heal the skin.

“The tea is especially useful for Fairies and mortal magic users in situations of extended combat,” Ino explained. “Because it heals some of the damage caused by Manaburn, it reduces the safe cooldown period on spell type Skills. The tea isn’t as useful as a concentrated potion, but it can be used over a longer period of time.”

“Are you going to teach us how to make potions?” Pel couldn’t help but ask. “When can I learn to make potions?”

“According to Cho’s schedule,” Ino said, “everyone will be divided into six groups to rotate through our classes. Rini, Das, Regi, and I will each get a group to teach while one group learns Party combat with Cho and the last group sleeps. Everyone will learn a little bit of alchemy, when just depends on which group you’re in.” Content for the time being, Pel bobbed up and down as a mote and let Ino continue to the next row of flowers.

These were more of a bush than a flower plant, growing upward from the earth on a mesh of intergrown branches like a trellis. Small, white, five-pointed flowers grew all over a blanket of thin, green leafy vines.

“This is White Jas, also a great flower for Fairies and magic users,” Ino said. “The white flowers are a primary ingredient in Mana potions. They can also be dried and brewed into a tea that calms the mind and heightens meditative states. Mana potions are doubly effective for Fairies because of our [Magic Metabolism] trait, since anything we eat or drink will naturally increase our Mana Regeneration.”

That’s interesting. I wonder if my Celestial trait affects my regular Fairy traits? Would eating something in star light increase the Mana gained by my [Magical Metabolism]? Pel opened his Self Help interface and looked at the two passive traits as he vaguely hovered after Ino and the crowd. He figured he was going slow enough to justify breaking the rule on not flying with his interface open.

Passive Skills

Magical Metabolism - Any food or drink consumed is quickly broken down completely, and a portion is directly converted into Mana.

Star Touched (Celestial) - While exposed to star light, increase all Regeneration rates by 20%, and all other Racial Skills are 10% stronger.

Guess it depends on if my Fairy Traits are considered a ‘Racial’. Pel looked at his other Skills, and noticed that they had the word [Racial] at the end of their name. It might not be…but if all regeneration rates are increased by 20%, does that only apply to my natural regeneration or also to regeneration increases from potions as well? Pel pictured himself controlling a Party from above, directing their combat and swooping in to heal them as necessary. If he carried a water skin of that tea, and maybe a bandolier or something with a bunch of Mana Potions, he’d be bottomless. Except for Stamina, that was-

“Alright everyone, gather back up we have more flowers to see!” Ino called out. Pel startled back to himself, noticing that he was among quite a large number of motes aimlessly spreading out over the area. Heh, I find this stuff exciting to think about, but the others are probably bored out of their little minds.

Ino led them to another row full of white flowers, these ones were also small, but had many more petals spiraling outward from the center than the White Jas did.

“This is Enia Bud, very popular with the Humans to the south,” Ino explained. “The petals can be made into a medicine that reduces swelling and inflammation, as well as curing blood poisoning. There’s a lot of snakes, spiders, and other monsters in the southern and southeastern parts of the forest that can poison blood. Even Essence can be affected depending on the strength of the poison, so none of you will be allowed to travel to the trading post until you’re higher Level. So don’t ask to go!” she said, shaking a finger at them.

“This next flower is another important one for us, as it’s one of the primary ingredients to our Stamina potions,” Ino said. She brought them to another row of flowers roughly 30 centimeters tall on top of straight green stalks. The petals were frilly, and crinkly and their outer edges looked to have been dipped in a deep pink, bordering on red, paint that had streaks of color pointing back down the petals toward the center. “This is Carinon, and it can either be brewed into a tea that keeps you awake and alert or it can be used in alchemy for Stamina potions. The wakefulness aspect isn’t too useful for us except after Essence depletion.

“In protracted combat where those healed are expected to return to fighting right away, this is a useful stimulant that can keep you going,” Ino said. “Some Humans like to drink it in the morning, and I don’t blame them. The other thing they drink is a nasty, bitter, burnt tasting juice. This is a delightful alternative.”

Is Ino dissing coffee right now? I may be losing my mind, but I can still remember that she’s wrong.

“Now we’re getting into the section of the garden that grows healing type plants. This row contains Ileafoli flowers,” Ino said, pointing to the towering plants. Each one grew straight up on a single, leafy stalk before branching out into ten or so different clusters blooming out almost a meter above the ground. Each cluster contained a dozen or more small, light purple flowers the size of Ino’s head. “These can be ground up fresh to make a poultice that speeds up the healing process, or concentrated along with additional ingredients to make Health potions.”

The next row was full of bright orange flowers with tons of small petals blooming outward from dark brown central discs like fireworks.

“These are Lendu flowers,” Ino informed them, “This is one of the additional ingredients to our Health potions. In addition to healing, it can also reduce fevers and remove infections. It’s a useful secondary ingredient.”

Ino continued leading them around the field pointing out useful plants and flowers. Nearly everything growing in the field had a medicinal purpose aside from a few plants like lavender which repelled unwanted insects. Surprising not all of the names for flowers are different from Earth. Not that I'd know if they were, since I wasn’t interested in them until I learned they can be awesome here on Enna, Pel thought to himself as the tour continued.

At the far end of the field was a collection of plants in ones or twos that Ino introduced as plants that ward off animals and monsters. Pel could tell why, they all had strong smells reminiscent of either garlic, onions, or decay. Pogon Grass was a clump of tall, sword shaped grass densely packed together. Each blade was straight and narrow coming to a pointy tip half a meter tall with edges that appeared sharp. From the outside you couldn’t see the middle of the clump, and animals getting near would avoid the sharp blades of grass.

Laria Bells were a slightly repugnant smelling flower that dangled from the top of their stalks 60 centimeters from the ground. They were mostly purple, with small white dots drooping downward forming bell shapes. In addition to being smelly, they were also poisonous and most animals and monsters gave them a wide berth, making them excellent hiding places.

The tour went on for another half hour before the other half of their group flew down from the upper branches and joined them. It seemed that one or two more rounds of Fairy tag had tired them all out, keeping true to Das’s warning about working their wings off. Ino handed everyone back over to Cho who scanned the crowd with a critical eye.

“I think everyone could use some time to recover. Rini, how about you take everyone for the next couple hours and teach them about fruits and berries.” Cho suggested. All the Fairies forced to sit through the flower lecture reenergized like the dead returning to life.

“Sure, sounds fun!” Rini said. “Follow me!” She led everyone to an adjacent limb, the one Pel had seen in passing that was full of berry bushes and swollen melons.

“We can pretty much eat anything,” Rini shouted to be heard, “but nobody wants to waste time eating yucky stuff. There are a lot of edible berries in the forest, but some of them are like eating squirrel poop. The ones I’ll show you today are all the yummy ones.”

They stopped by a row of trellises frown from branches laden with grape vines. “These are grapes, they’re juicy and sweet. They grow on vines in areas of full sunlight. Look for shafts of light breaking through the forest canopy. Most berries grow in the sun, actually,” Rini said. The grapes were bigger than Pel’s head and a dark reddish-purple color.

“Beside the grapes we have blueberries. If you find these in The Glade or in the forest, make sure they don’t have any green spots on them. The ones with green spots aren’t blueberries, but grossberries and are sour enough your face will melt off!” Rini warned.

“Really?” someone asked excitedly.

“Well, not actually melted off. But they’re really, really sour,” Rini clarified. “If you can’t tell what something is, it’s better to just not eat it. We don’t need food, after all.”

“Why do we need to learn about edible stuff if we don’t need to eat?” Pel asked.

“Because we can eat stuff to supplement our Mana regeneration, so why not eat the good stuff?” Rini replied. “Also, we trade fruits, berries, jams, and other sweets for goods the Humans bring to the trading post. There are many Protectors around that have spent time away from The Mother Tree, they can tell you that being able to locate food for mortal Party members is a valuable thing to know. You don’t want to accidentally poison anyone!”

A handful of the surrounding Protectors gave their own accounts of times they adventured beyond the forest while everyone sat around sharing grapes and berries. This was the first time Pel had ever had the opportunity to eat as much as he wanted, and he surprised himself by consuming an entire grape with no issue. Where the hell does it all go? Not for the first time he considered the fact that Fairy bodies seemed to be more magical than his Self Help interface led him to believe they were. Let’s see how much I can eat before I get too full to move!

Many other Fairies had the same idea as him, and like locusts they devoured an entire trellis full of blueberries before moving on to a watermelon one of the Protectors had sliced up with wind blades. The sweet sugary taste spurred everyone on as the tales of adventure continued, intermittently interrupted by questions about the other Races. Humans were the most commonly occurring traveling companions, appearing in many stories like neutral parties; their characters judged on an individual basis.

Elves were strictly to be avoided. Only three Protectors had any stories about them. They were highly adept at both trickery and magic, making them difficult to escape from. They viewed everyone, even the other big races, as beneath them and tended to do whatever they wanted without fear of consequence. They were smart and powerful, and treated Fairies like flying delicacies.

“The way the Elf looked at me, I could tell,” one of the Protectors recounted, “I wasn’t even a person to him. Hardly even an animal,” he shivered. “He never spoke to me, just about me. I don’t know how he learned to speak Metrish, but the fact that he chose to use the one language we both understood was clearly to make me afraid.” After a question from Liki the Protector explained that Metrish was the language of the Human kingdom of Metria, which was where their forest was.

Dwarves weren’t as bad as Elves, but were more likely to snatch you up than Humans. Again, the fact that Fairies weren’t treated as people, but resources was brought up.

“He never used my name, just kept calling me ‘the talking Mana crystal’,” one of the Protectors said.

I think this is like the D.A.R.E. talk I had as a kid, Pel thought. They’re trying to scare us into staying here in the commune forever. The only Humans they were supposed to avoid outright were the ones wearing robes and carrying staves and wands. Pel reached his food limit after several raspberries landed on top of the grape, a blueberry, and several mouthfuls of watermelon he had already consumed. He joined the growing pile of Fairies having tiny food-comas in the sun while they listened to stories.

Acorns cracked across the field, startling everyone out of their stupors. Pel turned into mote right away, but Liki and Mat laying beside him both had their hands marked by the Protectors for later.

“Alright, everyone up!” Cho ordered. “Regi is taking everyone with projectile based skills around The Mother Tree for target practice. Everyone else, follow me to the training grounds.”

Pel had to say goodbye to both Mat and Liki as they flew off with Regi’s group. Cho led everyone further down and a quarter way around The Mother Tree where they arrived at a wooden platform. It wasn’t a branch, but a structure grown from the bark of The Mother Tree. Relative to Pel’s size it was like standing on three football fields stacked side by side. His group of around 200 landed in the middle of the platform covered in packed dirt.

“People with healing Skills, or who plan to pursue healing Skills in the future, come stand to my right,” Cho instructed. “People with non-projectile based spell Skills stand to the left. People with self-buffing or terrain control skills stand here in the middle, and people with everything else stand where you are and don’t move.”

Everyone scrambled to get into position, several people appearing to not know where their Skill put them. Pel arrived to Cho’s right along with four Water Fairies. He waited for more people to show up to their group, but that appeared to be all. Out of seven hundred-ish Fairies between Level 5 and 10, only 5 of us are healers? I doubt there’s any in the group Regi took. Also, how the fuck can there be this many Fairies this low level? Do they just…not do anything ever? Surely after almost two years they’d be in their 20’s or 30’s or something? Do they just hang around as motes?

Pel had noticed himself losing focus rapidly in mote form. It had been almost hypnotic to just float there as Ino talked. How many motes inside are just always like that? There always seems to be a lot floating randomly through the air, or at least enough to always light up the place. Do they just get lost in their own minds or something? How old are these people? It had been something bugging him all day. Was being interior lighting a viable career choice? Was this the Fairy way of dodging the draft, or what?

“Listen up, we’re going to go over basic Party mechanics,” Cho announced. “You’ve all been in Parties before, so- “

“No I haven’t,” Pel said loudly. Cho slowly tuned his head around to look at Pel. His frown spoke volumes about how he felt about the interruption. “Uh, sorry. Sir.”

“You’ve never been in a Party? What have you been doing the entire week of your life?” Cho asked.

“I was placed in a watch tower every day, but the Party was already full. I’ve never been in a Party. Been to parties, but not in one.” Pel explained himself.

“What the squirrel shit has Gabby been doing down there?” Cho shook his head. “Alright, you and the healers, make a Party.”

Pel was about to ask how to make a Party when small golden scroll popped up in the center of his vision and unrolled with a small message.

Party Notification

Gon invites you to join their Party, would you like to accept?

YES - NO

Pel mentally selected yes, and the top left corner of his vision populated with his name, and Gon’s name. Under each name were three colored bars indicating the level of each person’s resources with Health at the top. Three more names appeared below Gon’s showing the same information. He could sense their Presences more clearly, and from a further distance away than normal. Along with this, he could actually feel their general physical condition as if the little Health bars weren’t enough.

“Got it?” Cho asked.

“I did. I accepted,” Pel confirmed.

“Great, disband the Party. We’ll be forming practice Parties here in a minute with everyone,” Cho instructed.

“Wait- “

Party Notification

Gon has disbanded the Party.

Dang it, I wanted to look more! Which one is Gon?

“Parties are generally made of one front line defender, one close combat attacker, and two to three ranged attackers. Two if there happens to be a support Class like a healer in the fifth spot,” Cho said, to which everyone but Pel nodded. “We don’t usually have many close combat Classes, and even our defensive members tend to be Earth Mages with terrain control or self-buffing defense spells rather than someone who will stand in front and soak up attacks. We’re small and not very sturdy so that’s not a smart move. In fact, if you get offered a Skill along those lines you shouldn’t take it.

“First things first, let me sort out all you gooseberries with ‘everything else’ Skills,” Cho said, walking toward the Fairies who hadn’t moved from their original spots. “Everyone else aside from the healers, talk to a Protector and let them build you into Parties.”

Pel turned toward the other healers and shrugged. “Guess we just stand here, then? Oh, which one of you is Gon?”