Author’s Corner: Rejoice, for the writer is no longer sick! Chapters for everyone!

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After a few moments of regret for my tiny plot of land, I allowed my consciousness to emerge again and looked around. Jarl was looking at the two of us expectantly, and when he saw that we had both ‘woken up’, he spoke. “Your grove will always present itself in the form of a sphere. Roughly a third of the innermost part of the sphere will be used for the ground, while the rest will be the atmosphere. So, how big are your inner worlds?”

I answered first, saying that it was six meters radius. Next, Sharon spoke up, and somewhat shyly said that hers was almost a ten meter radius. Somehow, I feel like she is just a better druid than me, even though she’ll have trouble leveling up the normal way. Jarl nodded his head, having somewhat expected these numbers. “They’re both a bit below average. But, like I said before, the hardest part is establishing your grove. From now on, whenever you cultivate, any excess elemental energy will be absorbed by your grove to help it grow larger. The only time it will stop growing is if the elements are too out of balance. At that point, you’ll need to absorb a large amount of the missing elements in order to make up the difference.”

He then looked over to Sharon. “For you, your grove needs to be at least an acre of 'ground' to support a budding colony. Right now, you’d only be able to house one or two animals at most.” Afterwards, he directed his attention to me. “As for you, the size of your grove isn’t really that important, since you are just planting herbs. A ten meter cubed space is sufficient for you to plant a few items. Once it grows more, you’ll need to change the layout to match the herbs you’re planting. For instance, if you get something that only grows underwater, or in a desert, you’ll need an environment that matches it.”

With that said, he clapped his hands together once and looked at both of us. “Either way, first you’ll need to learn how to move things into and out of your grove. Since food is not magically provided, Sharon will have to grow her own plants and establish an ecosystem.”

I winced a bit, as I understood what that meant sooner than she would. In other words, her wolves will eat her rabbits… Jarl, seeing my reaction, nodded slightly to it. “For that reason, Sharon, you’ll need to get both males and females of any species that you want to keep in your grove. Don’t worry, if they are born and raised inside your grove, they will have an automatic loyalty towards you.”

It took a few more moments for Sharon to process what had been implied, but then she immediately looked down to the rabbit in her arms and became saddened. “So… they’ll fight each other like normal, then..?”

Jarl nodded his head, but said nothing, so she eventually gave a bitter smile. “Well.. I suppose it is the natural order of things… right?” She looked up at him, but it was easy to see that she was still reluctant.

“Exactly, Sharon. We are not druids because we seek to preserve life in all its forms. Trying to do so will only lead to more pain. The spider eats the butterfly to live, and so nature will go on. If we tried to save the butterfly, the spider would instead starve. What we, as druids, must do is instead seek to preserve nature itself. That is why we cultivate our inner grove. A single druid can save a species from going extinct by sheltering it until they are strong enough to emerge again. Just one of us can create a vast forest for people to call their home. We do not provide the technologic advance of the mages, or the defensive strength of the fighters, or the cunning of the rogues.

“That is not to say that we are weak. A well trained druid can make the world itself fight against the enemy. Who can withstand the air being ripped from their lungs, or the water in their blood boiling? Druids are a highly respected class among many cultures, because it is through our efforts that uninhabited worlds will support life.”

Sharon looked up at him, and nodded her head again, still unwilling to speak. Seeing that, Jarl began talking again, this time to both of us. “Now, I’m going to teach you how to transfer a plant into your grove. This time, we’ll use just a single blade of grass to start with.” Saying so, he extended his hand downwards, and three blades of grass flew up from the ground to land on it. Each of these blades of grass had their roots in tact, and he stretched his hand out towards us. “Take one each. Remember, when moving a plant to your grove, you must either take all of it, right down to the roots, or plant its seed. Doing the latter will naturally make it take longer to grow, but if you use Nature Magic or are able to manipulate plants, then you can accelerate the growth speed.”

Sharon and I each took a single blade of grass from him, and held it in our hands. “Okay, now the next step is a bit tricky, and I highly suggest you practice a lot on plants before you try it with an animal, because failure could very well kill them.” Sharon froze up at his words, before hastily nodding her head. Obviously, given her nature, she wouldn’t intentionally risk her animal companions. “In order to move something into your grove, you have to feel its aura, and use your own to completely wrap around it. After that, you are able to will it inside yourself, so long as it doesn’t resist. If a creature were to resist, or have an aura too strong for you to fully envelope, then it would be impossible to store it. Likewise, if you have gaps in your hold over its aura, and it does not resist… only the places you were covering will be sent.”

I thought about that for a moment, and then looked at Jarl. “Doesn’t that mean that sentient creatures and monsters could be stored inside the grove as well?”

He smirked at my question, but nonetheless nodded. “That’s right. Though, to store such would require a far more powerful druid than either of you. You would have to completely surround their aura with your own, preventing even the tiniest bit from leaking out.” He then frowned, and sighed while shaking his head. “Unfortunately, this also means that druids are capable of smuggling people across borders undetected. Because aside from the druid himself, it’s impossible for others to detect the grove, let alone investigate it. And just like with all things, there are druids swayed by greed, who would rather use their talents for such things. Most smuggling operations will tend to have a druid for slave trafficking.”

I raised an eyebrow slightly at that, while Sharon seemed downright appalled to hear that such a thing could happen. Nonetheless, he continued. “Anyways, both of you should try to move this grass over to your grove. It’s a fast growing species that we typically use to cover wide areas. With the sizes of your groves, it would only take it a week to fill. By that time, you will also have been able to move other plants over as well. Once you have it transported into your grove, you’ll need to once again meditate to enter the grove yourself, so that you can place it. If you don’t do so, it will just appear in a random area.”

I nodded my head, and went to work on my assigment. Since I had been studying mana signatures for quite a while now, this part was fairly easy to me. Surprisingly, I even managed to finish before Sharon did, though she still seemed disturbed by what had been discussed previously. Once I had the aura of the grass tightly wrapped up, I pictured it entering my body. After that, I watched it dissolve in strands of green light, which then flew into my chest.

With that part taken care of, I quickly entered the grove again, and found that green light floating above the ground. Since I didn’t have a physical body here, I simply willed it into the ground. Almost immediately, the green light shot into the ground, where it formed that single blade of grass, already planted. Exiting my grove, I smiled triumphantly. Though, I was a bit saddened when I looked over and saw that Sharon was still struggling to finish the first step. That must have been a pretty heavy blow to her.

After a few more minutes, she let out a relieved sigh as the grass similarly turned into a series of green lights that flew towards her chest. Seeing her enter the meditative state, I watched for a little bit before she emerged, a slight smile on her face. Now that I thought about it, I really didn’t know anything about Sharon. Even if she was a member of the net communities or a Seeds tester. We hadn’t spoken much at all since that first meeting.

With that, I began thinking about other things. If the grove carries over when I log off, that meant I could take the birds out of the game. It also meant that I might be able to take other people out too, once I got strong enough. I might even be able to bring out someone that’s already been virtualized.

Though the net communities would feel very real, there was always the problem of it being a virtual environment. Like I had said previously regarding other VR games, there would always be a feeling of wrongness. While most people are able to move past that and accept their new lives, some still longed for the real world again.

I felt a bit wrong, thinking about using this ability to let others experience the real world again as a chance to make some easy money, but the poor man in me naturally thought of it. To distract myself, I took a moment to go over the gains I had received from my two week session of refinement and cultivating.

NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)TitlesVengeful HeartFame0Level 1111%ClassDruidSub-ClassWild ShaperDeityMalthanHealth120/120Health Regen0.2Mana400/400Mana Regen0.45Strength12Wisdom68Agility20Intelligence40Dexterity19Charisma9Vitality12Luck14Points Remaining0Earth 7%Fire 7%Wind 8%Water 7%Lightning 0%Light 7%Dark 1%Plant 6%Luck 2%Madness 2%

SkillsMana Manipulation - Basic Level 6: 35%Nature Magic - Basic Level 4: 20%Wind Magic - Beginner Level 6: 41.5%Archery - Beginner Level 3: 25.9%Dagger Mastery - Beginner Level 3: 14.1%Wild Luck - Beginner Level 6: 0%Sketching - Basic Level 6: 50%Herbology - Beginner Level 2: 2%Gathering - Beginner Level 6: 6%Alchemy - Beginner Level 5: 2%Mana Signatures - Basic Level 3: 12%Cooking - Basic Level 3: 52%Flight - Beginner Level 6: 12.3%Aura Sight - Beginner Level 2: 33%

Looking at that, I was quite satisfied. The process of refining the pellets three times each had let all of my affinities increase by a further two percent, and now my Wind Affinity was nearing the point where I wouldn’t have to focus on it anymore in order to cultivate. Though, I had my suspicions. Cultivation should naturally proceed faster if you focus on it, so if I let it go on in the background, the effects would be significantly less than if I actively purused it.

Although my stats hadn’t skyrocketed through intense training to make me match a character ten times my level, like in a classic novel, I considered myself fairly talented. With basic control over five of the primary elements, I could fight pretty much anywhere except in outer space. And by the time I got there, I should have a few additional tricks as well, I would hope.

Thinking a few things over in my head, I looked at Jarl and decided to ask something that had me curious. “Since the grove is based on elements we absorb, what about the elements that aren’t part of the ‘big seven’? For instance, my Plant Affinity?”

Jarl looked over towards me, and thought about that for a moment. “Different affinities will have different effects. The ones that influence the size of your grove are fire, wind, earth, and water. However, having a weaker Light Affinity will mean that the light will not cover your grove as strongly, so it is suggested for that to be in balance as well. If you add in the Lightning Affinity, then there will be the chance to have a weather cycle in your grove. Dark Affinity grants day and night. As for Plant Affinity, that should have an effect on the growth speed of plants in your grove, as well as their quality.” He then looked over towards Sharon. “Same with the Beast Affinity, the strength of animals raised in the grove would surpass normal ones.”

Sharon looked up at that, and nodded with a slight smile. “As for the other minor affinities, I’m not too sure. They should generally either have an impact on the organisms in your world, or your world itself.”

I nodded my head again, and then asked. “So how do we add another affinity to our grove? Do we have to go through the entire process again?”

Jarl shook his head at that before answering. “Just make a seed for whatever element you want to add, and then ingest it the same way you did to start your grove. It’s only necessary to mix them together for those five elements. Though, I would strongly suggest that Sharon learn the Dark Affinity before moving animals into the grove, as many rely on a day and night cycle.”

She nodded, seemingly a bit more energetic than before, while I decided that I had to refine a plant affinity seed next. Having my herbs grow faster and have stronger effects would be a great benefit as an alchemist.