Nico paused after one last strike of his hammer.

"Done." Nico said, staring at the sculpture. It took him about a day and a half to get the job done, but in the end he was satisfied with what he made. The sculpture resembled a treant- a humanoid tree monster holding a giant club over its shoulder- with it being wholly illuminated with ethereal light. The sculpture then burst again into mist, but this time coalescing into an ethereal seed barely the size of Nico's hands.

Treant Seed (E-) [Item]

A seed that bears the life force of a mystical treant. Made by the hands of a Soulsmith with the skill [Life Forge]. Plant in a magic-rich environment, with the magic density determining the rate of growth of the treant.

Nico wiped off the sweat on his forehead before grabbing the seed. Nico stared at it long and hard, the ethereal light glistening against his sweaty face. The seed was a glassy sphere with a swirling white storm inside, adorned by a little green plant sprouting out of one end.

Nico conjured his green mote and set it afloat beside him, suspended in the air.

"Bless me with living armor."

Nico's skin crumbled to reveal his living armor. He moved away from his forge and shapeshifted his hand into a pickaxe, now digging away at the stone floor below him. He then shapeshifted his other hand into a shovel to dig out the dirt, making a fist-sized hole underneath. He crouched then placed the seed into it, covering it again with dirt.

"Aight, now it's the waiting game."

"What's this?" Hena said, arriving from behind him. She traced her hand over the furnace and anvil, pausing as her fingertips reached Nico's hammer.

"You're awake." Nico said, moving to Hena before placing his arms on her shoulders. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Hena gave him a smile. "I feel nauseated, but fine. Though I can't use my magic for a while."

"How long?"

"Around a week or so."

Nico paused, taking a quick glance to his newly regenerated hand before turning back to her. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"You saved my life with what you did."

"I'm the healer of the team, that's what I do." Hena then glanced back to the forge. "You still haven't told me what all this yet- and get your hands off me already, I'm telling Saira."

"Oh right." Nico said, pulling back his hands. He then moved to tap the green orb floating above the anvil, prompting out a pixie screen for Hena to see. "I got this new skill just recently after consuming Monster Essences. I'm still new at this crafting stuff and all that, but if what I did was right, I might be able to summon a treant."

Hena then glanced back to where Nico planted the seed on the ground. "So that was its seed?"

"Yeah. I'm hoping it'll grow in a day or so, I'm very excited to see how it comes out." Nico then pointed to the campfire. "For now, let's go grab something to eat- you look like you need it. Plus, we haven't talked in a while."

"You noticed." Hena raised an eyebrow. "You've been very preoccupied with your girlfriend lately."

"She's not my girlfriend- yet."

"Right." Hena glanced around the goblin camp. "Where's the rest? I haven't seen anyone except you, Kai, and Champ when I woke up."

"They've been scouting for goblin activity with Jason. They didn't take Kai because, you know- he's Kai, and I was busy with my forge and all that. Plus, someone needed to guard our sleeping beauty here."

. . .

Jason dashed into the goblin group like a juggernaut- running into them like a truck at full speed before swinging his giant hammer like a tornado around him.

From the backline, Saira called out here three minions: the slime Marsh, the floating orb Zask, and another one she got after consuming the Monster Essences, Derth. Derth was very similar to Marsh but reddish black in color, and instead of spitting out blobs of glue, it spat out actual burning acids. Saira called to Marsh to rain down black blobs onto the goblins, avoiding Jason before calling to Derth to spit out bubbly acids to the immobilized goblins.

Kristine followed Saira's lead, knocking an arrow to her new crossbow then releasing it. The arrow zipped through the air before duplicating itself into four others. The goblins dropped to the ground one by one, with each hammer, acid, and arrow reducing their numbers until none of them were left standing.

"They really did send scouts to trace us." Jason said, removing his dragon head helmet. His armor now took on a dragon-esque form with sharp contours and outlines, his skill now upgraded.

"What should we do?" Saira said as the goblin bodies started to dissipate into ethereal mist.

"We stand our ground until the portal opens again." Jason said, picking up the loot drops. "No doubt the goblin scouts are gonna be annoying, but it's not an entire army we have to deal with here. We have no choice either way- the portal won't open until the third day."

. . .

"Uhm Nico?" Kai said, dropping his wooden spoon to the stone ground, making a loud clank. In the background was the constant barking of Champ, as if he was threatened by something as he piled on the barks after growls.

"What?" Nico followed Kai's gaze to where he was staring. It was where Nico planted the seed just moments ago. A giant tree sprouted from the ground, its trunk like a swollen sphere with cracks and crevices letting out seething green lights.

"That was quick." Nico started towards the tree with the others. "I thought it would've taken a day at least."

The tree was bloated as if it was carrying a giant ball inside. As Nico reached out his hand to touch the tree, the trunk immediately cracked open like a peanut, revealing a giant treant lumbering inside. It was a golem-like monster, but instead of stone it was made of twisted wood with leaves running down all over its body.

The treant pushed itself out like coming out of a womb, using both its wooden arms to drive itself out. It then lurched to the ground, causing a small tremor before picking itself up and standing before Nico and the rest, dwarfing them. The treant reached into the tree to take out its giant wooden club, holding it over its shoulder as if the giant club weighed nothing. The treant gave Nico a grunt, staring him in the eyes with a fierce viridescent gaze.

"What is that!?" Kristine shouted from the far side of the cavern before taking out her crossbow. Next to her were Saira and Jason who had just arrived alongside her, not expecting the giant monster standing idly inside the camp.

"Don't shoot!" Nico shouted back to Kristine, his eyes still locked with the treant's.

"Holy shit." Kai whispered to Hena. "It looks exactly like Groot, but in an alternate universe where Groot had a career change into a baseball player."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Right, I keep forgetting you're not from Earth."

"Uhm Nico." Hena turned to Nico. "It's not going to attack us, right?"

"I don't think so." Nico waved to the treant before holding out his hand. "Hey, big guy! Give me five."

The treant then reached out its hand to give Nico a high-five with its burly wooden fingers.

"Awesome." Nico said just before the treant staggered back and ended up destroying the forge behind it, crumbling the furnace and anvil underfoot. "Not awesome."