I was enjoying myself immensely. I was doing what I did best. Existing. I had no rhyme or reason. I was here to sip water and bask in the sun. And absorb copious amounts of mana.

My Delegation skill kept going up. The more work people did on my behalf, the more notifications I received.

That Kendra had told me there should be more information available but no one had been able to access it. I wasn’t too worried about. I had somehow even delegated my worrying to Queen Bitey. She chided me at every chance she had. And I assure you it was a lot. I could hear everything that happened in my domain. I couldn’t get up and run away. She told me what I was doing wrong all the time.

She didn’t like the deal we had made with the humans. We didn’t know what the upper level on my tame ability was. The more people and creatures I bonded with, I should be approaching my limit. But again this was all just theoretical. Kendra and her people kept trying to compare it to a videogame. I wasn’t quite sure what they were talking about. I hadn’t received any more memories of people with the appropriate skills.

Well. I had made a deal with Kendra. Well, more appropriately I had tamed her. I had formed some sort of soul contract with her. She would be my hands and legs. Obviously I couldn’t just get up and walk around.

Or could I? I briefly focused on my roots and thought about trying to get up. The ground rumbled. Several tunnels collapsed. Dust shot out of several of the egress tunnels.

Ah. Shit. I shouldn’t do that.

“What was that Tree?” Queen Bitey’s voice came to me again.

Double shits. She was worse than a wife with the nagging. “Nothing dear. Everything’s fine. Nothing to worry about.”

“You did something didn’t you?” She responded.

Yeah, telling a woman to not worry never seemed to work. Maybe I should try honesty.

“I was just trying to see if I could walk.” I told her. I inwardly cringed because I knew how stupid this sounded.

“Really?” She asked in a flat tone.

I briefly wondered if she knew my ex. “Sorry, Dear. I won’t do it again.”

“You collapsed some tunnels. Khugar and her teams will have to work extra hard to get back on schedule.” She continued on with her lecture. “When will the items for the humans be ready?”

If I could make a face, I would be making one right now. I forgot to finish. “I’m almost done.” I lamely lied.

“Mmm, Hmm.”

“Yes, I am working very hard.” I tried again.

“Mmm, Hmm.”

Crap. I went back to working on the weapons and armor I had promised Kendra. They also wanted food and shelter and some semblance of safety. “Oh, gods.” I wondered. “It’s like having two wives.”

Apparently what our world in the before times was missing was magic. Once mana began to seep back into the world, it began to bond with everything. Everything non-living that was. Something about living beings prevented mana from eroding away the body.

Living beings could pull in mana from their environment. Once that happened, the mana began to transform whatever it came into contact with. It was all very mysterious and magical. I didn’t have a proper explanation for what was happening.

What I could do was make items that were sort of living. The weapons and armor required mana from the wielder to maintain integrity. I was calling it the mana matrix. You could cycle your mana into your items and back again. The mana processed by a living creature was less corrosive than naturally occurring mana.

This led to another set of problems. Namely, mana capacity. People were using mana to empower themselves. Improve their bodies, power their abilities. But I could make items that exceeded the mana capacity of the wielders. Right now everyone around here was fairly weak. They could only use the simplest tools and clothing I could make. Anything more and they withered away. I thought that was a bad thing.

The housing issue was easier to solve. I am a tree. I just grew new houses. I sent runners up from roots and caused little houses to sprout up everywhere.

I even took care of basic cleanliness and sanitation for them. Their excrement and wastes contained traces of mana I could absorb and use to further expand my influence.

I wasn’t too clear in explaining how the plumbing worked because; eww, gross.

I wasn’t being too helpful on the food situation. If I grew the food I ended up with a net loss on mana. I had plenty to share but if they grew their food I ended up with more mana. So I went with the option that benefited me the most.