Returning to the world of first, John was met by Icarus.

"Welcome back John."

"Thank you Icarus. Good to see you too. Any issues with the two passengers?"

"No, her dedication to the task is quite remarkable. She hasn't left its side since you left and has even been grooming it with elemental magic."

"Oh?"

John moved to the alchemy lab to check on things. He caught a glimpse of the human-looking elf weaving delicate streams of air through the beast's hair, removing loose fur. It was graceful and the loose face on the sky tiger said it was enjoying it as well.

Unfortunately she stopped and stood after noting John's presence, bowing in respect.

*blink blink*

The sky tiger woke up.

Yellow glowing eyes stared out aimlessly as the creature oriented itself in the land of the awake. A few days of sleeping had definitely left it stiff.

It yawned its baby beast like roar then folded out its wings to cover itself, leaving only a small pink nose.

Niera placed her hand slowly in front of that nose, John and her watching for what it would do.

The nose twitched like a five year old on sugar. Then a tongue came out and licked the hand before it. A wing lifted itself to reveal curious eyes.

Then. Pounce!

The sky tiger got up and bounded at John in two massive leaps. Though John caught the skytiger in the air mid leap leaving its back paws to dangle. But the little guy didn't care, and even though it couldn't reach it still tried to lick John's face.

John aptly passed the tiger to Niera where it did the same with more success. Her cheek was soon wet.

The skytiger escaped though as John pulled out meat.

"He's awake now so solids should be fine. Finish up the formula by putting it in the meat."

John then tossed the meat to Niera while the eyes of the skytiger followed, predicting where it would fall.

"John!"

Niera barely had time to launch a wind spell, catching the skytiger midair with its jaws open wide barely inches away from the meat. Meanwhile John slipped out.

Niera proceeded to cut cavities in the meat and quickly filled them up with the formula before the skytiger rolled on its back within the wind cushion, opened its wings and forced itself through the wind.

Munch rip rip munch rip munch, the cub dug in, fully satisfying itself with the piece of meat. A small confident burp later the meat was finished and Niera carried him outside.

John was waiting for them, intently staring over the side of the ship.

What could be seen with the rising sun was wood, lots and lots of wood. And it wasn't a forest or pile of scrapes. This was from a single tree.

A dead world tree.

World trees were the mortal gods of first. They were trees that managed to grow their roots into the dragon veins, a feat never repeated by anything else. It in turn grew to a height that would be half way into space on earth.

With that much magic in its being it became conscious of a sorts. In combat, the level of nature magic it could employ was simply unfathomable. Nothing short of a celestial being could challenge it in its domain.

And that was the issue. It was dead.

World trees did have a beginning and an end. It took quite a bit of time but research showed that when they met their end, they lost their connection the the dragon vein and during that process collapsed where they stood. It happened like a construction worker's controlled explosion on an apartment building. The entire entity that was the world tree became like dust and fell into its own crater caused by the weight of its material.

This tree had not turned to dust, it had been knocked down by force.

John didn't know anything that could do this, not with a result like this.

"Icarus, take us down on a fast spiralled decent with a changing speed. "

"Understood."

"Arcane shield"

John raised his hands and a huge semi-transparent purple sphere began to envelope and travel with the ship.

Niera feeling the surge of magical energy came out in haste with the groggy cub in her arms. She was then stupefied and down right afraid of the scene developing before her.

*ping ping ping*

The sphere of arcane deflected incoming projectiles quickly. But one, how the hell was John sustaining an arcane shield this large and two, why were they being shot at?

Seemingly guessing Niera's questions John sort of answered one of them.

"It's fauna, certain types will fire seeds at anything that enters their field. I would call it instinctive but those things don't have a brain."

"I see."

Niera scrunched her eyebrows while not actually 'seeing' as she implied. Why were they descending into a field of seed firing fauna.

"John, wasn't this a level 8 danger zone? Isn't this a bit too reckless?"

"Mm, Icarus did say that... But... I'd say this place was an eleven, possibly a 12."

Niera had no reason to doubt John's words and felt her knees go week, in turn falling to the floor. The thought of herself dying with certainty had overtaken her.

For reference, the cave of the white elder dragon was considered a 10 to intruders. So for an 11 or 12... It was terrifying to the point of hopelessness for elves.

John wasn't impressed by her attitude though.

"would you cut that out. You aren't going to die, can't you see this big purple thing over my head? Furthermore, your armour can stealth, so no matter what you will be fine."

At that moment Icarus was surrounded by the forests canopy, significantly cutting down on seed fire. The trees, though no where near the size of a world tree, were huge and Icarus eventually found a hole in one of them that was large enough to let her entire self into.

John released the shield and raised his hand and spoke "arcane bolt," releasing a bolt of purple lightning that ran out of the hole and up.

The next second a snap could be heard as the entrance fell dark from a dangling oversized tree branch. Icarus was hidden.

"Icarus, take care of the cub. Niera, come with me."

"Yes yes." Icarus looked at the cub with narrow eyes.

John lifted the in shock Niera under her shoulders and brought her to her feet, proceeding to cradle her in a princess carry while his wings opened up.

Niera, forced out of her shock due to embarrassment, began to squirm but it didn't amount to much under John's tight grip. When John pushed into the air, she even found herself holding onto him for dear life.

Tears welled up in her eyes as Icarus disappeared from below her and she began a 300ft fall to the floor of the hole, in a level 11 danger zone no less.

*snap*

The landing was gentle, only doing so much as snapping a twig as their weight shifted to the floor.

Niera bit her lip to regain her composure as John let her down.

"Niera, activate your stealth and keep it going. If you need to come out of it for any reason, make sure you talk to me first. There should be enough magic stored to run continuously for a few days and you'll loose a few hours if you restart the function. I don't care what you are thinking at the time, do not turn it off. Do I make myself clear?"

"I understand." And as she said that her body began to disappear, becoming all but a minor distortion of light to a well trained eye.

Niera had yet to try out the nightmare armour in the field and could feel the enchants within it empowering her. When she moved it was like her entire body was acting like a compressed steel bar, ready to violently expand at a moments notice. It wasn't unnatural though, she could feel the control she had over it was no less then if it had been her undressed body.

No one in the active elven core would be her match in this moment. Only elders commandeering the core might be a match now... As even with them there was uncertainty.

Still, as she looked up, a man with black wings could be seen retracting them and she felt a little more down to First.

"Let's go Niera, stay close."

Moving and looking like a ghost, Niera kept a few paces behind John and followed him out of the hole.

Below were treants moving quickly with their long strides. Their large tree bodies moving with two legs carved out of themselves.

John grabbed neira's hand and they jumped as one of them came near. John seemed to not have a problem seeming Niera completely.

The treant didn't even notice as the two landed on its massive shoulder and began traveling through the forest.

"John, what are we doing?!?" Niera cried out in her loudest whisper.

"Harvesting? I'm an alchemist, how can I pass up a place like this?"

"Your walking into a death trap to pick a few plants?"

"Girls, always focusing on the drama."

"Don't brush me off with a line like that!"

John turned around and stared at her invisible eyes, placing a hand on her equally transparent shoulder.

"Niera, your going to be ok. For starters, this treant is not hostile. It make look so but the only way your going to get hurt by it is if you fall off or throw a tree at its head, neither of which I recommend."

Niera's chest was starting to raise up and down in frustration as she was failing to get her feelings of fright across to John.

"Now, time to get started. Mana tracking, first level."

A plate of light came into being before John, it was completely white and flat, floating in a vertical position.

"I was expecting this, second level."

No change.

"Third level."

Yet again, no change. It wasn't until he called out for the seventh level did it finally dim down. At fourteen it was finally just a few clusters of dots.

"Niera, how are you with a bow?"

"I am decent, all elves are taught the bow at a young age. Though I don't typically employ it."

"I see, well if you don't pass out on me there's a chance to acquire some world tree wood veins. You couldn't wish for a better wood."

"That does sound tempting. I have heard of wood from world trees becoming legendary heroes in ancient history. But the risks are too great, I urge you to turn back. My duty is to the princess and her goals. Though I do wish to grow stronger, it can not be at the cost of failing her."

"Yes yes, well all the same don't pass out. Icarus wouldn't fly you anywhere without me so your stuck with humouring me until we get to Avalon."

"Yes." There was a hint of resentment hidden in her voice.

"HEY! MR TREANT!"

"John! What are you doing! Don't draw its attention to us!" Neira was back in full panic mode, yelling at John in her strong whispered voice.

There was the sound of a thousand branches snapping and a low moan as two large gaping holes turned to look at them.