“You were right, Rick,” Burl said as they headed towards where the other Yajashians had grouped up around the statue of Tarko. “That is a massive tree.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “But I think that you’ll agree that their size is actually one of the least impressive things about Tane.”

“I’m sure you’re right about that!” Drem chuckled. “By the way. Is that the statue that you made?”

“Yes, it is,” I replied as I felt the effects of the statue wash over me.

“That’s not just a statue,” Burl said as he stared at it with wide eyes then turned to look at me with an expression that looked suspiciously like awe. “That’s a Memorial!”

“Is that important?” I asked as some of the refugees turned towards us with tears in their eyes. I had known that Tarko was an important to all the refugees since many of them owed him their lives and the lives of their families, but I hadn’t expected that the statue would produce this sort of reaction.

“Yes,” Burl replied. “Memorials are quite rare and require someone to have incredibly strong emotions for the thing that they are memorializing. I have only seen about three different Memorials in my life not including this one and they were all made hundreds of years ago. You should be proud of this accomplishment.”

“Well thank you,” I replied as I blinked in surprise. “I didn’t realize that it was going to be such a big deal. I just wanted to make something to honor Tarko.”

“And you did,” Drem replied as he slapped my knee so hard, I was sure that I was going to have a bruise later even though he was very obviously holding back most of his strength. “You definitely did. Thank you for that.”

“That’s no problem,” I replied as I dismounted from the beetle’s back. “Shall we go and meet the others?”

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea,” Burl agreed. “I’m sure that almost everyone will be very pleased to meet you.”

More of the refugees turned to look at us we approached. Even from this distance I could see tears glistening in many of their eyes, thanks to my recently improved Perception. As I had noticed earlier most of the refugees were either very old, very young or women who were obviously the parents of the kids that were with them.

When we got to within a couple of meters of the crowd, I noticed someone pushing their way to the front and braced myself for what I realized was coming. Sure, enough a couple of seconds later Xan pushed her way through the crowd to stand in front of me. She still looked pissed off, but I did notice that she didn’t look quite as angry as she had the last time that I’d seen her which I took to be a good thing.

“Did you make that?” she demanded as she stormed over towards me.

“Uh, yes?” I replied carefully.

“How did you even know who my father was?” she asked. “Let alone what he looked like.”

“Because Sibao showed me a vision of his final battle.”

“Really?” she asked as she blinked in surprise. “H-how did he die?”

“Bravely,” I sighed. “You probably already know that he fought the commander of the Redians while the soldiers that he was commanding retreated with the surviving villagers. It was a very difficult fight, even for someone as powerful as he was but he eventually managed to win. He was pretty badly injured at that point but that didn’t stop him from staring down the Devourer as it fired its cannons.”

“I see,” she nodded as the last vestiges of anger fell away from her face. It was at this moment that I realized that she was quite pretty when she didn’t look angry, but this realization proved to be useless before the frown returned to her face a few seconds later. “That doesn’t mean that I trust you yet. Outsiders can’t be trusted.”

“Well, I hope that you’ll let me prove you wrong then,” I replied somewhat irritably. I had been working all by myself for the past month to create a place for everyone to live and I didn’t particularly appreciate her treating me like I couldn’t be trusted. “Like it or not I am a Yajash now.”

“That’s right,” Burl nodded. “Whatever he used to be he’s one of us now Xan. Besides why are you haranguing an injured man like this? It’s frankly embarrassing.”

Xan blinked in surprise at the older Yajash’s words and looked down at the chitin covered stump where my left arm used to be. Her eyes widened in shock and she glared up at Burl and Drem angrily.

“Well why the hell did you let him fight then?” she asked angrily. “He’s only Level 6!”

“Level 8 now actually,” I said before things could get too out of hand. “And it’s fine. My arm will grow back eventually.”

“Rick is right,” Drem said as he held up his hands placatingly. “Before you say anything else, he has a Skill that allows him to regrow limbs. It’s not ideal but his injuries aren’t as bad as they would normally be.”

“Drem is right,” I agreed. “I knew what I was getting into when I decided to help Drem, and Burl defeat the Redians who followed you through the gate. Also, this hasn’t been mentioned yet but I’m Level 8 now so if you don’t mind me saying so I’d say that me taking part in the fight will prove to be beneficial overall. Especially if anyone here has a Skill or spell that can speed my recovery.”

“There are a number of people here who have healing abilities,” Burl agreed. “But I’m not sure if their abilities will help you regrow your arm. I’m sure that we’d all be happy to try and find out though.”

“Good,” I nodded. “I’d appreciate it. Now, shall we move onto the next point of business?”

“And what would that be?” another one of the refugees interrupted. He was an older Yajashian with short, cropped hair that was a similar shade to my own and was wearing well-made but quite dirty clothes. From the way that the other refugees nodded in agreement I assumed that this man was someone with some sort of authority.

“That I wasn’t alone here,” I replied as respectfully as I could. “And I’m not talking about my Minions either.”

“Then who?” the Yajashian asked curiously. “As far as I know Sibao made sure that the people that they recruited to establish a base for us were summoned a significant distance away from each other.”

“Their name is Tane,’ I replied. “And they’re that massive tree behind you.”

Several of the listening Yajashian refugees chuckled in amusement and I even heard a few of them suggesting that I had lost my marbles. I waited a few moments until the hubbub to calm down before continuing.

“Tane would you mind introducing yourself?” I asked. “Don’t create an avatar just yet though. We wouldn’t want to surprise them too much.”

‘Of course,’ Tane agreed immediately. Form the reactions of the Yajashians Tane had made sure to broadcast his response to everyone presence and I waited patiently for everything to calm down once more.

“Tane is what Sibao refers to as a Godtree and is an intelligent lifeform in their own right,” I explained. “They can even use the System like us although that was a recent development. Tane has several abilities that allows them to protect us from most of the predators that live here which is why I chose this place to settle. Tane also has the ability to create a mobile body known as an avatar. Would you mind if he did so now so that you can meet properly?”

“Uh, sure I guess?” the older Yajashian agreed. “I don’t see why not.”

As soon as he finished speaking the wood at the base of Tane’s trunk started growing and shifting into a humanoid silhouette. I hadn’t actually seen Tane creating their avatar before, so I watched with interest as the silhouette continued to grow out into a true humanoid body before stepping away from the trunk.

‘It’s good to meet you all,’ Tane said inside everyone’s mind as the avatar started to walk over towards the refugees who started slowly backing away as they stared at them in shock. ‘My name is Tane. I apologize for speaking to you in this way. Rick has told me that speaking to someone inside their own head takes some getting used to.’

“How intriguing,” Burl murmured to himself as he watched the avatar carefully. “It almost resembles a golem of some kind.”

“I suppose that it could be a kind of golem,” I replied with a slight chuckle. “After all it’s being controlled by a giant, sentient tree. In all honesty we don’t even really know what this Skill will be capable of when Tane Levels it up. For all we know they could be able to turn it into some sort of colossus or perhaps control more than one body at a time.”

“It’s very nice to meet you too,” Drem said as he walked over towards Tane’s avatar. “I’ve never spoken to a tree before. By the way, I was wondering. Is it normal for trees to have names in this world?”

‘No, I didn’t even know what a name was until I met Rick,’ Tane replied. ‘It was him that gave me my name. Apparently, it means The Lord of the Forest where he comes from.”

“A fitting name indeed!” Drem laughed. “Now I understand that you’ve been helping Rick out. So, I have to ask, are you willing to help the rest of us out as well?”

‘Of course,’ Tane replied with a nod. ‘I promised Rick that I would, and I have no intention of changing my mind. Unless of course you do something to harm either Rick or myself.’

“I see,” Drem nodded. “Well, I think that we can all agree with that. We might want to go over the details of our alliance at some point though. Because I’m sure that there’s more to it than that.”

‘True,’ Tane agreed.

“Well, that was surprising,” the older Yajashian who had spoken out earlier said. “Do you have any more surprises for us young man.”

“Not right now,” I replied with a chuckle. “I never actually got your name by the way.”

“Oh, I apologize, my name is Dervan,” he said as he held out a hand towards me which I automatically took without even stopping to wonder if shaking hands was something that Yajashians did. To Dervan’s credit he barely even blinked at my actions and smiled back at me as I shook his hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Dervan,” I said. “May I ask what your role here is?”

“Of course,” Dervan nodded. “I was the chieftain of the city where most of us were from.”

“Dervan here is a very respected man,” Burl agreed. “I’ve known him for many years now. He was a fine chieftain.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Dervan nodded. “That means a lot coming from you.”

“Do you mind if I ask what exactly a chieftain does?’ I asked. “Is it something like a mayor?”

“Something like that,” Dervan agreed. “A chieftain is someone who has the support of the community behind them. We deal with all sorts of things. From the day to day running of the city and its surrounding area to settling disputes. However, we also have a military aspect. A chieftain is required to have a certain level of strength so that they can protect the city that they lead. This also means that they typically have a number of high-level Skills which they use to make the lives of the people who live in their city easier.”

“I see,” I nodded. “I think.”

“It’s fine if you don’t understand,” Dervan chuckled. “I failed to keep my city and its people safe after all.”

“But you’re still in charge, right?” I asked. “You haven’t been voted out or anything?”

“No, no I haven’t been voted out,” Dervan agreed.

“Look, I’m sure that everyone understands,” I told him as seriously as I could. “It was war and the Redians had technology that you obviously didn’t expect them to have. Even with my limited knowledge of the situation I know that much. There’s no way that anyone blames you for all this.”

‘Rick’s right,” Burl nodded. “Don’t go retiring on us just yet. We still need you.”

“Indeed,” Xan agreed, surprising me.

I honestly hadn’t expected her to say something like that but then again Drem and Burl had both told me that she disliked outsiders. They hadn’t said anything about her disliking her fellow Yajashians.

“Very well,” Dervan nodded. “I will continue to work as the chieftain until the day that I am no longer needed to fill that role.”

The refugees who had all been listening on in silence all cheered at Dervan’s words and he spun around to look at them with a mortified look on his face. He had clearly completely forgotten about their presence and soon the cheers turned to laughter when they saw his reaction.

“He’s well loved,” I said to Burl admiringly. “That’s the mark of a good leader if I’ve ever seen one.”

“The really funny thing is that he never actually wanted to be the chieftain in the first place,” Burl whispered in my ear. “He used to be a simple merchant but one day his caravan got attacked by a Redian raiding party and he helped his guards fight them off even as the other merchants fled to safety. Apparently, his magic was quite impressive even back then, but he’s gotten even better since then.”

“So why didn’t he stay and help us earlier,” I whispered back at him.

“Because the others needed someone that they all knew and trusted to lead them,” Burl explained. “They were in unknown territory and no one knows how dangerous forests can be than a Yajashian. Especially unfamiliar forests.”

“That’s a fair point,” I agreed. “I’ve only been here a month so I’m sure that I haven’t even seen a tenth of the creatures in this forest. Possibly not even a tenth of the things that could kill us in this forest.”

“Exactly,” Burl nodded. “Thanks for not taking this the wrong way.”

“Hey like you said, no one knows how dangerous a forest can be than a Yajashian,” I shrugged. “I might be inhabiting the body of a Yajashian, but my mind is still human.”

“Yes, that’s another thing that we will have to work on over the next while,” Burl nodded. “Actually, why don’t I introduce you to someone.”

Burl lead me over to a young girl standing on the fringes of the crowd of refugees who fidgeted nervously as we approached. She was a petit girl with short dark hair that looked black at first glance but was actually revealed to be a very dark green as we got closer.

“Vera I’d like you to meet Rick,” Burl said. “He’s the one who has been preparing for our arrival. I want you to be the one who teaches him our ways.”

“But Burl you know that I’m not good at working with other people,” Vera stammered nervously as she refused to even look at me. “Why would you want me to teach him?”

“That’s exactly why I want you to teach him,” Burl sighed as she shot a wry smile my way. “You need to get used to dealing with people. It’s supposed to be your job to teach the children our history, but I know that would backfire pretty hard so I’m going to get you to start by teaching Rick. Don’t worry, I’m sure that he’ll be understanding.”

“Of course,” I nodded. “I know what it’s like to be experience social anxiety. I’d never make fun of someone over something like that.”

“Good, then its settled,” Burl said cheerfully as Vera stared at me pleading me to change my mind. “You’ll start tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Vera sighed as she realized that Burl wasn’t going to change his mind no matter what she said. “I guess that I’ll be seeing you tomorrow then Rick.”

“I look forward to it,” I told her with as gentle a smile as I could manage. Hopefully my newly improved Charisma Stat would make it easier for her to get used to me, but it would probably still take a while.

“By the way how are all the manuscripts Vera?” Burl asked and I watched in amazement as a bright smile crossed Vera’s face making her look completely different from what she had a few seconds ago.

“They’re all good,” she replied happily. “Dervan made sure that we had one of the better wagons so there was no damage despite the trip here.”

“Excellent,” Burl nodded. “I’ll be counting on you to help me keep an eye on those. As you know they’re the only part of our history that we were able to bring with us. Other than a few things that the others brought with them. This is a very important job, but I know you’re up to it.”

“Of course, master,” Vera replied happily. “

“Alright then, shall we go and take a look at these cabins that you made for us then?” Burl asked.

“Sure,” I nodded. “They’re probably not what you’re used to, but they should be good enough for the time being.”

“I’m sure they will be,” Burl nodded as he beckoned Dervan over. “We’re going to go and take a look at the cabins that Rick built for us. Would you like to join us?”

“That sounds like a good idea yes,” Dervan agreed as he turned back towards the other Yajashians who were all trying to talk to Tane at once. Judging from the sensation that the tree was broadcasting to me they found the whole situation quite amusing, so I decided to just leave them to it for now. “Lead the way.”

Drem wandered over as we headed out and followed us as we headed towards the cabins that I had built.

“Well, here they are,” I said awkwardly once we had arrived. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to make that many of them. But we should be able to put a roof over the heads of the very young, the wounded and the elderly.”

“Did you use Arcane Construction to build these?” Dervan asked and I nodded in agreement. “Well, that’s a good thing. Your Skill Level is still pretty low, but these are solid structures. Even when we start building houses, we can still use these as storage areas. Can we take a look inside?”

“Sure,” I nodded and opened the door so that we could go inside.

“What are these?” Burl asked when he saw the hammocks that I had made.

“They’re called hammocks” I explained awkwardly. “I didn’t think that making a bunch of cots would be a good use of my time, so I made these instead. They’re actually surprisingly comfortable and you can even store things underneath them if you want to.”

“I see, well I’m not sure that the older folks or the injured among us will find them very comfortable,” Dervan pointed out. “But the kids can use them I suppose.”

“Yeah, I didn’t put them up in all of the cabins so they can sleep in those ones,” I replied quickly.

“Okay,” Dervan said. “We brought plenty of blankets and things that we can use to make people comfortable. Is there anything else that we should know?”

“Not that I can think of right now.”

“Alright then, shall we get these people fed and settled in for the night then?” Dervan asked. “We’re all pretty tired.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”