Several hundred feet below the capital, on the planet’s surface, Kohn and the other Earthlings were following Hake. He was a citizen living in the capital and it was his job to tend to the forest planets below by harvesting aging or dying trees and planting new ones. As part of their twenty-four hours of community service they had to assist him with whatever he needed.

Turned out that he was a slightly bitter old man that resented being given a bunch of ‘thumb-suckers’. So when he was told that he had to use them no matter what for, he laughed and took them down to the surface to help him with his job. Kohn and the others were a little excited since on Earth they had mostly lived in towns and cities. The quiet wilderness that existed below the Agossomore capital was something that they had never seen before.

“Keep up you weak thumb-suckers!”

“We’ve been hiking for hours!”

“We need a break!”

“You lazy stone-foots! We’ve only been walking for a short time.”

Though they were exited and more than happy to run around the forest initially, after a little more than an hour they were already to the point of breaking. In the cities everything was on flat level ground, with paved streets and few obstacles. Here in this forest there wasn’t a single spot of dirt big enough for you to put your foot flat on the ground. Roots covered everything, sometimes even climbing over each other. And no matter how much they wanted a straight path, hundreds of trees and thousands of branches forced them to bend, dip, jump, climb, and parkour in order to follow Hake. The decrepit looking old man somehow seemingly completely unexhausted as he waited for them to catch up.

“What is he made of?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are these actual alien insults or is it just him? It feels like he’s just making them up.”

“Hey Collins, go tell him to wait up.”

“What makes you think that I could catch up to him Sasha?”

“Trevor?”

“Yeah-huff-Sasha?”

“This might be a long shot, but did you learn any spell that could help us here?”

“I learned pretty much –huff- the same thing as everyone else. How to control magic, activate items, and spells that would have been useful on the ship. Nothing to really help us in this situation. Sorry.”

“No worries. I was just day dreaming I guess.”

Kohn was working with Collins to pull up the two less physically fit members of their group. Back on Earth Sasha was working as a clothing model for retail store catalogs so she had really only exercised enough to look good or fit into an extra small pair of skinny jeans.

Trevor, however, had actually spent some serious time exercising, or so he claimed. But when pressed for details he admitted to walking the ‘long stretch’ between his fridge, his computer, and his bathroom. However, he also conveniently forgot to tell them that he also had a mini-fridge underneath his desk and several drawers that had various snacks and confectionaries. Apparently before police showed up to take him to the alien ship, Trevor made a living by searching for bugs in major company programs and receiving rewards in exchange. The rewards were relatively small, but with enough of them over time they added up to a substantial amount.

That was probably why he and Collins didn’t get along so well. The pudgy man was the almost complete opposite of the personal physical trainer slash aid. Back on Earth Collins had gotten in the habit of exercising every day at an early age and even when he went out into space he didn’t drop stop. The man looked of a similar body build to Kohn, but whereas Kohn worked out to increase his endurance and had accidentally gotten a fit body, Collins had started working out with a specific body shape. He didn’t work out. Collins sculpted his body.

Still. Even if the two of them were physically fit, this forest was pushing them and the old man shouting at them wasn’t helping.

After what seemed like the entire day of traversing the terrible terrain, Hake mercifully called a halt.

“This tree looks good.”

It was a sturdy looking tree, but there wasn’t anything exceptional about it as far as they could tell. They had passed larger trees, dead trees, and even a groves of trees trying to grow out of a singular spot.

“What? Why this tree?”

“Yeah! It looks like all the others.”

“Why a living tree? Why not a dead one?

“Who taught you?! Don’t you know anything? Mana is produced by the interactions of every living thing. By itself, a person or a tree can’t produce mana, but put together with other life forms – different lifeforms – the energy bounces off each other and mana is released. Even a dead tree can provide mana from the organisms living inside it if given the proper conditions. And sometimes a dead tree is more important to maintain in a forest than any other living tree.”

“Why would a dead tree be more important than living ones? It can’t grow any more or produce seeds.”

“Because dead trees gather harmful species away from the rest of the forest. Bugs that eat wood, birds that peck into trees or felines that scratch and claw at the bark as they chase the birds. Rather than infesting dozens of other healthy trees, a couple of dead trees placed in key locations can save the entire forest.”

“Interesting.”

“So when I’m down here looking for trees to cut for materials, or for maintaining the optimal state of the forest I’m not looking for random trees.”

“You’re looking for ones that aren’t producing a lot of mana?”

“Yes. I’m comparing the output of mana and selecting one that produces the least mana.”

“Then how do you cut the tree down? You didn’t bring any tools to cut it.”

“Sure I did.” Hake hefted a magic imbued device. To Kohn it looked like a Shinto rope that the Japanese tied to trees to symbolize sacred ground or that a tree spirit lived in a tree. The main difference was that this one wasn’t tied like a Shinto rope. Instead a pair of metal diamonds with several magic formations on them held firm to each other like magnets.

“I attach this device, like so, and when I return to the capital I’ll activate the corresponding device on my end causing the spells here to activate. Then, any plant matter touching the rope will wither away while also healing it which seals the stump and the rest of the tree so that both can continue to grow. At least for a short while afterwards.”

Kohn was following along, but Sasha and Trevor were still catching their breath while Collins looked like his head was overheating from thinking too hard.

“That way the stump still has a chance to grow and produce mana?”

“Indeed.”

“And the tree can be cut up at your leisure later on.”

“True, but even more importantly, a living tree can be manipulated. To straighten out or to curve. To toughen the inside or to soften the bark. A dead tree can’t be manipulated in an efficient manner and you’ll spend more mana than necessary.”

Hake was freely talking to Kohn with a look of joy. Kohn figured that one of the reasons why the old man was so bitter was because he had no one to share his job or interests with. But rather than just kiss Hake’s ass or flatter his ego, Kohn was actually very interested in the process behind mana production. After all, Kohn was sure that mana production would be a cornerstone to anything he did in the future.

“-and the tree will be harvested and brought up to the capital. Then I’ll straighten out the tree before cutting it based on what is needed by other crafters.”

“You cut it up yourself too? Wow! What tools do you use?”

“The same that I’m using now. Magic and my hands.”

“Your hands?”

“Let me show you.” Hake walked over to the tree that he had just placed the rope around. A small, newly ground stick was coming out near the base. Hake then raised his hand up in the air. His hand turned pale white-blue and with a karate chop he brought his hand down. The stick fell off.

Looking closely at the twig, Kohn noticed that it didn’t show any signs of being broken or snapped off. It looked clean cut off.

“You have to teach me that! That is an awesome ability! That must be your own original spell right? Isn’t that cool Collins? Don’t eat it!” Kohn was throwing out massive praise to the old man while Collins had taken to chewing on the cut twig as if tasting it would reveal the secret of how it was cut with a bare hand.

“It’s nothing much. Other Tenders do the same.” Hake was blushing from the massive amounts of sudden praise. It was the first time in his career as a Tender that anyone flattered him so much. “Tenders tend to the forest. We plant the seeds, we grow the saplings, and we modify its appearance and structure. So it’s only natural that we also have the skills to deal with its flesh after it passes.

“Tenders huh? Your job is similar to the old tales on Earth of Druids. Beings that could summon the spirits of the forest to assist them and in return they protected the forest.”

“Druids…? It’s a lovely name.”