After yesterday I wanted to ensure I was ready to move forward again. So while I had already made some tree growth stakes, I made more so that I could take them with me. I figured that if I needed more than five, then I could always retreat back to a safe spot and try again. So after a small hunt of the gathered game, I set to work on making my first preparations.

I whipped out in about five hours the tree growth stakes. I checked each one of them to see if I could use either of the two natural cores and found that I wasn’t able to. I needed to make things of a higher level before I could use the cores. I might sell these two just because they were harder to use. After I had the stakes made, I got to work on the other projects that I should have done before.

I wanted to make sure that the system counted it as an item, so I thought that I would take the time to make something akin to a Roman standard. I had gotten better at carving, so I would take the time to try to carve into the bottom half of the pole Ni’bish or someone that looked like him. I wanted this to be a symbol of protection and not something that I used to bash people.

Before I started carving, though, I wanted to feel the Purple wood more since it seemed to already be imbued with magic. I reached to it like I would a mana stone and felt that it was sitting at 100/200 mana. My Plant Empathy also triggered, making me think that this stave was somewhat alive. So I started to ask the stave to shape itself into what I wanted. The shape of the Ni’Bish’s arm twisted up the bottom of it, reaching to the top. The base I had moved into a point so that I could stick it into the ground when I wanted. I then had the top end open up to hold the largest geode in the hand. While it started thin, it had opened up to be about arm width, and so where my natural holding would be, I put a handle in by sliming it down just a bit there.

I took a break as using my empathy took lots of energy, and this was more than I had ever done before. At least more detailed. It was kind of odd for me since this wood was more receptive than any of the other plants I had ever worked with. The willow back at the waterfall was giant, but I did that over several months, and that was always a little at a time until we got my chair just right.

This wood just let me work with it. I checked the mana in the wood and saw that it had dropped 50/200, so it took its toll to work on this. After my break, I tried to use Plant Empathy to put the runes I wanted in, but I could not get the wood to move in those ways. So I created lots of flat hexagons around the defensive standard. On these, I drew the runes that I wanted to add to my standard.

Then I put the geode in place and linked the two items with runes, and for some flair, I added some feathers we had gathered and a few strips of fur, and the radius from the Tormented Ogre Blink snagged. Lastly, I put a large sickness ward around it and then filled a small bag full of a healing poultice to hang next to it with runes from both, tying them to both to the standard. Then I added a core to the Mana stone, the ward, the bag, the bone, and then to the standard.

Item core created

World first!

Defensive Standard (cluster)

As your Defensive Standard core is the first it is uncapped in level

Normal Defensive Standard cores will be capped at level 15.

As your Defensive Standard levels its helpfulness increases.

General

Showing up in all gold with a orange glow .

Arn’s Defensive Standard

Level 0

Type item core

Class Ultra Rare magical

Durability 500/500

This is Arm’s Defensive Standard. Like all Standards this will help to identify who is holding it. The Creator calls this Standard a Defensive Standard it was created to both state who was holding it and provide protection to those it identifies. This standard already has talismans and mementos from defeated enemies hanging from it.

This is a Standard and shouldn't be confused with a weapon. While it could be used as one it will only do so at a reduced level. This is not a weapon and will suffer a negative 5 to all combat skills when using it as such. This will also take 2 seconds longer to swing and have reduced damage by 5.

The enchanting found in this core item passively wards those who follow the standard and the one it represents from illnesses. While within 100 feet it also increases healing by 50%.

The main function of the Defensive Standard is the shielding that it creates. With the empathy tied to seeking the Standard seeks out those within 150 feet who wish do to harm to those which it protects actively. (a 25 foot radius) When an attack comes the Standard will create a shield up to its full radius of stone hard air stopping all attacks that have any physical attributes. The smaller the radius this is the thicker and stronger the shell of Stone Air will be.

This is Defensive Standard has a core. Like all items that have a core it can level. As this is an item core it can not reproduce itself.

To make new Defensive Standard cores the correct building must be constructed.

This had two tabs.

>Growth

To level your item core you must use it for its purpose and provide for it material to level to the next level.

Mana 0%

Wood 0%

Memento of foe 0%

>Traits

Durable- This Defensive Standard is durable, it will not wear out from normal use durability will only decrease with targeted attacks.

Mana reservoir- 240 mana unlinked 300 mana linked to traits. Recharges at a rate of 10 mana per hour can be forced charged.

Stronger and lighter- This Standard is both stronger and lighter then one would think by looking at it.

Stone Air- This takes 20 mana per minute to keep up plus 1 point of mana for every 10 points of physical damage inflicted on it, 1 point for every 2 points of magical damage. Triggered either by the Standard bearer or via danger sense.

Healing Field- All those who are identified as belonging to the standard within 100 feet will having healing increased by 50%

Illness ward- All those who were identified as belonging to the standard will have a passive illness ward granted to them. If this ward is needed it will cure or prevent illness at 1 point of mana for 10 points of illness HP to be purged up to 100 points of Mana per day. The ward will also passively prevent all level 1 and level 2 illnesses.

With the creation of my Defensive Standard, I now had something that should keep me from being taken out from a surprise attack. The pole for the Standard was very high quality, if I could guess based on who gave it to me. I had no doubt that he read my mind or intent since he gave me wood without me asking. So knowing all that and that he was asking me to save his race, I figured that he had given me something good. The outcome was better than I had hoped for, and so I was ready to try it out.

The sad thing was I still had only managed to get a single one of the seeds to take, and that was the one that Ni’Bish implanted into me. It made me worried that I was going to fail this guy, whoever he was, and that a whole race was going to die because of me.

I sighed and then thought it through. I had been given a quest, but that didn’t mean that it was my fault if it didn’t work out. The guy could have given it to someone else, or he could have explained things better. Just because I was the last broken thing in the line of breakdowns on this quest didn’t mean it was my fault. I had to kick this god complex that now that I was in a world with goddesses talking around me.

I took my new standard out to the field nearby. When I triggered the Stone-Air, I saw a dome that was distorting the world around me, kind of like I would expect if I was looking through bent plexiglass. It was there, and I could tell, but I could still see everything fine. When I walked towards it, it backed up to keep the Standard in the center. When I let go of the standard, the shield fell when the standard did. If I planted the standard into the ground, then I could move around inside the dome. For just me, the dome was just over 6 feet in radius.

Blink stood on the outside of the stone air, looking at it. She slowly picked up her claw and drew it down the shield. Then she pushed on it, and a white area slowly started to form. She backed up and ran right into it and bounced off like she ran into a tree.

Blink shook her long head, “Like not! Let in!”

“I might have to drop it to get you in. Try to dig under it.”

She started to scrape at the ground near the dome-like a dog would a fence. I planted the standard into the ground and walked over to where she was digging, and started on my end as well. After we went down a few inches, we noticed that the shield was just growing. It wasn’t already there but was expanding as it touched new air.

I grinned. This thing was great, except for Blink being unable to come in. “Come on in, Girl!” I called as I lowered the shield. Once she was next to me, I raised it again and then threw a rock. We watched as it passed through the shield. This meant that I could be in a protected area and attack out. Which was a game changer for how I fought.

Blink was also able to leave the dome. However, I could not. I wasn’t even able to use my sword through it. Happily, I could shoot arrows out of the dome. This meant that I could be relatively safe and provide ranged support, at least for a small fight right now. The shield would run out in 20 minutes if it didn’t take damage and faster if attacked. If fully depleted, then it would take just over two days to charge back up to use again. The goal would still be to avoid conflict. However, if I couldn’t, we would try to end it quickly.

“Okay, Sweetie, Lets head back into the room. I need to figure out a way to get us some more damage.”

* * *