Upon approaching the sequoias, I decided there must be larger trees in my previous world. Somewhere. But it was rather hard to imagine them.

Ceira drove us through a tree, fallen on its side with about two-thirds of it carved out. The last third still had significant clearance over any vehicle passing by. This was not the largest tree in sight, but it was still at least twice as tall on its side as I was. Which made it at least four Izzys.

We arrived at a parking lot and got out, then began walking around. I strained my neck looking up, experiencing an illusion of the trees leaning in around me. I was impressed, but… “Is this it?”

“What do you mean?” Ceira asked.

“Just… big trees.”

“It’s not just big trees. It’s living history!”

“Is that so.” My eyes didn’t know where to look. Everything was so open, yet there were layers of concealment in every direction. At least there weren’t any branches for anything to hide behind- not anywhere near ground level.

“Are you alright?” Izzy asked.

An odd question. “Of course,” I said. “My injuries are not yet fully recovered, but they will be soon. It is better to let them take its course.”

“I knew that, you big oaf. I also know what it looks like when someone is scanning for enemies. But nothing is going to jump out and attack us.”

“Oh.”

“Why do you sound disappointed?” Izzy sighed.

“I’m not, really,” I said defensively.

“You definitely are,” Ceira agreed with Izzy.

“... I like experience. It is gratifying to increase in level.”

“You need to stop worrying about that,” Izzy said. “You’ll probably pass me up soon. You’re not behind anymore.”

“Being slightly above average does not make me feel qualified to combat supers.”

We walked in silence for a while. It was rather peaceful, listening to the sounds of the forest. I also had to admit it was much more telling to come to this place in person, rather than simply viewing images. Just looking at a picture, I would have thought ‘ah, that’s a big tree’, but I wouldn’t have really gotten it.

“I think I could roam here forever,” Ceira said.

“Agreed,” Izzy commented.

“I have seen it and will remember it fondly,” I added.

“... not much of a nature guy, are you?” Ceira asked.

“I am not. But you are obviously a nature girl, or you would not be a druid.”

“Yeah. Oh, maybe that’s a good name for my rebranding… nope, taken.”

The arrangement of the various sequoias and the path through them was somewhat interesting, visiting both standing and fallen trees. Because of their great size, the fallen members lasted as logs almost indefinitely.

“Here we are at the biggest tree in the world! By, uh… volume, I think.” Ceira was not speaking to us, but to her camera- held out at arm’s length. The reason she was able to do such a thing on a weekday was because this was technically her job. Or at least she was able to make that excuse to herself. Personally, I liked the flexibility of my job. It paid well and I could get time off whenever I needed it for recovering from injuries. Or for breaks or whatever.

Having a third individual present made interactions between Izzy and myself less awkward. We were friends again, but we had not yet made up for the years where our main form of interaction was punching each other- in a friendly matter- and then the years where she had just been gone and we were no longer friends.

It was quite clear now that we would never be the sort who went everywhere and did everything together. Not without one of us changing significantly, because she quite liked to travel and I quite liked staying in one place. But we still shared some interests like sparring, and I did not mind her introducing some variety to my life.

Somehow, we managed to pick a time where there were crowds, at least around this particularly large tree. I looked down to see Izzy dancing back and forth trying to see past people. I caught her attention and held down my hand. She grabbed it, and I had the intention to lift her up. Instead, she used it as a platform to propel herself upward, vaulting to stand on my shoulders.

“Hah! You’re not tall for nothing, Turlough! This is a much better view.”

There were reasons people didn’t stand on other people’s shoulders. The first didn’t seem to bother Izzy, as she didn’t seem even slightly concerned about falling. I was initially hesitant to move around, but I found I didn’t have to contribute to Izzy balancing herself at all.

The second… well, it was rather uncomfortable to have someone’s shoes on your shoulders. She wasn’t heavy, but humanoid bodies weren’t designed to have another forty pounds placed atop their shoulders.

But the crowds didn’t last long, soon dispersing entirely. Izzy hopped down, requiring no assistance on the way.

“... I want to climb it,” Ceira said.

“Oh, me too!” Izzy agreed.

“I’m pretty sure the signs say very specifically that you should not.”

“Then, I want to touch it,” Ceira countered.

“The answer is the same. Also…” I looked down at her camera.

“Relax, I stopped filming. I’m not so dumb as to do something like this and put it up for everyone to see.”

I nodded, “That would be unimaginably stupid. I would be surprised if it ever happened.”

“Then you’d be very surprised by some of the internet.” Ceira frowned. “I’m pretty sure I need to touch it.”

“Need to… for what?”

“I’m not sure, exactly,” Ceira admitted. “Druid stuff. I won’t hurt it! And even if I did I’m certain I could fix it.”

“Well… I am both off-duty and it is not my job to enforce park rules,” I shrugged. “But if you get caught, don’t say I didn’t tell you.” I looked to Izzy. “And if you intend to apply for a position here, I think you should also not get involved.”

“Speaking of which… I should get moving,” she said. “We can meet up again for lunch. Then I hear there are other trails that you’ll hopefully find more engaging.”

With that, she darted off- her tiny legs taking her at least as fast as a human striding with purpose. That left me behind, watching Ceira walk towards a very large tree.

Of the various scenarios I imagined, ranging from nothing at all happening to some park ranger sternly lecturing Ceira, I did not imagine what actually occurred. I felt a pulse of mana as Ceira touched the tree, prompting me to cast Arcane Sight. Instead of any specific magical signatures, I only saw a thin swirling of power, glowing motes of light flowing from Ceira to the tree, gliding up its surface and dancing into it. Some flowed into her as well. I couldn’t say how long the process took- it felt quite long, but it also seemed too short.

“Wow, uh… you should try that,” Ceira said.

I had my doubts about whether any such reaction would occur with myself. But I couldn’t not try. I bypassed the simple blockade and approached the tree, touching it. “Yes,” I nodded. “It’s definitely a tree.”

“But when I-”

“You are a druid,” I pointed out. “Even if you don’t have a status window yet. I am not.”

“Oh. What do you think it did?”

“Perhaps something you should have asked before encouraging me to attempt it,” I pointed out.

“Well, uh… I know it wasn’t bad? Also I definitely have to climb it now.”

“If by ‘now’, you mean ‘some other time when you can be certain people aren’t watching’, then by all means do so safely. But I believe we have pushed our luck enough at the moment.”

I directed her back to the approved paths, put there for a reason. “What do you think it was?” she asked.

“If you’re lucky, an improvement to your mana in some regard. Or experience.” I shrugged, “Or perhaps a new ability, though I believe you could likely develop most of those on your own.”

“That is decidedly unhelpful.”

“I am not a druid,” I reiterated. “Also I’m pretty sure people in the world I came from intentionally hid important details about how the system worked.”

“Oh, uh… that sucks, man.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “If I find a mage that intentionally concealed helpful information, I am going to punch them in the face.”

“Shouldn’t you shoot lightning at them?”

“They’ll be ready for that.”

“Don’t you have Stoneskin?” Ceira asked.

“Yes.” I pulled out a baggy of diamond dust. “Want to try? What level are you, actually?”

“Uh, like 10 maybe?”

We needed to find her a good portal. It would be a shame to have to wait until I could use Gate.

I shook my head, “That’s not quite high enough. You would need to be able to easily use 9 mana at once.”

Was level 10 bad? Not particularly. It was about where I was when I came to this world, and after only a few months. Which really said something about how little I had been able to grow given the confines of my own world. Though interestingly, there seemed to be serious conflict hidden away.

The rest of our little trip involved more large trees and no more magical shenanigans, except for when Ceira felt that certain plants needed a boost in growth. Izzy completed her interview, but aside from her thinking it went well there was as of yet no feedback. They would call her to tell her the results, apparently.

-----

I was back with Bombino, Knives, and Magnet Man. Using some sort of principles from Rodentia’s captured junk, various tech supers had attempted to retrieve the AEGIS from the orcs I brought down with minimal damage. Though apparently they expected Doctor Doomsday to make changes rather quickly, once word got out. For the time being, we wanted to capture as much of his tech as possible, so our group continued to look. But this time, we had a specific tip and another individual with us.

“Good to see you, Wolf,” I nodded. That was Tylissa’s code name.

She returned my greeting. Then, she began to explain. “Given various pieces of information, the Brigade tracked some of Doctor Doomsday’s minions to this point. It is presumed there is a safehouse nearby, but… none of those involved were combat trackers. I’m not either, even if I can fight. So… I’ll just be leading the way, but I intend to stay out of trouble.” She paused, “Oh, and I won’t be able to talk as well while tracking.”

The reason for that was rather simple. With a few seconds of focus, her body- and most notably her face- began to shift under her outfit. A furry snout poked out from under her mask. She was not a combat member, but in a way that meant keeping her anonymity was more important as she would be less able to handle danger. Though I was quite aware of her ability to fight, she also had no desire to and had a son waiting for her at home. The difference in pay for being a combat member was not worth the risk for her.

She began to sniff around the scene, wandering back and forth down an alleyway. We followed her at a distance so as to not disrupt her efforts. The reason she was chosen for this task was her lack of reliance on technology. Doctor Doomsday had all sorts of counters to scanners from jamming devices to ways to melt the wires inside something. Without being able to determine precisely where a safehouse was, that would leave people at a dead end. They couldn’t just tear apart buildings that people live and worked in or dig up the street just because their stuff stopped working a block away.

Tylissa threw up her arm as a something flew at her face. A spray of noxious liquid, nothing that seemed sufficient to harm her though. Francois made excellent outfits. Unfortunately, whatever it was did stink though.

She found some way to pry the small device- along with some sort of sensor to trigger it- out of the nearby brick wall. That didn’t make the smell go away, though. “Ugh,” she grimaced, her face returning to human shape. “That’s truly awful when amplified. There’s an annoying hum, too. Proof against all kinds of senses, I guess.”

“Did you lose the trail?” Magnet Man asked.

“Maybe,” Tylissa admitted. “I need a small break. If only there were some sort of magic to get this smell off.”

“Agreed,” I said. Then I frowned. Wait, wasn’t there something? It was just a tiny, stupid spell. I couldn’t find it in the list, though. But if I could learn any spell quickly, it had to be a measly level 1, right? I gathered a single point of mana, and thought about cleaning. What even was clean? How would magic define it?

Then I gave up on that and just focused on what I actually needed, which was to get rid of a sprayed liquid with a foul smell. Magic formed into something concrete, and the smell was indeed gone. Gone where? I wasn’t sure about that. The matter might have been annihilated, or transformed. I didn’t really care though.

Wait, people were going to ask me to clean things now, weren’t they? How bothersome.