After giving the soldiers a slight nod, Regis activated the gateway, teleporting back to Thornfell. Back home in his manor, the dark elf was greeted by a pleasant silence that lasted for several hours until dinner arrived.

“I’ve heard it back at the guild that we had bandits at the mountain pass this morning,” young Dana hummed as she dug into her meal. “Is that true, milord?”

“It is,” Regis nodded as he pulled out something he kept in his left pocket. “Bandits wanted to disguise themselves as mercenaries looking to be hired by me. but Quentin’s ‘truth seeker’ domain revealed their plan. From then on, it quickly turned into a fight.”

“Did anyone get hurt?” Euric asked as he looked at his daughter with a slight annoyance caused by her bringing up the bloody subject during dinner.

“No one from our side, but the bandits were completely wiped out. And on that note,” he placed the black crystal on the table, sliding it over to the young spellcaster apprentice. “Their failed plan allowed me to fulfil my promise to you sooner than expected.”

“Is this...” The girl’s voice trailed off as she caught the black crystal that was sliding towards her.

“A shardwaker mark,” the loremaster nodded. “Bring it with you to the guild tomorrow morning and Salvador will guide you through the process.”

“I... thank you, milord!” Young Dana said with a bright smile as she hugged the crystal.

“I hate to sound like nagging old grandpa, but you’ll have to work hard to make good use of that mark. Don’t expect it to carry you to the top. And please try not to get yourself into unnecessary danger just for some extra scraps of Amaranth. Either way, thank you for the meal and goodnight everyone.”

Saying that Regis left the dining room and turned in for the night after a bath. The following days went by quietly as he spent them with work and combat practice. On the evening before the supposed harvest festival, the spell weaver was sitting on his bed, trying to enter his inner world after he successfully pushed his enchanting skill to level fifty. A short falling sensation later he opened his eyes, finding himself in front of the familiar statue and the podium with the rune-scribed tome. It furled open under his touch, revealing a pleasant-looking character sheet.

{Name: Regis Thorne}

{Title: Novice loremaster}

{Race: Dark elf/Sun elf/ Human}

{Age: 19}

{Amaranth: 13650}

{Caste: landed lesser noble}

{Path}

Novice Loremaster

Novice Runic Spellblade

{Craft}

Novice enchanter

Novice alchemist

{Attributes}

•Allure: 18

•Deftness: 23

•Erudition: 25

•Faith: 10

•Luck: 12

•Might: 25

•Mind: 30

•Physique: 27

•Spirit: 30

•Willpower: 30

Health/Arcana/Stamina

{101/101}{180/180}{105/105}

{Status effects}

Health regeneration 0,5/1 min

‘I guess all that hard training did pay off eventually.’ He mused while looking at his attributes and stats. With his arcana reserves already being fully developed at a hundred and eighty points thanks to his six-fold ‘spirit’ attribute multiplier, Regis reached the official pinnacle of a tier two spell weaver. Thanks to the runic spellblade’s pathway upgrade his health and stamina were now also allowed to rise above the hundred-point mark, which they did due to his healthy diet and hard training.

Most of his attributes increased by one or two in the past month due to the small bonuses gained after reaching higher levels in certain skills, some of them even reaching the second tier’s level cap. Now however he was faced with a tough decision to make. Whenever he reached the threshold of a path, the constellation chart of said path changed and new nodes appeared on them. So far, he only had the alchemist and the basic loremaster charts, but he refrained from using them to step into their next-tier equivalent.

Tonight however he saw the bookshelf behind the statue glow with a golden light which signalled yet another constellation chart growing to its new form. As he pulled off the scroll from the shelf, it revealed the enchanters’ constellation that now had three small stars scattered above it just like the other two before. It was a simple representation of the path toward the third tier now being accessible. ‘Here goes nothing.’ He thought, letting out a somewhat excited sigh as he channelled a large amount of Amaranth into the scroll, making the tiny stars on it glow with a golden colour.

In its wake, his inner world trembled as three golden stars appeared above him where the enchanters’ constellation was. ‘One down, one more to go.’ Regis nodded as he changed to another scroll, this one depicting a cauldron with three stars above it. As he repeated the process of channelling Amaranth into it, the scroll lit up and three stars appeared in the sky where the alchemist constellation shined brightly. This caused an even greater tremor in his inner space as one of the scrolls on the shelf rose into the air on its own, splitting in two after releasing a bright golden glow.

“There it is.” Regis murmured excited as he reached out to take both scrolls, unfurling them to get a better look.

One of the parchments showed the original loremaster constellation with three hollow stars above it, while the other one had a key difference on it that was easy to spot. The middle part of the book now sported a tiny set of symbols on it, forming a runic circle. The words ‘journeyman runic loremaster’ were written on it, making the dark elf grin ear to ear. He focused on the scroll, reading it through.

{Journeyman Runic Loremaster Constellation}

{Rank: Bronze}

{Nodes: 0/27}

Mind: 0

Spirit: 0

Willpower: 0

{Cost: 1500-5000}

“Well, this is unexpected,” he admitted to himself. “I thought it would only ask for the price of the seven new stars, but it looks like I’ll have to pay a full price to re-spec into this variant. This wasn’t recorded anywhere. Fuck it. I’ve already come this far, so I might as well go all-in.”

Saying that the loremaster channelled the exorbitant price of Amaranth the scroll asked for, watching the nodes fill three times, going from pale bronze to solid gold. His inner world began to shake like it got struck by a magnitude seven earthquake. The loremaster constellation above burned bright as new stars appeared in it. Meanwhile, the original loremaster scroll crumbled to dust in his hand, signifying the loss of that path. ‘I guess there’s no turning back now.’ The spell weaver sighed as the shaking stopped Looking back at the journeyman runic loremaster scroll, he could see clear changes on it as the words glowed with a soft golden light.

{Journeyman Runic Loremaster Constellation}

{Rank: Gold}

{Nodes: 27/27}

Mind: 4

Spirit: 4

Willpower: 4

The novice loremaster constellation pathway had shifted and further extended into journeyman runic loremaster pathway.

After rolling up the scroll and placing it back on the shelf, Regis walked over to his soul tome to check the changes in his character sheet.

{Name: Regis Thorne}

{Title: Journeyman runic loremaster}

{Race: Dark elf/Sun elf/ Human}

{Age: 19}

{Amaranth: 2650}

{Caste: landed lesser noble}

{Path}

Journeyman Runic Loremaster

Novice Runic Spellblade

{Craft}

Journeyman enchanter

Journeyman alchemist

{Attributes}

•Allure: 18

•Deftness: 23

•Erudition: 25

•Faith: 9

•Luck: 12

•Might: 25

•Mind: 32

•Physique: 27

•Spirit: 32

•Willpower: 32

Health/Arcana/Stamina

{101/101}{184/184}{105/105}

{Status effects}

Health regeneration 0,5/1 min

‘It seems like the new pathway overlapped the original.’ Regis thought to himself as he examined the changes to his attributes. It irked him a bit that his two crafting paths brought no additional attribute increases this time while his loremaster path only added two points to his three spell-casting-related attributes. ‘Well, it’s not like I can do anything about it. Still, spending eleven thousand Amaranth in one go is a bit steep. I doubt I have enough to buy anything useful for the time being.’ He sighed, sitting down to meditate, willing himself to leave his inner world. After opening his eyes, the dark elf let out a low yawn, deciding to end the day there. His well-earned sleep was disturbed early in the next morning when a gentle but firm knock on the door roused him.

“Milord,” he heard Euric’s voice from the other side. “Tristan asked me to wake you up. He said that you agreed to meet Miss Letty and that druid early for a ritual?”

“Yes,” the spell weaver answered to the butler’s somewhat questioning remark. “I’ll be down in a minute or two.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll tell him immediately.”

“Damn it.” He grumbled while getting out of bed.

He donned his armour after cleaning it with minor mending and headed downstairs with staff in hand. Once he walked down to the main hall, he found Tristan standing there with a serious expression.

“Good morning, sir. Are you ready to head out?”

“Morning,” the loremaster sighed as he joined his steward. “Let’s get going. We shouldn’t keep the others waiting.”

The two of them headed out, walking through Obelisk Square with hurried steps. While reaching the eastern gate, Tristan finally broke their quiet walk.

“Is it true that Miss Letty is officially going to become a druid? I mean, she mentioned it earlier, but I’m not versed in the subject, so I have no idea how it works.”

“I don’t know too much about the matter either, only what I’ve read in the book. I know it entails growing a special tree and then turning it into a dryad companion, but other than that it's a mystery to me as well. Still, we have Druig to guide her through it, so it should be fine. There they are.”

“Good morning!” Letty greeted the two on the other side of the gate, Druig nodding in agreement.

“Morning. Are you ready for the big day?”

“I am,” the young wood elf nodded with a wide smile. “Let’s go. I asked Esther to bring Lunet over as well. I figured she should see how the ritual goes.”

“It is for the best for your apprentice to witness her future path first-hand,” Druig stated with a sombre tone as the group left the eastern gate toward the greenhouses while giving Regis an appraising look. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” The spell weaver gave a knowing nod as he understood that the druid had seen through him, recognising his recent advancement.

“Congratulations for what?” Letty asked, but he just waved it off.

“Nothing of importance right now. Let’s go. It’s your big day.”

A somewhat heavy silence gripped the four people while walking, only Letty breaking it from time to time in order to ask something from Tristan regarding the different people of Thornfell. When they reached the greenhouses, Esther was already waiting for them with Lunet standing beside her, the little girl yawning as she rubbed her eyes.

“Good morning.” Regis greeted them, earning a slight bow from the woman.

“Good morning, milord. Miss Letty, I’ll leave Lunet in your care.”

“Thank you.”

“We should start immediately,” Druig remarked. “The ritual takes a while and your harvest festival will begin soon as well.”

“You’re saying that as if you’re not invited or something.” Tristan called out to the burly man.

“I’m not one for such festivities usually, but since it’s also meant to celebrate the birth of a new druid, I’ll join for a short while.”

“Glad to hear that,” Regis said. “Nina managed to bring back some ‘supposedly' high-quality ale from East Fork for the occasion.”

“Oh,” the druid hummed. “It’s been a while since I had the chance to get a tankard. Either way, it is best if we begin.”

“So how is this going to go down?”

“We have already prepared everything for the ritual yesterday, so young Letty only has to bind the tree to herself before we begin the dryad birthing ritual. The rest is up to her.”

Letty stepped beside the golden dew willow that was growing behind the greenhouses, cutting her palm before placing it on the trunk of the nearly eight-meter tall tree. She began to murmur a low chant, her blood dripping onto the tree's bark that absorbed it. After healing her hand, she sat down in a lotus sitting position, placing both of her palms onto the ritual circle around the tree.

It lit up with a verdant green colour and soon the tree inside the circle began to creak, twist and shrink. By the time the tree shrunk down to a height of nearly two meters, its shape twisted into a clearly recognisable humanoid form. Letty closed her eyes as a visible flow of green magic essence began to flow between her and the tree, slowly enveloping them both. Soon the light faded and the young woman stood up, opening her eyes at the same time the wooden figure did. They stared at each other silently for a minute before the newly born dryad broke the silence.

“Mother.” She said in a singsong voice, a gentle smile appearing on her face.

“Mother?” Regis whispered it over to Druig questioningly.

“Creator, mother, it’s all the same for such beings.”

“Does that mean...”

“Yes,” Druig nodded with an obvious approval. “Young Letty had officially become a druid.”

“Congratulations!” The dark elf said as he watched the wood elf hug the gold dew willow dryad.

“Thank you,” Letty said with a teary-eyed smile. “I’ve finally succeeded.”

“You did,” Druig nodded. “And your guardian seems to be fine as well. No corruption or inborn deformity.”

“Pretty.” The dryad said as it looked at Regis, prompting Letty to step in front of him defensively.

“No. He’s mine.” She said, turning beet red a second later.

“Am I now?” The loremaster teased, remembering the records about dryads and their ‘man eating’ habits.

“You know what I mean,” Letty grumbled. “And you, young lady. No men until you’ve been properly educated on communication and courtship customs. Understood?”

“Yes?” The dryad replied confused by its creator’s words.

“A lively one, that is.” Druig let out a deep laugh as young Lunet circled around the dryad with wide eyes.

“She’s so pretty! What will you call her, teacher?”

“I… I think Willow would be fine.”

“Willow? Seriously?” Regis asked with his eyebrows raised.

“She was born from a willow tree, so why not? You’ve got a better idea?”

“Nope. She’s all yours,” the spell weaver shrugged as he turned to leave. “I’m sure you have a lot to talk about with Willow and even more to teach her. We’ll get going. See you at the festival at noon.”

“Wha… wait! Regis!” He could hear Letty’s voice from behind as he and Tristan left with hurried steps.

“Why exactly are we running away, sir?” Tristan asked him, barely able to keep up with the loremaster.

“It’s called a ‘tactical retreat’ and it’s a very valid strategy. Especially when she’s like that.”

“I see.” The steward sighed as they finally gained enough distance so that they could slow down.