"Welcome back, Nio!" Loeta's voice called out as I re-appeared at my home base. I started my day early to maximize my time.
I wonder why I respawned here when the last time I logged in, I appeared back at the altar. Maybe you can't set a home point if it's outside the dominion of the spawn. Whatever, I'll just start spamming grand magic now.
. . .
... It's been three game days, I think. I've spamming grand magic every thirty minutes or so, which totals to... fourteen times? Fifteen? Thirteen? I lost count.
Oh, an update came in for the game status.
Nio (Potioneer/Alchemist/Ranger/Shaman)
HP 142/142
MP 0/1,526
Stats
STR 27 VIT 21
DEX 94 EVA 119
INT 44 LUK 25
Titles
Guardian of Ilidas Forest (Unique): [Tap for description]
Current Traits (+8)
[Alchemy 16] [Throw 14] [Eagle Eye 26] [Enchant 1] [Archery 17] [Crafting 3] [Mixing 9] [Mana Control 29] [Discovery 22] [Combining 4] [Wood Element Inheritor 12]
They've streamlined the title section! No more blocks of text! My traits are coming along nicely, too. Though my jobs are just a mess.
Another achievement: I almost finished my tree! I felt it nearing completion, but I ran out of mana before fulfillment could be reached. I think I can do it with this next try.
In the meantime, I've been talking to Loeta and making friends with the animals. I've learned that hundreds of different herbs grow in Ilidas, but most of them are harder to find. The ones that I've been finding are common, excluding those GraHerbs. Still haven't replenished those... However, I can ask the animals to collect them for me. So I asked one of the spiders to help me find herbs. He's been really nice about it; he goes out, then comes back after a while with a collection of herbs piled into a bag made of dry thread. I give him my poison potions to drink in return, since apparently it's healthy for spiders to eat Ivy Venom and thus nutritious to drink poison made with that herb. He always seems happy after drinking a vial. I made something like a water bowl for him so that it's easier for him to drink up.
I still should ask Nic and the others what those +'s are for. But with the current situation, Delia will take up all the time yelling at me or something, or Nic and Meg will openly theorize the method of my survival with crappy traits. They're probably doing it even now; I don't want to hear it.
Wait. Random crazy idea just formed! I should make the roots grow up above ground a little so that I have a place to work, and then a smaller tree using those roots for living space. Innovation at its finest! Though I wonder if it'll use more mana with this addition.
A weird feeling, as if someone had just topped off my brain with energy, passed down my spine. My mana's full, then. Let's start again. I visualized my tree once more: A stout, sturdy tree that would take twenty of the real me to hug the circumference of its trunk. I now added a ten-foot tall, twenty-foot wide dome made of twisted roots and spiraling tendrils, creating something like an elevated tree. I spread my hands and cast the spell.
Tendrils of wood pushed out of the ground, twisting around each other and spiraling clockwise, forming a large circle as it curved into the dome. The tendrils met and fused together into the actual tree part, then branched out into its crown. Emerald green leaves sprouted out of the sides of the branches and out the tips. A small sprite flew out of the tree, flew down, and kissed my nose. I knew, somehow, the spell had finally succeeded. Now to check my mana.
MP 1/1,526
Whew, that cut WAY too close for comfort. But...
It's ugly! My new home is way too ugly! The root dome looks so out of place, and the actual tree is sticking way higher the forest's natural emergent layer. It sticks out way too much. But I can't do anything about it right now.
Instead, let's study the Wood Element. Theoretically, the wood element should require knowledge of the earth and water, right? Like the soil is earth and you water plants? Am I rushing this? I don't think I am. Anyways, I should be able to cast earth magic, right? I should try it, maybe something basic. Like, "Earth Ball."
The ground shook, and some soil rose up and collected into a swirling ball of mud and rock nearly the size of my head in front of me. I made a little finger gun with my hand and pointed the ball at a nearby tree. "Bang!" I said, jokingly, snapping my wrist with the imagined recoil.
I didn't think it would actually fire. The ball shot towards the tree and blasted a hole through the left side of the trunk. The tree began to shake, as if straining to carry the upper half. I freaked out. A forest guardian, breaking the trees? Not good! "Tree Trunk Reparation!"
A new trunk grew out of the original wound and plugged the gaping hole left by my attack. The tree stopped shaking, and I breathed with relief.
"Stop hurting the trees!" An angry wisp of light came out of the tree I just fixed and began pounding on me. These wisps actually hurt.
"I fixed it, I'm sorry, but I fixed it!" I yelled as I crouched and covered my head.
"Hmph!" The wisp re-entered the involved tree. Really, I am sorry, Mr./Ms. Tree Spirit.
But I at least do know that I have at least elementary proficiency in the basic components of my magic. Wait, I've been using grand magic, right? Logically, I shouldn't have been able to cast that with just a few ranks of the trait. Must be the [Inheritor] part, since I got it from the professor herself. Though I'm not sure if I have the same ability in the components due to the nature of the title.
Wait, are there even ranks of magic in this game? I don't know, and something tells me that spiritual overlord NPCs have a different concept of ranking than that of player and humanoid NPCs.
Body ding felt; mana is full. Now to correct my horrible mistake.
Simple way and (I think) best way to do it. Just sink the root cavity into the ground, then displace the ground filling the cavity and work there. Don't sink it all the way - maybe I'll leave a few feet of the dome above ground - but the tree needs to join its friends down here.
I ditched the Latin; it doesn't seem like I'll need it to cast spells. Almost any language works, I bet. It'll be fun though to cast spells when my opponents have no idea what I'm saying. "Tree, please sink." I raised my hand and began moving it down slowly. The ground shook and dust billowed up as the dome began to sink into the greenish-brown land. I pointed my other hand at the sinking roots. "Displace the earth in the root cavity." I have no idea whether that worked, since I can't see, but I hope it did. At least double casting doesn't seem to be a problem.
I had two more feet to sink before I felt my mana run dry. Darn. It looks better; The air roots look less like an overgrown igloo and more like roots, despite reaching five feet into the sky and still being taller than I was. The tree trunk looked like even ten of the real me wouldn't be able to hug it all the way around.
I began pushing the tree down as soon as my headache had cleared and finished the job, displacing more earth in the process. Time to move in. As soon as my mana is full.
Here's my stats now:
Nio (Potioneer/Alchemist/Shaman)
HP 140/142
MP 0/1,851
Stats
STR 27 VIT 21
DEX 99 EVA 115
INT 48 LUK 26
Titles
Guardian of Ilidas Forest (Unique): [Tap for description]
Current Traits (+8)
[Alchemy 16] [Throw 14] [Eagle Eye 27] [Enchant 1] [Archery 17] [Crafting 3] [Mixing 9] [Mana Control 31] [Discovery 22] [Combining 4] [Wood Element Inheritor 15]
I think EVA went down. Did it go down when I cowered as the wisp was beating down on me?
I wonder if these are any good... I have no one to compare to...
YOU ARE READING
Trigger-Happy Potioneer
FantasySixty years from now, VR has advanced to the point that full-dive is possible and VRMMORPGs are everywhere (but really nothing else has gone as far). Since all the standard class-based games are boring, why not make a game with no classes?
