A Jaded Life

Luckily, the initial conversation between the dryad, the not-quite-elf and Luna didn’t take all that long. Essentially, they exchanged greetings and batted about a few simple questions neither side fully answered before Luna asked whether we would be allowed to make our own shelter in their area. That, in turn, caused further glances towards Lia, Alex and me and I could almost smell the mixture of fear, caution and distrust in the air. I had to stop myself from letting my tongue flicker out in an attempt to actually find these scents, but I had no doubt that they were there. Or would be, if my senses were good enough.

However, even with the distrust in the air, there was something else, too. A different sort of caution, the difference between wanting a possible danger to be as far away as possible from everything important while also wanting that possible danger to be controlled or, failing that, watched and hopefully contained if the possibility turned into an actuality.

Not that they’d be able to contain me without bringing in some seriously powerful help, the people I could feel in the area were comparatively weak. Nothing beyond level thirty, though given that I hadn’t been using Observe but only gauged their powers with a combination of Soul Sight and Magical Sight, my estimation might be off. I doubted it was unless there was some sort of physical powerhouse in the area that fought without any way to enhance their physical body with magic, somebody like Sigmir if one took away her bond with Ylva for example. A straight-forward brute but given that I could teleport away and had a wide variety of magic at my disposal, such a brute would have to be unrealistically high-levelled to be a threat to me. No, the only remotely realistic option was some sort of rogue, the sneaky scout or assassin-type, though, again, my high level and high Intuition made that fairly unlikely, especially with my highly unusual extra senses. An enemy trying to hide from me would have to do so while concealing their Mind, thanks to ESP-Mind, their Soul, thanks to my Soul Sight, their Magic and all that without using Darkness Magic, unless they managed to surpass me in that discipline. Not impossible but I felt it was highly unlikely. Not unlikely enough to completely lower my guard but that was because I was just a little bit paranoid.

As they continued talking, I had to hide the amusement that had suddenly started to bubble up. The Dryad had, almost in sync with Luna, begun to incant a somewhat formulaic promise of guest rights. The one spoken by Luna was verbatim the one I had taught to her, after my little encounter with Lady Hestia, essentially promising that we would do no harm while within their community unless harm was done to us. It was fairly simple and not quite as inclusive as the one the Dryad was using but given that they offered to defend us while we were their guests. In turn, they were asking us to defend their community as long as we were here, something that felt quite equitable to me.

Not that I was planning to spend all that much time here and if an enemy managed to overcome the barriers we had faced on the way here, that sort of enemy might be worth hunting, meaning I’d be fighting it anyway for those sweet, sweet EXP.

Together, the promises spoken meant I was remarkably confident we would be safe here, there even had been an incredibly faint surge of divine power, just at the edge of my perception, making me think that the promises had divine backing. Granted, that meant that I’d be in deep, deep trouble if I attacked these people from within but I wasn’t planning to.

If I ever made plans to do so, I would have to leave first and it might be best to remain away from them for a season or two. Just to make sure the divines didn’t get their underwear all bunched up, at least until I had the power to withstand their curses or avoid them in some way. Not a realistic short-term goal, but maybe I could manage in the long term.

As I was watching the two who had been talking to me, I noticed that they were almost shaking in relief, almost like a small, furry animal that was being stared at by a large, hungry predator. I almost felt bad about their distress but given that I hadn’t actually done anything to make them feel threatened, the guilt faded just as quickly as it had appeared. These people would have to come to terms with danger, this was now a dangerous world. Sure, I might be the most dangerous being in a fairly wide area but that didn’t mean I was automatically malicious.

For the most part, I was simply curious and wanted to learn everything there was to learn about magic, no need to be afraid of me. Sadly, I also knew that there’d always be people who would default to fear and, even more annoying, there would be many who would either try to control me or, foolishly, try to destroy me. It had been human nature and I was fairly certain that humans weren’t the only creatures with such desires. To destroy what might threaten them, even if it was only a possible threat.

After the promises were exchanged, the conversation started to wind down fairly quickly, focusing on the question of where we would be resting. The locals had taken our arrival deep in the night as something unintentional by us, as if we were on a daytime schedule and had just kept pressing on far, far longer than usually planned. The almost entirely empty settlement was a strong indication that these people weren’t nocturnal, making me wonder how Luna would deal with it. I had a feeling she’d want to stay as long as possible, as these people were obviously able to work living plants in ways I couldn’t even begin to understand, something Luna undoubtedly would want to learn.

Maybe Lia and I would have to look for something to keep us entertained during the nights. There had to be something, maybe I should delve into the Astral River later but first, our accommodations.

The locals offered us shelter beneath the bough of a tree but just looking at the narrow structure made me want to decline. Luckily, Luna picked up on my dislike and asked for a simple, open area where I could dig us a nice burrow.

The look on their faces was quite amusing, at least until I realised that I actually couldn’t work like I usually did here. The earth was filled with dense root systems from the dozens of trees nearby, the roots interwoven to the point that I had no idea where those of one tree started or ended. The roots might even have interconnected, with multiple trees sharing the same roots but I wasn’t sure, the entire thing was one massively complex and confusing mess.

Shaking my head, I realised that the only way for me to dig would be to shred through the roots, causing untold damage in the process. Right after promising not to cause harm to the locals. Yeah, that would never fly. The punishment for that kind of gross negligence might be more lenient than the punishment for outright treachery but either punishment was something to avoid.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to go down, the roots below are too dense,” I explained, centring my mind and considering what other ways I could use. The bough of the tree was right out, especially after Luna had already declined its use but there were other options.

Looking around, I noticed that there were multiple haphazard piles of rocks nearby, not used for anything. Taking another look, I realised that every deliberately created structure in the area was made from living plants, meaning the rocks were most likely discarded. My thoughts were confirmed when I asked about them and without many questions asked, I was given permission to use them.

Now I had enough resources to work with and make something for our own use. Luna, obviously, added her own magical abilities to the mix, mostly when it came to pushing the roots aside just a little so I could anchor a few pillars into the soil to act as foundation, but her supportive abilities were quite useful, too.

Together, we used the few hours we had until dawn broke to shape the discarded rocks into a fairly sturdy, if a little strange-looking, structure. Granted, the strange appearance mostly came from the way we had shaped the stones into utterly unnatural flat and thin panes but we only had so much stone to work with, so efficiency was important and if that meant the house looked almost as if it was made from gingerbread, so be it. Anyone trying to take a bite would learn that an evil witch lived in the gingerbread house.

With that thought and a small smile, I retreated to prepare for bed. The night had been long and I, for one, was tired.