Side story 5: Bloodlines: Nature's Attendant (Patreon)

Tonken worked the field like any other day. To grow the crops was hard work, but it was necessary to keep the mana rich plants healthy. Tonken had always been good at it, and he loved to live among the plants and trees.

They were just a normal family of seven. His mom and pa owning the farm and living off the land. His dad has even reached the middle of E-grade, making him one of the strongest in the village!

Tonken was only 19 but would soon be able to upgrade his class, too, with his profession already upgraded. He had gotten a nature-affinity caster variant as his first one, making both of his parents super proud.

The only thing was that he couldn’t do proper magic. The teacher had admonished him for failing to do everything and always using skills when told not to. Tonken wasn’t the smartest, but he knew he didn’t use a skill. He just couldn’t do magic with normal mana.

It was because of this thing on his status menu that had been there since the day he saw the menu for the first time.

*Bloodline Awakened*: [Bloodline of Nature’s Attendant(Bloodline Ability - Unique)] – Dormant power lies in the very essence of your being. A unique, innate ability awakened in the bloodline of the human of the 2nd Universe, Tonken. Passively transform the mana in your surroundings into the nature-affinity. All mana transformed to be of the nature-affinity. Any plant affected by your mana will experience greater growth. Innately understand plants.

He only had nature mana on his status screen, so he couldn’t do normal magic. The reason his teacher was mad was that he kept only using nature mana when doing magic. He had tried to explain that he didn’t have anything else and tried to explain himself, but no one believed him.

He tried telling them about the bloodline, but no one had heard about such a thing before. Even the village elder who was late-stage E-grade hadn’t heard about it. His father had even sent a message to the capital and asked, and even the mighty head-scholar had never heard of it despite being D-grade.

So they had just brushed it up to be his class. He tried to say that he didn’t have the skill for nature attunement, but it was shot down as him just being wrong… so he stopped arguing and just went with the flow.

Tonken would grow up like his pa and become a farmer and take care of the fields. He would get well into E-grade and get his own family, and live happily ever after. The system agreed as he had earned this title with the bloodline that told him he had to!

And that’s what he did. He got a mega-awesome class evolution at 25 after he helped fight off some boggarts from the forest with his pa and some of the other villagers.

The years passed as Tonken grew together with his farm. On his 30th birthday, his father handed it over to him when a recruiter arrived from the capital. Every individual above level 50 was to head to the nearest major city at once with the man from the capital.

Tonken was only level 48, so he was exempted. Besides, the king understood that farmers were necessary, and Tonken was still only level 32 in his class then. He hadn’t been in that many fights in the last decade as their village was very safe.

That night the family said goodbyes as pa left.

The only thing that ever returned was a single letter saying he had fallen in service of the crown.

But Tonken knew he had to soldier on. The farm was only growing, and with many of the village’s more prominent farmers gone to join the war, he began to take over their fields. He grew like never before as he listened to the plants and tried to make them happy.

A year after the war begun, the collector came and was very impressed by the village’s yield. They had expected it to fall, with so many high-level individuals gone, but it had actually gone up. This trend continued for several years to come as soon Tonken was the only one who managed all the village’s fields.

When he was 42, a high-level official came with the collector - one of the capital’s mages, a mighty late-stage D-grade. He was also impressed and asked Tonken a bunch of questions. The farmer knew that talking of the bloodline was a waste of time, so he just talked of his rare variant profession instead. To not speak truthfully was a crime, but not telling the whole truth was much harder to find out.

It resulted in him being brought to become an attendant at the National Conservatory in the capital. Along with their families, his ma and siblings would join him too, and everything looked positive.

He began his job and linked it very much. The conservatory plants were far more outspoken than the ones he was used to, and he quickly fell in love with them. He especially liked one of the lotuses that always had a lot to say about how the old attendant never gave it enough water of the right affinity.

Tonken also met and made friends with another of the attendants that had joined the same day as him. Old man Brohm. He was D-grade, and Tonken believed that because he was very cool. All the plants also loved him nearly as much as they loved Tonken. They would sing every time he entered and sigh every time he left.

The years kept ticking by as he fell into a nice rhythm. He evolved to D-grade only five years after coming to the capital and was celebrated by his family and other conservatory workers. Old man Brohm also attended, and this day was also the first where a small sliver of doubt entered Tonken’s mind… was friend really just D-grade?

It was a doubt he would not revisit for many years. He grew in levels, and while his class was mostly neglected, he did join a few of the expeditions to level it a bit. While he cared more about nurturing life and plants, he knew he also had to learn how to defend himself.

Tonken wouldn’t join any serious fights until his 79th birthday where the kingdom went to war. He was forced to fight mainly in the rear and battled many enemies. He was hesitant still, until one day he got word that his old village had been razed…

That day Tonken spoke to the world, and the world listened. Nature came alive as its wrath descended upon the enemy army. Roots rose from the ground from the subterranean world below as C-grade sentient plants heard his pleas.

Having overexerted himself, he fell into a coma for the next nineteen years.

When he awoke, he was hailed a hero by the masses but noticed the crown’s suspicions. The king and generals of the kingdom were only C-grade themselves, so to have a mere attendant that could call upon power that could threaten them was deemed unwise.

But old man Brohm had defended him all those years and even kept his family safe. For some reason, the king and generals backed off at a single word from him.

Tonken became the head of the conservatory after that, but the guilt of having killed millions in the war tore at him. While he hadn’t killed them directly, he had been the one who asked for it. He felt guilt, but not regret, for he knew it was necessary.

Years flew by as Tonken grew together with the conservatory. Yet, he stagnated as he could no longer find high-level plants to gain levels properly. Stagnated, but not stopped as he slowly marched forward.

In his 178th year, a change happened. The great empire of the north had begun moving. They quickly consumed the kingdom his own had been fighting for so many years, their king and all officials slain.

And his home was next. Tonken himself an official now as the head of the conservatory.

Less than two months later, they arrived. Only seven people, but all gave off an aura far above Tonken had ever seen before, making even the king kneel in defeat. Especially the leader, a general of the empire. A mighty B-grade powerhouse and one the strongest in this star system.

“We pledge our allegiance to the great e-“

The king was slain before he could even finish speaking. Not interested in integrating the weak kingdom, but seeking full assimilation.

Generals tried to run but were quickly slain by the seven. They captured a few of the weaker officials, but only those in E-grade. Anyone at D or above were killed. They interrogated him and began their purge.

They killed the headmaster of the academy, the chief librarian, the ministers, and lawmen. From one institution to another, they left only carnage behind.

Until finally, they arrived before the National Conservatory.

Tonken had remained within to attend to the plants. Sitting on the ground as he spoke to the chatterbox of a lotus as it kept complaining about the sun coming from a slightly unpleasant angle - Old man Brohm at his side as they waited for the arrival.

“Tonken Greenheart.”

The enemy general stopped behind him as he sat there.

“I know,” Tonken spoke as he caressed the lotus. “But not here. Let me at least join the one’s outside; these lotuses do not like blood. It could damage them.”

The general just looked down at him with suspicion, but his attention was not truly on him. It was on the old man to his side who spoke.

“You truly do love them, don’t you, Tonken?”

“Of course. Is there anything more pure and beautiful than these?” Tonken smiled back at his old friend. He was just an attendant, so the empire should spare him. His ma had passed away a few years ago, and his siblings now all had a life of their own. Now all he honestly had was the plants and Brohm.

“Either move or lay down your life here,” the general spoke as he didn’t care for the two tree-lovers before him.

Tonken didn’t speak but got up as he went into the garden outside. Red plants grew there, and he knew they loved blood. He would sometimes prick himself on purpose and feed them a bit. They always apologized afterward, so Tonken felt like it was okay.

The general drew his blade as slashed it towards Tonken’s neck.

It never connected.

The general fell unconscious with wide eyes as old man Brohm walked out from the conservatory, making Tonken look suspiciously at him. “Why now?”

“Because it’s time to make a choice. Will you stay here or reach for more. There are many others out there who desire your care,” old man Brohm spoke as he smiled. “I should reintroduce myself. I am Archdruid Brohm, a member of the Elderleaf. Servant of Yggdrasil.”

That day, Tonken left his homeworld as he entered the wider universe together with his friend, who he kept calling Old man Brohm. Something he would do up to the day his old friend died.

Only a few decades later, Tonken entered C-grade. He went to the temple of the Primordial Yggdrasil, where he received her blessing, much to his friend’s delight.

He traveled far and wide, bringing life and growth wherever he went.

Planets reignited with life; solar systems brought greenery like never before.

Enemies who sought to destroy nature struck down as the world itself seemed to rise against them.

Legends of Nature’s Attendant spread everywhere in the second universe, yet the next piece of news still surprised everyone.

Another god had risen, and it was the ninth of the second universe at that time. The first had been Umbra, and now she and the seven others were joined by the new god known as Nature’s Attendant. The right-hand-man of Yggdrasil.

And today, shortly after the integration of the 93rd universe, Tonken bore witness as a new world of life was integrated, and he heard the call from beyond the void.

Looking to his side, he saw a tree larger than any in the entire multiverse - Yggdrasil the World Tree.

Tonken peered into the void as he caressed the lotus growing on his staff. It was still a little chatterbox, but at least it had more interesting things to say than before it found sapience.

“The Malefic One has returned,” he muttered to the lotus.

“Well, that sure was about time! How long has it been, huh? Like… super-duper long. I hope he isn’t so sad anymore, because it was sad when he was sad and then I become sad, and then you become sad and then Yggie becomes sad, and then everyone becomes sad, and that is just mega-sad, don’t you think?”

“I hope he can find happiness too… for his sake as well as the multiverse's.”

“Yeah… that was bad… but I get him. I would have been mad too.”

Looking towards the Primordial tree, he sighed. “I have no idea what the hell they were thinking either… what they did was inexcusable. After he lost both of them… perhaps we were lucky only a tenth was enough to satiate his anger.”

Turning his attention away from his own thoughts, he walked towards Yggdrasil as he talked to the lotus.

Nature's Attendant. The second most powerful being in the Pantheon of Life.

Possessor of one of the most powerful bloodlines to date.

"You are your bloodline, and your bloodline is you; to embrace it is to embrace your own path to perfection."