Chapter 51 – Living Wood (Patreon)

Tom, as he often did when he entered the isolation room paused briefly once the doors clicked shut to browse the ‘Current Events’ folder. He was interested in the crystal slime progress even if results continued to be disappointing.

As his eyes scanned down the ranking list, he almost dropped the folder in shock.

Humans had dropped a ranking. They were sixth instead of fifth.

Wador was above them still, basically within touching distance but…

It couldn’t be true. It was ridiculous, but it was written in plain black ink in front of him.  Evidence of the change. Somehow, the inventors had shot up the ladder. They were only four million off third. 

·        Inventors: Current Rank 4 with accumulated points of 287 million and year on year accumulation of 90 million.

Additional notes:

o   There was an unexplained jump of 85 million this week.

o   Cause of the windfall is being investigated. Hypothesises include.

§  A species triggered GODs action and was eliminated in a fashion similar to how humans benefitted from the kid slaughter fiasco.

§  Inventor led environmental shaping caused a catastrophic collapse of an ecosystem.

§  A self-replicating robot was released to terraform a large swath of Existentia.

o   At this stage, it can not be determined if their gain is repeatable, however the observable pattern is repeatedly larger successes.

o   Our analysis suggests there is a significant chance that inventors may win the competition.

That last point set Tom’s mind on edge. While the chosen and inventors had been locked into seventh and sixth places respectively, then humans had only needed to beat the wador to get out of the catastrophic zone and then either the giants or insects to reach third place.

However, if the inventors ended up being a real contender and were contesting top place, then that totally changed the calculations. They would have to beat three of the four species that Tom had assumed would be competitive. The threat of the dragon and insects was self-explanatory. They were the clear front runners and even having suffered the penalties, they had, they were still fifty million ahead. A gap, Tom confirmed, when he checked his memory, that had only grown since the first time he had seen these numbers.

Catching them felt like an insurmountable task, but if that analyst’s point was accurate, the inventors might end up beating them.

It was beyond depressing, but he comforted himself by looking at the raw point values as opposed to positions. Humans under that lens were only twenty-five million from third place. While the engineering of the river to kill the crystal slimes had failed there were other projects that would hopefully gain more than enough to cross the divide.

“Nope.” Tom said out loud. “That doesn’t work for me.” Relying on others. Having faith that things would work out okay was not good enough for him.

He put away the folder and went to work. All he could control was his own actions and for now, that meant working hard.

Two weeks later, he was back in the trial, and he was excited. Today, he hoped to convince April to set up a combat scenario that would help him merge Cell Division and Growth, Localised Paralysis, Circulatory Rebuild together into Heal Muscle. Tom wasn’t sure what the best type of monster to push the proposed spell would look like, but he was sure that April would have suggestions.

He appeared next to the lake, which was not what he wanted. “Meeting,” he yelled out. “Can we have a meeting first.”

The world froze, broke apart, and then he was seated at the café with the angel across from him as usual.  

“Hi April,” he said happily. She didn’t respond and instead waited patiently for him to get to the crux of why he had asked to meet her. “You know what happened two weeks ago?” He hedged.

“No, I’m not doing it today.”

Tom ignored the hostility as he was expecting it. “I was hoping to do something similar today. But don’t worry this isn’t like Blood Replenish. I’ve been struggling to progress this in the real world. I need to do it here or else it is too dangerous.” He was exaggerating a little, but figured it wouldn’t matter.

“No, I won’t support that.” She smiled. “Crafting is more important.”

Tom looked at her in confusion. She wasn’t outright rejecting him rather talking cross purposes.. “Why are we worried about that. I’ve been making steady progress. In a couple of weeks, it’ll be done.”

“No, you need to shift your priorities and you’re closer to getting the skills than you think. Last week, you were starting to create growth instead of only redirecting what I was supplying.”

“That’s great, and we’ll keep the training up. But I’m ready to evolve Heal Muscle and I want to do it today.”

She was grinning. She definitely knew something she wasn’t sharing yet.

Mentally, Tom began to adjust his priorities. If she was pushing for something, it was worth him embracing it fully. If she thought something was in his interest, then it was. Nevertheless, he wasn’t about to let her get her way without at least some push back. The situation called for a small amount of belligerence. “We have to do this today.”

“No Tom, you’re not listening. I won’t support it. The attempt needs to wait. Today your fate pool has to go into gaining the living wood skill. You’ll take too long ,otherwise”

“Are you sure? Because I’m beating the estimated timelines you gave initially.”

“If you want to reach general combat four, you’ll need multiple spear skills before you turn six which is less than a year away.”

Tom hadn’t even realised he had turned five as individual birthdays weren’t celebrated. He had kind of known, but hadn’t cared. The more important milestone was the naming ceremony where the entire cohort chose their names. The secondary context of what she was saying got through. “Wait, are you actually onboard with helping me?”

“Of course I am. This,” she waved her hand. “This is because an idea just occurred to me and I ran a whole host of simulations to ensure it wasn’t erroneous. I’ve basically compared human natural biological growth to the guidelines for the divine champion trial. The most likely time to get selected remains at eleven like Corrine but there is another window just before you turn six in earth years. I also compared your rate of skill acquisition, the level of spells and skills in previous lives and from that estimated how long it will take you to develop. What all that shows is that in the trial, concentrating on skills is better than spells.”

He grinned. “If you can get me into that trial I’m happy to take guidance. What do you want me to do?”

“Tom, I’m not guaranteeing anything. There is nothing in your build plan to solve the speed issue at least short term. Before eleven, there are both spells and skills that can help.”

“How about the six threshold?” he sat forward suddenly excited. “Can I develop them before then.”

She snorted. “Not unless you produce even more ridiculous talent than you’ve already shown. You’ve got no chance. Unless…” April paused a look of excitement on her face. “If you can tap into the community fate that’s being produced that might speed you up enough. Presuming your the best prospect, it won’t even need to be targeted at you specifically. Something general, like helping children get into the divine champion’s trial is all you’ll need. If thirty percent of the town’s fate is directed toward that aim, maybe fifty in case Corrine, takes some of it. That should speed up your progress enough.”

Tom whistled in appreciation. “That’s… that’s genius.”

“It’s a strategy that puts a lot of human’s eggs into the one basket. It’s really dangerous, but if the situation is as dire as you told me last week, then it might be a good gamble.”

“Because I’m an egg? An egg that can get broken easily?”

“You’re an egg and you can get you can get whisked and scrambled by a passing assassin or just bad luck.That fifty percent fate isn’t being wasted. If it goes to you and your party, you’ll need to repay humanity for that and that’s risky because you’re still a kid. For them to get anything from the investment you have to survive until you’re an adult. The facts are, that currently you have no levels and no strength. Anyone can kill you. You’ll have to earn half a million points just to break even. How are you going to do that?”

“Kill the dragons, slay the insect queens and probably challenge some world level boss monsters.”

She briefly lowered her head into her hands a pained expression on her face. “You say that so glibly. Do you know how many world level monsters humanity has slain? Or how many dragons?”

Tom had no choice but to shake his head.

“The information I can share is fifteen years out of date, but I think it’s likely that there’s been no appetite for these kinds of aspirational conquests in the missing years. They cost too many lives. To answer my question, a single dragon has been killed, and that was by your team.”

Tom shook his head. “Probably a bad example. It was a group effort, and the giant delivered the killing blow.”

“Yes, and it was resurrected, but it was still slain. As for world bosses, there have been three attempts by humans. Two failed, costing fifty and a hundred and twenty lives, respectively. A single one was successful and even that cost seventy lives. Worse, that kill only yielded a million experience. Are you seeing why you might struggle to get Dimitri to go down this path.”

“But what is the community using the fate for?”

“Safety and crafting projects,” April answered immediately. “Again, my information is out of date, but using it lowered attrition rates by seventy percent in town controlled areas.”

Tom was flabbergasted by that statement. It implied the town wasn’t safe, which given the walls and the defences was weird. “Why would there be so many deaths?”

“It is Existentia. This town is a formal settlement, but the surrounding land hasn’t been claimed. Monsters test the walls often. As for the crafting fate that’s estimated to support half of the ranking points contributed by crafters.”

“That can’t be much more than a hundred thousand a year.”

“It’s likely two for this town, but.” She raised a single finger. “That’s a guaranteed contribution. It’s a huge gamble to expect the experience to pay off.”

“Fair enough. But one thing you’re probably not factoring in is that I had an agreement that I’d only get resurrected if I could change things. Even if I don’t get into the trial I’m determined to keep up my faith in that fact. I will find a way to make a difference.. I’m going to continue placing one foot after another and worry about the big stuff later. For now, my only focus is getting strong.”

“Good. Then send your fate towards getting the wood growth skill.”

“Done,” he reported after a moment’s thought.

April’s training started immediately as he was teleported away from the cafe. There were no fun fights against blood thirsty monsters. The thrill of battle was denied. The moment when his heart beats would spike and his focus would condense into a gem like intensity in order to survive.  That unfortunately didn’t happen. Instead, he was put into the standard growing room with the rate of expansion made more aggressive.

Tom adjusted to the new challenge and pushed the half formed skill harder.

There was a ding.

Of course, there was. He shouldn’t have been surprised April knew what she was doing.

Almost immediately, the scenario fell apart, and a new one was constructed. Rather than being free,  he was bound by metal strips with a host of plants surrounding him. Then a pulse of growth energy flowed through them and he wondered what he was supposed to do. That was until he sensed the monsters moving towards him and breaking grass stems as they did.

Tom sought to protect himself from the incoming terribly slow monsters. It was easy, as all the previous months of practice had taught him how to create shells of wood to surround him.

But the energy available reduced.

It became a challenge not to die, and he failed regularly. The monsters, were some sort of slow reptilian rat creature that kept relentlessly coming.

He died almost as often as he stopped them. There was another ding and his head started to swim with the effort that the continuous use of skills was putting him under.

The rats became slower, but the stores of growth energy that he was tapping reduced alarmingly. There wasn’t anywhere near enough power. The days of a solid shell were gone. The best he could do now was to create a hedge of spikes to stop them approaching. He lost half a foot before he was fully protected. His Blood Replenishment spell meant he was never in real danger and Heal Cut closed the wound even if doing so in any other circumstances would have been a mistake. When under a GOD shield, preserving tissue to allow proper regrowth later wasn’t a consideration. He triaged the wound and then, with the help of the very occasional pulse of growth energy he hunted the two creatures that had eaten him and happily killed them.  

Everything reset.

It was the same scenario as previously, but he reacted faster this time. The rat things didn’t get close enough to take a nibble.

The configuration changed.

There was even less old growth around him to be redirected to form a barrier. He died twice before his skill grew sufficiently to stop the attack.

Another change occurred. He was in a jumble of dead wood. There was nothing living nearby him.

Panic surged.

He had to build his wooden cage to protect himself. He knew the rats were coming.

But there was no living wood around him. It was dead to all senses but those of his new skill. Deep within the wood, he could feel the life. Cells that had shut down and were in hibernation, but that was enough.

The monsters were approaching. So he focused. It hurt to do so, but being eaten alive was even worse. The near dead wood responded.

There was a ding. He started twisting the wood growing sections to bend the stiff sticks down in the direction he wanted.

The world shivered.

Tom found himself in the café. It was like the last time. His senses were all over the place. Nausea swelled within him and he vomited. It tasted disgusting but the moment it touched the ground the substance vanished and the scent of freshly brewed coffee didn’t disappear.

He sighed and looked across the table toward April. There were multiple angels sitting there.

He blinked.

Now there was two. Every heartbeat was like the beat coming through a sub-woofer. On the table in front of him there were six… no that wasn’t right there were only two wooden bracelets. One was constructed of dark wood and was filled with life while the other was made of a white higher tiered wood but it was dead. With the way he was feeling, he dreaded what she was going to make him do. Any skill use now would only make everything worse.

He glanced up at April, she briefly split into two before consolidating back to a single person, admittedly a blurry one. “What do I do with them?”

“Nothing,” she giggled. “I was just playing a prank.” They vanished from his vision and then his hands were holding a thick mug. “Drink that.”

It was some form of warm apple cider with lots of honey. He wasn’t sure if it was alcoholic or not, but it tasted medicinal in a nice kind of way. He drank it, enjoying every sip.

April said nothing as he recovered and then passed a folder across to him.

Skill: Living Wood Growth – Tier 2

You are able to make wooden plants grow to your desired specifications.

Sideways Evolution 1. You’re able to find a seed of life even in wood that others would assume is long dead.

“It’s tier two.” He said zeroing in on the key information and ignoring the sideways evolution. At a glance it was clear that it was a very niche advantage at best. He wasn’t sure he would ever use it in the outside world. Here in the trial might be different because he had a suspicion that April had been driving for him to receive this capability. He suspected it would somehow help him improve his value add.

“Yes, you’re an overachiever.”

He glanced down at the second slab of text.

Title: Underage Skill Development (II) - Upgradable - Grants 1 free attribute point every four levels.

His head made it hard to concentrate. “My title upgraded.”

“Yes, you got four points because the new skill was tier 2.”

“It’s still only uncommon.”

“Because anyone who puts effort into it can get this.”

“Um, maybe,” he stopped talking for a moment unable to continue the thought as he swallowed the bile that came up. “What do I do now? I’m clearly suffering skill exhaustion. Does that mean the rest of today is wasted??”

“Um... you’re partially right we can’t have you doing any  skill work? That’s for sure, but I’m happy if you do magic practice.”

“How will I accomplish that? I only know healing and I need wounds to advance it. Maybe I can fight with a hammer or something.”

“I don’t know if practicing with a hammer is a good use of your time. As for how are you going to do that? Well, for a start, that drink was poisoned. You wanted to work on your Heal Muscles spell didn’t you. Unless you fix it within fifteen minutes, your heart will to fail, and then even if you solve that problem a few minutes later the muscles that let you breathe will also go.”

With a curse, he set to work. The setup was a great opportunity apart from one very significant factor. “I can’t do this. I don’t have fate to optimise.”

She shrugged. “Then avoid doing it perfectly. Don’t worry only this one is targeting muscles. For future poisons, I’ll guide you through the spell forms to fix the different failing organs.” The folder that he recognised from the isolation room appeared in front of him. The idea of doing any studying caused his nausea to surge. He turned away from the table and threw up.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” She declared, and then pretended to crackle manically.

He smiled and then put her out of his mind as felt the first twinge of damage to his muscles. A single point of mana into Purge Foreign Substance told him that he could use it to deal with the problem, but he resisted the temptation and set about practicing healing through the continuous poison damage like April intended.

When he got into the trial a week later, he went to the café.

“It’s now time to acquire the final skill you need before you can start carving. This is easier.”

She waved her hand and on the table a bracelet appeared and then it expanded until it had a diameter of a metre and a half.

“This,” April said after a long pause. “Is the ritual that will underpin a danger sense bracelet. All you have to do is to take this design, imprint it on a wooden circlet and empower it with your precognition mana.”

There must have been ten thousand different wires all of them creating different geometrical shapes. Tom was used to seeing Harry’s rituals, and this was another level more complicated. His mouth opened, and he stared at what she was proposing in shock.

He had to duplicate all of that in miniature.