For a few minutes, the ruins were quiet as the last of the trial takers left. Then a portal opened back to Bruse Temple, and one of the clerics came through to take the children of the Divine Beast Nation home.
She waved at Remi from across the ruins, then began the task of making sure nobody forgot anything, so they could be returned home in one trip.
Then a portal opened and Council Head Arnold, the Troll that led the Newbon Council, came through.
“Merchant Karl, I have come to collect the kids. Thank you for your efforts so far.” He greeted them.
“Not a problem at all. I was asked to remain here for the time being, and I couldn’t really refuse.”
“Is there anything entertaining coming up in the next few minutes? I could put off my return.” Arnold suggested.
“It’s hard to tell, really. We’re mostly waiting on the next group to come challenge for the Relic, or more reinforcements to be sent to take over from us and have their turn. It doesn’t show any signs of instability yet.” Karl replied.
The Troll nodded. “You’ve likely got a full twenty-four hours worth of access. As powerful as that one is, I can’t see it lasting longer than that. But until then, you’re going to have an interesting day.
But before I go, tell me something. Did you get a new benefit from the Relic?”
Karl nodded. “I got a most curious new class. It only has three skills available right now, and they’re all insanely expensive. I will have to work hard to see the true benefits.”
The blue dragon turned to the Troll. “Do you know the Beast Master? How was his strength before? I don’t have a frame of reference for what he was at before and after encountering the Relic.”
Arnold just shrugged. “You would have to ask Overlord Leafa, but she’s confined to the Fort on security detail for the time being. She was the one who saw him in combat. If you wish to visit, just send a message and we will welcome you.”
Librarian Gareth nodded his massive head. “I believe that I will. This Relic is absolutely fascinating, and the potential growth of the ones who have benefitted from it is astounding.
I suspect that many of them are hiding the extent of the skills that they could use so that they can advance in private, but that is normal. Even the mighty predators return to their den when they want to advance.”
Ophelia poked Karl in the back, and he made a face at her.
“Come on, we know you’re holding out. Just give the potion to Lotus if you don’t want to give away Thor’s advancement.” She whispered.
“Alright, I know exactly how to do this.” Karl whispered back.
“Hey Lotus! Sister Remi made you a new type of juice!” Karl shouted over to where the clerics were gathered.
That brought the Nature Cleric running, and Karl took the potion out of Remi’s space.
“She says you’re supposed to drink it in one shot.” Karl explained.
“Thank you so much, Remi! I wonder what it tastes like? What kinds of juice do Naga even like?” Lotus wondered, while everyone else stared at the glowing neon green potion in her hand.
Lotus sniffed it once, then tipped it to her lips and sipped a little.
Her eyes widened in excitement, and she began to gulp down the potion like it actually was a glass of juice.
Then the Cleric began to glow the same green as the potion, then rise into the air, suspended by a pair of vines under her feet.
The vines wrapped around her, until Lotus was nearly engulfed in them.
She looked a bit like a tree stump with a head on top, but she was radiating healing magic. Then, branches and leaves began to grow from the vines, and she really looked like a tree that was slowly moving around the open area around the ruins.
The tree was giving off an area healing aura that was far stronger than any that Lotus had used in the past, and it was hard to tell if she had advanced, or if the potion had brought her right to the bottleneck of Royal Rank.
“I love this new skill. There are birds in my branches.” Lotus giggled.
The birds were part of the skill, and could be dispatched to heal people by flying into them and turning into healing energy. But the visual effect was perfect for a Nature Cleric.
“[Tree of Life] is the name of the skill that the potion gave me. To think that the Spellblades gave us such a good thing to access the Relic.”
She gave a twirl in tree form, shaking her branches and sending gold dust scattering to the ground, where it healed any lingering wounds on those nearby.
Librarian Gareth chuckled. “Little Cleric, they didn’t give you something that good. They gave you a decent enhancement potion, but not one that would grant an Epic Grade healing transformation spell.
That must be the result of whatever your friend Karl, or did you say that it was Remi, did to it afterwards.
Now I wish that I had analyzed it before you drank it. Who knows what sort of thing I might have learned from the concoction.”
Karl sensed that he was going to have to give a step by step description to the Dragon, but he had already been expecting that when he agreed to Ophelia’s suggestion that they test the first potion on Lotus.
“Does it take a lot of effort to maintain the tree?” Gareth asked.
Lotus shook her head, which made the upper branches of the tree shake.
“Nope, it’s just here. It’s kind of slow and heavy, though. I can’t move very fast.”
“So, limited mobility, but greatly enhanced healing effects. Is there anyone here with a lingering ailment? A limb that has recently undergone regrowth, or other injuries that were still healing?” The dragon asked.
All the defenders looked around, then shook their heads. They had been picked because they were in good health.
“I was recently healed in my arm, and by High Priestess Lotus herself. I don’t know that there is any more lingering injury to repair, though.” Colonel Lu explained.
“That’s alright, please go stand in the shade under her branches.”
The Minotaur complied without question, and the dragon cast a series of spells on him for observation as he stood in the healing aura, being regularly sprinkled with golden dust falling from the leaves as Lotus danced around in tree form.
“Fascinating. It is healing the lingering nerve and tissue damage that regular healing won’t touch. The traumatic damage that leaves so many crippled from repeated magical healing spells.” Gareth explained.
Colonel Lu flexed his arm and shrugged. “I will take your word for that, but I feel like a young Minotaur again. All refreshed and full of energy.”
“A skill well worth its reputation as one of the grand healing magics.”
Then he turned to Lotus. “The Cathedral will be glad to see you returned. I assume that you are going back there after this engagement?”
Lotus giggled. “Nope! We’re going to the headwaters of the Seabingin River to find a temple for research, and then to the Whiton Temple to hug beastkin, and then we will take the long way back home. Maybe we can go back to the Beast God Temple first.”
The dragon turned a questioning gaze on Karl. “This sounds like a Nature Cleric set the route. Why are you headed to the middle of the jungle?”
Lotus stuck out her tongue at the dragon, while Karl laughed. “The jungle itself isn’t the target. We’re going to study ancient architecture. There are more examples of it popping up in the ruins and anomalies, so we want to study a temple that has survived the years to see what sort of differences there might be, and if there is some clue that might have been missed in the past, because of a lack of knowledge.”
The dragon was suspicious, but he likely got most of the real reason from Karl’s mind. The Blue Dragons were sneaky like that.
“That is understandable. I would ask that you bring an escort with you, as I have many questions for you once you reach Whiton Temple.
However, all of that is for later. Today, we get to babysit a newly appeared Relic, and test all of the newly awakened Elites on the skills that they have mastered. Surely one or two of them had a skill point available to upgrade a spell or attack skill.”
