Chapter 184 – The meaning of words

Slightly more than two weeks ago, just as Noah, Brianna, and Samantha’s team came back to the Threadweaver mansion, Noah asked Dryads to help him save Beastmen. Dryad's sisters agreed without delay, but Noah felt he owed them an explanation about many things as he relied on them quite a lot and they helped without asking questions.

So when they returned from saving the women transported in the carriage, he decided to open up to his maids. He told them of entities living in his mind, told them of some of his skills he had not shared with them before. Told them of his story-reading ability and nightmares. Told them of the Beastmen peril he has uncovered. In the end, he also explained the risk that he was facing because of his quick level-up and his lack of control over inner mana circulation. He explained the method to prevent that and that he would need to go to The Great Tree Labyrinth for a long time. When Dryads heard of it they immediately looked at each other and as if silently reaching to some kind of decision nodded at each other.

Dahlia then told them of Gardens and explained that even if Noah created enough slimes to detoxify all saved Beastmen they would still be facing strong addiction and withdrawals, as well as post-traumatic syndrome and psychosis. He would be facing thousands of people unable to sustain themselves and if he truly wanted to help them he would have to take responsibility for them for a long period until they were capable of taking care of themselves. Which at the moment was beyond the Threaweaver household capability.

There was however a good solution. They explained how they could put all those people to sleep and provide them with nutrients if they brought them to the Gardens. However, they needed to get Dryad Queen's approval.

That same day Dahlia went to The Dryad Kingdom to have a discussion with her mother which would have taken her a few days to travel there and back

Zinnia, Aster, Arachnas, and Noah’s new servants Black Mist Cats meanwhile got busy formulating a plan for the rescue mission of thousands of beastmen and their plans for the future. It was clear that Noah was developing a new organization with lots of its parts needing to be held secret, so they had to develop some measures and plans for action.

This was a hectic period where everyone was busy at all times.

Noah was busy making slimes to detoxify a whole city's worth of women captured and tortured by the Red Bull clan from several towns. Meanwhile Tessa and Brianna with the help of Cassandra’s household made poisons and potions needed for it.

After they were done with detoxifying beastmen, they planned to start a potion production factory where they would use the poison slimes in secret that would allow the Threadweaver family to get back on its feet.

Potion needed many ingredients and plants that complimented each other in an alchemical mix to nullify side effects. With Dryads' help, they could quickly start fields with main ingredients, while slimes would help avoid the need for many costly complementing ingredients. Making their potions a lot more cost-efficient than any other company in the entire human realm.

Brianna and Tessa long since developed a whole list of potions they would be producing so this plan was already in motion.

During the day Brianna and Tessa were busy with potions, the development of new recipes for them, and of course the repairs of Wolf’s heavily damaged body.

Noah’s guardian once again shielded their mate at the cost of its own body, taking the brunt of the space mage’s force upon himself to buy some time for Noah’s escape. They intended to not just simply repair him but also upgrade it, which lit their craftsman spirit. There were hundreds of ideas they wanted to implement but there was only one project, so they had to architect something they would be most pleased with. But for the moment they made just enough so that the heavily mangled body could at least move around without help.

At night Tessa, Priscilla, and Noah were working on the new feature for the barrier around the mansion that would prevent the shadow squad from sneaking in.

In the future, they may be visited by all kinds of people and needed to make sure they would not let any spy slip through the barrier to take them by surprise.

Repeating Noah’s shadow dispersing light was not easy, and doing it in the darkness of night gave them a better view of it.

Everyone was greatly busy these few days while Dahlia was gone.

Samantha’s team however were treated purely as guests. No one forced them to do anything or demanded any help from them. Every day the whole Threadweaver family together with Noah would gather at lunch to eat and discuss their work progress while Samantha and the girls were always invited as well. They however were quite wary of their new benefactors. Their life was filled with deception and betrayal that left them distrustful of anyone who offered help. So they held themselves at a distance. However, the fact that no one forced them to do anything and simply left them to rest and recuperate as they liked, greatly helped them to relax around the women of the household.

Their relationship with Noah however stayed quite tense. The trauma of what he did to them was still fresh in their minds. Somewhere deep even for all their recent trouble and pain they still blamed him, even though they never showed it. Noah himself felt quite ashamed of that accident and tended to be as courteous as possible whenever he met them in the mansion. Because of that uncomfortable tension between them, he and the girls tended to stay at a distance from each other, giving each other space.

The situation with the group of saved beastmen girls was a bit better. At first, they were very distrustful of the strangers who took them away and were afraid to even go to the toilet alone. They may have been saved from one prison but they seemed to be unable to leave this place as well, and the intentions of their new captors were unclear, so their situation did not seem quite better.

Especially distrustful they become once they noticed the situation of just one man being among all these women and moreover having relationships with several women. They had an idea that they were brought into some noble's harem and would be demanded to provide…services. However after a long discussion with the Madam of the household and after seeing how gentle and courteous everyone was toward them, demanding absolutely nothing in return they seemed to relax a bit.

What took them by surprise and helped to greatly lower their distrust was the fact that no one dictated any actions for them. Noah and the madam of the household came to them with several different options and different solutions, asking them what they thought and what they found best suitable for them when they would leave and what they wished to do with their lives from there on.

When the girls asked whether they would be set free, Noah and Tessa profusely explained that the girls were not captive and that if they wished, they would help them find a good spot where they could settle for a new home. But they were asked to stay as guests for a few days until the madam of the house found a good solution that they would like.

Moreover, they were provided with all the necessities that they needed and were all treated equally as guests, although many of them were commoners.

Even at lunch and dinner the maids of the household always came by to ask what they would prefer to have and seemed to always include their wishes in the preparation of food. Within days the group of beastmen women seemed to relax quite a bit and even regained a bit of good mood. The dark memories of what they witnessed however still haunted them. That could be seen on their faces as many of them could not sleep well because of nightmares.

It was of course only a short time before Dahlia returned with the news from Dryad Core forest, but in that short time, the Threadwraver household seemed to gain their trust to some degree.

After Dahlia’s return with Dryad Queen’s approval of their plan, Noah and Tessa gathered all the beastmen women and announced that they would start the rescue operation, explaining what they intended to do.

Previously they did not mention it to not raise any false hope. But once they explained it greatly, shocking the group, beastmen women could not hold their gratitude, crying and hugging Noah and Madam while thanking them profusely.

They decided to take Dahlia’s offer to go to the Core forest of Dryads together with all the rescued women to be near them and look after them however they could.

However, Dahlia’s offer surprisingly expanded also to Noah. As she explained, the Dryad Queen offered him a special place for training that would help him shorten the time of his training greatly while providing him with all necessities under the treaty of a guest in their Kingdom, which Noah decided to accept. He did have some suspicions as he saw Zinnia’s and Aster’s wary faces when Dahlia announced it, but they seemed to not want to dwell on it anymore and convinced him that he had nothing to worry about.

Noah wished to postpone his travel until the rescue operation was done, but Tessa, Bri, and Cil urged him not to risk anymore. From their words, he has done enough and asked him to leave the rest to them. They would take care of the rest and he should worry only about himself.

That night Noah decided to spend making love to his mates satisfying them thoroughly before going away the next day. However as if intentionally choosing the worst possible time Ugy interrupted their orgy, reminding Noah of one unsolved problem he forgot to attend in these hectic days

The problem was the branch that the Legendary Tree spirit being named Doonpine gifted to Noah in the underworld dungeon.

Ugy explained that he could not put it in the homework folder item space as it was a living being and holding it in his normal item pocket meant that it was deteriorating with time normally. And by now it started to dry and shrivel.

In other words, they had to find a way to nurture it and quickly.

At first, Noah did not understand Ugy’s impatience and thought he would quickly solve the problem before he would continue his pleasure time with his mates.

However, it was not such an easy task as he thought at first.

Noah decided to plant the branch into the soil, luckily he had the most experienced gardeners in the whole human domain. Together with Tessa, Priscilla, and Zinnia they tried to plant it, watered it, and even used fertilizer before Zinnia used her forest rejuvenating magic on it to revitalize it and increase its growth. However, the awaited result did not follow. A short time later a concilium of all three Dryads used up all their ideas and magic yet the branch persisted in losing vitality instead of regaining it putting all three at a loss. It was unheard of. No nature creature could not be revitalized with the Dryad magic. They were not the Royalty of all the Treants for show. Yet the branch refused to bow to the same laws of nature.

At that moment Noah started to worry. His travel to the Great Tree Labyrinth was postponed and they spent the whole next day trying to figure out how to help the branch.

While Dryads tried to work all kinds of magic on the branch, Noah and Tessa turned to her library.

They felt that they were missing something but could not understand what. The branch was a part of the legendary being mentioned in fairy tales. Deciding that finding information about Doonpine itself might give them some useful hints, they turned Tessa’s whole library over in the hope of finding some clues.

However, they soon realized that there was almost zero information on that Legendary Tree spirit being. No one knew what kind of creature the Doonpine was. No legends ever mentioned more than that he was an eternal guardian of the Fairy forest and that he was as old as the Fairy Race itself.

Within Tessa’s majestic collection of knowledge, all they could find about it were mentions of it being some kind of Treant race, like Dryads, Dwergs, Ent, and so on, which was obvious enough even without a book. The problem was that there were dozens of races listed as Treants. So it did not give them much new information.

In the end, they decided to go down the entire list of Treants, studying them one by one, in hope of finding some clues. They did find some peculiar ways to nurture Treants, but even after trying out each and every one of them on the branch, nothing seemed to help.

“I am sorry, dear. This is all that could be found in my library.” Said Tessa sitting on the couch in the library with open books strewn all around her.

“It’s not your fault. What we learned is that Doonpines legend goes back to the times before even the first recorded civilization. It’s no wonder there’s barely any mention of it. I doubt even the Royal Library has more information about it. But your collection of Treants study books is wonderful. Even Zinnia and Aster learned many new things from them. Yet there is still nothing that could help us with the Doonpine’s branch.” Said Noah putting down the book in his hands with a sight.

“What did Zinnia and Aster say? Did they remember anything about Doonpine?”

“They heard of him long ago. Mostly from legends about Fairies as well, so it's no more than there is to learn from these books. Their mother Dryad Queen may know something, but I am not sure I want to mention it to her. To tell you the truth I don’t trust her that much. I consider Dahlia, Zinnia, and Aster as friends. But I am not sure of their mothers' disposition.” Said Noah. “I will ask her if I am sure there is nothing else that could be done.”

“I see. I think you are right to be careful.” Said Tessa sighing.

As everything they did brought them to a dead end, Noah finally decided to use his secret weapon - ask for advice from degenerate enlightened people in the comment section. They proved to be helpful in the most strangest way at the most crucial of times, so he hoped they would once again bring about a miracle.

That, however, did not turn out well, making him bedridden with nausea for half a day after he encountered a new nightmare.

“What about, Ugy? Can he find anything through his….source?” Asked Tessa in a whispering voice.

“He was still formulating inquiries the last time I asked. Says he has to be careful to not get found.” Whispered back, Noah. Even mention of the Great Library could cause a disaster so they decided to never name it, only calling it as Ugy’s source. Noah did not like the idea of turning to this method for information gathering but in the end, the Great Library of Gods containing all records of all worlds was the only choice to find any hints right now.

“Noah closed his eyes, turning to his system without transferring there with his body, before snapping his eyes open. “Good. Ugy says he probably found something. Let’s go.” He said standing up and offering his hand to Tessa.

She smiled at him, taking his hand, and the next moment they both appeared within his mind realm.

They walked into the house hand in hand. As they entered the main room and sat on the couch, Tessa gently said hello to Yuko, who was sitting on Ugy’s armchair holding an annoyed plush bear on her lap possessively.

Arachnas tended to be overprotective of their possessions when they dealt with their kin and tended to mark their territory as Noah learned since starting to live in Threadweaver mansion. Just as Yuko's gesture of holding Ugy at her side was a gesture of marking the boundary of her territory, Tessa’s tight hold on Noah’s arm was no doubt a similar gesture as well. He could only sigh and let it go knowing that it was better not to get involved in this matter.

“So what do you have?” Asked Noah looking at the plush bear.

“Alright, as you know, sneaking into Akashic Records is not an easy matter and we need to be careful to not get caught. So inquiries to it, have to be well within allowable limits.” Started to explain Ugy, however, Noah felt suspicious at such a long-winded opening.

“Shorter, Ugy. What did you learn.”

“Ok. Ok.” Said Ugy with an annoyed voice. “I know that this Doonpine is currently a half-deity. But originally it was a Pine-Wood Ent that later evolved into a Tree Half-Deity and is on its way to becoming a full deity-like being. He may even become a full-fledged God at some point.”

A few seconds of silence went by in the room before Noah asked,

“So? That’s it?”

“Well...” Exclaimed Ugy. “Isn’t this a big hint?”

“Hint? How about…I don’t know…A method to grow that thing?” Answered Noah with annoyance.

“As I said. I can’t just give you all you need. I have to be careful with my inquiries into…”

“Yeah, yeah. I had to figure you have almost nothing when you started the long-winded introduction.” Said Noah provocatively.

“Nothing? NOTHING?” Exclaimed Ugy with a deeply hurt expression. “I risk my life to…”

“Our. Our lives. Mine, Yuko’s, and even Tessa’s and everyone’s in this world. And that never bothered you before. So stop the 'you hurt my feelings’ act and lay out what you learned. I know it’s not the only info you have. Spill it already.”

“Well, Ent is what the humans call Walking Wood Giants of the Treant race.” Said Ugy.

“I know what Ent is. We studied Tessa’s whole library by now and learned of every damn Treant there is. But there is no mention of them being somehow different from a goddamn tree or that they need something besides water, soil, and lots of chicken shit. Chicken shit, yes, that’s their favorite fertilizer in the soil according to Zinnia, when I asked her about Ents. And no, Chicken shit was not our secret ingredient, I tried. Besides, Dryad magic would have worked on Ents. But it doesn’t.” Said Noah.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Now that is where you are wrong, User. If you listen to the end without interrupting…” Said Ugy. “Then what I wanted to tell you is that in all your books Ent is a Wooden Giant being. However, a few thousand years ago a substitution of meanings went by. Initially, the word Ent described any giant. In ancient language it literally means Giant, but there was also the word Giant at the same time. So why the double word? What is different between them, is that the word Ent simply meant large being, without classifying it as a Giant race. You call a human of two-meter height an Ent Human in an ancient language. But through ages in humanity’s legends, the meaning changed and they started to call all Wooden Treants simply Ents because they all were large. A lot larger than a human at least.” Said Ugy.

“So?” Asked Yuko.

“I don’t get it.” Said Noah.

“I see. I think I know what you're hinting at.” Said Tessa.

““You do?”” Asked both Noah and Ugy surprised.

“What Ugy implies, is that the word Ent in its name is of no importance. What really matters is that specification ‘Pinewood’.”

“Tsk. It’s my story!” Said Ugy as if she hurt his feelings explaining what he wanted to say.

“Sorry Ugy, but we all know that you would take days to explain everything so,” said Noah, turning to Tessa. “ please go on my love.”

“Ok.” Smiled Tessa. “Giants are beings of flesh. They may know magic and be very proficient in elemental magic. But they are beings of the material world. They get born, have a body, shit, eat and so on. The best examples are Troll, Ogres, Ispolins, Gigants, and Cyclops. They are all beings listed as the Giant Race. But wooden creatures are classified as Treants and are a different race from Giants. Yet they are big because they are similar to large trees. That’s why they have different descriptions - Ent. And with time they ceased to be Ent Trees but were simply called Ents. Ents is now the name of their race. So if all creatures of the Walking Woods race no matter which wood they represent are called simply Ents, why is Doonpine named as Pinewood Ent?

“Imagine a human saying that he is ‘Evolved from an ape Human’, every time he is asked what race he is from. That’s how strange it would sound to an Ent.” Explained Tessa.

“Word Pinewood specifically mentioned there as his description is unnatural for Ent beings. In other words, it’s not the word Ent that really matters in his racial explanation. In his case, the word Ent simply means large or very big.”

“Yes. Yes. I see.” Said Noah nodding. “But. What of it?”

“That means he is not Ent as in Walking Wooden being. He is a living Pinewood creature. And we have to look at what it means to be a sentient PineWood being instead of what it means to be an Ent.”

“Alright. He has nothing to do with Ent's race. That I understand. But then what the hell is he? There is no race as Pinewood among Treants. Or Oakwood or any wood whatsoever.” Said Noah.

“It is…” Started to say, Tessa.

“Elemental.” Said Ugy, interrupting Tessa finding an opportunity to steal back the limelight.

“What he is, is a pure elemental spirit. Or was it before evolving into the Ent-like creature.” Continued to say Ugy seeing that Tessa kept silent simply smiling at him.

“Elemental? But they are pure spirits, right? They are not being of flesh.” Said Noah. “This branch is a very well-material thing though.”

“Right, but they can be. As I said, Doonpine is a half-deity.” Said Ugy.

“Ok. What does it mean?” Asked Noah.

“There are many small spirits of elements. For example: sparks, droplets, dust, and gas. These are the main elements. But there are a myriad of them. They have almost no sentience, however, sometimes they belong to one bigger instance of an element. For example Forest fire. In such an occurrence, there would be countless Spark elemental spirits and all they relate to that forest fire. Because of this similarity, they may start to assimilate and turn into bigger elemental spirits and become Fire elemental. This spirit is a lot stronger and has a semblance of sentience. But this is not the limit. Fire elementals can also merge and grow bigger and more powerful. Become a Giant Elemental or Fire Ent. Fire Giant. That’s what Pinewood Ent means. A Giant elemental of Pine Wood spirits, that in its turn occurred from a myriad of leaf spirits on the same Pine Tree in some corner of the world.”

“I see. And that half-deity thing is their next step of evolution? ” Asked Noah.

“Sort of. But a bit different. Its power is on an entirely new level and it obeys entirely different laws. But yes. This is the next level of evolution. To understand what spirit deity is it would be better to use water spirits as an example.” Said Ugy.

“Imagine countless water elementals that come together in the same body of water becoming a pond elemental or something. There are no waves. You would not go sail on it. It’s just an example. There are no pond elementals. But now imagine what difference it would have with Lake type elemental. That thing would have waves, unimaginable depth, and so on. In reality, Lake Elemental which is considered half-deity is capable of destroying a town or even a city. But its previous form Water Ent is barely a threat, no more than a monster.”

“To go further, now imagine it growing to a Sea-type Elemental. These already colossal spirits possess deity-like powers. They may call waves capable of sinking whole countries.” Explained Ugy.

“If we go even further, you can guess what power an Ocean-type Elemental would possess. Simply saying that is what a lower God is.”

“Ok, I get it. So this Doonpine is initially a wooden elemental that’s grown into something bigger. Elemental of wood, right?” Said Noah.

“Exactly.” Said Ugy.

“So what do we know of wooden elementals? How do we nurture them?”

“Just like any other spirit. We give them their natural habitat. Lake for lake elemental…” Said Ugy.

“And pinewood forest for our branch?” Asked Noah.

“It’s not that easy.” Said Tessa. “Ugy’s example is only that. Idealization. Elementals are spirits. They don’t get nurtured in just any type of fire, body of water, or forest. They occur in places rich with pure spiritual energy. And if we are right, then that’s what we are lacking. Pure spiritual energy.”

“That’s right. But to be precise we need nutritious soil rich with spiritual energy” Said Ugy nodding. “It is not just a spirit. Doonpine is a half-deity and has a material body just like Spiritual Beings. In a sense, he could be a forefather of a totally new type of Treant Race. And I am of the mind that this branch is in fact exactly that. Treant that this world has never seen before. It’s a new type of Treant that has traits of Ents and some other Spiritual beings too. That’s why you never found any information regarding it. And that’s why it can’t be easily nurtured by Dryad Magic. They either simply did not develop the magic that can grow that being yet. And it may take them months if not years to do that. Or it is a race that can potentially rival Dryads as the Royal family of all Treants.”

“In that case, it may not be a good idea to show it to the Dryad Queen.” Said Tessa.

“Our best solution would be to find a soil heavily imbued with energy.” Confirmed Ugy.

“Alright. So, we need a place rich in spiritual energy. Preferably forest. Any ideas?” Asked Noah.

“Umm…” Voiced Yuko. “What about the area around the mansion?”

“Sorry. My mansion or nearby land definitely does not classify as rich in pure spiritual energy. It may be even contrary to that. It is rich in dark or evil energy which may be exactly the reason this branch started to deteriorate quicker when Noah returned home.” Said Tessa.

“I see. I will consult with Zinnia and Aster and see what they can say, but I better not mention Ugy’s finding about it, lest they spill the secret to their mother.” Said Noah thoughtfully.

As they left the mind realm Noah immediately went to find his Dryad maids, however, their reply did not give him any joy either. They lived their whole lives in the Labyrinth and had little knowledge of the world beyond it.

The Labyrinth itself is soaked in evil energy seeping from the Dungeon Core. Even though Dryads are creatures living in spiritually rich places, Labyrinth has the same problem as Tessa’s land. The only place rich in pure spiritual energy they could think of was their Core Forest as it was purified land.

As for the soil imbued with spiritual energy, they were not sure.

“What do you mean you are not sure if the soil is imbued with spiritual energy or not?” Asked Noah.

“Well, you see, Master, the Core Forest is a world existing in a separate dimension created by our mother, The Queen of Dryads. But it is not the real world. I am not sure if the soil in it fits the criteria you are asking about unless we try. As for the place in the real world where the entrance to the Core forest dimension is, it is most likely a usual Labyrinth land. Which we are not sure again as we never saw it. Only our mother can exit the Core forest dimension into the spot where that dimension is situated. We can only go in and out through special paths that she created for us inside the walls of Labyrinth at the lowest level of it.” Explained Dahlia.

Noah thanked Dryads for their help walking away. If they could not be sure then the only way to find out was to try implanting the branch there. But Noah was sure that there was no way Dryad Queen would not find out about it immediately as the whole dimension was her domain. So if he had to try it he would have to be ready to spill this secret to her.

Noah decided that he would put off this solution for later when he had no other options left.

At the end of the day up to the moment when he finally had to head off they did not have any way to save the branch on hand. Only theory.

Noah wanted to postpone his travel even more in the hope of finding a working solution but both Tessa and Ugy urged him not to.

Until he learns to control his inner magic circle, every day his life is at great risk. And holding that branch a secret from Dryad Queen did not matter as much as his life. Better show it to Dryad Queen and ask her for help than risk his life.

Tessa promised that she would start the search of such a land while he was gone and if she failed he should go with it to the Dryad Queen. While Ugy said he would do more inquiries and asked Noah to leave this matter to him

In the end, Noah listened to the both of them leaving this matter to the two of them.

There was only one thing that irked Noah at the way Ugy urged him to leave this matter to him. Something in his words bothered Noah. Something about the way he worded it. Yet he could not put to words what raised his suspicion. It was kind of an intuitive feeling. But try as he could, he could not understand what bothered him. In the end, he let it go and went to the Dryad Core Forest.

He finally learned what bothered him that day two weeks later, when he found out about the second Nightmare freely roaming inside Noah's mind realm in secret since that day as well as what solution Ugy found and what consequence would mean ‘leaving this matter to his system’.

At that moment, however, it was already too late to stop his system as the did was already done, making Noah rage in anguish, throwing furniture and breaking things in fury from hearing Ugy’s explanation two weeks later. He wasn’t raging even at Ugy, but more at himself for making such a stupid mistake by agreeing to ‘leave this matter to him’ which meant to allow Ugy to do what he did.