Chapter 129. World tree

I looked between the frozen Dryad's waiting for one of them to fill me in on what I was missing.

"Whatever God's exist have bloody sculpted you." Dríade scoffed crossing her arms under her chest in a way that we both knew was distracting. "Voras the crazy bitch was right. You say everything right even if you don't know what you're saying."

"I'm sorry?" I didn't know what else to say.

"Grove mother." One of the Dryad's spoke. "I don't know enough myself but will the Ley lines move while we are in this pocket dimension? If that is one of the requirements for our protection, should we not guarantee it?"

A good question.

Yo Deeds. Any ideas?

Unsure. Hopefully but testing is required. If not move Grove out of Dríade's room.

Yeah that ain't going to happen. The entire purpose of the room is to give them protection and endless fertile soil. Can't get that on the farm itself. If it doesn't then we just have to limit Dríade's growth when she gets to that point.

"Regardless of if it is possible you do know what you just said right Clovek? Or did you really just say that without a care in the world?" Dríade hummed and dropped off the branch to flutter her wings.

"If I said I knew exactly what I said would you believe me?" I replied trying to sound believable.

"Absolutely not." Dríade shook her head but couldn't get rid of the smile that had infected her. "Come. This is probably a more private conversation to have and I need you to tell me where we can plan your crops without the Dragon standing on them."

I shrugged and followed her out of the personal room and back into the house.

"Were you serious?" She asked the moment we were alone. "I feel like asking for more will bite me in the ass right now considering everything you've already given me... But a World tree?"

I didn't know how to answer that so I gave it some thought as we made our way outside.

The problem was I had no idea what I had just said or what actual purpose it would have.

"So do you mind starting at the beginning. Like what is a World tree?" I asked with a slight wince. "Truthfully the Deed said that if the Ley lines move they will allow your tree to grow into a World tree. I just repeated that without asking anything more."

I waved to Tarakona as I saw her as she would need to be part of the decision where the farm would be while Dríade thought about it. My Dragon gave the equivalent of a nod and started to make her way over with Zeldi coming along besides her.

It was beautiful to see both mothers of my children walking side by side, even if the size difference was a bit apparent and while I technically wouldn't see Tarakona pregnant there was a part of me that revealed in the thought of both of them heavy with my children.

"A World tree is a bit miss named as it doesn't do anything really to the World in the grand scheme of things." Dríade started fluttering her wings to bring us up to similar heights. "To most people it's just a very large tree and to you it would be a great way for me to drown you in my fruit if the soil is rich enough. The problem is that when it grows that big my tree would feed itself on the Ley lines to sustain its size as well as the nutrients in the ground. Part of why my tree would change the direction of them. This is where it's power comes from as it becomes one of the few objects that can refine the essence of the Ley lines directly."

Not a problem for us. We will make sure it feeds on the part of the stream after you have purified what we need.

Think of it like a running river. It gets whatever you and by extension we don't need.

Well that's helpful, and having her production be larger can only be good for us.

"That's fine Dríade. The Deeds will make sure it doesn't interfere with them." I tried to elevate her concerns. I mean if a tree was that big I could only assume it would make a crap ton of farm points in return.

Dríade shuffled herself as if preparing for more bad news.

[You seem flustered Dríade. Did Clovek proposition you because we gave him strict instructions not to.]

There was some humor in her voice that seemed to calm Dríade and her usual persona returned. "No he didn't. Instead he told me in front of my entire Grove that he was okay letting me make a World tree on top of everything he has already allowed me to do."

I raised my hands as everyone's attention turned to me. "I thought it was a good idea, even though I still have no idea what the hell I said, as all Dríade has told me is it's a really big tree."

[A really big tree is an understatement. The trunk of a World tree would be the same size as your land with a single Deed my love.]

Ah... That's only a little bit bigger than I thought...

"So more fruit from Dríade right?" Zeldi butted in with my exact thought process.

[Sister. How do I put this simply? The Livestock farm and all of us Clovek owns is incredibly valuable for what it does but it is about equal to a Dryad's Grove in terms of value from the outside view. So long as the Grove is of a decent size that is. A World tree however is something entire nations will go to war over just for the chance of harvesting anything from it.]

Oh.

Dríade nodded along with Tarakona. "Elves especially will want to live close to it with a lot of angelic folk and harpies as well wanting to roost in the top canopy. On top of all that because it feeds directly on the Ley lines anything it produces from fruit to leaves to even the bark is sought after by every race for many reasons. Add a Dryad's ability to make anything organically plant like they have consumed. You get a recipe for problems that usually need to be solved by a large groves protection."

"Your not really selling this idea to me Dríade." I said seeing a lot of cons but very little benefits. I mean if it stays in her pocket dimension then there's no real problem as no one would even know it exists but big tree doesn't sound that appealing if it needs to be out here to move the Ley lines. Sure it's technically Dríade's true body so the land would protect her but still.

"I'm not really trying to I'm sorry Clovek. It's a status symbol for the most part, not really something that has a lot of use to you. It's why I was surprised you offered." Dríade couldn't help but let out a sigh. "It's something I want sure, but not something I will ever sacrifice my Grove for and I really don't want to seem ungrateful."

[You are forgetting it's use as a peace maker.]

Tarakona hummed in amusement.

[Sure to you it is no different than a symbol of your strength and the ability to grow unimpeded. But what you haven't mentioned is how it could be used as a beacon to other Livestock. How it could be a show that Livestock under Clovek will be allowed to grow instead of being shackled. And that Dryad's are welcome, we wouldn't have to demand they come like last time.]

Zeldi was just as lost as I was in all of this.

I mean sure Tarakona has a point but it seems that it would just be more of a pain than actually helpful. Unless of course it stayed in her room but at that point it really was just a big tree.

"It's still not worth it if we have to deal with armies at our door so to speak." I said with a sigh. "We're struggling with the Kobolds now. We're not really capable of dealing with anything more. And yes that is taking into account you Tarakona."

Dríade gave a nod but I could see her deflate ever so slightly. "So I need a bigger Grove before I grow my tree past that point."

Deeds. Please tell me you have an option?

More Deeds mean more land.

And how does that solve the issue with Dríade making a World tree?

More power.

Still unhelpful. How's it going on the whole make me a Dragon at will plan for Tarakona?

Working on it.

I guess that's all I can really ask for.

Purple you really don't give him anything do you?

I tell him what he needs to know.

So what you're saying is that if I was to tell him his next quest would allow him to temporarily become anything he has bound to the land it wouldn't make him expedite the process of completing it?

...

Are you serious?

Within reason. It's not exactly what you want but it's a good start. As much as those two are fighting your original Deed is correct. We need more Deeds to actually get better rewards or we have to give you harder quests. It's a bit of a balancing act on our part as we don't want you to look at your current quest and give up due to difficulty.

I instantly brought up my current quest.

Current quest: Heal Madu and Tilty through skills or potions so that their productivity is as high as possible.

Status: 1/2

Reward: Mental resistance to all Livestock and their Deed owner. (We are sorry)

Well this wasn't to hard to finish. Madu was done or at least I hoped she was based on this so that just left Tilty.

Fine then. If you want me to tell him everything, Clovek! Your ability to travel to the Centaur village is going to reset tomorrow morning. There. Happy now?

I must have stood there staring like an idiot for far longer than I should have.

"Master? You okay in there?" Zeldi said from right in front of my face.

"Yeah." My voice cracked. "Dríade. You know when you made Tilty able to grow her horns again?"

"Yes."

"Is she still sick or something?"

"Oh absolutely. The drug she was taking destroys the bodies ability to do anything from grow fingernails or get pregnant. All I did was reverse the horns part so she could be a Livestock like you wanted without letting her completely negate its affects. Why?" Dríade cocked her head to the side in curiosity.

"Because I need you to fully remove it's affects for my quest but before that. Everyone needs to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Zeldi asked so innocently.

"To meet your family of course. It's almost been a cycle since we last visited."