Chapter 37: A Special Gift From The Tree Of Beginnings
Suddenly, a large branch fell from the Tree of Beginnings himself! It really shocked me because I didn't know that something like that would be the last gift from this quest… Didn't this hurt him or something though?! However, even if it could hurt him or not, he made the sacrifice of giving me one of his branches, I guess I couldn't really reject it now! But how couldI use it though?
"I-It is a branch? A big branch…" I said, as I kneeled and grabbed the branch with my arms. It was very heavy.
"This is a branch from my own body. In the past, there had been many invaders that have tried to chop me down, or to take away my branches, but they all failed. However, I have decided to give a piece to you, Planta, my dear Dryad," he said.
"H-How can I use it?" I wondered.
"Hmm, well, it is up to you," said the tree nonchalantly.
"Eh?! You seriously don't know how I can use this?!" I asked.
"No… Maybe make a Staff?" The tree suggested. .
"Oh… I can learn the crafting skill so yeah, perhaps… Well, anyways, thanks a lot for the gift nonetheless, I really appreciate everything!" I said.
"Of course, it is just what you deserved," he said. "Now that you're done with this quest, how about I introduce you to another?"
"Oh, another quest? Well, I recently got some message saying something about a Subclass, do you know anything about that?" I asked.
"Subclass? I have no idea… I don't really know, I am sorry for not being able to help you…" He sighed.
"Ah! D-Don't worry about it! Please don't feel down now, it is all okay!" I said, trying to cheer up the old tree.
"Well, perhaps the fairies could know a thing or two, they're the record keepers of the forest," said the tree.
"Fairies?! There are fairies in this forest?" I wondered.
"Yes, the fairies live quite far away from me, in an area known as the Flowerbed Gardens, in that place you can find them living inside their small houses around the trees. They are a peaceful and small society. They keep records of things, and are very smart," he said. "Unlike Squirrel-folk, they can live thousands of years, so what they know is a lot more as well. Your new quest involves them, apparently they have been recently hiding and fending off large groups of miasma Dark Beasts, although their situation is not dire as they can defend themselves, they could use some help..."
So there were fairies! If they lived so long, they surely knew a lot of things. I could quite possibly find someone that knows what sort of item I could make out of this big branch. Alongside that, I could also find if there was somebody that knew about Subclasses, it was probably something I should search on the internet as well. Perhaps other people had also changed Subclasses before, right? Surely somebody spoke about it on the internet or something!
"Well, that's it for now, I am going to go back to sleep, enjoy your day."
And the tree just went to sleep, just like that.
"Eh? Hello?"
"…"
"Ah…"
I guess he was really an old tree, he must have slept a lot. I shouldn't bother him anymore. I quickly decided to move back to the Squirrel-folk village while holding onto the branch. Like any item, the branch also had an interesting explanation about what it was, so I quickly read it.
[Branch of the Tree of Beginnings]
A branch from the Tree of Beginnings, alone it is just a branch, but it contains an incredible amount of spiritual power dwelling within it. The branch can be used as a material to craft special items with it infused with the power of spirits and the forest. A talented craftsman is required to craft something with it.
Ooooh~! Maybe I could really make a new staff with it? The only Staff I got was the same old one as always, so I didn't know if it's going to help me in the long run, also it seemed like its stats were a bit mediocre, I needed to find a stronger and better equipment already, and in this game, I had to craft it or buy it from someone that crafts. Actually I was even surprised that I was given clothes, I could have been dropped completely naked for all I knew. And these potions were also very strong but couldn't be easily replicated, even Acorn potions didn't have such strong effects as the ones gifted at the beginning.
Now, time to move back to the squirrel-folk village! I also had to do a few things first, we'll probably cook something together too to celebrate that everybody was healed, and I also want to see my Status—Actually I could do that right now. I had also accumulated 30 Stat Points, so I was distributing them all to MP of course, it was the greatest resource of my strength as of now.
[Player Name]: [Planta]
[Race]: [Dryad: Lv5/30 -> 8/20]
[Race EXP]: [5800/8000]
[Job Class]: [Farmer: Lv5/20 -> 8/20]
[Job Class EXP]: [5800/8000]
[Satiation]: [42/100]
[HP]: [130/130 -> 190/190]
[MP]: [530/530 -> 740/740]
[STR]: [32 -> 47]
[VIT]: [32 -> 47]
[DEX]: [32 -> 47]
[AGI]: [64 -> 100]
[INT]: [83 -> 119]
[WIS]: [80 -> 110]
[LUC]: [50 -> 65]
[Race Skills: 8/10]
[Spirit of the Forest: Lv1], [Photosynthesis: Lv2], [Green Magic: Lv3], [Life Drain: Lv2], [Plant Companion: Lv1], [Daughter of Nature: Lv1], [Spirit Magic: Lv1], [Spiritual Shield: Lv1]
[Job Class Skills: 7/10]
[Agriculture: Lv1], [AGI UP: Lv1], [Tame: Lv1], [Cooking: Lv2], [Farm Animal Companion: Lv1], [Fishing: Lv2], [Robust Body: Lv1]
[Summons: 2/2]
[White Goat (Female): Name: Belle: Lv5/30], [Carnivorous Amber Lotus Flower: Name: Loki: Lv4/30]
[Tamed Monsters: 0/2]
None
[Skill Points: 38]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Equipment]
[Spirit of the Forest Robes]
[Bracelet of Nature]
[Crown of Spirit Wood]
[Seed Pouch]
Oooh, the level up of three levels was amazing, today I went from five to eight so quickly! My Stats increased so much, even my STR was better now, I feel stronger even physically! Maybe I could now punch a tree or something—not like I would try. Trees were my friends here. Ah, and my MP was already at 740! Wow, that's just a lot! I could easily conjure way more magic with that. Maybe I could Level up some more Skills now that my pool of MP has increased a bit more.
Also, what other new Skills should I pick? Hm, now that I finished the problem with the squirrels, I really wanted to relax for the moment and play as the farmer I wanted to be, so I'd probably get some Skills related to that!
<SKILL TREES>
[Skill Tree: Dryad]
[Plant Synthesis: Lv0]
[Life Drain: Lv0] PICKED
[Spirit Magic: Lv0] PICKED
[Natural Charm: Lv0]
[Daughter of Nature: Lv0] PICKED
[Spiritual Shield: Lv0] PICKED
[Plant Companion: Lv0] PICKED
[Nature's Rage: Lv0]
[INT UP: Lv0]
[WIS UP: Lv0]
[MP UP: Lv0]
[Skill Tree: Farmer]
[Tame: Lv0] PICKED
[Cooking: Lv0] PICKED
[Brewing: Lv0]
[Crafting: Lv0]
[Sewing: Lv0]
[Fishing: Lv0] PICKED
[Alchemy: Lv0]
[Robust Body: Lv0] PICKED
[Farm Animal Companion: Lv0] PICKED
[Farming Tools Usage: Lv0]
[Terrain Adaptability: Lv0]
[Soil Manipulation: Lv0]
[DEX UP: Lv0]
[HP UP: Lv0]
There were still a lot of Skills even when I had picked a bunch lately, and it seemed that whenever I did Job Change and evolved, there would be even more Skills! Sadly there were only a total of 10 Skills slots, so I'd have to be careful with what I picked. I felt a bit confused and I was actually quite tired, so I decided to ask the guide to give some recommendations.
"Guide, can you recommend me anything?" I asked.
The sphere of light emerged at my side, seemingly quite tired as well.
"Yawn… I was actually resting for a bit… Anyways, erm… You're planning on starting a farm? That's actually good, you're better off doing that to take the most advantage of your Race and Job Class combination." Said the Guide. "Erm, let's see… I guess you should take Plant Synthesis from your Dryad Skill Tree. It is a special Skill that allows you to fuse plants together, well, not grown plants, but you can fuse seeds to create a new breed of plants, but the rank of the resulting plant will be lower than both plants. Also you'll have to grow it back up again. Growing a farm will take you several days, it cannot be done immediately like killing mobs."
"I see… Sounds fun! My grandparents had a farm!" I said.
"Oh… Well, for your Job Class Skills, I would take Farming Tools Usage, Terrain Adaptability, and Soil Manipulation, all three of these Skills are specifically made to improve your farming abilities. With Farming Tool Usage you'll be able to use all sorts of farming tools with ease. Terrain Adaptability helps at adapting to the terrain you're in and more. And then Soil Manipulation will allow you to manipulate the soil of your farm so you can enhance it and keep it fresh for the plants," he said. "I think that should be it… With those three Skills your Job Class Skill Slots would be filled at 10/10, however, if you're planning on using the tree branch, pick up Crafting and Alchemy, you can just switch between Skills based on what you need currently."
"I see! Thanks a lot for your insight, guide" I said. "Ah! Maybe I should call you with another name?" I smiled. I had always thought about naming him differently, but he didn't seem to like it.
"No, just call me guide, way easier to do," he said. "I will go on rest mode for now, so call me whenever you need to know anything…"
The guide disappeared after that, acting way more polite than he actually did through this entire time, probably being sleepy made him act more polite? But that didn't make any sense though… Well, whatever was the case, time to pick some Skills.
Ding!
[You exchanged 12 Skill Points]
[You learned the [Plant Synthesis: Lv1], [Farming Tool Usage: Lv1], [Terrain Adaptability: Lv1], [Soil Manipulation: Lv1], [Crafting: Lv1], and [Alchemy: Lv1] Skills!]
And done! Hmm… What should I do with the rest of the Skill Points? I've still got 26! That's a lot, wasn't it? But I was quite nervous so I didn't want to waste them away… Well, I'd use them depending on what I need in certain situations, tomorrow, probably late, I'd see what I can do with them. For now, it was better to check the Skills descriptions in detail, what the guide told me was way too vague.
[Plant Synthesis: Lv1]
Using the power of a Dryad, you're able to manipulate the life of plants themselves, allowing you to fuse seeds of two different existing plants to create a new hybrid plant. This costs a variable amount of MP, and the results vary greatly depending on the quality of the plants. Any plant created through Synthesis has a lower rank than the lowest rank parent.
The Skill success chance is 50%. If the synthesis fails, the two seeds will be destroyed. However, through leveling up the Skill, chances become slightly greater and even if failing, there is also a chance that both seeds are kept intact. Can only be used ten times per day.
Oh, quite specific but I liked it, I suppose it was not a complete 100% chance of succeeding, if I could infinitely fuse seeds, it would be a bit broken, right? Even more, I could also create seeds using green magic, so I guess there should be a limit to everything. This was a game after all, it had to have some sort of balance, even though the game has been showing me lately that it had none.