Path of Dragons

Elijah lay back, drifting lazily as he rode the subtle rise and fall of the waves. He knew he had things to do and obligations to meet, but there was value in immersing himself in the moment. Not only was it relaxing, but with the benefit of a Connection-boosted One with Nature, he felt more connected with his surroundings than ever before. He sank into that, feeling every microorganism suspended in the water.

But there was more to it than that.

Ethera was part of it, but those connections went much deeper. Though he couldn’t sense it directly, he knew the force binding everything together was nature itself, what Nerthus often referred to as the Mother’s influence. He was a distinct entity, but he was also a part of a larger whole. Everyone was.

The implications were simultaneously reassuring, daunting, and infinitely profound. Elijah drifted – on the waves as well as the sea of connection – until, at last, he felt a weight lift off his shoulders. His responsibilities didn’t disappear. He knew he was still on a timer, and he had a host of things he needed to accomplish. However, it felt as if the surrounding connections allowed nature to shoulder some of that burden.

He let out a sigh and opened his eyes.

A vivid blue sky greeted him warmly.

He’d spent the last few hours in his cultivation cave, and he was still riding high from the dense ethera with which he’d surrounded himself. It was almost intoxicating, the energies were so strong, and he knew that it would be enough to meet his immediate cultivation needs. He only had to suspend himself in that environment and his Soul would practically jump to the next tier.

Of course, it would still require focused work, but the environment was more than up to the task of supporting his efforts.

However, doing so would drain the entire cave. It would recover, just as it always did, but that would take time he didn’t have. Because he didn’t just need to take one step forward regarding his cultivation. He had his Core to worry about as well.

Thankfully, the Leviathan’s Bones would help with that. His supposition that the spores would grow into a maerl bed had proven to be accurate, and it only took a couple of hours of use for Nature’s Bounty to prompt its growth. At this point, it had covered the entire floor within the cave with a tangle of red, bone-like structures that, in a lot of ways, resembled coral.

He'd always been fascinated by the corraline red algae, but he was even more interested in the differences between the mundane version and the Leviathan’s Bones. It had taken him a little examination to figure it out, but the stuff had a stabilizing effect on the other organisms within the cave. It also increased the ethereal levels significantly, and Elijah hoped that it would serve to help everything recover much more quickly than it otherwise would.

Still, he was no expert, and Nerthus had been unable to provide any insight. He was great with landbound plants, but marine vegetation was outside his purview. Even submerging himself in salt water was enough to cause him significant distress. So, Elijah was on his own when it came to his cultivation cave.

Regardless, he felt like he was on the right track.

For now, though, he had two other things to check off his to-do list. One was a bit tedious, but it was necessary. The other was something he’d been waiting on for what felt like weeks, even though it had only been a couple of days. In any case, he didn’t really have time to just relax as he drifted in the ocean. With that in mind, he regrettably flipped over and swam the couple hundred yards back to shore, where he gathered his things and headed back to his treehouse. Once he arrived, he took a shower, then donned a set of clean clothes before going back outside and shifting into the Shape of Sky.

A few moments later, he was soaring across the strait to Ironshore.

Because of how much the city had changed – it was constantly growing, both in terms of density, but also in terms of its cosmetic appeal – it took him a few moments to home in on his destination.

He landed next to Biggle’s gate only a few seconds later. As he regained his human form, he saw that the alchemist’s home-slash-laboratory hadn’t changed much, even if the surroundings had. It was still perched atop a hill, which played host to various forms of plants and fungi, but the area just outside the gate had given way to well-built structures that put Elijah in mind of upscale apartments.

He stepped through the modest gate, then followed the winding path to Biggle’s cottage. Even before Elijah approached the door, he was assaulted by an amalgamation of a hundred different odors. Some were sweet, others were decidedly sour, while still others reminded him of an open sewer. Somehow, the combination was tolerable, even though Elijah knew the fumes probably should have given him a pounding headache.

Even more interestingly, he could sense that the ambient ethera within the cottage was a notch higher than it was outside, suggesting that Biggle had made some upgrades. Whether that was due to a new ability or just a better laboratory, Elijah wasn’t sure. But it was encouraging. He liked Biggle, and he only hoped for the gnome’s continued success.

He knocked on the door, which elicited an irritated, “Go away!” as a reaction.

“Open the door, Biggle. I need your help,” Elijah called through the door.

There was a clatter inside before the door opened, revealing the gnome himself. His hair was all out of place, and the tips of his mustache looked like they’d been charred off. But otherwise, the gnome looked the same as ever, which meant that he definitely had a mad scientist vibe hanging over him.

“Hrmph,” grunted Biggle. “Suppose you want to throw more problems on my plate, huh? Well, I’m too busy. Far, far too busy!”

“Won’t take long,” Elijah said, pushing inside without waiting for an invitation. When he looked around, he saw the same scene he had felt via One with Nature. Bundles of herbs hung from the ceiling, while jars and vials filled every shelf on the walls. A giant cauldron full of cold but inexplicably bubbling liquid stood in the center of the room. “Just need you to identify a couple of potions.”

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“I am not an Appraiser! I’m far too –”

He stopped mid-sentence when he saw what Elijah had pulled from his satchel. The two vials didn’t look overtly magical, but they pulsed with enough energy that the Alchemist couldn’t fail to notice. ᚱАℕọВÊṧ

“What are those?” he demanded. “Where did you get them? There isn’t an Alchemist on this world who could create something like that.”

Elijah explained, “Minor Potion of Body. Minor Potion of Mind. They were rewards from the Trial. Same as this.” He pulled the Will of Iron from his satchel. It was just an ordinary-looking pill, but it held more energy even than the potions. “This one is called the Will of Iron. I was hoping you could tell me what they do.”

For a long few seconds, Biggle just stared at the items, his big eyes flicking back and forth between Elijah’s hands. Then, he sighed and said, “You would get something like that. Here I am, slaving away to create body cultivation potions for the town, and you come in here with high-grade cultivation potions.”

Then, he went on to explain something Elijah had already suspected. The potions were meant for cultivation, though they weren’t necessarily tied to the categories the names implied. There was no reason that the Body potion couldn’t be used to enhance Soul cultivation, for instance. It just wouldn’t be quite as effective.

“And don’t let the ‘minor’ in the name fool you,” Biggle stated. “Those are powerful potions that would probably kill most of the people in town. Well, not me, of course. If you’re selling, I could offer you a good price.”

“Not selling,” Elijah said. He had plans for both of them. “What about this?”

“Will of Iron,” Biggle answered after studying it for a moment. “Meant for cultivation too, but only of the core. You use that, and it’ll make your cycling that much more effective. It’s meant as a long-term benefit, maybe lasting a few weeks. It’s higher quality, but it’s not something I could use. Nobody around here is at any stage to use it properly, so they wouldn’t get much benefit. If I was you, I’d just sell it on the Marketplace. That’ll reach out to other worlds, and some young scion would probably pay a fortune for it.”

“And you don’t think I can use it?”

“You’d have to be on the verge of passing into the third tier of core cultivation to get much use out of it,” Biggle said. Elijah brightened at that, but he quickly tried to hide his reaction. Biggle obviously saw it. “You’re already there, aren’t you?”

“Uh…close?”

Biggle groaned, then let out a string of curses. “How in the hells are you already there? You shouldn’t even be flirting with that level of cultivation for a decade or more. If ever! The world won’t even support that!”

“I guess I’m just…I don’t know. Talented?”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t. You know why? Because I have something new for you.”

Elijah then retrieved a handful of berries he’d picked that very morning. They were far larger and much denser regarding ethera than the mutated bunch berries he’d once cultivated in his grove. After laying eyes on them, Biggle’s attitude changed, but he came back down to Earth when Elijah told him that they wouldn’t be free. After that, they started negotiating, with Biggle proclaiming loudly that he should have charged Elijah for the appraisal. For his part, Elijah took it easy on the gnome, taking less than he really thought the berries were worth. Mostly, that was because he wanted to keep a good relationship with the Alchemist. After all, who knew when he would need his services?

Once business was completed, Biggle revealed that he’d already been in contact with his fellow alchemist Konstantino, and that the children were doing quite well. They were still a ways off from gaining archetypes of their own, but the treatment program Biggle had helped develop was doing wonders to keep them from showing any symptoms.

That was quite the relief. Elijah didn’t think about those kids very often, but when he did, he descended into a pit of worry. So, hearing that they were doing well definitely eased his mind.

After that, he and Biggle didn’t have much to talk about, so Elijah took his leave and headed back to his island. The appraisal of the three Trial rewards was not entirely unexpected, but it had given him some hope that he could accomplish his goals before going to Hong Kong or to pick up Ron.

But now that he’d taken care of his chores, he could finally get to something he’d been looking forward to ever since he’d gotten level one-twenty-five. It was finally time to take a look at Shape of the Master. As he landed in the grove, he once again glanced at the spell’s description:

Shape of the Master Archetype: Druid Class: Animist Level: 125 Take on the form of the master, moderately increasing all attributes. Also improves reaction times significantly. Spellcasting is suspended while Shape of the Master is active.
Evasion	Each dodged attack builds a charge of Heart of Fire.
Incinerate	Consume all charges of Heart of Fire at once, releasing an intense conflagration.

The description of the shape and its abilities seemed pretty thorough, though Elijah was still eager to discover three things. First, he wanted to know what fantastical creature it would be based upon. Second, he needed to establish the effects on his attributes. And finally, he wanted to test the abilities, which he suspected would take some practice before he mastered them.

The first was the easiest, and it would only require casting the spell. The second was a little more complicated, largely because the effects weren’t limited to his attributes. There was no line on his status for reaction time, after all. He did have Lupine Reflexes and the effects of his Sash of the Whirlwind for context, though, so he hoped to establish an idea of how much of an effect Shape of the Master had on his reaction times.

The last was the most complicated, and largely because the entire form seemed reactive in nature. The description implied that Heart of Fire did nothing unless he built it through Evasion, which meant that he would need some help for that. To that end, he asked Nerthus for some assistance, and the spryggent was more than happy to summon a few ambulatory trees.

“I rarely get the opportunity to practice,” he said. “But I must request that we test this away from the grove proper. The beach, perhaps.”

Elijah agreed, and a few minutes later, he found himself on the rocky shore of his island, surrounded by three walking trees. The things were impressive-looking, though Elijah knew they weren’t terribly powerful. Maybe they could give someone like Miguel trouble, but for him, they were little more than annoyances. But as practice dummies, they would do.

Finally, Elijah took a deep breath, then cast Shape of the Master.

As always when he cast his shapeshifting spells, Elijah felt his perspective change. At first, he thought it was something like Shape of Venom, which dropped him to all fours and left him hugging the ground. However, he quickly surmised that he remained on two feet. What was more interesting was that his staff hadn’t transformed with him.

But the characteristic he found most interesting – and a little distressing – was that, from he could tell, he’d obviously shrunk by a significant degree. So, when he turned toward the upright mirror he’d previously handed to Nerthus, he should have been prepared for what he saw.

Still, his mouth hung open, and he muttered, “Is this a joke?”

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