Path of Dragons

Elijah watched as he received one notification after another, each informing him that he'd attained another level. And with every notification came an influx in attributes that, as they flooded his body, gave him an odd feeling of power, jitteriness, and a healthy dose of nausea. When it finally settled, he hesitantly looked at his status:

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A little quick math told him that the bonus from his specialization of one extra point per level to the Ethera and Regeneration attributes was still in effect, which meant that he was one point of Ethera – per level, of course – away from a perfectly balanced spread. That was gratifying, if not terribly exciting.

What did qualify for that last descriptor was the fact that he'd gained eleven levels in the space of a few seconds. That sudden increase in attributes made him feel incredibly powerful, though he was far more interested in the next notification:

That was expected. From the guides he'd read, he would continue to gain new spells or evolutions every five levels until he reached one-fifty. After that, new abilities would become far more infrequent. For some classes, the interval was every ten levels, but it wasn't uncommon for the gap between new spells to be quite a bit larger. According to those guides, all of which were written by Scholars who'd made studying classes and progression their life's work, it made perfect sense. The Mortal Realm was when people established their habits and laid the foundations for who they would be. As such, acquiring new spells was a frequent occurrence. But as people gained levels and climbed the tiers, it became far less common. And at higher levels, there were strict requirements that included crafted items and difficult Feats of Strength.

At present, Elijah automatically satisfied most requirements for Feats of Strength, but he suspected that eventually, his current Legacy would start to fall short. When that happened, he'd need to throw himself into increasingly difficult situations until he met those conditions.

But that was in the future. For now, he had a spell evolution to choose.

The first option was a straight upgrade to the current spell. Healing Rain was already an extremely useful spell, largely because it was his only means of healing multiple targets at once. In addition, he'd often paired it with Nature's Bounty when trying to nurture plant life. So, he had to admit that adding more of the same was an attractive, if a little boring, option.

So, he moved on to the next choice, which varied things up a bit. He expected that the spell's outward expression would be the same – a localized storm – but the added blessing definitely intrigued Elijah. He wished it was more specific, but his intuition told him that it would be quite potent.

The final option was just as interesting, adding Ethera regeneration to the mix. He'd only seen a single spell that affected that category, so he knew it was a bit rare.

"You have reached the Ascendent tier," came Nerthus' voice from behind him. Elijah had been so distracted that he hadn't even noticed his approach.

He turned, saying, "Yeah. How can you tell?"

"How could I not?" asked Nerthus. "The density of Ethera in the grove has already begun to climb."

Indeed, now that Elijah was paying attention, he could feel it. He had no context for how much it had risen, but it was not an insignificant amount. In addition, his domain had grown as well, and as far as he could tell, it was at least a hundred feet wider than it had been only a few hours before.

When he asked Nerthus about it, the spryggent answered, "I do not know. Your grove is more powerful than it should be at this stage. Partly, that is because of your attunement to nature, which is exceptional. However, it is also due to other factors. Rarely does a Druid – especially a founder of a grove – achieve so many Feats of Strength. I assume your evolution was of exceptional quality?"

Elijah nodded. "Mythic rarity."

"W-what?" asked Nerthus, his voice quivering. "Are you certain?"

"Pretty sure. It was right there in the notification. Primal Lord."

"That is it's name? It has 'Lord' in the title?"

"Yeah. Is that significant?" Elijah asked.

"It means that it is an extremely powerful variant."

Then, Nerthus went on to explain how classes worked. His actions and class had dictated the options, while his Legacy determined the rarity. Apparently, the first option he'd been offered – the Primalist – was the Uncommon-rarity version of the Primal Lord.

Further, his attribute bonuses followed a similar pattern as they had when he was only an Animist, which meant that the versatility of the evolution would normally prevent him from keeping up with specialists. However, the fact that he'd achieved a Mythic-rarity class went a long way toward closing that gap. In terms of raw Strength, he might not be able to keep up with a Warrior evolution of decent rarity, but anything below Exotic would likely struggle to match him.

In short, he'd just improved relative to everyone else on Earth.

"What do you think about this evolution?" Elijah asked after explaining the differences.

"What do you want out of the spell?" asked Nerthus in response. "Do you need to spread your branches terms of healing? Pick the first option. Do you find yourself running short of ethera? Pick the third. If I were to choose for you, I would pick Blessing of the Grove. The name suggests that it will tap into the power of this grove, which is one of your greatest assets."

"I see," Elijah said, nodding. It made sense, and more than that, he'd been leaning in that direction anyway, though for a different reason. In his experience, vaguely worded spell descriptions usually held great power. Adding to that was the fact that the spell would continue to work similarly to its current incarnation, and he was sold.

So, he chose Blessing of the Grove.

It wasn't precisely what Elijah had hoped for, but he'd need to try it out before he made any real determinations. He did find it interesting that the new version quantified the duration, which was something that had never been listed on Healing Rain's description. It was less than thirty seconds, but he'd never really timed it before.

Whatever the case, Elijah had another notification begging for his attention:

"I've got one more for you, man," Elijah said before describing the options. "They all seem pretty useful to me, but I have to admit that I like the idea of Arsenal of Thorns. It would finally make the spell combat effective."

"That is likely true," Nerthus said. "However, I must ask – is that something you truly need?"

"I can always use more combat effectiveness."

"Also true, but you must understand that you will also lose some of its old effectiveness," Nerthus advised. "Perhaps Arsenal of Thorns will be just as strong as Nature's Bounty. In fact, I would be surprised if it was not. Yet, the other two will be more powerful when it comes to the primary effect of the root spell."

"So you don't think I should choose it?" Elijah asked, massaging the back of his neck.

"I cannot say," Nerthus stated. "The choice is yours. I would not pick that option, though."

"Which one would you pick?"

"Not the third," Nerthus reiterated. "The others will both have their uses. My advice is to take the one that seems more unique. Do you believe rapid growth to be a rarer ability than the ability to guide the evolution of plant life?"

"I honestly don't really know what that last one means."

"I have a similar ability. It is how I tend to this grove so well," Nerthus explained. "Take the grove fruits. They began their lives as mere berries, but through my efforts, I have slowly guided them to evolve into their current form. The fruits are much larger, better tasting, and far more nutritious. Indeed, they are on par with many natural treasures."

"And the plant growth one? Do you have something like that?" Elijah asked.

"I do."

After answering, he waved his hand, and a small, nearby plant bloomed into something much larger. Over the next ten seconds, it grew to almost waist height for Elijah.

"It does not work on plants with too much ethera, so no natural treasures. But for mundane food or herbs, it would be quite invaluable. More importantly, the next evolution will likely allow you to manipulate magical plant life to a much larger degree. One day, you would be able to do that to a natural treasure. I don't believe I need to tell you how valuable such an ability would be. Indeed, in groves on other planets, there are many Druids who focus exclusively on such spells, and through their efforts, the groves and their people often want for nothing."

Even as Nerthus explained the knock-on effect of taking the Burst of Vitality evolution, Elijah recognized two things. First, its potential was obvious. Natural treasures were extremely valuable, and an effectively endless supply would be a great source of wealth. So, the benefits were plain to see. However, the second realization felt far more important to him.

He wasn't a farmer.

He didn't want to spend his days growing herbs in the grove.

He was, for lack of a better term, an adventurer. That invariably affected his decision. He chose Nature's Design:

The spell, by its very nature, was only marginally useful for his goals. Sure, he'd definitely benefited from Nature's Bounty over the years, and he likely would not have survived without it. However, the way he saw it, the choice was one of quality versus quantity, and he chose the latter. The potential of directed growth was obscene, and he'd much rather develop an ultra-powerful plant that was useful for his specific situation than to focus on quantity.

Elijah was certain that there were perspectives on the choice that he hadn't considered. In addition, there was a part of him that still wished he'd taken Arsenal of Thorns. Yet, he trusted Nerthus' opinion, and what's more, the spryggent's reasoning made perfect sense.

So, all in all, he was happy with his choices.

More importantly, he was eager to see if his ascendance had affected his shapes and to test out the newly evolved spells.

But first, he had a couple more questions for Nerthus. "You know, I don't really know that much about you," he said to his friend. Indeed, some of his questions kind of got lost during the first part of their friendship, when Nerthus had disappeared for long stretches. But now, the spyrggent was around far more often.

"What would you like to know?"

Elijah shrugged. "I don't know. What planet are you from? You've talked a little about it, but you've never really specified the name."

"Because I do not know. Spryggents are not like humans. Our childhood is beset by very limited awareness. We know certain things, and we learn what our parents choose to teach us. However, much of that must be discovered after we reach adolescence. That is when I came here, presumably because my parents wanted to give me a better life. I can never know for certain why I am here."

"Do you miss them?" Elijah asked.

"I miss the idea of them," Nerthus answered. "I never truly knew them, but since coming here, I have come to understand the role of family in a way I did not before. And at times…at times, I wish for that sort of relationship."

"I see. Do you –"

"I do not wish to speak further on that subject."

"Oh," Elijah said. Emotions were difficult to read with Nerthus, largely because his facial expression rarely changed much. So, it wasn't easy to know when he was overstepping, so he just took his cues from Nerthus' request, changing the subject. "Do you want to see how these new spells work, then?"

"I…I do not," Nerthus admitted. "My only request is that you use them away from the grove. I don't want you to ruin my work."

That was in line with Nerthus' normal attitude. So, Elijah just reached out and patted the tree spirit on the shoulder before saying, "If it makes you feel any better, you're family to me."

Then, before Nerthus could respond, he headed away from the grove, intent on putting his new abilities to the test.