Brom paced his office a few times over. It had been almost three weeks since he had returned from his recon mission for his brother and the lord. Ostlan did not seem pleased by the number of powerful monsters that appeared to be congregating in that area. Brom confirmed there were at least two earth golems, a possible dryad, and a possible intelligent tree.

  The biggest issue, politically speaking, was the intelligent tree. Elves were known to covet their grove of trees, and if it became known that there was one here, they would most likely try to uproot it and take it with them. Uprooting the tree would be great since that would also potentially free Ostlan’s giant, but it would also reveal to the world that it existed. If that were made public, then other cities and nations would start to question their motives and start treating them with hostilities.

  One option would be to just chop the tree down and dig the giant out themselves. However, if that elf from the group he saw already contacted the elven nation with information regarding the tree, then it would lead to an all-out war with the elves. They were fiercely protective of the trees, after all.

  Another way to go would be to try and negotiate with the tree and possible dryad to release the giant from whatever restraints it was currently under.

  I still can’t believe that a tree is strong enough to take that behemoth down, Brom thought. It was strong enough to survive two strong blows from me, as well as retaliate in turn. If it has a regeneration that high, then I can’t imagine what sort of tricks a tree would use.

  Brom was skeptical of the events surrounding the tree. It had to have been at a level at least on par with the giant, if not higher. How could a typically non-combatant race like that have possibly survived so long and gotten that strong? Was it actually an ent in disguise?

  As far as Brom knew, ents were similar to dryads in that they were protectors of the forest. However, dryads were bound to tree whereas ents were basically walking trees. If a tree that size was to get up and walk around, he was sure that it would need to be at least level 60, making it 10 levels above the giant. That would realistically make sense, but there were too many unknowns.

  Brom continued his pacing until he got a knock on his door.

  He went and sat behind his desk before shouting, “Come in.”

  In walked his brother, Seth. His face portrayed just how tired he was, slight bags under his eyes paired with a tight-lipped half smile meaning he’s been stressed to the extreme lately. High levels will usually give stave off signs of exhaustion, meaning it has probably been days since he last slept.

  Seth closed the door behind him and took a seat. He made a gesture that meant he wanted to know if they were secure to talk freely.

  Brom raised a curious eyebrow before tapping a rune under his desk to activate some enchantments.

  “No one will be able to hear us. Now, what does Ostlan want to do about his little pet? It’s been quite some time since I gave my report. If we don’t act quickly- “

  Seth raised a weary hand, prompting Brom to stop. He leaned back in his chair and let out a deep breath.

  “The giant is dead. Probably. Ostlan ordered the seers to check it every couple of days, but when they looked two weeks ago, they could only see an ‘intensely magical cave’. Those were their exact words. They could find the damn thing when it was buried 50 feet underground, but now the only description they can give us now is that it’s in a magical cave? The hell does that even mean?! There are no caves in the damn forest!

  Now Ostlan wants to send out his entire army to search the forest for it! It’s a waste! Just let the thing die already! It was a pain to maintain and I swear half the nobles in the country already know about it. There’s no reason for us to bother keeping a secret! And half the army will probably die if the area turns out to be a death zone, like you said…”

  Brom let his brother vent for a while. It appears that he’s been dealing with a lot of paperwork lately concerning the giant. The local army mobilizing might be an issue, but as the saying goes, ‘not my dungeon, not my goblins.’

  Brom was honestly glad to hear that it was probably dead. While he was sure he could take it down given enough time, he didn’t possess any attacks capable of dealing with Legendary rank Regeneration. Seth had confirmed that it was indeed legendary after Brom’s assassination attempt. He could attack it for days on end with no way to actually finish the battle. It was frustrating.

  That alone was the biggest reason the Brom didn’t want to have to deal with the giant. He had prepared a few things to trap it, like burying it deep underground the same way that it was prior to its end, but that would only be a temporary answer. It could have gotten out if given enough time.

  That’s why I want to know how it was trapped. Maybe I need to pay that trio a visit some time.

  “…-bout the elves! They started a whole campaign about the possibility of the tree. Apparently, they had an alternative source for finding out about it.”

  Brom was taken out of his ruminating by the mention of the elves. It turns out he was right that the elf from the adventurer party had contacted his people. At least that confirms the tree he saw is sentient. Hopefully Ostlan doesn’t provoke them.

  Seth continued, his brother’s sudden snap to attention going unnoticed.

  “Now they want to send a diplomatic party over in order to make contact with the tree, but they want to send their group to Flora instead of Ostlan, which is fine by me since I don’t want all that paperwork, but Ostlan is throwing a fit since the tree might have something to do with his pet, and now I have to…”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Seth got side tracked again, but it was enough for Brom to go on.

  If the elves are sending a group to contact the tree, then they will need to know as much as possible. He started mentally filling out the necessary documents as his brother rambled on.

  At least I don’t have to deal with it anymore.

  Brom leaned back in his chair and listened to his brother complain. They definitely needed a vacation.

  “In layman’s terms, there are two keys to enchanting: mana and will. For most races, that boils down to having high intelligence and charisma stats. To my understanding, the enchanter imbues the object of their desire with their will using mental energy and ties it to the object using mana. A more mana-saturated object will be easier to enchant and will accept the will with little resistance. A non-saturated object will be harder to enchant and will require more mana and more mental energy to accept the will.”

  I was taking mental notes as Aspen gave her speech about enchanting. I had no clue as to where to even begin with the subject, so she was doing her best to break it down for me.

  Queue mental picture of a group of dudes dancing.

  I also made sure to keep my more… advanced humor to myself.

  “Wouldn’t a non-saturated object accept the new mana and will more easily than a saturated one? I feel like it would be easier to saturate the object with will-infused mana from the beginning, no?”

  Aspen sighed at my seemingly innocent question.

  “For you, it might be. But for the average enchanter, they have to rely on objects that are already saturated. Most people don’t have your – and I can’t emphasize this enough – enormous mana pool. Like even now, I can sense immense magical power radiating from the ground all around us. In fact, I was meaning to ask you about that. There are two spots – “

  “I’ll answer some questions after the lesson. Fair?” I wanted to learn as much as possible before she got sidetracked.

  She squinted at me suspiciously then agreed. “You had better. Anyways. Most people don’t have the mana capacity you do. I’m sure that if you put your mind to it, you could probably create your own artificially saturated items.”

  If I could sweat, my arms would be a river. I didn’t want her to know that I was trying to do just that for her. The wooden staff I was making for her was still cooking in my mana in the workshop, and I made sure to add mana to it every once in a while.

  With this information, I might actually have to try and enchant something soon. Hell, even as soon as tonight after they go to sleep.

  “What kind of enchantments are there? Can I enchant a rock to cast a spell, for instance?”

  If I could enchant my puppets, that would be AMAZING! Add a fireball enchantment to the left hand and an earth spike spell on the right. I could feel myself start to fangirl at the thought of having life sized rock ’em sock ’em elemental robots.

  “Beginner enchantments would be along the lines of making a shield slightly harder or a blade sharper. Intermediate enchantments could add elemental damage to physical attacks or even cast some spells. Advanced enchantments have the potential to emulate skills like regeneration or even teleportation. If you want, I can leave you one of my enchanted gloves. They are enchanted to help protect against piercing and slashing damage.” She pulled out a pair of white silk gloves from her bag and handed them to my puppet.

  “How do I activate the enchantment?” That should be pretty obvious, just put them on. Except, these aren’t normal hands.

  “You can wear… them…” Her jaw hung open as she realized the predicament.

  I chuckled and offered a solution. “Would you mind wearing them and allowing me to examine them? I don’t really need to be up close in order to see, and if you wore them through the night, I could still look at them and see if anything sparks an idea for me.”

  I felt weird asking if I could basically watch her in her sleep, but it also wasn’t like I was trying to creep on her.

  Fortunately, she seemed to take the request well and either didn’t think of the implications or didn’t care. I mean, I was a tree after all. Not like I could do anything even if I wanted to, and I most certainly did not want to.

  “Absolutely! Since this is a minor enchantment, my mana regeneration outpaces the mana cost for the enchantment. I could technically wear them all the time with no repercussions. The only downside to that is that the enchantment wears down with use, but since I won’t be getting cut or stabbed, it’ll be fine. I mostly have these since my current staff has been splintering a lot lately. I don’t even know if it’ll last until we return to Flora.”

  Aspen lamented her family heirloom. I hoped that I could replace it with one that’s as good as what she has now, but only time will tell. Speaking of time, how long are they planning on staying here?

  After asking, Aspen responded with, “Well, the corpse pile method you mentioned has been working out pretty damn well the last few days. We’ve been getting a large number of orcs to kill each day. I’m only a day or two away from my next level, and then we’ll probably be heading home soon after that. The guys have already gotten a few levels each since we got here. We’ll be hitting diminishing returns soon since we’ll be outleveling the area. We might have to head north and either find a higher-level area or find a dungeon to keep us occupied.”

  Yah know, I can't remember asking this before. “What level are you guys anyway?”

  Aspen smiled widely and puffed out her chest. She proudly stated, “I’m almost level 30! I’m really hoping to get a mana regeneration skill with this next level though. It’s been getting harder to keep up with these guys, and my base regeneration just isn’t cutting it anymore. Taryn hit 33 the other day, and Ragnar should be getting close to 34. I’ve been having to stay out of the occasional fight in order to save for when we get surrounded by larger numbers. It’s a bummer, but it works out for us. I still get some exp from the party division, but not as much if I don’t actively contribute.”

  I immediately started picking Mana Berries. “Here, give me your bag. I’ll make sure you’re fully stocked on mana berries while you’re staying with me. Use them liberally, as this will be your payment for all the help you’ve given me lately.”

  I grabbed the spatial bag she had and brought it over to my trunk to pick up the berries that I made fall down. Now that I actually looked at them in comparison to the bag, I realized that my berries had been growing. What was once the size of a regular blueberry now looked like a blue apple. It was the same for my stamina and health berries as well. They’ve all swollen in size just like the rest of me.

  I guess the increased size lets me store more mana. When I first made the berries, each one was enough to hold about 2% of my mana capacity. It still holds true now, all these levels and sizes later. The size must be in order to compensate for the fact that my mana pool has grown so much since I initially made them.

  Aspen protested a little, but I could feel how excited she was to be able to pull her weight during the group’s daily excursions.

  “Thank you, Willow. I mean it. You’ve done so much for us. Letting us stay here for practically free, making Taryn and Ragnar new weapons, and giving me the berries. It’s all been so helpful. The fact that you got a little revenge for us as well, it’s almost too much to believe. So thank you. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

  As Aspen got all sappy on me – hah, sappy – I started examining the gloves. Tonight is going to be a fun night of experimentation.