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    The difference in atmosphere during my communion and the others was pretty stark. When they went up there was lots of laughing and muttering, good natured teasing for people these Drayds had known for years. When I was announced though, everything went dead quiet, and the whole vibe became much heavier.


    I ignored it. I’d spend the last quarter of a year being tortured in increasingly inventive and complicated ways. Being up here in front of a bunch of people I actually knew might be nerve wracking, but these complete strangers opinions were irrelevant to me.


    As I approached, Tasha smiled warmly at me, bowing her head. “Solomon, welcome. Your grandfather told me you might have a way to commune directly? If you’d like me to link your mind to the bud I can do that as well. Whatever makes you more comfortable.” Her eyes were kind and her smile was warm, and I was pretty grateful she was obviously doing her best to make me feel comfortable in such a tense situation.


    “I’m fine, thanks,” I told her with a nod. “I could use a little elbow room though.” I didn’t like the idea of being mentally compromised with someone I didn’t know standing so close, even someone I had objectively no chance of defending myself against if she decided to hurt me.


    She stepped back, not at all offended by the request, and I turned to look at the bud. I considered how I wanted to do this. Dantalion would be the surest way to connect…but it would also be way more information than I needed. I already had a Skill for connecting to plants, and I didn’t need to make a mountain out of a molehill. Kneeling down, I set my eyes level with the bud, then triggered Rhythm of the Wild.


    I’d used the Skill before. It was interesting, but not overwhelmingly useful. I could sense and somewhat evaluate plantlife in a specific area nearby. It was supposed to be good for finding high end herbs when I was out on my own, but it hadn’t really come in handy until I made Dantalion.


    Unlike in Doom Sovereign, there were NOT ancient powerful herbs just lying around every ten feet, even on high ranking planets. For instance, on a B-rank planet, there were a lot of C and D-rank plants. Almost all of the plants were that powerful, actually, just natively by being part of such a strong world. That said, D-ranked grass is still just grass, same with most flowers and trees. The process of ranking up via Impact exposure by being part of a high level ecosystem was NOT the same as a plant actually cultivating by gaining renown.  D-rank grass was just grass, albeit harder to cut.


    All of this was to say that Rhythm of the Wild normally gave me a vague sense of where plants were and what they were. In this case though, the second my Perception touched the plant I got…well the best word was probably kidnapped.


    A tendril of attention had been gingerly extended to touch the bud, like dipping a finger in a hot drink to check the temperature, except in this case a big ass arm had burst out of the cup, wrapped its giant hand around my bicep, and yanked my whole body INTO the cup like a snake swallowing a mouse.


    The sensation of falling was worrying, but it didn’t seem threatening, so I just waited, plummeting into darkness before finally landing on what appeared to be the face of an enormous daisy.


    Shooting to my feet, I looked around, trying to find…anything. And find something I did. Or rather, someone. Namely, an extremely tall (even to me) green skinned woman with antlers made of what appeared to be polished wood. She had emerald eyes with no sclera and wooden teeth that were shown extensively by dark green lips that had been pulled into a smile.


    “Well now,” she said in a warm voice that reminded me a campfire on a cold night camping. “Isn’t THIS a surprise.”


    I blinked at her. “I mean. Yes. I can say with complete confidence that I did NOT expect to be yanked out of my body and into some kind of spiritual plane to meet a giant tree person with antlers.”


    She rolled her eyes. “I meant for me, child. What an interesting Skill. Quite a bit of overlap with my own Domain. I don’t meet with many outsiders, at least not without one of my children facilitating the connection. Well then, I find myself intrigued by your purpose for coming here. You don’t seem to be capable of lifebonding a tree. What are you searching for? I admit, I you meat people are always so frantic, I tend to ignore when you talk amongst yourselves.”


    “Ah,” I said after a moment of surprise. “I guess that makes sense. I’m here for…wood, I guess?”


    Snorting, she raised an eyebrow. “I daresay you needn’t commune with me for that. I’m a protective mother, but not quite so temperamental as to object to you taking a single branch from the millions of trees covering the surface of this planet. Was there some kind of special wood you seek?”You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    I thought about. And…maybe. Maybe I was searching for something. Not even wood, just…something. The weight of my old staff had increased in my mind, after it’s sacrifice. And the necessity of finding a proper replacement pressed heavily on my thoughts. My journey as I went forward would depend on this weapon. I needed something strong enough. Something RIGHT for me.


    So I told her that. I told her about my staff, and how it had saved me, and how I worried that my next one might not be enough. I considered my options, getting something C-rank to keep up, having a weapon designed for me and imbued with my Skills or power.


    But it all felt so…insufficient. I wanted something more. A real partner who could accompany me to godhood. A weapon that could someday become one of my objects of power. I knew it was possible. I’d seen Callie’s bracelet, an S-rank item. I knew you could suppress a material to make it usable by those of lower rank. Hell, they did it with ships all the time.


    I also knew this S-rank being wasn’t going to give me an S-rank length of wood just because I asked. So I’d need something suitable. Something that could grow to be what I needed. Trees could grow, that was a thing, so it made sense to ask for something like that.


    And she listened. The Primordial Tree Sea (at least I assumed) sat and let me talk, venting about all my concerns, and when I finished, she nodded.


    “I see,” she mused. “I understand your wishes. There are a great many trees connected to me, and some, I suspect, would even suit your purposes, to some extent or another. In fact, I can think of a dozen which would be overwhelmingly powerful companions for you on your journey…for a time. But you don’t just want power. You want potential.”


    “Will you help me?” I asked her anxiously. “I know you don’t owe me anything. You don’t even know me. I mean, you don’t answer to the Dryads either. At the end of the day there’s no real reason for you to go out of your way.”


    She laughed, a tinkling, cheery sound like wind through frozen leaves. “Had you asked for anything else, I may have refused. But your request appeals to me. As a mother, what I wish most is to see my children grow. Seeing one of them accompany a young prodigy all the way to godhood? Well, what parent wouldn’t wish such a success for their offspring? Of course, your ability to accomplish such a task remains suspect, But chopping down a sapling in case it doesn’t sprout hardly makes any sense, now does it?”


    I could kind of see her point. “Alright, so you said there’s one you think would have better potential? As opposed to being overtly strong right now?”


    “There is,” she nodded genially. “But I think perhaps I’ll see if you’re suitable.” Her green eyes flashed gold and I felt something burning on my forehead. “There,” she beamed. “This mark will lead you to an area where such a tree might be find. But in that same wood there are other trees that might be more immediately useful. I shan’t tell you which is which. Let’s leave it to fate. Shall we?”


    I opened my mouth to respond, and suddenly the world kind of…shifted. I was flung up out of the space I found myself in like a rocket, or maybe someone at the end of a bungie chord. I exploded up through the dark and then back into my body, returning to my fleshy form so suddenly I fell over backwards from the impact.


    Inside my head, I could feel information sort of blooming. Like my brain was cracked cement and the knowledge of what I needed to do was growing through the breaks, pushing my mind wider to expose the inner depths.


    I was starting to get a little lost in the sensation, but to my surprise, a trilling cry echoed through my brain, and my mind sort of cleared instantly. I felt a sense of smugness and had to fight back a laugh as I glanced across the room to where Bell was sitting with Archie on her shoulder, feeding him some kind of seeds.


    “Careful there,” Tasha laughed as she stepped forward to offer me a hand up. “It can be a bit disorienting. While we aren’t bonded before the ceremony, most Dryads have at least temporarily connected to the Trea Sea through various trees around the Temple. I should have warned you it can be overwhelming.”


    I shook my head, both to refute her statement and to clear it. “It’s fine. I think she was just being friendly.”


    She stilled, eyes snapping to my face. “You…spoke to her? Personally? Did you SEE her?”


    “Didn’t everyone?” I asked in confusion. “You said they communed with the Primordial Tree Sea. Isn’t that what you meant?”


    “Most of our children receive verbal or even emotional communiques,” she said with an odd expression. “That’s…interesting. Maybe Nicholas was right. You might be someone to watch after all.” Her clouded face cleared, her warm smile returning. “Apologies, simply a bit lost in thought. Please, take your position on the platform. Since you’re not competing, you might consider teaming up with whichever Dryad you happen to be closest to. There are no rules against teams, even if it usually doesn’t work out that way.”


    Her tone was exasperated but fond, and it was clear she wished the younger Dryads could be team players in this particular competition. I nodded absently, thinking about my meeting with the Tree Sea, and turned to head up out of the room. As I passed, Archie spread his wings and swept across the room to perch on the shoulder of my armor.


    I didn’t send him away. Like she said, teamwork makes the dream work. Plus, I wasn’t even really part of this competition. I had a feeling whatever I had been supposed to show off, I’d accomplished that already. That said, I wasn’t stupid enough to think this was anywhere close to over. She’d mentioned a test, and I had the feeling it wasn’t going to be multiple choice.


    Still, I took up my position at the edge of the platform, waiting for the competition to start before taking off. Daysia, with the daisy hair, was actually right next to me facing the same way. SHe smiled at me when she noticed me looking and I nodded, approaching and offering a hand. “Hi there, Solomon. You looking for a partner in this whole thing?” Hopefully, she could help me narrow down exactly what tree I needed. I had a feeling that I would need all the help I could get for a test set by an S-ranker.