Chapter 10

The next morning, he woke with his head pounding.

Lay of Hands.

Relief flooded through him, and he rolled out of bed. They expected it to be a four- or five-hour hike to Wangaratta, and he was keen to get going.

When he got downstairs, there was an unfamiliar man in their kitchen. His domain had touched on the man but he had thought it was Galan from the body shape. Adrian was genuinely surprised. “Who are you?” he blurted even while identification went to work.

Level 11 Cook

“I am Jerome. What would you like for breakfast?”

“Anything greasy with coffee.”

The cook winked at him and got busy. His hands flashing, displaying impressive knife skills. Curiously, he leaned over to have a look at how the man was cooking. After all, there was no gas or electricity. The oven had been replaced with a potbelly stove that was generating a lot of heat.

“Interesting solution?” he said, looking at it.

“Lots of houses have them now. We have a metal moulder who can convert an old oven into this in about four hours.”

Expertly, on top of the hot plate, the chef was going to work. Meat that was a suspicious green had been tossed on a fry pan along with orange speckled eggs.

“What are you cooking.?”

Jerome winked at him. “Green ham and eggs.”

“I think you have got that one wrong.”

Jerome laughed. “Just a standard set of magic eggs and bacon.”

Magic focus switched on and Jerome wasn’t joking. The meat was dense with energy and the eggs also glowed strongly. Even the herbs, none of which he recognised, in the bowls next to Jerome, were also infused. Then to complete what was happening power flooded from the chef’s hands into what he was cooking.

“It won’t be anything special, but it should give a slight buff to alertness all day and suck up any aftereffects from last night. The new natural healing and magical spells do a great job, but it always leaves a little behind. This mops that right up.”

Adrian sort of disagreed. He felt perfectly fine without a hangover, but he would let Jerome keep his opinion. The older you got, the harder hangovers hit. So maybe this was a pleasant bonus of his younger body. The meat sizzled, and the smell was intoxicating.

“Smells amazing.”

“Sit, I’ll bring it all over.”

“Your town is really going out of its way to help us.”

“I have lots of hunter friends,” Jerome said simply. “This is my way of saying thank you.” The cook poured some boiling water into a cup and brought it over. “Nothing I can do about the coffee,” Jerome looked at it apologetically. Adrian took the offered mug of coffee, and while it was instant, it was still better than what he usually got because of the fresh milk used. “The food, however, is spectacular.” An overflowing plate was delivered to him and like the chef had promised it was incredible.

Buff Magic Eggs and Bacon

Vitality and perception both increased by one standard attribute point for nine hours. Clears all minor status debuffs within two minutes while buff was active.

Adrian could not be a hundred percent certain, but he certainly felt a little more alert after the food.

Breakfast done, he launched into his meditation routine and was happy when everyone else joined them outside. Mary also came up from down the street.

“Good luck getting to Melbourne,” she said to him. “We are really grateful for your help. Unfortunately, I’ve no intelligence to share beyond Wangaratta, but I am sure Wangaratta can help you out. They are decent guys and there is nothing threatening between us and them.”

“Billionaire,” Andrew greeted with a cheerful grin as he emerged.

Adrian rolled his eyes.

Andrew nodded at Jules. “Berserker. Team.” Then he stood there till everyone was looking at him and then shoved his staff towards the sky. “Alpha Warriors are a go,” he thundered, bringing the weapon down and creating a mini-localised earthquake.

“You have got to be kidding,” Jules groaned. “Why did we invite him again?”

“Because I am charming and…”

“Can we leave him here?”

Adrian smiled and started walking. He could hear the gentle mocking behind, but after about ten seconds everyone followed.

They continued to follow the Hume highway. While there was no longer any protective benefit from the road, however, the hard artificial surface had mostly kept the vegetation at bay. Only mostly, in places Alpha weeds either transported in or empowered by a mana storm had taken over the space. Adrian continued absorbing the feather. After this section of the feather there would be one more. Five sections in total, one before the shintopurs, one going through Chiltern, another last night at the party and this one. Now that he was on the fourth, maintaining the patterns of magic flow he needed was second nature and it was barely distracting.

There were some strange trees up ahead.

Hunting Thorn Willows

These trees will actively hunt any animals that enter under their branches.

They all came to a stop and from the look in everyone’s eyes they had read the description.

Adrian stared at the strange trees. “I reckon we go around.” They were typical willow trees, not particularly high with their crown only about even with the roof of a two-story house. Their long branches hung down to brush the ground. If it was anything like the ones he remembered from childhood, once you ducked under there would be a large open space underneath near the trunk, where he would be able to do his mediation exercises. Not that Adrian felt the need to check, as his version swayed in the breeze and sometimes without. There appeared to be a couple hundred of them spread over the two lanes of the highway in a loose circle. Adrian approached a little closer, his skin prickling and the area beyond the trees seemed to glow in Magic Focus.

“Is that safe?” Charlotte called out.

“They’re trees,” he heard Mike answer. “They can’t stand up and attack.”

Adrian’s enhanced senses were clamouring for his attention. There was the tree in front of him and then a glade and then herbs that made his senses scream out. Powerful herbs, with more energy than he had ever felt. Master or grandmaster-level natural treasures. There was no way he could leave them.

“You guys loop around. I’m going in.”

“Wait,” Jules yelled. “Why?”

“Herbs.”

Jules came to stand next to him, her eyes studying the plans. “How far?”

“Just beyond the tree.”

“We’ll wait?” She decided for everyone.

Adrian nodded, but he was already distracted by what he felt. Whatever it was, the herb, the poison, the mineral deposit in the shape of a bush, the thing was blazing like a sun in his perception. So bright he could not see clearly what it was.

Power!

It was power. Anything with that much concentrated magic was a treasure. Even if he could not use it, there was always a trader to take it off his hands. All he needed to do was to get there.

The senses Jaracol had gifted him gave him an intimate understanding of what he was facing. There was a single tree, wide and squat, followed by a meadow and then what he sought right at the end of his range.

What was the best way? Maybe he could sneak, the plant probably would not sense him, or alternatively he could fly over. Yet he hesitated. The willows did not seem like the strongest of defences and he could not imagine something so powerful being unguarded. If he flew in or snuck in and was greeted by a monster stronger than him? That was not sensible, plus that was old Adrian thinking.

“There is a magic glade on the other side of this tree,” he told them quietly. “I think we should create a path.”

“Can it backfire?” Andrew asked.

“I don’t think so,” Adrian answered, but looked straight at Mike.

“I doubt there is anything that can challenge us in there,” Mike said after a moment of hesitation before looking at Adrian for confirmation.

Adrian wasn’t sure what to say. A natural treasure was in the glade, and nothing too dangerous was visible to his senses. That did not mean something had not already claimed it and was loitering just beyond where he could sense. After all, his gut told him that a treasure this valuable should be guarded. “Let me get closer.” Cautiously, Adrian snuck forward right to the edge of where the tree could reach. There was a second bush, but not the presence of a guardian of any type. Another step. Creeping up so those whips of wood were almost at his nose.

This close to them the hunting thorn willow was nothing like the tree they had in their backyard. Each of the leaves was like razor blades and the long branches were adorned with additional thorns. Each one had a drop of liquid on the end. The trees did not just do physical damage, but also poison. Maybe the glade protections were slightly higher than he feared.

As close as he could get without touching the potentially deadly leaves, Adrian focused and tried to extend his domain. Instead of a sphere around him, the whole thing distorted, and his perception flooded across most of the mysterious glade. There were multiple bushes but no sign of other life. Not even a mouse. The tree in front of him stirred.

Step.

He was standing next to Mike.

“Nothing extra?” Mike asked, and Adrian shook his head. “Good. Burning the tree will work.” Mike’s hand landed on Adrian’s shoulder before he could start summoning his power. “Let one of the weaker fighters do it.”

Beatrice stepped up and a stream of fire like from a flame thrower spread from her hands, targeting the tree in front of them. The branches tried to pull away, but the fire mage just followed them. Splitting her hands to get two different streams of flames going.

Whatever spell she was using was hot. To help things along, Adrian threw four Dragon’s Breath potions.

The tree burnt vigorously, thrashing around and the willows on either side swayed back, trying to get as far away as possible from the burning tree in their midst. As the tree thrashed, a gap opened.

Step, step, step.

Ending up right in the middle of the glade.

Ambusher’s Fade clicked in and his passive and active senses spread out.

With a relieved sigh he dropped Fade, he had been worried about shadows. There was nothing waiting for him guarding the treasures.

“The glade’s safe,” he said through the communicator. “Go around and I’ll catch up. It will take me over twenty minutes to harvest this.”

“Are you sure?” Mike’s concerned voice came back to him.

“Yep,” he answered, studying the ground. A thin, soft grass covered the glade with two to three months of growth. Under that, he could see the cut up dirt. The place had been defended, but the guardian had not come through when this glade was plucked from another planet. “Yes, it’s safe. There is nothing hiding.”

“Ok. Catch up as soon as you can.”

With a smile, Adrian appraised the treasures at his feet.

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