∼ Day 147 ∼

"Careful - brace it! If you lot let it fall apart in the water, it will be your heads on the chopping block when asking for the Lord's mercy!" A gravelly and firm voice called out.

The Chief of Labor, Al'moore, one amongst barely half a dozen of minotaurs who had come back to the basin with me was overseeing the relocating of the Jubokko Sapling to Ursa's island. I could almost applaud the lumbering bovine as I watched him masterly commandeer the workers under his ward his words alone, making sure the fumbling orcs and trolls focused and didn't muck about with their work.

Although he might be embellishing the punishments I would probably enact for minor mishaps such as this quite a bit, his threats sure did work wonders.

But as his voice carried over the sweat-drenched and grunting workers, the creaking wooden raft was successfully pushed out onto the water as the logs acting as the raft's launcher held strong.

Atop the raft was the large and majestic oak that was the Jubokko Sapling, and surprisingly enough, most of the work had been not uprooting the tree itself, but simply constructing a raft big and sturdy enough. That was mostly because the tree was in full control of its roots and such, so with only a little cooperation with me, the workers, and the Jubokko, we managed to unearth it and get it transportable.

But now with it afloat, I jumped onto the raft and made myself comfortable as we traversed the massive but serene lake. Without much haggle, we arrived at our destination, and although Ursa was nowhere to be seen, we unloaded the oak and spend another good while getting it to the center of the island.

From a distance on the coast, the island didn't look all that big in the huge lake that was the heart of the basin, but now that we walked its surface spotted by rock formations, it became clear just how huge it was. It was big enough to even fit the clan of now almost thirty-five-thousand ten times over with enough space to spare.

However, there had been one thing bugging me about this island ever since I first traveled over here to speak with Ursa. That thing mainly being that the vegetation was nearly non-existent while the dirt of the land was incredibly fertile. Almost too fertile.

It didn't make all that much sense, which made me wary. But the closer inland we came, towards the heart of the island, the more excited the Jubokko tree became is it practically basked in its surroundings.

Of course, the odd actions of a sentient tree and the eccentric lord who was the only one who could speak with it did draw a lot of apprehensive stares from the workers, but they weren't spared much attention. I knew this was only one amongst many odd situations down the road those in my employ would come to know, so no need to fuss about them now.

At the behest of one of the Jubokko's mental nudges, I walked ahead, finding myself walking into a naturally formed cleared that had the odd stone formations jutting out of the ground to form what looked to be a circle that stretched for a few miles in each direction. If I didn't know better, I would've thought this place to be artificially made, but then again, the formations were too... natural and random for them to be. Rather, it looked as if a crater had been filled with greyish soil, the rock formations linings the clearing like molten stone that had splashed and frozen solid mid-air.

But the place's curiosity aside, one thing was for certain.

This was indeed the perfect place for it to grow, the soil fertile, and with more than plenty of space.

"Al' this is the place," I called out to the minotaur.

Offering me a nod of acknowledgment, Al'moore quickly began directing the workers to get the tree situated right smack dead in the heart of the stone circle formation. It didn't take long before the Jubokko began gleefully re-rooting itself into the soil, its root limbs digging and carving themselves into their new home.

As I didn't need the help anymore, I dismissed both Al'moore and the couple dozen hardy workers to get back to the settlement and continue construction.

Now, standing alone in the clearing with the sentient tree, I cast a speculative glance at the surroundings. The one oddity of the vegetation of the island had been a constant nagging for my brain, so when I realized that there wasn't any plant life in the clearing at all, I got onto one of the larger rock formations lining the clearing to get a better view.

Indeed, my speculations proved true when I had a better overview of the island. From this very odd clearing, almost forming a crater filled with soil, all vegetation was non-existent, and only the further away you got, life seemed to be able to just barely survive. This was very strange when you factored in that the soil was rich with life and practically as fertile as it possibly could be.

Spotting the closet smattering of what seemed like a few dying bushes, I went over there, crouching by the vegetation and inspecting it closer. The instant I actively looked for something, I realized exactly what it was that was killing the plants.

With disgust, I grabbed one of the bushes and ripped it out of the ground. With it, flew dirt and thousands upon thousands of small grey insects, barely larger than termites.

"Goddammit." I cursed, turning on my heels and flashing back to the clearing.

For one second, my heart thudded heavily in my chest as I laid eyes on the Jubokko Sapling that was slowly being engulfed by a sea of those small insects as this crater-like clearing must've been a nest of sorts. But once I noticed that through the mental connection I had between my and the tree came neither fear nor pain, but rather... delight? I stopped dead in my tracks.

The next instant, it became clear why the tree had been so insistent on being planted on this island.

"Fo-foo... Kee-per - fo-food!" The excited voice of the Jubokko exclaimed in my head.

Unlike most other trees that weren't sentient and practically sapient like this one, the Jubokko wasn't defenseless against the hostile creatures. So by the tens of thousands, those small insects and other much bigger ones that had been lying in wait in the clearing underneath the earth were slaughtered by the gluttonous blood tree.

"Yes," I chuckled with the shake of my head. "Food,"

From atop one of the rock formations, I watched as the Jubokko killed, ate, and destroyed the entire nest of strange insects.

Although the experience gained from squashing any one of those bugs, including the much bigger ones, was negligent to non-existent, the Jubokko's main way of feeding and gaining experience was much like mine. Through blood, or the equivalent.

So as the tree tore its way through the underground nest of bugs, I could watch as its level rose until finally, around late afternoon, the Jubokko Sapling reached its threshold.

It was about to evolve.

The nest was already done away with, barely having any more stragglers left which at this point had already fled out of the clearing, so I wasn't worried that the tree might be in danger as the white hue of evolution took over the tree, clouding its features from sight.

Watching as its form and size morphed and re-shaped itself in a newer and much more improved version of itself, I marveled at the changes I could already see from its size alone.

Once the white hue resided, the surroundings were inundated in a sanguine aura of life and serenity, so potent that I stood paralyzed in wonder for a good handful of moments. But it wasn't just the atmosphere suffused in the red glow of the tree's presence, but rather the tree itself that captivated every iota of my attention.

-Appraisal!-

Appraisal - Jubokko

Information Attributes

Traits. Titles. and Skills -Name- "???" STR 34 ⇒ 52 Skills 4 ⇒ 9 -Race- Jubokko "Blood Oak" VIT 95 ⇒ 133 Traits 2 ⇒ 6 -Sex- Female AGI 10 ⇒ 15 Titles 0 -Rank- D DEX 55 ⇒ 73 Resistances

-Level- 1/50 INT 12 ⇒ 22 Health 1315/1315 CHR 10 ⇒ 21 Physical Resistance 18 ⇒ 36 Stamina 1504/1504 WILL 18 ⇒ 24 Magical Resistance 10 ⇒ 19 Mana 0/0 MAG 12 ⇒ 27 Mental Resistance 8 ⇒ 10

No longer a sapling, the Jubokko was finally a bonafide and fully-grown tree. However, just 'tree' didn't do it justice.

Standing goliath to its former self, it was no longer simply a large and thick oak, but rather big enough to make me crane my neck to stare up its length and into the majestic crown of crimson leaves that seemed to almost flutter in the wind although the was none. It had to be at least one and a half dozen meters tall, if not closing in on an entire two dozen.

Breaking me out of my reverie, however, was the melodic and sickly sweet voice of... her...

"Keeper - thank you," She said, her voice so pleasant it washed away all my worries like only Mia could do with her embrace.

It was not in any given spoken language of course, but it was definitely more than just intent like before with her simplistic words that she sent through our connection when she was just a sapling. But now, those words were like an entirely new tongue in and of itself.

Walking in under her crown, I laid my hand on her oak, getting a feel for the many tumultuous underlying emotions that she was sending my way.

"You can speak fluently now?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes, yes - Keeper!" She sent back excitedly, the voice in my head calming to the point where I doubted I wouldn't ever want to not hear speak.

"Keeper... huh," I muttered mentally. "I don't suppose you have given a name for yourself?"

"I- uh... no..." She sent back, sounding rather sad.

Although she was still just a tree, it was at this moment I realized I could no longer refer to her as 'it' as she no longer was just some mindless plant. She was now a living sapient being. She was not something, but someone.

"Hmm, then how about... Le-Lydia? No... Julia? Nah, not that..." I pondered mentally, not really noticing the pangs of bated excitement that she gave off every time I just mentioned a name, regardless of how fitting it was.

Looking up with a pondering expression, I could see the moonlight through the leaves of her crown and the moon behind it.

"Luna?" I intoned finally.

This time I didn't really have a choice in the matter any longer as she practically mentally seized the name.

"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you - Keeper!" The chipper tone of her voice blasted my head, disorientating me for a solid moment.

"Okay - okay," I laughed, holding my hands up placatingly. "Luna."