Celenia stepped away from the class stone and shivered. She hated the feeling of being powerless for the few hours it took to circulate through the countless menus of the System. But as her eyes adjusted to the non-blue light, a smile took over.

Finally, she had her second class. It was a bit surreal if she was being honest. Master Dreamstem had been adamant about waiting to potentially unlock greater options… but Celenia always found it a bit odd. Who cared that much when [Druid] was the ultimate goal?

Who cared what your tier two class was when the there was an entire organization that revolved around the tier three? Maybe she was being ignorant, but wouldn’t the whole point of an Order of Druids to be [Druids]?

She understood that she was only an apprentice, an initiate, a trial run. But isn’t that all the more reason to work through the levels quickly and become a full-fledged member?

Master Dreamstem never told her anything, and that was part of the problem. All of her answers could have been answered, but the Order had to be wasted away with vile and odd deeds. Frankly, Celenia wished Dreamstem had told her stuff. That way she could fully realize her own opinions about the woman.

The Order was bad, but Dreamstem might be a decent person.

That was harder to believe now-a-days. The resident [Druid] of Lesterwood left the city when trouble first arose, leaving her apprentice behind to fail. That made Celenia realize that maybe, just maybe, keeping her from leveling might have been away to control her.

After all, if a young mage became a full-on [Druid] before they were a part of the Order they might have spelled trouble for the active members.

But now Celenia didn’t have to worry about that. Her path was her own, and her new class was the beginning of that. [Will of the Forest] caught her eye in the endless blue menus of leveling up. The rarity of such a class was Epic and the bonuses matched.

The simplest part of the bonuses was that Celenia would always receive a buff while within a forest. The simple explanation the System gave was that the buff would change depending on what the class’s holder was doing. Needed a powerful spell? Bonus Intelligence. Bleeding out and in dire need of help? The bonus would boost natural regeneration.

After that, the classes effects got a bit more strange. First and foremost was that all spell Celenia cast would be tied to the Will of the Forest. The way the System explained it was such that if the class’s holder was aiding the forest, then the spells would be bountiful. If they were harming it, the spell would be starved.

That wasn’t much of an issue for Celenia as she thought she had never actually harmed nature before. But there would need to be some testing before she jumped gung-ho into the fray.

The second to last bonus of the class was that she could Commune with the Wilderness. The System didn’t say much on this particular boon, but Celenia had a slight idea what it meant. It was a way for the class’s holder to know what the forest needed or wanted. A particular nasty monster living within? Celenia would be notified. A section needing more seeds? Celenia would be there.

Lastly, and the most vague of the boons, was only described as:

Nature Gives to Those Who Are Acceptable. Grow Like the Land.

Celenia didn’t have a clue what the actual and practical effects would be, but her mind connected it to something God Yepu had told her while she was in his Domain. “Your ideals are lacking in some respects, but I still see them as acceptable. One day, with proper life experience, you will grow to become something Nava is proud of.”

The class also didn’t give much of a reason for why she unlocked it, only stating ‘Unlocked by having the potential of an oak.”

In time she would fine out all the intricacies of her new found life, but for now it was time to travel. Since Zulin only two weeks had passed, but in that time Celenia had grown to love the nomadic life style. Although she would much rather be in Lesterwood with her mother and the others, she found charm in exploring new places with her love.

Walking through ruins or picnicking on a cliff overlooking a prairie, the young Elf was having the time of her life seeing parts of the world she had missed out on. Since the assassination attempt in New Mundo, there had been no fights, close calls, kidnapping attempts, or dangerous situations.

The group had traveled far enough away from Salae that it seemed their reach was dwindling. Occasionally they would hear rumors or whispers of cloaked ne’er-do-well or [Knights] solo adventuring far from any nearby outpost. These, while usually unrelated to the wanted Lost Lord, still forced the group to travel elsewhere.

But even still, that wasn’t so bad. Most towns grew stale after a few hours let alone a day or two. So leaving was never much of a goodbye.

Celenia walked away from the Class Stones and ventured back to the inn. Max was supposed to be waiting for her, but she couldn’t blame him for leaving early. Picking a class always took a while, and there was only so much someone could realistically do while staring at a rock.

Smoke in the distance caught her eye. It was past some buildings and outside the small walls that encompassed the town. Normally this wasn’t much of a scene, as people often made small fires outside to cook or burn fur off meat. But as she looked at the tiding black clouds, something pulled at her that the situation was off.

Then someone pushed past her. A guard, one of the few this relatively safe town had. The man was more boy than man, but his leather armor and jingling sword on his hip said otherwise.

Celenia watched him run through the streets towards the smoke. Then she heard it. The sound of an explosion.

Class Stones were common but not so common that they were in every town. In fact, Max had to go out of his way to find a location with Stones after Nix and the assassination attempt. This was the first real option as it was far enough out of the way that they had thought no [Trackers] would be near.

But evidently not.

Celenia crested the hill leading out of the town and saw the cause. Alia was held within a net of magical means, a set of blue-silver threads of mana. It was constantly probing with light, as if it were breathing, as if it had a life of its own.

Near the princess was sporadic body parts, all male and all blown to bits. Celenia thought she could see the torso of Isaac the [Immortal] in a bush, but she wasn’t fully sure. The bleeding body could be anyone’s… that was, until she saw a foot wiggle its toes.

Max and Emi were doing what they did best, teleporting around while slinging spells. They both looked unharmed, but such was life as a powerful healer. They did look pissed, something that was echoed with their snarling faces and no-holds-barred attacks.

The [Water Mage] duo ripped attacks through the air like torpedoes aimed at battleships. Some would miss and tear welts into the landscape, others would disappear into a mist of ice and spray. The hills and valleys were slowly turning white like a cloud had been produced from the ground. Most of which was being blown away from the battle by one of the three assailants.

The man Max and Emi were primarily dealing with was Inspected to be an [Assassin]. He threw handfuls of dust and paper bags that seemed to explode at the man’s whim. He danced backward, shifting oddly as if his movements were that of a snake or particularly fluid cat. He carried a single dagger and a large pouch he continuously produced attacks from.

The second was a woman with unnaturally blue hair. She wore two thick fabric gloves which were woven with threads of sparking mana. As she dodged the unending barrage of ice, she pulled at her apparel, creating long thin strands of pure mana. With her delicate constructs, she wove shields and walls that seemed to have impossible fortitude.

The last member of the trio of [Assassins] dodged and dived from one wall of blue thread to another. With obviously the least amount of combat experience of the three, the man didn’t add much for the others. Although he was somehow pushing the encroaching mist back.

Max and Emi had noticed this and were focusing their attacks on the weakest link, driving him to near exhaustion. The issue was how fast the man could retreat behind new cover.

Max would teleport, the man would slide behind a blue wall. Another teleport, a wall would form just in time. Another teleport, a blast of dust would render the Ice Lance useless.

Emi appeared solo behind the third attacker, having detached from her partner and jumped herself. She blasted ice like a shotgun in close quarters, shredding the man’s clothes but revealing a protective suit of thick aura. The man screamed, dove to the side and was promptly slashed at by a sword via Max.

Again the man’s aura stopped the deadly attack, but a deep red line appeared across the man’s scared face. Max said something to the man Celenia couldn’t hear before he and Emi teleported away to dodge an exploding paper bomb.

They appeared at the far end of the battle field, wounded. Having not teleported fast enough, the duo had aflame clothing and charred and sundered skin. Max growled in pain, chilling the air with enough of his own aura to make normal citizens freeze.

Water swirled around the pair, healing their wounds and pushing a theme over the onlookers. Celenia wasn’t sure how Max was doing it, but she had felt similar effects in the past. He had explained it before, but “adding drops of Divine power to spells,” didn’t make sense to her. Either way, the chilling hatred the Elf felt directed towards the [Assassin] mixed with the warming blissful waters her boyfriend controlled created an odd, but terrifying, combination.

Celenia felt confused more than anything. She knew Max’s aura wasn’t directed at her, but she could still feel the distant effects.

“I don’t get it.” Max yelled using mana to augment his voice, “Attacking me is one thing, attacking me in a crowded town is another. Attacking me while not caring of who else you harm is despicable. Surrender or die.”

In reality, Max was stalling to heal his and Emi’s blast wounds and to regenerate some mana. While he was pissed at the circumstances of this particular fight, he was more angry at himself. Again others had got hurt because of his proximity.

“Frightening isn’t he.” A voice said from Celenia’s side, causing her to jump, “Woah there! Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Isaac…” The Elf began slowly, “You are naked…”

“Such is the way of having to rebuild your body from tiny, exploded pieces. Might I ask you for a coat?”

Celenia nodded and looked at her hand. A scratched unassuming ring held on her finger, a present from her boyfriend. While he was adamant such a gesture didn’t mean marriage, not understanding Nava’s customs and getting teased for such thoughts, he had given his girlfriend a priceless item.

The ring itself was rather worthless, but not so much the runic formation that held a spell of great magnitude within. It was, for all intents and purposes, a magically invisible closet. Otherwise known as an inventory ring.

Being a part of the first batch, Celenia was still hesitant to stick her hand within. But eventually folded from the naked man’s onlooks and retrieved a dirty unwashed coat – the best she had on her.

“Lovely!” Isaac boomed, “We are going to have to look for mine… It seemed my fingers went all over the place…”

Celenia shook her head at the bizarre comment she was oddly used to and asked, “What’s happened to cause Max to be so angry.”

“They attacked him and Emi while they were waiting for you at the Stones. They realized it in time to protect the people around, including yourself, but failed to protect some first responder guards. From there they dragged the attackers away.”

“And you and Alia came to help?”

“Not quite. Alia and I were off together doing our own thing while waiting for you to finish with your level-up. Congratulations by the way. We were attacked as well. Alia was bagged in those weird mana threads and well… I’ve died six times already. By the fourth, Max and Emi showed up with a second and third [Assassin] in tow.”

“Six!?”

“Indeed. The first one caught me by surprise… the other five all because proper attacks deal too much damage for a level one to deal with.” Isaac pointed towards Max and Emi whose wounds were nearly back to normal, “That attack that hit them two? It would have taken off my arm and destroyed most of my ribs.”

“That’s horrible.” Celenia whispered.

“So it is. But the random body parts gave Max and Emi a nice trail to follow and find us. Immortality does have its advantages, however. Namely I’ve almost figured out how to get Alia out of that net. Trial and error is a great way to learn.”

Celenia’s eyes widened in horror, “Alia! We need to help her!”

The Elf began to make a beeline towards the princess but a hairless arm stopped her, Isaac pointed to Max and Emi, “We wait for the action to restart, then we try to sneak her out.”

And just then, it did. Max and Emi blasted forward with ferocity, striking thick rods of water and ice into the centers of the threaded mana walls. The sky darkened overhead as clouds rolled in, slowly a cold drizzle fell and along with it random shards of hail. Three quick teleports and multiple explosions in retaliation sounded as the battle across the hills continued.

Celenia and Isaac sprinted towards their captive friend. They dodged and hid behind bushes and the sporadic tree, hoping none of the enemies would notice their trials. As she ran, the newfound second classer pulled and wove roots alongside herself. They were hidden underground but if push came to shove, Celenia would be ready to fight back.

She had only ever been in fights against monsters. There was the one time in Lesterwood against Red Mask, but she didn’t consider that a true fight. If anything, her showing of magical prowess embarrassed her somewhat. It was her original slave master that had taught her to control nature, and her master would have been disappointed by the panicked and unconsidered dump of mana.

There was no structure, no point to her magic during that situation. Here, and after working with Max to better her craft, Celenia felt oddly calm. She felt like her experiences after leaving Lesterwood, after being abandoned by the Order and by Dreamstem had led her to be something anew.

The thread mage of the three [Assassins] noticed Isaac and Celenia and turned her attention to defending their target, the princess. Threads whipped forward carrying light like fiber optic cables before blasting a small charge of blue mana.

Roots up took the earth, bending at their master’s will and blocking the pinpoint attack. The scent of honey filled the air as a stream of mana enveloped the now greying root. Celenia pushed against the magic, bolstering her medium with added mana of her own. She grew the roots, adding to their constitution like fertilizer in a dead forest.

Flowers sprouted in her hands and along the shield like roots, adding her [Flower Mage] class bonuses and turning the battle of magical strength into a war of attrition. Celenia knew her class bonuses would aid her in preventing her mana from ever reaching low digits, but at the same time, she understood she was heavily outclassed.

After all, her opponent was an [Assassin].

A barbed briar full of serrated thorns rippled through the soft ground, something of which was made easier by the overhead downpour of rain. The briar swelled around the thread mage before breaking through the ground and wrapping around her feet.

The sudden attack caused the killer to shout in pain. She removed her beam of mana from the wall of roots and set to remove her shredding shackles. Threads thinned, stretched, and wrapped around the briar, cutting them in half like a wire to clay.

Isaac and Celenia had long moved, however. They continued to rush to Alia, explosions and cold mist still forming along the hills and valleys. A particular boom and shatter of ice sounded far to the side along with a piercing scream of pain. The other two [Assassins] shouted at this, moving to protect their harmed ally.

Celenia arrived at Alia first, her extra levels giving her more endurance than the level-one Isaac. She instantly got to work, pulling at the mana threads with exceptional caution. She didn’t know what types of traps the weird magic held, so she used roots and vines to pick at the net.

She was glad she did as her natural tools withered and greyed at the slightest touch. Isaac appeared a few seconds later, sweating and panting like a dog. He didn’t spare any time and began to pull and rip at the threads. He slowed to a near stop, his eyes becoming droopy.

He fell over a moment later, dead.

For a moment Celenia was shocked, thinking that could have been her if she was a bit less forethinking. It was weird, but in that moment the Elf also felt… oddly interpersonal. She, for just a second, felt like she understood the land around her. She knew how to proceed against the net. She knew how to free Alia.

And she did. Celenia moved her threads, attacking at a few spots that overlapped the natural grass. There was no need to break the net, only stretch it so its inhabitant could be retrieved. It was then that she actually looked at Alia. The princess was unconscious, bleeding at the head, but otherwise looked fine.

Isaac coughed once, sat up, blinked twice, then moved to the net. He carefully grabbed at Alia, sliding her onto a bed of vines and pulled her out making sure not to touch any threads. They retreated a few dozen paces as the Immortal muttered something about the “seventh not being his fault.”

Celenia bloomed a nearby tree, allowing its leaves to overgrow and slither towards the group. The branches moved like taffy, bending and circling around the three it was ordered to protect. Soon a habitat of flowers, thorns, and camouflaging leaves were created, leaving the creator breathing heavily.

Normally flowers aided her efficiency of mana, but creating large constructs such as moving an entire tree around still eluded her resources. But she had done something remarkable, something she had never tried before. Her mind went back to the moment she found the insights to help Alia.

Gently Celenia looked at her necklace that housed the Medallion Pod – the gift worthy of a Divine Favor. It was supposed to open her senses, but until now she had no idea what that meant. Honestly, she though the pairing of the Pod and her second class bridged the gap into understanding since both seemed to work in a similar fashion.

Celenia wasn’t expanding her senses in a normal fashion, but rather expanding her senses to understand the land around her. Grow with the Land, meaning open one’s senses to that of the Land’s. It was now very obvious that the land, nature in general, held understanding and power. Tapping into such a novel concept was as alien as it was familiar.

It was inspiring. The world was so beautiful, how could Celenia not accept some of its knowledge?

Max and Emi appeared covered in blood and clothes torn asunder. Their arrival to the haven of thorns was sudden and quick, causing a yelp of alarm from the others.

“We’re leaving.” Max huffed. He was pale, mostly from blood loss, but with the slight glow of a fresh level-up.

“Are they dead?” Isaac asked.

“Yes.” Emi responded simply.

A purple shimmer of power and mana expanded behind Max, “Good job with getting Alia. Made our jobs easier in the end.”

Isaac nodded along, carrying the princess into the Pocket World. Celenia followed behind, but Max held out a hand.

“Good job.” He said, a smile returning to his irritated face, “Your attack on the thread user created enough of a distraction for me to land a solid hit on the mousey [Assassin]. From there they just fell apart.”

Celenia shrugged, “I saw your attacks hit them a few times, but they never seemed to deal damage.”

“[Mage Assassin] and [Ceaseless Aura Protector]. The class combination did something to my mana regeneration and he was able to throw protective auras around to his allies. That, paired with the mage who kept creating the walls, made it hard to land solid hits.”

“Check your notifications.” Emi added.

Celenia did.

Congratulations, you have assisted in killing a level 44 [Assassin Mage] and [Mana Thread Bearer].

You have gained 1,449 experience!

Congratulations, you are now level 19!

You have gained 4 stat points!

Congratulations, you are now level 20!

You have gained 4 stat points.

“Oh.”

Max nodded, “I also think we are being followed.”

The Elf looked at him strangely, “Yeah…”

“No I mean, like someone other than Salae, the [Trackers], and the [Assassins]. Someone who’s better at finding things. Or catching up at least.”

“I don’t-“

Emi interrupted, “Max talked to one of the [Assassins] for a moment, asking if he needed to kill the [Tracker] of their group. The man said they didn’t have a [Tracker], just an informant.”

Dugal Fenton watch the battle end from a distance. It had taken the Dark Elf several days to catch up to the Lost Lord’s group and he was delighted to see that they were staying within the town for a little while. It was a perfect time to test out Max’s resolve and to see if the group had any other hidden cards.

Which they did. Two in fact.

Firstly was the man traveling with the group. The man who could heal any wound and survive any attack. Dugal swore the man felt weird to his senses, like Cresthill or the late Nix. He didn’t know what that meant, but one thing was for certain. The man was related somehow to Vast Empire.

The second hidden surprise was the Elf girl. Dugal saw something while watching her break open the net. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but something was off about her magic. She wasn’t exactly powerful, but still, it was something Dugal had to account for.

Soon he would have a full diagram for his Ancestors to latch on to and destroy.