Path of Dragons

A cacophony of noise washed over Elijah, forcing him awake. He clamped his hands over his ears, though the gesture did nothing to protect him from the avalanche of formless sound. That was when he realized that the noise – if that was even the right word – was no audible thing. Rather, it was in his own Mind, the result of being overwhelmed by the weight of near-infinite feedback from the world around him.

If taking the Connection specialization had given him a whisper of insight into the natural world, then what he currently felt was like being beaten over the head with a club.

Repeatedly and without end.

His Mind was like jelly, and his body hung limp, suspended in the center of the cave. He could feel everything around him, and to a boundless degree that completely engulfed his every thought.

For what felt like an eternity – but was likely only a few minutes – Elijah couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. And he had no hope of recovery. However, with every passing second, he began to instinctively acclimate. At some point, he regained enough consciousness to take control, and he used every trick he’d learned in recent years. He siphoned some of the stimuli into its own facet, sorting it in such a way as to disregard all but the broadest strokes.

And that was when he realized something truly daunting.

It didn’t come from One with Nature or his domain. Instead, the stimuli originated from a tiny area only a few inches from his skin. It was like his Soul had breached the bounds of his body – which, given what he’d done during his cultivation, sounded precisely what was happening – and it remained exposed, like a raw nerve.

Only, there were thousands of them, and they gave him so much insight into his surroundings that it made him question his understanding of the world. The volume of such a space was barely more than three cubic feet, but to Elijah, it felt like he had an entire world laid out before inner eye. Not only could he perceive subatomic particles like electrons and neutrons, but he couldn’t help but peer far deeper. Quarks, if he remembered his physics correctly, though he was in no mental state to make that distinction.

There were much smaller particles, too, though Elijah had only a passing knowledge of what those might be.

Tiny threads of energy lay beneath everything, connecting it all with a web of power. It was denser in some places, but far more diffuse in others. Elijah’s focus strayed to the space between. Because there was something else there.

He couldn’t truly perceive it, but something – maybe just basic intuition – told him that he’d only barely scratched the surface.

Then, it all disappeared as a notification appeared before his inner eye:

As Elijah’s mind cleared, he lost a grasp on everything he’d just felt. What had all been so clear only a moment before now felt like a half-forgotten childhood memory. He knew the broad strokes of it – that he’d explored some of the deeper truths of the multi-verse – but the details of it all were extremely foggy.

He spent a few minutes trying to hold onto it, though. What he’d seen was incredibly important, and even if he couldn’t currently understand it, there would one day come a time when he could make sense of it all. So, he leveraged every facet of his Jade Mind to cataloguing everything he’d felt.

He was only marginally successful. In a lot of ways, it felt like trying to carry loose sand in a spoon. Sure, he could do it, but the size of the tool had never been meant for that task. He needed a shovel, but all he had was a tiny kitchen utensil. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Regardless, he managed to salvage some information, locking it away in a facet of his Mind so he could call upon it when things became a little clearer. In the meantime, he took stock of his Soul, and he was unsurprised to see that the channels of coursing through him no longer extended outside of his body. Instead, they were blocked by a thin – but seemingly indestructible – layer of ethera. Doubtless, that was the system’s interference, and though the restriction rankled Elijah, he knew it was necessary. He just wasn’t ready to handle the consequences of his overreach.

Though it wasn’t all bad news, as specified by the next notification:

That was not how evolutions normally worked. Usually, he was afforded the opportunity to choose between three options. The fact that the upgrade was automatic left Elijah feeling even more constrained than the shield on his Soul. However, he couldn’t very well fight the system – and what’s more, he didn’t think it would be prudent to do so, given that it had only ever functioned to assist him – so he just moved on to the spell’s new description: řã₦ＯВΕʂ

As had been the case with the original description, it was frustratingly vague. But that only meant that it would take some time to figure everything out. He did sense that the size and depth of the area he could sense with the ability had grown, though it was far too soon to determine the breadth of that improvement. The same was the case with the augmentation to his physical attributes that came with the spell. That feature had never been reflected on his status, instead working almost like a less powerful version of his Body cultivation. So, it would take some testing to determine how much more powerful this new version of the spell was.

Still, he’d accomplished his primary goal, reaching the next stage of his Soul cultivation. Now, he only needed to work on his Core, and he’d be free to evolve his class. It was a huge step forward, and, if he was honest, it had gone far better than expected.

With that in mind, he finally opened his eyes, and to his surprise, he saw that the cave had not been completely destroyed. Every other time he’d used it for cultivation, he’d been forced to sacrifice all the life that called it home. In this instance, not only did the Leviathan’s Bones remain unchanged, but some of the kelp had survived as well. It was not much, but that simple factor left Elijah feeling that much better about everything.

He wasn’t averse to killing when necessary, and he’d even squared himself with the impact of his cultivation on the environment. But that didn’t mean he liked killing the vegetation. So, the survival of even a few strands of kelp was a good thing, and he took it as a sign that he might one day accomplish his goals without destroying the environment.

Still, Elijah took a long while to bathe the area in Nature’s Bounty so he could jumpstart the regrowth. Via his newly evolved Soul of the Wild, he could feel that much of the vegetation hadn’t truly died. Instead, their spores were buried beneath the Leviathan’s Bones, almost as if they’d taken shelter from the drain of his cultivation on the environment. So, it didn’t take long before they began to grow. After a couple of hours, he’d fully recovered, and the ecosystem had begun the process of repopulating the cave.

Already, the density of the ethera had risen significantly, suggesting that it would only take a few more weeks – at most – to regain its former glory. That was a huge difference from how it had worked before he’d deployed the Leviathan’s Bones, and Elijah had high hopes for the future.

In any case, he wasted no more time before he swam free of the cave and returned to the grove. Upon arrival, he asked Nerthus how long he’d been gone.

“Three days,” the spryggent answered. “I sense…you feel more connected to the world. What happened?”

Elijah explained it, trying and failing to articulate what he’d felt before the system had stepped in. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It was like I could see the building blocks of the universe, but it was more than that. There was so much more than I expected. Too much for me to truly comprehend. I think it’s a good thing the system did what it did. Otherwise, I would have gone a little crazy.”

“That is probable,” Nerthus said. “I have heard of those who merged their consciousness with the Mother. We spoke of this.”

“The Call.”

“Indeed. For those with very little power, it only manifests as a rejoining of nature. A subversion of the self in favor of a connection with everything else,” Nerthus explained. “But for those with true power, it is expected. Archdruids connect with nature on a fundamental level, even harnessing that power for their own ends.”

“I see,” Elijah stated, though it all seemed incredibly vague to him. “So, I briefly held the power of an Archdruid?”

Nerthus let out a chuckle. “No,” the spyrggent answered. “From what you describe, you only brushed against that power. Imagine what you went through, then expand that to the size of your domain. Or an entire world. That is the power of an Archdruid. You merely endured a glimpse, and it nearly drove you mad.”

“So, what you’re saying is that I’m a little ways from getting back to that point, but that I’ve got a chance,” Elijah said.

“You have barely taken a step on your path, and you’re talking about a destination that is a world away.”

“Still closer than I was a few days ago. That’s good progress.”

“Do not overstep. The system might save you once, but it will not do so again. Actions have consequences.”

Elijah took that as he was currently still in the “training wheels” stage of his development. Soon, he’d have only himself for support, and when that happened, the system wouldn’t step in to save him from his own hubris. Still, he had a fancy and newly evolved spell for his trouble, and he’d gotten a glimpse at the future. That seemed like it was worth it.

Of course, he wouldn’t have been thinking that if the system hadn’t saved him. In fact, he wouldn’t have been thinking anything, because he got the distinct impression that his mind would have been shattered if he’d been forced to endure it any longer.

It was a chilling feeling, knowing that one wrong step, and everything could end. He’d survived contact with so many powerful enemies that he could only look on in bemusement at the realization that he’d come close to authoring his own demise.

But what was done was done. Not only did he have other plans begging for his attention, but he also needed to test out his newly evolved spell. During the trip back from the cultivation cave, he’d felt slightly more powerful, but it would take a lot more testing before he could determine the true extent of the improvements. On top of that, he needed to check on the progress of his various plans – like the hot tub and the sapling bearing the Shard of Nature’s Might.

So, he didn’t have time to ponder his place in the multi-verse. He had other things to do. With that in mind, he returned to his treehouse, where he immediately took a shower. Cultivating in a submerged cave was nasty work, apparently, and it took quite a lot of scrubbing before he felt even remotely clean. Once he’d accomplished that small miracle, he dressed, then headed outside, where he shifted into the Shape of Sky and crossed the strait to arrive in Ironshore.

For now, he had two goals in mind, and he didn’t have time for the niceties of going through the gate. So, he landed in Druid’s Park, where he saw something he found quite surprising.

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