Road To Sierra Pt8

Within the coolly shaded wooden interior rest several groups of different animals from a dozen juvenile kobolds to large predatory birds roosting about the walls and ceiling. At the very back of the driveway, though, were four large saber toothed cats that I vaguely recognized as a 'Saber Cat' from dry and arid mountain regions.

Those mountain regions were the mountain range stretching most of the way along the top third of the continent in which the Winter Wood. Like the Winter Wood, though, the average mob levels in the area were rarely below fifty-five in the lower halves of the mountains where beasts like the saber cats lived. In the upper halves of the mountains were creatures around the eighties which were usually capable of magic or were just magical variations of lower mountain mobs.

These particular cats, though, were all below level sixty but still over the heads of the surrounding mobs and most players. With a buffer of kobold fodder and constant aerial harassment, those big cats could dominate large parties of players at the region's level ranges. However, that would only work once or twice.

None of these beasts reacted to our presence except to wake up form their naps, look at us, sniff once, and then go back to sleep. Apparently, one or all of us were beings they automatically recognized. More than likely, the golem had used my cordyceps as the scent signature.

As I was wondering about the golem and my cordyceps after my party and I leisurely strolled through the bunkhouse, the ground within the original grove on the other side suddenly churned as a mass of roots and vague leafy particles began rising up from the ground. Then, a dense and hard but oddly fleshly material began to form as these roots and particles bundled together to form a vague body.

After a few moments of development, a crude physical copy of a young man in heavy leather armor with a large wooden Fuller Bastard on its back finally took shape. This was the guardian copy the golem had made using my cordyceps, which explained its particulate nature and ability to produce a fleshy mass.

Unlike the me at the time that this copy represented, though, its defenses and vitality from being a wood-based entity were probably on par with my own. However, with a wooden weapon and presumably limited magical and skill capacity its firepower was probably not even half of mine.

Walking right up to this being while opening my menu to my inventory, I take out a level ninety Fuller Bastard made from blessed ancient alloy during the territory raid and then unsheathe the copy's wooden sword. The copy never even reacted as I disarmed it or when I replaced it with a proper high-spec weapon. With that weapon alone, its basic damage output was probably a little more than half of mine.

Definitely on par with my Open Handed attacks, at least. As for the wooden bastard sword I retrieved, I found its description and stats to be very interesting. It was literally a biological weapon made from an A ranked tree's roots and its own cordycep colony. The tree was a holy oak or some such and thus the 'wild' cordyceps were carefully managed and contained through natural divine power thanks to the golem.

The attack of the weapon was a surprising seventy-two PATK with two hundred MATK for spells and magic skills and produced a combination of paralyzing and hallucinogenic toxins on contact. Despite the fact that this was obviously a high quality noob weapon, I ate it just for the ability to Reproduce holy oak wood.

Just as I was taking in the benefits of a permanent one-percent recovery buff and the ability to produce the oak, the ground nearby once again began churning and mounding as a much larger and more familiar body made up entirely of roots and vines took shape. The air was immediately overwhelmed with the sharp scent of pine and the subtle fragrances of at least a dozen flowers.

"You return," the golem says both pleasantly and solemnly. "I have waited long for you. Had no choice but to make small changes. Now you here, you help build. You ready?"

Seeing a notification about the Evergreen Golem's quest pop up, I say, "We have to report the successes of our previous missions before we can come back, but after we come back we can get to work. Would you like some more animals? We have loads of animals that you can use as guards. Especially wyrms and kobolds. Keeping some wyrms in the fields out front would give those thorn vines a true purpose."

"Have wyrms," the golem replies with a human-like wave of its giant bark covered hand. "More welcome but need workers, not wyrms. How long you need?"

Damn, this guy got right to the point. "If it's workers you need, we can bring you a few groups of people to teach and train the way we did when we leveled the place," I tell him leisurely while looking around the place and identifying plants. "However, it will take us a few days to finish up our business. The region around Sierra has become troubled recently and I'm sure you can tell they need the help of people with our strengths. In at least three days, either us or our people bearing the mask crest on my armor will be on their way here."

"This… good," the golem says more to itself than to me. "Can rest while wait. Come, give animals, they good fertilize fields and then you may go. Hurry back after, need your spirits for next step."

Taking out a few dozen wyrm vipers from the clan store, I add a dozen more juvenile kobolds, a dozen adult kobolds, a dozen ice birds of the lowest level, and a team of low leveled ice rats which could easily keep up and work in tandem with the big cats. "Go, now," the golem says, ensnaring each of these creatures with vines once they were tossed out and waving his hand at us once again.

Not bothering with standing on ceremony at all, I lead the team away as he took the mobs into the grove and then stopped out front while everybody harvested herbs and vegetables. Most of these were things I had already eaten from our old stockpiles so I did not bother with tasting any. However, I more than happily walked among the thorn vines and berry bushes simply enjoying the flavors on our way out.

I had already acquired the benefits from most of these magic plants but they were still valuable enough to take five from every bush I passed.

Back on the road a short time later, we took a brief rest to check the in-game calendar day and time in the forums and see if there were any useful updates from the clan. Not much time had actually passed so not much had changed but our clan outside the city had already started collecting missing persons reports from the forums.

From the forums and other outlets, many of them had been helping the leading clan factions of the city compile regional triangulation maps showing the locations of villages and towns, contact sites in the surrounding wilderness, and speculated origins of animal herds.

Since the beasts had become higher leveled mobs from the surrounding plains region, it was easier to track their previous progress simply stomping through the forest. From this, there was currently less than ten popular-opinion 'camps' currently circled on the forum map.

On the map posted in our clan, though, there were thirteen circles on a regional map all more than ten miles out from Sierra. Our clan had taken up the middle position between actual NPC officials and general clans, using our name and clan reputation for the benefit of gathering knowledge. Of course, they naturally knew to save the best for the clan.

While the leaders of this project were being considered for Elite promotion, we decided to wait and see how things play out before once again entering Fast Travel. After working the ground dragons until around midnight, we set them up to rest with fully cooked medicinal meals before heading out into the landscape.

Since we were feeding the dragons so heartily, we needed to let them properly rest for a few hours despite the fact that we were going to Fast Travel through the night. I spent almost half of their rest time jogging through the plains simply dusting the few confrontations that took place. Sadly, I did not receive any free stat points from fleeing.

Eventually, I finally arrived at the lodge to find that all was more or less in order. I did not even bother going in the property, just stood on the tall berm surrounding the place and spread out my mana perception. There were no signs of life at all besides some incredibly low level fruit creepers and some mundane animals.

Just because they were there, though, I captured a few families of squirrels, birds, and creepers before making my way leisurely back to the road. Most of the others had already returned to camp by the time I got back, having experienced no confrontations at all because I had gone directly to the road from the lodge.

An hour after everybody and their familiars returned to camp we killed time working on our personal skills or minor crafts for an hour before waking the land dragons. They had only been asleep for a couple of hours but after a brief round of blessings and even a potent all-in-one regeneration potion from Oleander they were ready and rearing to go.

By the time we came out of Fast Travel again, the sun was already a third of the way up the sky and shining bright unhindered golden rays. These rays cast numerous shadows throughout the area, though, because the surroundings had finally changed. Now the man-height grasses were replaced by much shorter flowering weeds, some basic berry vines, and young trees of varying heights and leaves.

Like the Winter Wood had its border area of smaller and dead trees, the Canfor region's forestry was surrounded by a few short miles of much younger growth that the deeper territories. Looking back around the wagon I could see only a few hundred yards of transition between plains and forest, showing that we had not quite made it into the forest.

Our land dragons, though, did not seem like they needed a rest at all but were instead sniffing up into the air. Ahead of the wagon, Alpha was doing the same thing. However, there was a faint exposure of his fangs and his ears were peeled back as if ready to fight.

It actually took me a second to figure it out, but I eventually realized that the Fast Travel had come to an end for the other reason. There was something dangerous in the area. Of course, danger was relative to the region since all of us and our familiars that survived the raid were over level one hundred.

However, there was no flash of red to signify a confrontation or any actual signs of threat or even signs of life in the area. That in itself was also a clear sign that something was not right. In an updated forestry with increased wildlife, why was there nothing in the area?

Dropping down to the ground from Imperial, I briefly flare my wings and right myself only a few feet from the ground before flapping once to raise myself back up to eight feet above the ground and then one much stronger time for propulsion. In just a few seconds I had already flown a hundred yards while spreading my awareness to the same distance.

Within that hundred yards, I had skimmed over a few clusters of bodies spread out between fifty-five and seventy yards out from the wagon. Even with my speed of passage, I could clearly tell the bodies were humanoid at the very least and estimate between three and five people in any of the twelve clusters. They were also all close to either side of the road among a parted grove of young fruit trees and thick shrubbery.

Since they were still within my perception I could clearly see those bodies turning about trying to follow the sudden rush of wind that had shuttled through the area. I could also distinguish the various auras and belongings of those bodies now that I could pay closer attention. All of their auras suggested that they were capable of magic with different colors based on elements or just the sheer amount of aura around them.

However, there were only a few more than ten of them with detailed auras such as colors which suggested their proficiency or affinity in magic. Those same people also wore heavy clothes and carried only basic weapons while bearing large amounts of accessories. Everybody else wore mismatched pieces of hide, leather, and metal armors with proper weaponry.

Landing calmly on the ground as those bodies remain hidden, I wonder if these were players due to the self-made styling and generally damaged status of most equipment. Only their metal armor seemed to be generic models from NPC shops but even then they were in worse condition than the rest of their suits. If these were players, they were very poor players.

None of the bodies ever moved to the road but instead began creeping toward one another and clustering around the magic auras in preparation of a fight. It was clear that none of them had any idea that I was actually watching them but then it occurred to me that I was unaware that the demon leaders in the raid dungeon had also been perceiving me.

Finally, though, I decided to say, "If you sorry sons of bitches don't come out, now, then I'll come in there after you. And, since I don't want to waste my time going in there after you, you really don't want me to enjoy my time going in there after you."

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