Chapter 34.34-99

The forest had changed entirely since last Gladil had been there. Already he could feel a nagging sensation in the back of his head trying to confine him to the beaten path, unlike last time when he and Echil had just run through the brush to the center of the forest. After he spared a quick glance into the tree line and saw the excessive scrub and movement, he figured it was probably for the best anyways. 

When he’d first made his report to the ranger’s guild about what he found here, most of them either writ off his claim of an enchanted forest or ignored it entirely after the word dungeon had been mentioned. Gladil would love to see the look on their faces if they traveled the same path he now did and saw the massive oaks that towered over him, oaks that had not been there even two months ago. 

The path Gladil followed twisted and turned a bit and as he followed it he observed a plethora of flowers, bushes, and even herbs that did not naturally occur in the wild plains. Deep into the woods he even thought he might have spotted corn at a distance, but that would be too ridiculous, so he put that out of mind. It was not too long until he emerged from the thicket into the first glade.

It was a fairly large area that was mostly clear of trees, save two tropical looking trees that were usually found much farther south and a small grouping of fruit trees. If he had to guess he would say they were teak trees, but somehow five times larger around than they usually were. He took a brief break to snack on some wild carrots that were growing in the clearing, he’d not eaten breakfast before going on his walk. While he was sitting there he even saw one of the small dog-sized hedgehogs he’d been told about. 

The little creature was shuffling about the boundaries of the clearing, foraging for bugs from the looks of it. After a particularly crunchy bite of the carrot, the hedgehog looked up and noticed Gladil, inspiring it to promptly turn around and amble back off into the thick brush where it rapidly became harder to spot. 

Needing little else in the terms of motivation, the elf finished off his quick snack before finding the next trail and following it. He spent more than a couple hours following the trail deeper, from clearing to clearing trying to find the hill with the sacred tree. This wasn’t his plan for the morning but after feeling that powerful nature energy at dawn, he felt motivated to investigate it. From time to time the elf would look off into the brush, where the forest did not want him to travel, just to observe changes as he got deeper. There was colorful ivy he had never seen before, thick brambles on bushes he did not recognize, and even a boar that probably weighed upwards of 400 kilograms. After being huffed at by that monster of a pig Gladil stopped being as nosey and picked his step up a little bit.

A few hours later he finally exited into what he was told was the final clearing. The large hill looked much the same, but the tree was different. Scratch that, trees. Around the hill were four blue-tinted metallic-looking trees. He went up to investigate one of them and found the ground scattered with greenish blue walnuts. These must be what the locals were referring to as coppernuts. A smile crossed the renegade elf’s face, the forest was commiserating Echil through an act of nature. There was no greater honor for a dead elf. 

Finally he ascended the hill to observe the new tree that stood there. It was not the powerful feeling ash tree from the last time he was here, but yet another metallic tree, this one tinted silver. To Echil it made perfect sense for the nature god or goddess to move their vessel deeper into their domain for protection, and he was thankful that they left this obviously holy connected tree here for prayers. The tree seemed to be a fruit tree, judging by its thinner trunk, and was literally ingrained with processed looking silver rather than the ore like the copper trees were. 

Unsure how to proceed, Echil decided to just meditate like he had the first time he entered this clearing not so long ago. He spent a few hours with his eyes closed, trying to tune himself in with nature, underneath the trees of this holy tree. When finally he opened his eyes again the sun was nearly over head. Speaking of overhead, there was something else above him now too. Two somethings.

First was a flower that had begun growing into a fruit, a fruit that glimmered in the sunlight and promised eternal happiness. Above that, on the branch, was a strange looking hedgehog with quills around its eyes and longer legs than its kin. 

“Hello there, denizen of the forest. Are you a messenger for the spirit who lives here?” It never hurt to be respectful in a forest, you did not know what power the creatures there wielded. Rather than a verbal reply, which was unexpected but still a little disappointing to the elf, the hedgehog tilted his head to the left as if considering his worlds. It then pointed to the right.

“I don’t understand. There is nothing over there but more trees.” Almost as he finished speaking he heard a light creaking and his eyes snapped back to the tree line from the hedgehog. Before his eyes a new path was opening, showing him the way deeper into the forest. Deeper than any had traversed so far. 

Gladil approached the new path that had opened in the trees slowly, savoring the moment. He knew there was something special about this forest, that it wasn’t just an explosive growth from ambient dungeon mana below it like others had suggested it. He was going to finally have the chance to prove it to everyone as well. The god or goddess who made this forest their home had chosen him as a speaker, and he was going to do the job well. 

As he finally got to the path, he realized that there was an engraving on the tree to his left. An engraving in the common language for him to read.

‘The trial of sloth.’