Chapter 316 - Spirits in the Air

Vulwin

Winter was truly fascinating to live through. All the seasons were for that matter. It wasn't something that he was used to, being from a Planet without them.

Summer was... not the most pleasant, but it had its own charm. Even if he had yet to find it.

Fall was breathtakingly beautiful if you were in the right spot to appreciate it. The gradual shift of the leaves and the wash of reds and oranges wasn't something he'd seen before. He was used to Blue and White.

Spring, oh, Spring. He had friends who would have loved Spring here. Not his fellow Frost Elves, no, they would only appreciate Winter, but there were others he knew outside his own race.

Wood Elves, they were called, but they didn't appreciate that name. They thought of themselves more as Forest Elves than Wood Elves, but they hardly got a choice of what they were called by outsiders.

They and their Dryads would have loved it. Vulwin knew that the Everwood Market Hall was somewhere on the Planet and they usually had Wood Elves in their employ. It was a coin toss to know if any were sent here, though.

But most wonderful of all was Winter. Hardly a surprise given his disposition. Jekas and Rangrick both agreed with him, as well as the guards.

It had been a year. One full year and he'd experienced a full cycle already. His first Summer was mainly spent in the muggy Southlands, and it was much more tolerable up here. It didn't get nearly as hot.

While the seasons were novel and would continue to be a source of entertainment to watch them go by, there was something else that he was looking forward to and it was coming much, much faster than he first assumed.

While lately he'd had the chance to witness the Racial Trait of Humans firsthand, his own Trait was flaring and hinting at what was to come.

Elves were known for their great eyesight and affinity for magic, but that wasn't all their Race was given. They were much closer to Spirits than people first assumed.

Spirits of all kinds, but most strongly with those that matched them. Wood Elves with Dryads, Dark Elves with Shadows, and Frost Elves with Spirits of Ice and Snow.

Vulwin still remembered the Boreal Forest of his Homeworld. It dominated nearly half the Planet he grew up on and was filled with Boreal Dryads. He missed them and it had been too long since he'd been back.

Dirvenguard didn't have Spirits. The Planet's magic wasn't aligned with them, which was a shame.

Here, though, was ripe with the possibility. He hadn't seen any on his way North. No Wind Sprites, no Snow Spirits or Earth Sprites. Not even any infant Dryads among the forests.

He'd looked and looked, but none were around.

It made sense that they weren't, but he couldn't help but search anyway. He was desperate for that connection once again. To feel that spark he'd long forgotten while living and working on Dirvenguard.

It was so easy to forget that this Planet had only just started producing Essence and Mana. It was so thick in the air that Vulwin imagined it being around forever, even though that was far from the truth.

Three years. That was how long Magic had touched this world. Three short years.

It took much longer for Spirits to form. His search was bound to be empty as even the lowliest sprite took years to first form. Once they were around, though, they would reproduce like rabbits, but it was that first creation that took time.

The magic had to gather just right, the spark had to happen at the right time, and a Sprite would be born.

There were already a few places he was watching. Unfortunately, Earth and Water Sprites would come first. It was just their nature. The Wind was too erratic to have everything go just right in a timely manner. With the Ice and Snow melting seasonally, it would be a while before any of those formed. At least not here. One would come South with the snows before then.

Water evaporated and moved through its cycle, but Lakes and Rivers were more consistent than the Wind ever would be.

The Earth would be first, as it was nine times out of ten. It hardly moved and it was the definition of consistent. If a spark were to happen, an Earth Sprite was most likely.

After Sprites would come Spirits. After them would come a host of different possibilities. Dryads, Naiads, Nymphs, and Elementals.

It would take time, but he could feel it in the air. It was charged and ready for the first Spirits to form.

___

Chris

"The expansion is going well and the first stage should be completed in a few weeks." Abigail listed from her sheet, "Are you any closer on the elevator research?"

"I'm getting there," I said holding back a sigh. It honestly wasn't on the top of my list of priorities, but I wasn't going to tell her that. "Miles will have better luck than I."

Abigail scoffed, "You really think his living gondola will work?"

"Hell if I know. Doesn't hurt to try." I said.

Miles claimed that an easy way to facilitate travel up and down the cliff face was through a Living Gondola. He proposed finding a vine or creeping plant and grow it into a sort of gondola to bring people up and down.

It would require Nature or Plant Mages to run, but it wasn't that far-fetched of an idea when you thought about it.

"I'd trust an electric elevator over plants," Abigail was against the idea. "We also don't have a lot of Nature Mages and those we do are focused on the Harvest."

Her eyes searched through the Meeting Room filled with the entire Council to find Phillips. He was in charge of most of the expansion effort and was our Head Builder. "Phillip, how goes the rollout of electricity?"

That was a milestone everyone celebrated. Miles and Gabriel had finally cracked it. It took nearly 7 months since returning, but it was nice to have the win.

"With most of my crew held up with the expansion effort, the rollout is slow but moving. Being able to sink the wires into the ground instead of ripping everything up is a godsend." Phillip reported.

I had long gotten used to his accent and even the occasional French word he used didn't trip me up anymore. I wasn't actively learning the language, but passive exposure was doing something at least.

"We have yet to come up with how we are going to pay for it, yet you're already moving on to implementation," Hal complained.

"I don't see why we can't use meters like before?" Sam proposed. "Charge based on how much they use."

"We don't have nearly enough meters to put one for every household. We only have a few and they were meant for testing, not to track usage." Vincent said. He was the one in charge of making them. Well, telling people to make them. He didn't make them personally.

"As I said before, that isn't important right now. This is a big thing and should be pushed out as soon as we have it. It will raise morale and give people something to be excited about." Abigail loudly cut off further conversation. "Not to mention extremely useful."

"If we have to, we'll just eat the cost until we have something set up. With Miles working to refine the process, it should become cheaper to generate." She continued.

"If he doesn't blow himself up," Hal muttered.

I smirked at that. Gabriel had explained in detail some of the... accidents they'd had. Miles was a full-steam-ahead man who only looked back after something bad happened.

"Ahem," Abigail drew attention back to her. "Next up, we have Frostfalls. Hal, if you would."

"Still a dumb name, the waterfall isn't even that high." Hal began, but soon got to the point. "The Order members we sent with Samuel have come back and reported that their claim was successful. Their pylon is up to the Village Level with our help and he plans to keep it there.

"As they are now, they'll need a bit of help with the Wave comes around, but now that it only happens once every two months, that shouldn't be an issue."

"How are the fields? Did they bring enough Farmers? Are they set on Food?" Abigail asked as Hal had only reported the Security situation.

"The Order stayed to help plow a few acres for them but that was all. If they created more since then, I don't know. By the time they were leaving, planting was just finishing up. The Hunters they have are capable so they should be fine." Hal said.

Abigail nodded, "Good."

"Next, we need to talk about Lakeshore. They've since stopped edging closer to the Mine but we need to discuss what we are going to do if they start back up again. Ashton has also sent word about his troubles to the East. Supposedly, their forest is infested with Goblins."

"Ha, serves him right." Hal snorted. He didn't have the greatest opinion of the man.

Elliot rarely spoke up at these meetings since he'd been added to them. As a Captain of one of the Orders, he had a place here. "If we send aid, it will be good for training. Not any nearing their evolution, but those that are lower in level."

Most of the Order had either evolved or were close to it. The test was a major Essence gain for them, but there were the few who stayed behind to protect the City and others who had joined after.

Hal grunted but didn't disagree. "We are running short on good opportunities around here. Other than the Dungeons, there isn't much else to fight."

Hal pointedly looked at me, but I didn't show any expression. Technically, it was my fault but I didn't much care. Going out to hit things was therapeutic. It wasn't my fault that the beasts wizened up and started to stay away.

Abigail looked at me making it my decision of if we were going to send anybody.

"We can ask but if he declines, we'll find somewhere else," I said.

Both Elliot and Hal nodded.

"We have some good news next. Rachel managed to finalize our Trade with Vanessa. Our Metal and Earth Techniques for their Fire Techniques. Together it works out to a somewhat even trade since they have a lot more Fire Techniques than we have of Metal and Earth." Abigail announced.

It wasn't a surprise they picked those. They were the two that meshed best with Fire. Rachel had left for the Eternal Flame faction shortly after returning. She needed the Flame for a few things before evolving.

"Transposing through a Communication Stone is... challenging, but it's getting done." I knew she wanted to use more colorful words but held back. She was all proper and such.

Grace was the one bearing the brunt of it. I lent Sophia to help when she could, but most of the books would be written by Grace.

"Do we know how much longer my men have to play middleman?" Hal asked.

We'd worked out how to make the Communication Stones Tracy had given me but they weren't the best for distance. They weren't powerful enough to reach Eternal Flame Falls from here and required people to sit in between to relay the signal.

That honor fell to Hal's Order.

"Not much longer," Abigail answered, "A few days at most."

With the meeting wrapping up, there was only one last thing on the agenda. Once that was unfortunate for me, but good for the whole.

"As a reminder," Abigail started, "I will be leaving for the Twins next week. Grace and Sophia will be taking up much of my duties, but if there are any pressing concerns, Chris will be taking them up."

Hal openly laughed and even Vincent chuckled a little bit.

I was not looking forward to the experience, but I would do it. It would cut into my forging time, but that was life.

A part of me wished some idiots would try me. It would at least make it more entertaining.