FMH ~ 22!

“Circle is complete… now let the mana flow away, but only toward the interior of the circle…” Andre was breathing heavily as he forced his mana to work as he needed it. “Done!”

His concentration broke, and the excess mana flooded away into the air. It had taken him a month to gather the entire hilltop under his control, and three entire days of that had been spent making the flower like him enough to bind to him. “Now to reap the fruits of my labor!”

Andre walked into the circle of his plants, and instantly felt his mana regeneration speed tick up. Internally it felt like drinking ice water during a heat wave and having it all reach the stomach at the same time. He stared at the tree that was now at the edge of his circle, and decided to tackle that project next. Trees were difficult, stubborn things. They didn't want to be bound, often not changing in hundreds of years if left alone.

Although they could be coaxed into doing things for a druid, the act of binding them was at a higher magnitude of difficulty. Since his circle was now large enough to boost his mana regen by about thirty percent, Andre could stand in it and work on the tree at the same time. As his mana reached capacity, he controlled it and encircled the tree trunk.

“Here you go, tree. Nice tasty mana… bind with me!” There was no reaction, though the tree was starting to push out some fresh leaf buds. “Come on, tree… I need this by the end of the day. Xan was looking for honey yesterday, and he thinks those bear-killer bees are hiding something tasty. I need a good reason not to go with him…”

His mana emptied out. Andre tried again and again, speaking with the tree the entire time. As dark approached, he pushed too hard and he tapped into his health pool. “Son of a… tree! Bind with me already!”

Flecks of his blood were spat into his circle and absorbed by the tree. With a dark flash of green, he felt the tree in his mind. Andre dropped to the ground as the tree joined his circle. Information on this Juniperus Virginiana, that is… the red cedar in front of him, entered his mind. “You need a healthy dose of nitrogen, huh…? Good to know… I bet that’s a common problem here, and the other trees would be willing to bind with me if I fixed that issue…”

You have generated an ability!

“I did?” Andre blinked and started to smile. “I did it! What… what is it? My first ability not gained through study! There’s a starter bonus that-”

Ability generated: Bind by Blood (T6).

Bind by Blood (T6): 0/100 to level 1!

Effect 1: By using your blood when creating a druidic binding circle, you can gain additional benefits from the bond. 

Bonus 1, at range: Circle can be created within line of sight.

Effect 2: Bond is 30+n% more likely to succeed in any circle your blood is added into, where 'n' = cumulative levels after tier 2! (T3 level 0 and beyond counts toward the percentage.) 

Bonus 2, Multitarget: Increases resource gain among bound presence from r*5^-6 to r*5^-5 of offered resources, where r = offered resources! 

Effect 3: Offered resources now include any Etheric Xenograft Potentia generated by bound beings within touch distance. 

Bonus 3, AoE: ‘touch’ distance is now considered anywhere within the circular binding.

“Celestial Feces.” Andre sat up and stared at the display that was generated by his forehead sigil. “This changes everything… I got a tier six ability? What… what does that mean? Three effects, three bonuses? Is that it?”

Before he had gained this ability, his path forward was going to be a mix of body, mind, and senses. Now… he planned to only improve his mind. Perhaps a few points in senses, but his mind was going to be his heavy focus. “If I can make larger circles, I can add blood and still be fairly certain that they’ll succeed in binding. By binding things, they can generate Potentia for me. That means I can generate Potentia without killing!”

The only downside was that the ability could be mistaken as… somewhat sinister. He didn't need people thinking that he was like the necromancers and blood mages that devastated and terrorized the front lines of warzones. Andre decided to keep all information about his tier to himself for now.

He decided to start over with the area he had bound, this time using his blood. To Andre’s delight, he found that everything was synergizing well. The damage he dealt to himself to make the bind was healed quickly by the health being donated to him by the plants. The mana he spent was given the same treatment.

It took him a week to bind the remainder of the entire hill, where just the top had previously required a full month. When he had captured the designated area, he used the remainder of the day to bind the path home. That was easier, as his circles only needed to be the size of his running body, and he could stand in a circle and create a new one anywhere within line-of-sight. Dark was approaching when the grove came into view, and Xan was suddenly next to him.

“What are you doing?” Xan glared at the Novice Druid. He looked back the way Andre had come. “You realize that only the area I left you in is protected, yes?”

“I do remember that… now.” Andre scratched his chin. “I wanted to surprise you with my progress. I finished the hill and bound the grass between here and there as a path!”

“Yes, I can see that.” Xan snapped his eyes back to Andre. “You must have generated your first ability, then. Alright, what did you get?”

Something was off. For the first time he could remember, Andre directly lied to his mentor. “Enhanced Bond. It increases the likelihood that any circle I try to make will be accepted.”

“Ah… I know that one. Not bad at all for a tier one ability. Too bad that’s what your starting bonus came up with.”

Xan’s nonchalance rang the warning bell in Andre’s head. “I hate to contradict you, Xan, but it's a tier t… three.”

There was a moment of silence, and Xan narrowed his eyes. He lifted his hand… and clapped it on Andre’s shoulder. “Congratulations! Not only did you get a great first ability, you resisted the urge to lie about it! All known abilities are recorded and chronicled, so we know most of the general abilities tier and their chance of appearing. Okay, now that I’ve tested your trustworthiness… a word of advice.”

“Our kingdoms are allies, and we should trust each other. But never forget that there is a chance in the next hundreds of years that we are going to live… there is the possibility that we will be at war.” Xan paused and let the information percolate. “Never tell anyone else the abilities you gain, their rarity, or the exact effect unless you trust them implicitly. From the results of your initial testing, we knew that you were going to get powerful abilities, but starting at tier three is still right at the edge people could handle without getting… overexcited.”

“I assume there are people out there that will kill to stay as the ‘most powerful’?” Andre questioned halfheartedly.

Xan leaned forward and spoke softly, looking off into the distance. “There are people here that would do that as well. Remember that nature is always listening, and Druids are one with nature. There are a few that are on the cusp of becoming Paragons, and they can hear nearly anything you say or do. Especially in the grove, which is why I’ve never interrupted you during your frequent nighttime… indulgences with yourself.”

“Message received, find more privacy.” Andre was sweating, both literally and figuratively. What would have happened if he hadn't seen the trap? If his lie had been detected? Worst of all… what if he had told the truth? “Should I look into finding a way to hide future ability gains?”

“Hmm. Not the direction I thought you were gonna go with this, but sure.” Xan pulled the two of them to the top of the treehouse and waited a few moments as food started arriving in front of them. “Steak today, as a celebration of completing your Initiate training.”

“Steak! Wait, you said that I was a Novice before?” Andre didn't think too hard on it, there was steak to be eaten!

“Right, but you passed your Initiate training.” Xan smirked as he saw the juice running from Andre’s mouth as he tore into the meat. “You’ve learned all the things you were supposed to learn in the first few years here. Next we are going to spend half of the day with combat training, and you are going to keep binding territory for the other half.”

“Now, back to hiding abilities… it is neither possible nor needed.” Xan’s words made Andre look over in confusion. “Do you remember how your Archmage used your mana to open and create a portal for you? An invasive scan is the only thing that can list your abilities, and now that you can internally manipulate your mana, that is impossible to do without your permission.”

“You mean that if I had never told you my ability, you wouldn't have even known what it was?” Andre narrowed his eyes in thought and took a slow bite of his steak. 

“Correct, but I would have been able to see the difference in what you do.” Xan smiled as he saw his charge enjoying his cooking. Not that he had cooked it, but his powers were very versatile at this point. “I might not be able to know all the effects of every ability, as each one is often slightly different, but I’d still have a good idea. Starting with a binding ability is very common, as nature wants to give you what you need.”

“I see.” Andre stated, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Combat and more binding, then? How long will this continue?”

“Until you are out of my care in about a decade. Remember, I have you for two and a half years, with a time difference of six. I have to spend fifteen years making sure you don’t die when you leave here.” Xan told him bluntly. “You may progress to a Druid of the Second or Third Circle by then, maybe have more abilities, but this is your life until you leave.”

Andre took a look at his current Potentia.

Level: 1

Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 58/200 to level 2!

In the short time since he had started with his new ability, he had already passively gained one point of Potentia. He had a whole world that he could eventually pull from… but he would need to hide his power from the old monsters hiding amongst any kindly-seeming druids, that much was certain. Andre grinned cockily at his Master, “Sounds like a party, old-timer. Let’s go learn how to combat.”

“Oh, look. The joker is wild again.” Xan stood up while shaking his head sadly. “Welp, time to smack some sense into him again.”