(Vol 2) Chapter 39: A Need to Take Flight!

Despite the initially quite dignified farewells with Marjorie, Sammy couldn’t help herself and went for a big hug before exiting. Mr. Perfect approved of this with tail-wagging, as well as an insistent request via woof for his own like treatment — which of course he received.

Lover’s Bond… a naughty spell… wonder how its details read… ‘both subjects remain at the height of arousal and performance capability for the duration,’ hehehe… Alright, enough of that, Sammy. She’ll want that mentioned 0% of the time in our future meetings, so I’ll never know! I’m somewhat surprised she was bashful, but I guess spellcraft is something more professional for her nowadays.

Intent on meditation, and knowing it was high time she sought a place in the real world to develop it, she materialized back in the world, bringing Athos along with her. Azure was conducting music as a form of worship on the balcony when Samantha arrived. Dart immediately requested exchanging places with ‘the new guy’ as the ‘guard dog,’ and Samantha agreed — mostly because Dart promised he had something to show her.

Before she left, Azure insisted on giving her a silver necklace with a stone in a teardrop shape at the end, colors a mix of rich blue-green and pearlescent white with flecks of gold. “Glowstone,” the Naugite said with a smile as she held it out to Sammy. “Squeeze the center to turn it on and off. Very minor magic.”

Sammy took it without even thinking of refusing, mesmerized by its attractiveness. She blinked when she realized she had it in her hands and Azure had already walked off. “Th-thanks,” she muttered dumbly, to which Azure just turned her head a final time and smiled heart-stoppingly again.

Flutters in her stomach. Fuck! Why did I just take it?! Is that really smart right now? But I like it… and the utility… and she gave it to me… fuck!

Muttering to herself along the way, Sammy began into the forest outside the village, with the light bauble nonetheless around her neck. Dart suddenly shapeshifted into a dragon once they were under cover. And he was… big. Like a very large horse or a moose, with an incredible wingspan, which he spread out to show off.

The large, blue, pink, and iridescently-gleaming dragon-Dart waggled his eyebrows at Samantha. “Level up gave a maximum size upgrade! And do we know what this means, oh Smarty McSmartgirl Supreme Goddess?”

“Uhhh… wait — you can fucking fly me, can’t you?!” Sammy’s breath caught at the thought. “Holy-utter-forking-shirtballs, can you?!”

The magnificent blue dragon rumbled in delighted laughter and danced — an act that caused a bit of tangible vibration in the ground. “Hell fucking yeah, I can! Happy dance with me, Fly Girl!”

They danced a silly dance together. Then Dart got a little too enthused with butt-shaking and hip-bumped Samantha into the grass, which elicited a cut-off yelp. Samantha soon sat up and spit out a weed, smoothing dirt out of her hair with a hand.

Dart’s big face was in front of her, looking sheepish. “Oops. Sorry, Sam Sam.”

Sammy smirked. “Watch that dump truck ass of yours, Dart, it’s a dangerous weapon.”

The dragon sat back so his neck and head were up high and proud. “You’re damn right it is, girlfriend!”

Laughing, Samantha got up and dusted herself off. “Can you put some kind of saddle on your back, then? I gotta try this! I can make us both invisible so we don’t draw attention and so forth.”

Dart stroked his chin with a claw. “I believe I can facilitate that. But, erm, I meant to mention it earlier… I could use an itty-bitty top-off on the FE… if it isn’t too much trouble…”

‘Fine, fine! Just try to conserve it, would you? Doesn’t grow on trees, you know.” She converted 2 FE into 20 PFE for Dart, who briefly glowed with a white aura from the charge-up.

Dart showed his appreciation by poofing a stylish, hot-pink, jeweled saddle into existence on his back, then leaning down so she could hop on and strap herself in. Dart was clearly mindful of her safety because the harness was exceptionally thorough in encasing her and preventing any falling out, even if she was upside-down.

Sammy made them both invisible, though she ensured they weren’t to each other, which was mostly a special effect she could edit in.

“Ohhh — whoa!” Takeoff was quite a feeling in her gut, as the air swirled around her from the effort of the wings, and soon the ground became not a thing she walked on but ‘waaaay down there.’ She held onto the provided handles with a death grip, silently thanking Dart immensely for putting them there.

They soared up into the sky, the trees getting smaller and smaller below. The wind whipped across the dragon’s back and into Sammy hard, making her wish she had goggles.

“Wooooo!” Sammy exulted in the ride like it was a rollercoaster — Dart soon obliged this attitude by dipping and doing a spin, causing his rider to emit a brief little scream. “You little shit!” she admonished, but was laughing gleefully as she did.

Dart took a moment to crane his neck around and give her a toothy, smug grin. “You love it and you know it!”

She couldn’t argue.

I can get places quickly this way. Maybe with one other. Aww. Azure is missing out! I wish she was enjoying this with me. Another time, for sure.

After a time of simple flight enjoyment in the afternoon air, Sammy began trying to feel her way to a direction of some form of mana concentration. It was not obvious at all — as such, she let her intuition guide her. After an hour of searching, she began to feel something, and ‘sniffed’ out the source progressively, though with difficulty, as it was illusive…

It was in the middle of nowhere — a deep, thick forest. There was a clearing, and a massive, wide, ancient oak tree was growing high and wide, its branches twisting in every direction like a great wooden squid. Only grass was grown around it, and even that sparsely, as if all the life of the area were concentrated into the tree. And it was certainly drawing in and concentrating mana similarly.

They landed nearby, and Sammy climbed out of the harness to walk over. Squirrels skittered around on the branches. She could feel the intensity and energy of the mana drawing into the area and radiating from the tree.

She paused to inspect a tree stump — there were many of them scattered around. Petrified. Perhaps serving as eternal seats for some ancient gathering.

There were also some fallen branches. She touched one and felt it was invested with mana as well.

Certainly a place to note for Tashome…

When she approached the gigantic central branch — enough to make the dragon feel small — she noticed some decaying and partly eaten (by squirrels) apples tossed at the base, left perhaps many days ago.

Not unvisited, then? Hmm.

As soon as Sammy touched the bark of the trunk, she knew there was a spirit within it. But it was asleep. Dormant. Her touch did not wake the deep sleep it was in. She wasn’t sure she could if she tried, but she didn’t plan on it. Being dormant seemed a smart thing in the current state of the world.

Ha. Might peek its eyes open in ten thousand years and see how things are going. I bet Red knows this one. She’d probably tell me not to bug it with my nonsense!

She found a branch to climb up and find a good seat for meditation. The squirrels complained copiously about the matter. A few threw acorns at her.

“Hey! Knock it off or I’ll have Dart turn into a hawk and terrorize your sorry little butts! Think we won’t make a nice squirrel stew for dinner? Huh?!”

Standing at the base of the tree on his hind legs with one hand leaning on the trunk, Dart breathed on his claws and rubbed them on his scales. Then he waggled his eyebrows and blew some smoke out of his nostrils.

Somehow, they seemed to get the hint, or at least responded to her threatening demeanor, backing off quickly, though they did chitter a bit more in agitation. Gradually, they went back to their own affairs and accepted that they were stuck with her for a while.

As soon as she began meditating, it was an incredible feeling of being swept up into the energy, like a sensation of warmth in an entirely new sense of reality. The mana collected around and suffused her — it was aspected strongly with Life and Nature affinity, which she was quite drawn to, ultimately.

It was all-too-easy to simply bask in the radiant glow and let time die upon that ancient tree, that venerated spirit of the woods. She became one with the world and the cloudiness of her problems, worries, thoughts — all of it faded, replaced by the peaceful serenity of simply being.

It wasn’t long before the afternoon died and her corner of the world began toward evening, with the meditation producing fruit just as quickly in that rich, rich environment.

Mana increased permanently by 1 through meditation.

Sometime after she noticed the increase, she dropped down from the branch to conduct in more of the same, but laying half on the ground near the base, the rest of her body propping up on an upthrust of a massive root. This continued on into the dusk — and beyond.

60 Daily FE gained.

21 FE (Mirrors, Fate, Light) obtained from worship. Converted to Light FE.

8 FE (Illusion, Fate, Light) obtained from worship. Converted to Light FE.

3 FE (Fate, Light) obtained from worship. Converted to Light FE.

3 FE (Illusion) obtained from worship.

Over halfway there…

She paused for a bit to hear about the ship coming into the harbor at Geirkos, and that the cargo would likely be unloaded in the morning. Everyone was inclined to get a drink at the tavern after prayers. Bast and Orswyth wanted to pay for an inn stay as well — Sammy instructed them to have at least a few more men do so in case there was trouble. Orswyth was to never be unescorted. Her hierophant was also wearing the amulet pilfered from Wraevaus, though he claimed it was wasteful to use on himself.

Eh, he’s kind of right… it’s an active protection. I really need more passive layers on Orswyth to keep him alive.

The next day would be busy, he said. He wanted to turn in the head of the pirate captain, as there was pretty much a permanent bounty on him provided by multiple parties in Geirkos. In addition, the armor he was sure was of primary value as a collector’s item, and potentially dwarfing the bounty in value to the right buyer. It would take time, however. And then there was the 'horses situation,' but this could be delegated to Canmore and Bamm with confidence.

Captain Aedis also spoke with her briefly, asking for leave to induct others into the fold, as he carefully replaced the crew he’d lost — which included a few still-living marines that had told him they wanted to give up the sea and follow Orswyth. Sammy could barely hide her glee at the prospect of more members. She just told him to take his time, and she’d ensure he was well-funded for the effort if necessary.

He also wanted to rename the ship. ‘Dawn of the Morrow.’ Sammy approved with a smile.

Aedis was an excellent target for Devout, so she made him one then and there, to which he was humbled and honored. Possibly he could be for the priesthood eventually, too. But for the morning, she would raise up Tashome to a priest to handle the ceremonies, needing to keep Orswyth free to do his thing. Bast could observe and learn from Tashome through the process.

Having a little nighttime walk with her Azure glowstone activated, Sammy searched around for the best wood piece, eventually finding one that would make a nice wand. A few looked like they could be fashioned into staffs as well, but she mostly just wanted a ‘sample’ to take with her. She was pretty sure it held worth for enchantment purposes.

I wouldn’t mess with the living wood so as to not piss off a dangerous spirit, but it seems like this shit is left here deliberately. Perhaps it’s some old agreement to provide it. A long-forgotten one, if so.

When she ran it all by Orswyth, he confirmed with adamance that it was the case. All such wood had extra worth, basically like finding a bunch of gold lying around.

Sammy held up the little piece of wood, noting its sturdiness, likely good for weapons, too. She grinned. “May good fortune continue to find us. That’s an order, Fate! Now then. Let’s meditatively grind out a Wizard level, shall we?”

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Note: From that segue, I'm sure you know you can expect the status sheet next chappy. ;-)