Hyperion Evergrowing

Chapter 99: Reunion

The functionality of [Healing Palm] has been regained as you have restored its structural integrity!

Class [Adept] can once again be levelled up!

In his mind’s eye, Leif watched as the separated chunks of the [Healing Palm] skill finally slotted together, settling into their correct places. After countless attempts, he had slowly pieced together the correct process. He needed to will the skill together, all while maintaining a firm vision of the skill’s function. He had envisioned healing energy flowing into the hand, then being transferred into its target.

The mental image had to be firm, but it also had to be held for an extended period of time. It wasn’t the most difficult thing Leif had ever done, but mentally gathering the skill together, holding them in place all the while his understanding of the skill slowly worked to seal the cracks and mend over the damage. His improved attributes, especially [Willpower] and [Intelligence] made the process possible. But Leif suspected [Spirit] had ultimately been the deciding stat when determining if restoring the skill was possible at all.

Leif’s eyes snapped open as he slipped from the domain tree, landing steadily on the ground. A songbird fluttered down from the branches above, alighting on his shoulder and tweeting happily. Leif gave the little creature a gentle scratch with his fully working hand, a claw tipped finger stroking the bird's brightly coloured feathers. He rolled his neck, causing the animal to chirp and hop onto the top of his head, where it began rustling through the leaves he had in place of hair.

His body was more compact than it had been weeks ago, shorter and more smooth. Where cracks and gaps had been, now there was polished ivory wood. Mass had been compressed, then healed until the changes had stabilised. The faux muscles of his arms, legs and torso had been enhanced, though that had taken considerable effort to finally get correct. One of the biggest issues had been balance, perfectly getting the wood he was controlling aligned having been an agonising exercise of tedious trial and error.

But as Leif walked around the domain tree and began to cross the bridge of ivory white wood that spanned the gap between the two bluffs, he could feel the difference in power, the sheer potential waiting to be unleashed. His body was like a tightly wound wire, when he tensed strength flooded into his limbs. The bridge creaked slightly under Leif’s weight, causing him to use a minor part of [Gold Iron Physique] to make himself lighter. It wasn’t by much, but it was enough to stop the somewhat ominous noises.

The middle of the bridge was where the structure was at its weakest, he had initially shaped the roots of the domain tree into a wide platform, but quickly realised he would need to work his way towards the centre from both sides to maintain the structure’s integrity. So he had used [Embolden Vegetation] and [Wood Manipulation] in conjunction to create thin ropes of ivory roots to span the gap and reach the other side. He had then encouraged the growth of the domain tree’s roots in a specific direction, and slowly finished the construction over several days. It had made for good distraction from him accidentally losing all motion in his legs.

Leif was no engineer, that much was obvious, which was probably why he was more proud of the staircase that edged the right side of the mostly round bluff, gradually reaching the bottom at the southernmost point of the bluff. If his domain tree was at the most northern part of the rock formation, then the staircase wrapped around part of its circumference. The isolated bluff was roughly teardrop shaped, with the south being more narrow than the north.

Leif liked the staircase, growing out of the cliffside as it was, roots having been woven together to create large flat platforms. His only gripe was the lack of symmetry, he would need to grow out a second staircase on the left side of the bluff, but that would come later. He reached the larger of the bluffs and got to work clearing away the almost entirely destroyed buildings, scavenging anything that might be of use.

Golden arms moved in a flurry all around him, taking apart walls, dragging away rubble and gathering timber which he then reinforced and moved to a separate pile. He could control more arms now, around twenty, with their reach and flexibility being considerably improved. Leif moved around the destroyed settlement, finding some minor supplies, personal items and even a crate entirely full of pickle jars. He used [Wood Manipulation] to levitate the crate to one of the nearby piles of goods and kept working, his immediate surroundings a constant blur of motion.

As he worked he checked the progress of his latest skill fusion.

Fusion of skills [Time Born Sympathy] and [Combative Gumption] 69/100%

It had been over two weeks since he had started the fusion, and its current progress was with him using every mana shard he had collected except for the black death attuned crystal to fuel the fusion. He had known that the time it would take to complete each successive fusion would increase, but he hadn’t expected it to have escalated so quickly. At this rate, even if he gained one more level and reached level fifty right now, it would take him the better part of a year to bring his skill total down to fifteen.

Ideally he would gain his final level in [Attuned: Life] or his monster class, that way he wouldn’t accidentality get another skill he would have to do something with before he would be able to advance. From what he understood, which admittedly wasn’t very much, each advancement trial would be not only more difficult, but increasingly dangerous. The penalty for failure was the loss of several levels, and that didn’t sound overly pleasant. But if Leif was honest with himself, he was eager to see what the advancement trial would show him. Would it be another glimpse into his past? What could he learn?

He paused, momentarily struck with a thought, his conjured arms stilling in their work. What do normal monsters witness for their level twenty five advancement? He hadn’t considered it before, but now that he had it didn’t make sense. When he had undertaken the advancement trial it had been a key moment from his past, the vision being of a decision his still human self had made and how he had reacted to it.

I don’t think the average monster as of level twenty five would have experienced anything that would be worthy of a trial. Leif mused, brow slightly creasing as he considered the puzzle, the newly gained control over his facial features making the expression possible. Did they see a hypothetical situation? One created by the system in order to give them a choice? Or was the trial something as simple as choosing what type of prey to hunt, or cave to sleep in?

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. The spriggan looked up, and saw only disparate groups of white fluffy clouds. He looked to the south west, where the sound had come from, but there were no storm clouds. The rumble came again, this time louder and much closer. Then a streak of lightning shot through the sky far above, a formation of clouds parting as something blew through them at tremendous speed.

The blur of light changed directions as it fell, angling down towards where Leif stood. The spriggan crossed his arms, his real arms, shaking his head slightly as dozens of birds and other critters went scrambling in fright. Dust and debris blew in every direction as something impacted the ground before him with enough force to crater the stone.

“Well I’ll be.” Said a deep, rumbling voice as a figure stepped out from within the cloud of dust, lightning crackling between their horns, their hands hidden within the pockets of their stitched together rags. “You look all polished up.”

“You just destroyed a bunch of mostly intact furniture.” Leif pointed out flatly.

“So I did.”

“Welcome back you old bastard.” Leif said, his mouth slightly contorted into a smile. “I assume things went well.”

Ram raised his eyebrows as he looked around in mock surprise. “Not as well as things went here, I barely even feel the oppressive weight of death trying to drain my soul from my body, very nice.”

“I told you I was going to destroy the dungeon. I did.”

“Like smothering a babe in the cradle. Wasn’t that thing barely a year old?”

“I… I’m surprised you… care?”

“Oh, I don’t.”

===

Bam was hungry. Or rather she wanted to eat something. She hadn’t felt hungry for over a day as she and the hairy round ones and the tall soft ones and the large fluffy ones trudged through the place that was green. Wild grasses grew in abundance from what had been yucky dirt, and trees flowered, though any fruit was disappointingly out of reach.

She looked to the side, seeking something to nibble. Han had long ago stopped wearing clothing with long sleeves, though that was because she had eaten them all months ago. The little human scowled at her as she sniffed at his pockets, but she vanished in a flash of light when he tried to reach for her ear.

Ever since she had fallen over and had a strange dream, Bam had been… different. Things were clearer, her body was faster, and her ability to cause general mayhem was greatly improved. She didn’t understand the strange squiggles that occasionally appeared before her, though sometimes she did feel an odd sensation coming from them, as if they were trying to show her something. Whenever she did, she would go with her gut and pick the options that seemed to be most fun.

This had resulted in one peaceful night, the sea breeze blowing across the land, a sudden and blinding flash of light to burst from her two little horns, flashbanging everyone nearby. Humans had stumbled away in panic, hogs had squealed and started rolling around. It was quite funny, so she had done it again. Then someone had rudely thrown a sack over her head and locked her inside a nearby tent. Jokes on them though, she had nibbled her way free, then flashed everyone again once they weren’t paying attention.

Bam didn’t know why Lani refused to participate in her fun, the other deer seemed more interested in sitting still and watching the funny humans say their funny words. Bam had better things to do, like shoot lasers from her horns and burn holes in monsters. Then, much to the general dismay of those around her, she had learnt to teleport. After a week of chaos the nomad clans hunting party had dragged her away, pointed her at a rock creature, and told her to blast it to pieces or they’d throw her in the ocean.

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Life was fun, had been fun, ever since she could remember really. When Bam tried to think back she struggled to remember clearly what her life had been like before all this, before the tree with the happy feelings and the warm tingles. Lani had been there then, small and sleepy, and Bam had done her best to protect her.

Protect. That hadn’t really been her job, it had been the tree’s. Bam paused, the feeling that had been growing inside of her for the past few days reaching a crescendo. Past a tree filled valley, along a slowly flowing river and over a ledge was the faint outline of something peeking over the landscape. Though her eyesight was much better than it had been, she couldn’t quite make out what it was. But even then, she knew, how could she not?

A bolt of lightning shot up and away into the sky heading towards the thing in the distance, and Bam started running after it. Within moments, two dozen other animals were following her. They ran through the valley, forded the shallow river, and pushed through the trees. An elevated rock formation came into view, the feeling of life and vitality getting stronger with each and every step.

Bam teleported ahead, trying to go as fast as she could. Home, despite having never seen this place before she knew, she knew that that’s exactly what it was. Home, up the final hill she bounded, a squealing tide of hogs following her as she went. Up the strange stairs of white wood, her hooves clacking against the hard material as she half sprinted, half stumbled up every step.

Breathing heavily, heart racing and eyes blurry she reached the top, skidding to a halt as she saw the towering ivory tree before her. But while it was close to what she sought, Bam somehow knew that it wasn’t quite right. Around the tree she flailed, a bridge coming into sight. Then the evolved deer froze in place at what she saw. A figure had likewise frozen in place as they were walking across the bridge towards her, his body was as white as the tree behind she had passed, red leaves sprouting from their head, amber eyes glowing just as Bam remembered.

Even though it hurt deep inside her, Bam teleported forward, making it over halfway to the figure as she scrambled along the bridge. One of her legs slipped, and for a horrifying moment Bam’s heart skipped a beat as she began to fall, eyes wide, expression panicked. Then golden arms wrapped around her, pulling her up. When she was held tightly against his chest Bam knew everything was alright in the world. It didn’t matter that the protector was shaking slightly, she felt warm, safe, happy.

She was carried across the bridge, as the person she trusted the most mumbled words she didn’t quite catch into her fur. Moments later the hogs and Lani arrived, but they had to wait their turn.

===

That day, Leif found himself unable to move, completely encased in a pile of animals as he was. He could sense the humans moving around the bluff, clearing away space and finding places to put their belongings. Several sent amused looks his way, he could feel their amusement through [Time Born Sympathy].

Several he knew had approached him, the small group of humans standing awkwardly as they tried to catch a glimpse of him under the blanket of happily snuggling creatures. They had then almost jumped out of their skin when he had initiated a telepathic conversation.

This was where [Wisdom of the Ages] turned out to be somewhat limited. For while Leif could talk telepathically, those he communicated with couldn’t reply. The demikin could hear him perfectly fine, but to him their voices came as barely audible sounds, muffled as they were through several layers of animals.

Individuals and small groups came up to him and the animal pile over the course of several hours, they introduced themselves and thanked him for the hospitality. Leif wasn’t sure if he was being particularly hospitable, trapped as he currently was. But he made sure to send words of affirmation and welcome to each and every one, even if it got somewhat tedious not being able to have an actual conversation.

===

By the time Leif managed to extract himself from the stack of beasts the demikin clan had made considerable progress in unpacking and setting up their campsite, intermixing tents with some of the more structurally sound buildings. Cloth tarps were hung in place of roofs, and carts were used as makeshift walls in places where the buildings lacked them. He had thought his efforts in cleaning up the place had been extensive, but in less than a day the clan of just under a hundred people had done more than he had in several months.

Leif didn’t know these people, and to most of them, he was a stranger. But as he began to walk around the bluff, checking on their progress and more formally introducing himself, it struck him how normally they treated him. Sure, several were standoffish, others viewing him as a curiosity, but Leif had somewhat expected the experience of openly revealing himself to a group of humans to be… more difficult.

He wasn’t naive enough to think this would always be the case, these people were of partial beast descent, it likely didn’t hinder him that in this case he knew their ‘revered ancestor’. The demikin were human, but their bloodline showed prominently in their appearance. In his human form, Ram had a billowing, almost fluffy mane of white hair. His descendants shared this trait, though less extremely. Ram had long horns jutting from his forehead, they curved up and slightly back. This trait too was shared by the demikin clan, though their horns were shorter, some lacking them entirely.

In a cleared out area near where the obelisk for the small skimmer docks was located, most of the clan gathered. A roaring fire sent smoke spiralling up into the cool night air, the particles of soot and ash mixing with the sounds of laughter and tired jubilation. Life for these people wasn’t easy, he could see it in the lines of their faces, the posture with which they sat and the sun-worn tan that darkened their skin. Seeing them here made something spark to life within Leif, the knowledge that even beyond the edges of civilization they could be safe, healthy, happy.

Ram spotted him standing off to the side, the high level beast in human guise loudly calling him over. Even among the hardy folk of the clan, Ram stood out as the hardiest of them all. While his descendants wore furs and simple leathers, the goatman looked more like a homeless vagrant. A vagrant who was currently ruffling the hair of a human who looked even older even than Ram himself. The man, someone Leif recognised as the chief, looked like a petulant child as the human scowled at the overly affectionate treatment he was receiving.

While Leif hadn’t met the man other than an awkward greeting between layers of animals, the sight made him snort. He suspected that Ram legitimately viewed the aged clan chief as a youngster, and was completely oblivious to the man’s discomfort, not to mention the amusement of those who watched.

The scion stepped into the firelight as Ram began waving his endlessly full bottle around, loudly telling everyone present of the time Leif had been sent flying by an exploding elemental. Leif sat himself next to the person he knew the best, Kala gave him an assessing look, then nodded as if approving of what she saw. Her youngest of two grandsons slept in her lap, drool running from his open mouth and onto the dirt covered ground.

“So then, there he is, lying in the grass missing both his legs.” Ram chortled, gesturing wildly, seemingly forgetting the aged chief he was currently manhandling, almost sending the man tumbling away. Leif gave the chief his most consoling look even as the man was pulled into a tight one armed hug.

Eventually the gathering settled down, the children were sent off to bed and some of the young warriors and hunters went to keep watch. Topics turned more serious, several of the clan’s elders, including the chief wanting reassurances of his constant presence. It was with more than a little hesitation that Leif had to explain his plans, but then having to reassure the demikin that even if he himself wasn’t within the settlement, the domain tree would remain.

===

“Fight me.” Said a broad young man, hands on hips as he beamed at Leif.

“No.”

“Aww, why not?”

Leif gestured vaguely at the house he was helping build. “I’m… busy?”

“But you’ll fight me afterwards?” Asked the man hopefully.

“Olav… you’re the chief's son, don’t you have anything important to do?” Leif asked, exasperated. This was the third time in as many days the demikin had challenged him, Leif was beginning to run out of excuses to turn him away. Would the clan hold it against him if he threw the overly enthusiastic man off the nearest cliff?

“Nope!” Olav declared, lightning dancing between his horns in a way that reminded the spriggan of Ram. Actually, the man reminded Leif of Ram in far more ways than just that “I just hit things hard.”

Combat experience: Lesser!

Age: Older!

Leif squinted mentally at the system window. “You have less combat experience than me?”

“What?” Olav cried, staggering back as if the plant monster had just struck him physically. “Untrue! Sladerious! Fight me at once!”

“The system doesn’t lie, usually, unless you have a skill that hides your abilities?”

“Hiding is for cowards!” Olav declared, regaining his poise and standing straighter. “And I’ve never lost to a tree before!”

“But you did lose to that rock crab we encountered way out west.” Came a laughing voice, followed by a woman with the same fluffy hair and horns as the rest of the clan, a hunting bow slung over her shoulder. She was trailed by a group of humans clearly ready to leave on an expedition of sorts.

The clan chief’s son’s jaw slackened as he stared at her in disbelief. “Y-you… that wasn’t… It was cheating and you know it Liv! the same way your man does with his damage reflection skill!”

“He’s my man now is he?” Liv said, turning to a blank faced Samil, eyebrows wagging.

“I am not.” Samil said, tone completely flat. “We have a hunt to do. How about you stop harassing our host and come with us?”

“But I desire battle!” Olav stated, the man repeatedly yelling his challenge even as he was dragged off by the hunting party.

===

As days turned into weeks, wooden homes sealed against the weather sprung up all over the smaller bluff. A fenced off paddock for the yaks was created on the sloped hill of the main bluff, the timber Leif had scavenged going into the temporary construction.

Small gardens for vegetables and herbs were planted, the owners marvelling as shoots sprung from the ground in half the time they normally would have expected. A system for water collection was put together by the nearby stream as everyone went about their daily tasks.

Leif continued to work on his skills and body, he spent time with his animals and interacted with the nomads. At some point Ram had left for the mountains, only for him to return a few days later with some sort of massive, tough skinned worm slung over his shoulders. According to him it was delicious. According to the stomachs of his family it was poisonous.

One day a group of not quite adult members of the clan had discovered the fact Leif could alter his body, the teens finding it endlessly amusing to suggest alterations and changes. No, he couldn’t grow a third arm, yes he could technically engrave suggestive imagery all over his body, no he wouldn’t actually do that.

That particular gathering had been disrupted when five evolved hogs had wandered over looking for scritches. It hadn’t taken him long to get used to the changes, but he was sometimes still caught off guard at the different appearances of what had once been mundane animals. Bam teleporting or Lani acting surprisingly intelligent still caught him by surprise. It was hard to imagine them as the silly little creatures that had followed him since his first evolution.

Actually on second thought no it isn’t. He thought to himself, ruefully remembering some of their most recent antics. Bam had managed to get herself stuck up the domain tree, and Lani had followed him around until he had read her parts of the textbook on healing Kala had given him after he had asked.

Truthfully he was tempted to stay, to stick around forever and watch what had once been his solitary home change day by day. But he didn’t have the luxury of staying in one place for too long. Perhaps that was a critical flaw for a tree monster to have, perhaps his willingness to try and learn, to attempt and reconnect with his past life would end in tears. But civilization was calling, with all the trappings, knowledge and danger it would bring.

With a heavy heart he informed the clan leaders he would be leaving. He just hoped it wouldn’t be for too long.