No Need For A Core?
269: Wooden Speech

It took a moment for Mordecai to search through his memories and pull out the name of the giant 'tree' before him, which was made harder by the xyloid having grown so much since Mordecai had been asleep. Fortunately, xyloids were extremely patient and tended to move at a slower pace than most other species did.

"Machineel," he finally said, once he managed to find the right patterns to match. Despite what some stories said, most xyloids did not have faces, so visual identity lay in less obvious aspects of their appearance. In this case, it did help that the former zone boss resembled an apple tree.

Mordecai's naming sense and humor had only changed so much over time. It was the scariest name he could think of for a tree-like guardian of a giant underground forest.

He continued, "I had not expected you to be here when we claimed this land. So many of you were being very stubborn when I went to sleep, all I could do was hope you'd find a way forward to your own lives."

"Mm," Machineel rumbled through the creaking of wooden limbs, "some did stay, some of us did not. Of those who did not stay, well, I have been asleep for a long time." There was the barest pause before he asked, "Did you say you claimed this land? Yes, I see now, this is your territory, but, the aura is different. Very different. What has changed?"

For a xyloid, Machineel was talking rapidly, which still meant it took several minutes for him to say his piece. Mordecai was doing his best to keep his speech just as slow, but it did not come easily to him. Especially when he had so many thoughts and ideas racing through his head and he had so much to say.

"Many, many things, my friend. For one thing, I am married. One of my wives is Kazue, another core, though she was reincarnated as such. My other wife is Moriko, a disciple and priestess of Sakiya. When we have a moment, I would like to invite them both to meet you."

While he was talking, Mordecai also checked with Kazue about an idea, and then lightly brushed Moriko's mind to ask permission to act on her behalf. Given what she was occupied with right now, he didn't want to disturb her more than necessary with details that might be distracting.

Mordecai smiled at Machineel, though he wasn't sure that the expression was very visible to the xyloid. Their vision operated differently and it would depend on how focused he was. "There are some other big changes, but there is one that I think is particularly relevant. There is no way we could invite you as even a raid boss for a long time. But, if you are willing to lend me your support once more, there is another option."

Wind whipped around Mordecai as he called upon a different source of power, one that should be quite compatible with the xyloid. "Machineel, on behalf of Queen Kazue, Queen Moriko, and myself, King Mordecai, I humbly request that you join Our court as Our druidic advisor and council member. In return, We offer you the title of Faerie Noble and all the bonds and duties that go with granting you a position in Our court."

The air stilled and not even Machineel's leaves rustled for a long moment.

Then the entirety of his tree-like form began to shake with laughter. "You, a Faerie King? Whom did you annoy to be granted such a title and power? Oh, I need to know so much more. Very well, I accept; the bonds of faerie nobility will not alter the nature of my existence terribly much."

Mordecai's awareness of Machineel shifted to acknowledge the xyloid's new status, and he said, "Thank you. Now, I can offer you a separate but compatible deal. How would you like to also be our contractor?"

There was more flexibility in how strong a contractor could be, but Machineel's existence had more pressure than they could normally bear right now. Making him a part of their court helped offset that pressure. This second offer was also accepted, followed by Machineel saying, "I get the feeling that you already have something in mind for your new advisor."

"Indeed," Mordecai replied, "I do. If you reach out with your roots, you will find a web of mycelium and living crystal roots. The first is our raid boss Sarcomaag. The roots belong to the crystal tree rising from our elevated earth zone. You should be able to communicate with Sarcomaag and use the crystal to focus your attention on a room where you will find Moriko next to a sapling. We will be attempting to bring the sapling into harmony with the crystal tree and blend them together into one life form."

While the crystal was alive, it was simply a living mass, given structure by their wills but with no more spiritual presence than moss. If their plan worked, the Yggdrasil's nature would infuse the crystal and they would merge into one new life form. Physically, the crystal would appear dominant at first, but the world tree's spiritual presence would be the truly dominant one.

"But that is not the end of events that we could use your assistance with. Norumi has transformed herself into a dryad, and she is currently awaiting in Faerie for the opportunity to give her blessing to the Yggdrasil once the merge is complete. There is some uncertainty of how well the blessing will take, and it would be a comfort if you were available to offer your support."

"Norumi? A Dryad? I had not heard of this. Interesting. After we are done, perhaps she would be willing to visit me."

Mordecai's eyes narrowed.

A dryad was typically bound to a single tree, and though there were ways to move the tree by transforming it into a sapling, a dryad could not normally become bound to any other tree.

Xyloids were one of the very few exceptions to that rule.

While the activities common to all animals held no interest to the tree-like entities, a dryad's bond contained a certain amount of emotional and spiritual intimacy even when shared with a normal tree.

"First," Mordecai said, "you should know that she is a forest-bound dryad, and happily married to a human who has become a guardian spirit of those same woods. But while she would probably be happy to see you again, in the way she had when you were my zone boss, you need to be aware of a particular danger."

He paused to let the anticipation build up before he said, "Her mother is visiting. Oh, and Satsuki is not entirely pleased that I am married, so her mood might be a little more volatile than usual."

Machineel took that in for a moment and then replied, "I would certainly not wish to suggest anything that might upset Norumi's mother. It would simply be pleasant to spend a bit of time with Norumi again, and it would be an honor to meet her husband as well." He did not seem eager to mention Satsuki's name, on the small chance that it might draw the nine-tail's attention.

Much like a dragon, xyloids grew stronger simply by living, and Machineel was now nearly three thousand years old and when it came to managing a forest and the environment around it, they were second to none. However, they were not very effective at direct, personal combat.

"That can probably be arranged," Mordecai replied, "though in all likelihood you will need to shift to the Other Side first. She has difficulty being away from her forest on this side, but it is much easier for her there."

Xyloids were mobile, but moving location became more difficult as they grew larger, so it would probably be easiest to let Machineel remain rooted where he was. His power, now enhanced with this faerie title, should ensure that Faerie matched his current environment well enough that he could shift across without uprooting himself. He would simply appear on the other side in the equivalent location.

"Now," Mordecai said, "let me tell you how this all happened. Oh, and feel free to talk with Sarcomaag at the same time, I am sure he would be happy to have someone who he can speak properly with through his mycelium.

Mordecai settled himself into a position to be comfortable for a long period. Given the slow nature of the language they were using, this was going to take a while.

During his conversation with Machineel, Mordecai's core had continued with setting up the basics of their new zone. The theme was 'mountain survival training', which was going to be interesting to flesh out.

For now, he was rearranging the zone into sections with different types of mountain forests, complete with different trees and relative weather. They had plenty of open space to work with, as Kazue had applied a mild spacial expansion effect to the zone. The extra volume of earth had been automatically filled in from the earth they'd dug out for the ocean zone.

Modifying the weather for each section was a little tricky, but the important part was simply balancing them out. If you want to mimic a scrub land mountain, you need to move the extra moisture to the section you want to be a rain forest. If you want some mountain sections to be perpetually colder than the rest, you need to shunt the extra heat off to the section that was supposed to come close to being desert mountains.

Given how they were emulating multiple environments in a single zone, it was not perfect, but it would suffice. The seasons and weather would be a rough match to the local weather, but the processes he put into place would modify it to be closer to the equivalent weather in the simulated environment.

Of course, to be survival training, there had to be both the resources to survive off of and challenges to overcome.

A cave near a spring might be a source of shelter and safety, or it might be the den of hostile creatures.

Berries and other edible plants and mushrooms can be found, but one must be careful to correctly identify them lest they prove to be toxic.

Climbing a cliff to scout or climbing down into a cave to explore can be rewarding, but one must be careful of environmental hazards such as landslides.

As he created these hazards, Mordecai also made sure to mitigate them.

Some mitigations were simple; people were to be given the chance to run and would not be pursued beyond chasing them out of an area if they did; toxic plants and mushrooms were to be mildly debilitating, but not harmful, though they might make the delver consider whether they'd prefer death.

Other mitigations took significantly more effort to arrange. Even for a dungeon, creating wards to allow for rock falls or even avalanches to happen without doing serious harm was difficult. Though, as with many features Mordecai added for safety, he did ensure that it was possible for them to temporarily disable the wards too.

Maintaining this interleaved style of dual path was more challenging than simply splitting them, but intent and fairness were the keys. Also, safety.

To that end, it was time to create some barriers. When the hunting grounds were created, they still needed to be subtle as they were hiding how much they had expanded. This time, they had no such limitations.

Terrain, trees, and thick, thorny brambles were combined into a nigh impenetrable barrier along the outer edge of the zone, which was also the edge of their territory in this area. Between each environmental section, Mordecai created breaks in this outer wall along the edges between each terrain type and then a corridor leading toward the center. The barriers along this corridor gradually lowered and thinned, eventually leaving only a marked path one could diverge from. So long as one was on the path, one was traversing the zone rather than participating or delving.

It did the job; the terrain was so artificial that almost no one was going to accidentally wander in, and if they did, the safe path was marked. There was still plenty of space where a delver could cross between the different environments for different training experiences. The dungeon could always respond if somehow a child or other lost-looking person did come in, but reducing how much border they had to pay attention to or have inhabitants watch helped greatly.

There was one thing to add before Mordecai was going to be satisfied with the layout. In some of the combat-centric caverns, Mordecai laid deeper tunnels. These squeezed tight in places and occasionally had dips that were entirely underwater, and the final stretch of each had some dramatically placed old bones and fragmented remains of rusted swords and armor.

The very last warning was a 'wandering' slime. Beyond that slime, it officially became the sewer path.

He was taking advantage of the power density being equalized between the survival training zone and their first underground zone to connect the sewers. In this way, for the first time, there was officially more than one way to travel into the lower zones.

Multiple entrances were always something to be careful of, but these would be hard for an invasion force to use and the dungeon had the additional safety that they had started reaching significant depths.

With the zone's initial setup complete, Mordecai turned his attention to where Moriko was; working on the inhabitants and bosses was going to have to wait, though when that time came they needed to also make sure that the way to choose between combat and non-combat delving was clear. For the most part, simple location was not going to be enough of a signifier.

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