Path of Dragons

“Gods bedamned cold,” grumbled Kurik as he knelt beside one of the crops beneath the fortress. He cupped his hands, shoving his fingers beneath the frozen soil. From experience, Elijah knew that it took a fair bit of force to penetrate the ground, and in doing so, one would need to expose themselves to sub-freezing temperatures. He likened it to thrusting his fingers into a pool of liquid nitrogen, though with their inflated Constitutions and Ward of the Seasons, they were in no danger of snapping off any digits.

Still, it was not comfortable, and even less so for someone like Kurik, who was quite sensitive to temperature changes.

“I ain’t sensitive,” the dwarf growled, gently cupping the plant’s roots and lifting it from the soil. “I just don’t like it s’all. It ain’t natural, this kinda cold.”

“Did I say that out loud?” asked Elijah, knowing the answer to that question. “Could’ve sworn I was only thinking it.”

“I hate you,” Kurik said. “With the molten heart of the mountain.”

“Ouch. I thought we were buds,” Elijah said with a grin and a shake of his head as he harvested his own plant. Once he had it in hand – roots and all – he transferred it to a hastily built wooden trough. There were already fifteen plants in there, but there was room for nearly a dozen more. The plants themselves looked like crystalline flowers, but their stems and roots were far more mundane. However, instead of the parasitic living ice he’d encountered in the fortress, this version felt far more natural. Perhaps the Druid had promoted their growth, but it seemed clear that they were native to the area.

But Elijah wasn’t sure that he would ever know for certain how much the so-called Betrayer had meddled with his environment. All he knew for sure was that the natural treasures felt right when he examined them via One with Nature, and he was experienced enough to trust that sense.

Gradually, Elijah and the others filled the trough. Throughout, Kurik grumbled, but he didn’t let that affect his work. Indeed, he took great care with the plants, demonstrating an eye for detail and a gentleness that said he’d worked with delicate flora in the past. But then again, he was used to building often-intricate traps. That required a steady hand.

Neither Dat nor Sadie were particularly happy with the task, either, though they didn’t give voice to their displeasure. Whether that was because of some effort at stoicism or that their irritation was mitigated by the potential gains that awaited at the end of their labors, Elijah wasn’t sure. But he was grateful that they kept their complaints to themselves.

Soon, the trough was loaded, and Elijah combined his efforts with that of the others as they carried it through the labyrinthine system of tunnels until they reached a flight of rough steps that had been carved into the stone. It led to the surface, where they found a cluster of stone buildings that had once played host to a squad of yetis. They were dead now, killed when Elijah and his companions had stumbled upon them three days before.

They didn’t stop in the tiny settlement, and instead, trekked across the landscape for another two hours before coming to a stop at the entrance to a cave. Only then did they set the trough down, and everyone but Elijah retreated to a fire pit they’d established on the day they’d found the cave. But Elijah’s labor had just begun, and he started the process of arduously transplanting the natural treasures into the cave, then planting them according to his instincts.

The cave itself was large and cylindrical, with a ceiling that extended a hundred feet above the surface. But at only thirty feet across, it was narrow. More importantly, tendrils of living ice – the uncorrupted sort that seemed entirely natural – flowed along the walls, emitting bitter cold and dense ethera.

Already, Elijah had planted the Trunk of the Frozen Oak in the center of the cave, and to his immense relief, the hunk of wood – it truly did just look like a giant, crystalline log – had begun to sprout branches. They were short, stubby things with prickly leaves of pure ice, but they proved that his plan had a good chance of working. Around that oak, Elijah had already planted three troughs’ worth of treasure flowers. A few had taken quite a while to take root, even with him flaring Nature’s Bounty the entire time, but at present, they were just as healthy – if not moreso – than they had been in their original fields.

But he was only half done. So, after spending a few more hours laboriously planting the small flowers, he gathered the others and embarked upon another gathering expedition. This time, even Sadie and Dat complained about leaving the fire, but they went along anyway. If they couldn’t handle the gathering process, then there was no way they could withstand the biting cold of Elijah’s new cultivation cave.

Over the next week, they worked tirelessly to fill the cave with plants. In addition, Elijah had found a couple of other varieties of icy flora that gave the cave a slightly different flavor, enhancing the ethera. More importantly, it brought balance and, of course, beauty to the cave.

Once the cavern was populated, Elijah settled in to enhance its growth and infuse the area with his essence via Nature’s Bounty, One with Nature, and Healing Rain. It was not a pleasant experience, spending each subsequent day being bathed in sleet while surrounded by sub-zero temperatures. However, for Elijah, it felt more like a cold shower than the debilitating and deadly environment it would have been without his distinct advantages.

It was fortunate, because it granted him the ability to truly appreciate what he’d built. Of what he had grown. Stepping back, he stared at it in awe. The cave floor was entirely covered in life, with each one glittering with ethereal light. A slight breeze flowed through, rustling the frozen oak’s prickly leaves, and the rivers of icy growth flowing through the walls shone with ethereal power.

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The air was dense with ethera, thick enough to rival – or even surpass – his cultivation cave back home. At first, he’d been a bit disappointed with how easily he’d managed to create such a powerful environment – after all, back on his island, it had taken months of growth to achieve similar results – but he comforted himself with the knowledge that the excised world’s ambient ethera was much denser than it was on Earth. It wasn’t quite at the level of his island, but it was close enough that the ability to build such a powerful cultivation environment should not have been surprising.

Especially considering the sheer number of natural treasures he’d used in its creation. Even when he’d first harvested them, they had shown great power, but after weeks of his attention, they’d grown even stronger.

But now, he had a slight problem and a choice to make.

The first concerned his own cultivation. Now that he had a suitable environment, he needed to confront the fact that none of his methods of advancing his Mind had proven fruitful. He still had a few things he wanted to try, but without a proper technique, the environment would be wasted. In short, he couldn’t do anything with the masterpiece that was his cultivation cave until he knew how to advance.

So, the choice was simple – did he spend who knew how long focusing on trying one method after another in a quest to advance to the Jade stage of Mind cultivation, or did he and his companions continue on with the rest of their plans? They’d spoken of it quite a bit, and they’d resolved to continue focusing on the challenges, just like before. However, if they found somewhere that represented what Dat called a “premium grinding spot”, they would take full advantage of it. What qualified an area for that label was anyone’s guess, though.

Regardless, it was not Elijah’s choice to make alone. So, after taking one last look at his creation, he left the cave and joined his companions around the fire. They didn’t look so miserable as before, but the cold was obviously still affecting them. Kurik in particular had moved so close to the fire pit that his clothes had begun to smolder. He didn’t seem to care, though.

Elijah sat down and, without ceremony, announced, “It’s done. It’s ready if any of you want to give it a shot. I’ll warn you that advancing your cultivation is rarely a painless process. And it usually takes weeks to do it properly. I think it’ll be better once the cave has a chance to marinate a bit, so we may want to wait. You’re also going to need to be prepared for the technique. I’ve already told you all what worked for me, but I can’t say it’ll be the same for you. And if you’re advancing your Core, I can guarantee your experience will be a lot different from what I went through.”

Indeed, what he’d gone through to take his first steps into the Whelp stage of Core cultivation had been unique to those following the Path of the Dragon. As such, there was no chance any of the others would experience something similar.

“Can we see it?” asked Dat.

Elijah shrugged. “If you want, but it’s extremely cold in there,” he said. “Like, if it’s warmer than a hundred below zero…”

“Fahrenheit or Celsius?”

“He’s American, Dat,” Sadie said.

“I’ll have you know that I was a scientist before the world changed, and I used the metric system way more than the imperial system,” Elijah said. It was a lie. He’d grown up with imperial measurements, so that was automatically how he categorized things. At work, he’d had to convert measurements in his mind. “But it doesn’t matter. Cold is cold.”

“Ain’t that the truth. You humans and your fascination with exact numbers. You’re practically goblins.”

“Do you want to see it or not?” Elijah asked. “We also need to think about what we’re going to do when we leave.”

“What do you mean?”

“If someone else comes here, they’re going to tear everything apart, harvest all the plants, and chop down my tree,” Elijah said. “Those are all natural treasures. Do you have any idea what that’s worth?”

“A lot?” Dat guessed.

“More than a lot. Natural treasures aren’t exactly rare on Earth – or here, really – but they’re almost always protected by a powerful guardian. Fighting them is a bad idea unless you’re pretty strong, and even then, it can be a death sentence. For instance, there was this boar terrorizing the plains south of Argos. No weapons could penetrate its hide, and it was maddened by the loss of its natural treasure. It –”

“Wait, how does that work?” Sadie asked.

“Guardians are here because the World Tree wants them here. They’re tied to their treasures, and usually, they’ll die before they let anyone harvest them. But sometimes, people figure out a way to steal them out from under a guardian. And it drives them crazy,” Elijah said. “I’ve seen some that recovered, but it’s just as likely that they’ll go on a rampage. At that point, they’re no better than monsters.”

“Is there a difference between monsters and guardians?” she followed up.

Elijah shrugged. “Fundamentally? No. They all have similar origins, from what I understand. But monsters aren’t supposed to be here. Or on Earth, I guess. They kind of got picked up by accident when the World Tree was integrating the planet. That’s what I’ve been told, at least. I don’t know how true it is, but it seemed right to me. My point is that natural treasures are hard to come by, and because of that, they’re extremely valuable. They’re also used in various tradeskills.”

“I see,” Saide said, tapping her lip. “Then we should seal the cave and camouflage it until we’re ready to use it.”

“I agree,” Elijah said. “Even then, I just hope nobody stumbles on it.”

“I could trap it.”

“No,” Elijah replied to Kurik’s suggestion. “I don’t want to kill someone just for stumbling onto our cave. If it comes to that, I’d rather they just use it.”

“Ain’t no shame in protectin’ what’s yours,” the dwarf said.

“I said no, Kurik.”

“Fine. If it keeps us from havin’ to come back here to this gods bedamned cold, I’ll do whatever you say.”

“You know you’re going to have to use the cave, right?”

“I know! Don’t mean I’m happy ‘bout it!”

That drew a chuckle at the dwarf’s expense before Elijah led everyone to the cave. They were suitably awed by it, but no one wanted to stick around for more than a few minutes. It was one thing to steel oneself against such torturous cold in the name of advancing cultivation, but something else altogether to do so with no discernible benefit. In the end, no one was ready to use the cave for its intended purpose, so they spent another few days piling rocks in front of the entrance, then arranging the local flora to disguise their work. By the time they’d finished, it was indiscernible from any other pile of rocks, so they left the area hoping that they’d done enough to protect their investment. Only time would tell, though.

And just like that, they left the second challenge and headed back to the Nexus Town to find the next step.

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