Doyle sighs, ‘Okay, so I basically have a large chunk of experience I can’t actually do anything with.’
Ally laughs, ‘Oh, don’t worry. It won’t always be out of reach. Gain enough levels and your soul shell will be strong to assimilate that experience.’
Doyle tilts forward and dims, ‘Let me guess. By that point it won’t be worth that much, will it?’
Ally smiles and nods, ‘Oh yeah! By the time you can poke your core for experience, you might gain ten levels, though likely closer to five. Which sounds like a lot now–’
Doyle, ‘But won’t be then. I know. Though side question, will my core grow? Dungeon core novels I’ve read in the past are a bit inconsistent on that.’
Ally shrugs, ‘Yes, but not because of levels. We don’t know what core size connects to, but it isn’t anything displayed by the system. Presumably it is known by True Immortals, but we don’t exactly have one of them hanging around to answer our questions.’
Doyle sighs, ‘Then I’m probably stuck with what I've got. If anything, it will grow “inward” through dimensional shenanigans.’
Ally chuckles, ‘I am pretty sure your world had a saying about how it isn’t the size that matters, but how you use it.’
Doyle, ‘Our souls are literally connected and I don’t know if we’re close enough to make that joke.’
Ally, ‘Meh, just a dirty joke. Anyway, it looks like Ace is about to move the tree.’
Doyle, ‘No, no. We’re going to talk now. I wasn’t comfortable with that and I’m pretty sure it is some late-hitting dysmorphia. Well, maybe it is just some remorse over losing my human body? Not sure.’
Ally, ‘Huh, I guess that could be uncomfortable.’
Doyle nods, ‘I am not a prude or anything, but I don’t think I’m up for those kinds of jokes. Not right now, at least.’
Ally, ‘Well now I feel kind of bad. Which, fair enough. I should to some extent. We’ve never really set down the expectations and we should have. Especially after the rocky start we got.’
Doyle sighs, ‘Good ol’ session zero talk. Reminds me of when a crowd-funded rpg based on a nostalgic childhood property got cancelled over a bunch of controversy, including a much too explicit session zero in the rules. So yeah, I guess we keep it on the down-low right now? At least when talking about ourselves.’
Ally nods, ‘I can manage that.’
Doyle nods back, ‘I am glad we talked it out while it wasn’t a problem. Now, how are they planning to handle the tree? I’ve seen in person how they used to move grown trees, but I doubt that they have a giant truck with a massive metal claw to pluck the tree out.’
Ally laughs, ‘There are so many better ways of doing it with magic, so I’m honestly not sure how Ace plans on doing it. Let’s watch.’
Jim is standing back as Ace walks around the tree, frowning.
Jim laughs, “Too big?”
Ace shakes his head, “Roots are too tangled. In a forest, tree roots will grow together in a way that lets them communicate and sometimes share resources. Sometimes through a fungus network.
“Right now the Oak is losing resources quickly, trying to help the stumps. Which means I’m going with a slightly different approach than the original plan.”
Jim laughs, “So I don’t get to see you pull a giant plug of earth out of the ground and float it back to town?”
Ace, “Oh, there’ll be a bunch of earth moved, I just won’t be floating it.”
Jim, “Well, that sounds interesting. Why the change of plans? I mean, the root connection thing is fun, but it wouldn’t change you cutting out the tree.”
Ace, “Oh, I could, but it wouldn’t be the best for the tree.”
Jim shrugs, “Meh, why care about that? This isn’t pre-system times when cutting off too much root would kill the tree. We have literal healing magic. There are potions of regeneration chilling back in the town. As long as the tree arrives where you plan to plant it alive, a bit of healing and those potions will recover it just fine.
“If only there wasn’t a limit on those potions that prevent them from regening something if it isn’t magically considered the main body, you could have as many as you want.”
Ace, “That is a good limitation to have. You wouldn’t want someone to grab a piece of you and then start pumping out clones. Not that I think those clones would be much good for labor or anything. Without your soul, they’d not have your stats or abilities. Nevermind the fact that it would at best have the mind of a newborn if it has a mind at all.”
Jim rolls his eyes, “Fine, yes, it would be stupid and just line us up for some serious curse nonsense.”
Ace shudders, “Yeah, when some blood or a lock of hair is enough of a connection to force a link for magic, I can just imagine what having a clone of your body would do.”
Jim, “Well, let’s get the show on the road.”
Ace nods and begins to channel power into the ground. “So first, I untangle all the roots. Partly by pushing other roots away and the other part by pulling the tree’s roots inward. I would have likely done this anyway as it prevents unnecessary harm.”
The ground shakes a little, and Ace nods, “That was me pulling the main root back a bit. Now, the fun part.”
With that, the ground really starts shaking!
Ace, “just bundling the roots together.”
And speaking of said roots, as the ground continues to shake, some of those root bundles began to pierce up out of the ground. Eight bundles in total. Each one spaced evenly around the tree.
Those eight bundles bend back over, spread out the roots at the end to form a wide surface, and then begin to press on the ground. Which with shocking ease lifts up. This reveals that underneath, the tree had basically sectioned off a cylinder of dirt under the tree.
And as the root bundles lift the tree and dirt up higher, it can be seen that there are roots crisscrossing around the outside to hold said dirt in. Then the bottom of the plug of dirt exits, revealing a slightly rounded base.
Ace claps some dust off his hands, “There we go! Now that it is separated from the dying stumps, I can pump some power into it and cause a bloom.”
Jim, “Why wait? Wouldn’t it have been better to do that while still spread out in the earth? I assume it needs nutrients for this and that bit of dirt there has a limit.”
Ace gestures for him to look in the hole.
Which reveals a bunch of roots. At first, that isn’t strange, except as Jim watches more, he notices they aren’t still. Those roots are squirming. Slowly, ever so slowly, but enough to see. If only barely.
Ace nods, “Remember, these aren’t regular stumps. They’re the stumps of trees that managed to grow in months. They’re the stumps of trees that if left alone, will overrun the town. I leave the tree in the ground and they’re reconnecting lickity split.
“Now let’s get this show on the road!” And with that, Ace starts the tree to walking after him. Since he is standing still, most don’t notice the change. Right up until he does move and the giant oak tree follows him. Of note, while the tree has eight “legs”, they are not positioned or move a whit like a spider. All the while, the tree up top begins to push out flowers and bloom.
As Jim watched it move, he figured that the best comparison might be a centipede with too few legs or one of those air-powered walking sculptures. The legs moving with a rolling sort of mathematical precision.
Ace notices his attention, “I know, not exactly the most natural of gaits, but it works. Took a while to get this smooth. Would be easier with something that actually moves in the first place. Plants don’t exactly have some built-in guide like muscle memory for doing things. Well, for the most part.”
Jim shrugs, “I’ve had to kill more than enough moving plants at this point. At least in the dungeon, I know what to expect. Out here? While I wouldn’t say that anything could attack, sometimes it feels like it.”
Ace, “Eh, most of that doesn’t count. There are very few plants that move on their own, but they do exist. Stuff like a venus fly trap. Most of the monster plants don’t actually have that kind of thing. Instead, their magic acts on their body, making it more elastic and shoving the parts around. It is only once you get into plants specifically growing in a way to facilitate movement that my magic has something more to grab onto.”
Jim, “Well, can’t you make them grow such things? I mean, you forced those flowers to bloom and they’re still blooming and pushing out pollen instead of turning into acorns. Just give it joints.”
Ace laughs, “Oh, I’m sure I can do that at some point. Sadly, the assassin vine isn’t a good thing to base things off of. They’re more snakey vine movement. Which works, but not the fastest for moving literal trees. So yeah, I just need to find some plant monsters with proper limbs to study. The flowers are easy because the tree already knows how to do it.”
They continue talking about it and end with Jim promising to keep an eye out for any plant monsters with proper animal-like limbs. And not as in some vine creature shaping itself like an animal, but a proper limb.
While that is happening, down in the dungeon Doyle has an idea. ‘Hey Ally, I know I said I was done with floor 21, but I just realized. Magical trees.’
Ally raises an eyebrow, ‘They aren’t going to change much?’
Doyle, ‘And I don’t have a specific idea. Still, I want to add them. I have literal earth trees.’
Ally nods, ‘That is on theme.’
Doyle, ‘But yeah, I don’t know how I’m going to weave them into the floor.’
Ally pulls over a view of the floor. ‘Well, you already have those little plateaus of vegetation. Trade out the trees on them for your earth trees.’
Doyle, ‘That seems a little straightforward. Like, maybe it would be fine, but maybe limit it to the upper plateaus?’
Ally shrugs, ‘It is the 21st floor. Letting them get some earth-attuned trees isn’t a problem. They’re starting to find magical trees of their own.’
Doyle, ‘How valuable are attuned trees, anyway?’
Ally shrugs again, ‘That one really depends. If you live in a place with a lot of trees and water, then water-attuned trees will be more common, but fire-attuned trees might be nearly unheard of.
‘Given the area around the town is relatively balanced? I’d guess earth, air, and water-attuned trees will be relatively uncommon and fire-attuned trees rare except after a forest fire.’
Doyle, ‘Why would they be uncommon? I mean, Ace is literally walking a magical tree back to town so he can experiment and make more of them.’
Ally looks thoughtful for a moment, ‘Huh, actually, they might not be a problem for your world. Well, low attunement trees, anyway. I mean, regular trees are growing at super speed, so a stand of attuned trees would probably grow normally.
‘After all, once you get into attuned beings, they require not just magic, but an appropriate environment to grow. Thankfully, for everything but fire, a regular plot of land next to a pond has you covered. The bigger problem for the mass farming of attuned trees almost always comes down to world energy density.
‘They need a lot of whatever energy they’re using to grow. So sticking a bunch of them in one place will stunt said growth in most cases. Now, they’ll probably want to space the trees a bit further apart than you would need to on a normal tree farm. Though I’m sure the town won’t mind if it means a constant supply of quality magical lumber.’
Doyle, ‘That all makes sense, but back up. Low attunement?’
Ally nods, ‘They are just marked as attuned because to show any signs or have any advantages it needs to cross a threshold. Like, most willows, for instance? Minorly attuned to water. Just not enough to be magical.’
Doyle, ‘I am more interested in the other side of that coin.’
Ally smiles, ‘Ah, you’re wondering about greater attunement to an element? Technically, you already have some of that going on. The wooden goat, for instance. Anyway, the big thing with a greater attunement is that parts of the being have been replaced with the element, so a greater fire attunement on a tree might mean the leaves are literally made of fire.’