3 And Then There Were Three.

Looking back to the others I understood why they were tense and wary, also why Raven was trying to seemingly get out of this peacefully. Knowing that these animals were backing me up made this much easier and less stressful. So i relaxed slightly but not as much as i would like to as even though they are backing me up i have a feeling this same protection would not hold outside of the Grove.

"Although I am very mad I would not hurt children so you need not worry for your students safety. However it will take me the better part of the day to fix what has been done, so if you truly want my forgiveness I would ask something of you all." I said talking in a calm but clear tone to indicate that I meant no harm unless they did.

Seeing Raven, Logan, and Ororo frown I quickly clarified. "Nothing dangerous, and nothing that would harm anyone. All i would like is some natural fertilizer, various plant seeds, gardening tools, a leather bound journal that is blank, and perhaps a nice mattress."

After having put their worries to rest they seemed to calm until they heard of what I wanted. Then they were all confused.

"That's . . . it?" Raven asked unsure if all i wanted was that small amount of things for what was essentially almost setting fire to my grove, a very serious matter to druids.

"Yes Ms. Darkholme that is all." I replied back.

Once I had said that I realized I had messed up. I wasn't supposed to know her last name . . not many do, that are alive at least.

She narrowed her eyes enough for me to know I was correct in my assumption that I had messed up. However nothing came of it instead she said. "Understood we will acquire those items and leave them near here in 2 days time."

"Ah can you throw in a watch as well something sturdy and cheap." I threw in as I just remembered I had wanted one.

"Of course Mr . . ." Replied Raven as she tried to get more info out of me.

"Eric Hale it's a pleasure to meet you all except him." I said letting her have my name after all its not my real name but what I will use while here since true names have power no one will know it. In case you couldn't tell the "except him" part was aimed at Pyro, call me petty but I don't forgive arsonists.

"Then Mr. Hale until we next meet." Raven replied then stood waiting for something.

. . .

"Ahem yes until we next meet Lady Raven" I replied giving a slight bow. Why a bow because the woman is freaking awesome she has lived for thousands of years and survived, plus she gave birth to one of the coolest mutants Nightcrawler.

*gasp*

Snapping my head to the left I saw Jean wide eyed and looking between Raven and Kurt. Shit!

'Little birdie you better keep that to yourself for now and stop snooping you little peeping perv!' I thought hard at her. Which had the effect of making her recoil slightly from my mental yell. This sadly had the effect of making a rash person make a dumb decision.

"Whatever you're doing, stop it or I will make you stop!" Shouted Scott thinking I was hurting his destined lover. Still not having had time to stop Jean had heard my thoughts and winced at the lover part.

"Scott stop he is not hurting me!" Jean said in an almost yell probably from his over protectiveness he has developed as part of his crush.

Seems like it's not going great on that front Scott. Maybe if you weren't like a bloodhound after some juicy steak when chasing her you would probably succeed.

Having finished my mental roasting of my most disliked X-child I set my gaze on Logan. Time to help a man whose entire life always seems to go to crap at the first sign of hope.

"Well this has been great but I think it's about time for me to go I have much to do and land to repair. Oh and Logan I would like to see you soon, maybe in the next month as I may be able to help your memory loss by then." After having said my piece I turned around and left.

There was nothing I could really do there anymore anyways, and I'll come fix that area once they are gone and can't annoy me or ask how I'm doing it. I really don't want them thinking I'm a mutant and trying to recruit me cause they don't understand magic even though they have someone who's mutant ability is literal magic. AKA Scarlet Witch - Wanda and let's not forget Magik - Colossus's sister.

I wonder if I could help Wanda? Maybe some kind of magic item that would limit her magic or help her control it. I mean Controlled Chaos is still Chaos so it's plausible. Whatever I'm not an Artificer right now anyways so let's get back to some druid stuff.

As I reached my home I began planning out a garden as well as adding another cave that was smaller next to my cave for growing fungi.

Once I had the garden planned for expansion and I had the cave layout done I was going to get to work but then I thought about it and knew that I would need more help to keep my Grove safe from others. So I found a decent sized tree and using my staff cast the second biggest spell it could Awaken.

Now Awaken is an amazing spell however if I had learned the spell the original way I would not cast it due to the steep price of the materials in casting it which is an agate worth at least 1,000 gold pieces which if we were to calculate a gold piece is worth about 145 dollars so times 1,000 means 145,000 dollars in a single agate. Which I'm not sure exists or if it does if I could even get a hold of one.

Which is why the Staff of Woodlands is so amazing and rare; it can completely negate the cost of the spell and uses the magic of the staff instead. That and it turns an 8 hour cast time to a 6 second one so yippie.

Having casted Awaken on a fairly large tree it started to move and twist as a crack went from the base to about one third of the way up its trunk before splitting and being pulled from the ground forming legs for the giant treant. Its wood shifted and bulged from its sides cracking apart and forming arms and then finally the bark along its trunk, a little above where the arms met the trunk, a face formed with yellow glowing eyes.

"Hello little Druid, what do you wish of me?" The Treant said.

"I would like you to protect this Grove from ones who would harm it and it's inhabitants but, I do not ask this of you for free as I will give you something you wish for if it is within my power." I replied to the giant tree.

"As you wish little Druid!" The Treant said before going into a thinker pose with his hand on his chin. "Something I wish for would be more of my kind and a name little Druid."

Okay I could do that fairly easily. Just need to cast Awaken once a day and I can still use my staff for other things, plus this builds up my defenses anyways.

"Okay then your name shall be Ironstump since you are the guardian of the Grove and will need to have the strength of iron and will not let those harm this place until you are but a stump." I replied hoping he would like the name. "I will make more of your kind soon as of now I can only make one of your kind a day."

"Mmm this will do. I, Ironstump, will guard this Grove with my life for those who live in it and the future of my kind! This is the way." Ironstump said before walking off into the forest.

Did he just quote The Mandalorian. Shaking my head I dismiss that thought cause I don't wanna go down that route.

Looks like it's time for me to get back to work so I started to excavate the cave. By the time I was done with the fungi cave and the garden most of my clothing was covered in dirt and mud. So I decided to try out the pond near here and get a good wash.

Ah if only I had Prestidigitation. Such handy magic. Damn wizards.

Scrubbing myself clean and laying out on a flat rock I had moved using Mold Earth(moved the ground under it rather than moving the rock since Mold Earth doesn't affect stone) I lied there in the nude drying off myself and my clothes.

Having sundried myself and my clothes I put them back on and scooped up Kurama since he had been sunbathing with me, as well as putting Klatch back on who was rather quiet when not directly questioned.

"So Klatch, got anything you want to talk about?" I asked. Hopefully he will come out of his shell a little.

"Yes Master. When would you like to learn your Feat? Also would the Master like a book on Herbalism and Alchemy?" He replied in a happy tone.

Every time I talk to him he drops something stunning on me. I should start talking to him more often.

"Yes I would like books on both of those subjects and I want to choose my feat once we get back to the cave." I replied before starting to walk toward the cave entrance.

Once we were in the cave I planted the staff and turned it into a tree and climbed up in it before pulling Klatch off my back and setting him in front of me.

"Okay Klatch let's do this." I said.

"Understood Master please read this scroll." Klatch said while spitting out an old looking scroll that was tied up with a purple ribbon and a wax seal with a twenty sided dice symbol on it.

Taking the scroll and opening it up caused it to flare into a burst of purplish familiar fire.

"Oh shit n--" Was all i managed to get out before i was hit by the flames and started gritting my teeth from the pain as my body burned and locked up.

Now for people not in my own mind it would look like I was in a massive amount of pain but for those inside of my mind would see various shadows that were repeating actions over and over with a small podium in front of them with a parchment colored card on it with a description of what the feat did.

Going around and reading these feats I was fairly amazed. I mean yes I had played DnD and had even DM a few campaigns but seeing the feats in action made this fairly amazing(or funny in Tavern Brawlers case, it was just a not stop bar fight while using anything around them to fight).

Eventually though I had looked through the ones I could use as some were a distance away and I could not walk over to them no matter what.

Having narrowed down the choices to War Caster, Metamagic Adept, or Eldritch Adept. I thought about how each one could help me.

War caster would help me with spells that require a lot of concentration and would allow me to still use spells while wielding a weapon. It would also allow me to cast magic as a reaction to a foe running away which could be extremely useful.

Metamagic Adept would allow me to learn two metamagic options from the sorcerer class. Now this was a powerful option as the versatility in metamagic is amazing. The two metamagics I would choose would probably be Twinned Spell and Subtle Spell as those would be the most life saving in a lot of situations.

Eldritch Adept is probably the least useful of the three options since you can only take Eldritch Invocations you have the requirements for. This is due to the many Requirements on the Eldritch Invocation available to warlocks. But my choice would be either Armor of Shadows or Eyes of the Rune Keeper with AoS protecting me from most mundane stuff and EotRK giving me the written version of all speak.

Reviewing each of them Eldritch Adept is a no go for now. Looking at War Caster it's a really good option but just not for now since the only concentration spells I can use for now is Barkskin, Wall of Thorns, and Entangle. This will definitely be my next feat however.

Being able to twin Ice Knife or Cure wounds is too strong for me not to take not to mention twinning Charm person or even better being able to cast all these spells subtly without someone realizing. That could turn a fight around or even end a fight before it starts.

Walking over to the Sorcerer's shadow constantly varying the same spell again and again I grabbed the card and I felt the power flow into me as I was infused with the ability to do some of the metamagics as the Sorcerer did.

Once the decision had been made I was flung from my mind space and back into the physical realm gasping for air. Taking a few deep breaths and calming myself was hard since I could still feel remnants of the fire in my veins burning like fire ant bites all over my body.

After some time had passed I cast Druidcraft to check the weather and a Crescent Moon appeared with a small amount of clouds. Looks like it will be cloudy today.

Thinking of what has happened today and the stuff I need to do I decided to make a list of stuff I need to do and slowly do them over time.

The List

Don't die. (Repeatable)

Learn the Chef Feat.

Get a legal identification.

Get money to buy a building.

Open a Restaurant.

Use Druidcraft to grow most of my ingredients so my Profit will be higher.

Fix the Marvel Universe.

Kill Thanos (Might need help)

Find someone to spend the rest of my life with. (or at least a date or something)

Make some plants and animals "Magical" if possible.

Well that's all for now I'm sure I'll think of more later. Now it's time to go to sleep. I got a Grove to tend to tomorrow.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< The Next Day >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

*Yawn*

*Yip* *Yip*

*Rolls over*

*Thud*

*Yip*

"Owie that hurt." I said to myself aloud.

Note to self - Don't roll in bed when your bed is a tree.

Well I'm up now might as well find something to eat. After getting ready to go I turned the tree back into my staff. I wonder if I learned the spell Awaken naturally if casting it on the Staff while it's a tree would make it a spellcasting tree.

…

…

…

Mind Blown. I'm gonna have to test that out if I ever figure out how to get another staff.

I walk outside of the cave with Kurama in tow and Klatch on my back. Coming outside I see Ironstump is already outside waiting. Now I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between him and a normal tree if I didn't know that tree wasn't there when I went to sleep.

Walking over to Ironstump I didn't even say anything before I cast awaken on the tree to his side bringing it to life much like I had him. As expected, the old Ironstumps trunk cracked as a wide grin formed on his face.

Once the new treant had formed I gave it the same deal as Ironstump and it asked the same as Ironstump did for me so I named her Summerleaf and told her I would make another tomorrow.

After making the mythological creature I decided to do some fishing since it wouldn't hurt any grove animals and I was hungry, so was Kurama. The circle of life must go on.

Looking about I found a fairly sturdy but flexible branch and by that I mean Summerleaf handed me one of her own. Taking that and some thread made from some twined plant fiber (thank you again Summerleaf) I looped it through the end of the branch courtesy of Summerleaf and whala I now have a crude fishing pole. It just so happens to be the finest one in the Grove too.

Going down to the pond with Kurama I roll up my pants and the pup starts looking for some fish to swipe out of the water further down the stream where he won't scare my fish. Cute and kind, what a little fluffy angel.

Using Mold Earth I sifted through some dirt until I found a few dozen worms to put on the end of my primitive hook, made of a small straight piece of wood and a jagged bone tied together with plant fibers.

Now we play the waiting game. I always win the waiting game. Unless it involves fresh cookies then I burn my mouth every freaking time but that's the price we sweet tooths pay.

It took about . . . I really need that watch. It took a while until they started biting and then a while more and some improvement to my pole and hook before i started catching any fish.

However once we started catching them we got more than enough to eat between the two of us. I of course made sure we hadn't affected their little ecosystem too much and stopped at 4 fish for each of us.

Getting up I sent Kurama off to get some branches while I got to work finding some stones I could use to get a nice fire going and some rectangular flat rocks for cooking on from the shore of the pond.

Once we had everything ready I just needed to light the fire. So after putting all of the rocks in a tight knit circle and using mold earth to sink the fire pit slightly so it wouldn't catch fire to anything else I build up a little set of stairs and a embankment around the fire pit so no embers would fly out into the flammable forest around my home.

Now that everything was set up I just gave a quick cast of Druidcraft and bam the campfire was lit and burning away. Got that going now to set up some of the flatter thin rocks over top of it and using some branches I hung up some fish to cook over the open flame.

Then we were playing the waiting game once again. TL;DR I won again. Once they were done cooking we chowed down not on just fish but some flame roasted veggies as well.

When we finished eating and were done with the fire I used Mold Earth to empty the fire pit of anything but the stone circle by burying it about 5 feet downward.

Having filled our bellies I laid down in the grass nearby and started telling Kurama some stories until he fell asleep. Then I carried him inside and laid him down on some moss we got from earlier after fitting it inside a small bed I made for Kurama to lay in.

Once the little pup was properly put to bed I took Klatch and went back outside to start reading the Herbalism and Alchemy books. Unlike the other books I had "read" these books I would have to actually read and study and while the Druidic knowledge I had gained helped learning Herbalism it did not help me with the Alchemy book whatsoever. After having read for a few hours I had only made it through maybe 2% of the Herbalism book and even less of the Alchemy book.

Of course I could just skip chapters and read only what I want but, I'm not gonna do that instead I am gonna do what I set out to with these books and Master them the proper way hard work and repeating the same action until I can't stand it.

It didn't take me long to realize that a lot of the herbs listed either don't exist or would be hard to get. It also didn't take me very long to find out I would be able to cultivate all of the herbs that didn't exist through Alchemy.

I must have read through the night because by the time I stopped reading the sun was in the sky which meant that my staff had recharged and was ready to make another treant.

Giving the books back to Klatch for safe keeping I asked the two treants who had been watching over me if they knew who they wanted next. Ironstump didn't seem to care as long as it was another treant he was good, Summerleaf however wanted me to Awaken a smaller tree that had been next to where she was previously rooted.

Going through the motions once more before I headed off to bed I cast Awaken on the much smaller tree making it a treant like the others with one small difference. It kind of looked like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy just white instead of brown since it was a birch tree and more feminine in a neutral way, like it didn't have a female body but the curves of the branches and bark were softer and less jagged, not to mention the eyes looked more feminine.

So looking at this female Groot I decided to name her Grindafall.