Chapter 6 - Ten Leaves

Ryan was shocked with what Hope told him, what was the whole deal about reviving her and the 12 goddesses about. From the looks of things, it looked like the things were very serious. He looked at Alaina and thought about what Hope said and how he needed to trust her. It seemed like he was the one last stop before total annihilation of the world.

For the moment he decided to keep the conversation between him and Hope a secret. He probed Alaina "So, what is the whole deal about Guardians and Ranks".

Alaina looked at him and said "Right now you are Rank 0 on your way to become Rank 1. Every Rank usually comes with more power and control over the Mana around us. I am a Rank 1 now due to the pact. Unfortunately, I am alone, and we will have to rank up before the enemy threat reaches us."

"I thought you were a Queen. I think it was called the Druid Queen. I had hoped you would at least come with an army. What does Druid do anyway?" said Ryan confused. As soon as he said those words, he could see the loss on Alaina's face.

"I am a Queen with no army or people. All the Druids have died in the war. I am the last of my race. The Druids are the priests of Divine Trees. We were responsible for taking care of the Trees. Talking to them and carrying out their will. All Druids start with control over the Cardinal of Life. We learn techniques to help the trees grow faster and stronger." Said Alaina.

Some of the resolve crept back into her voice. She started speaking again "We will grow once again, with you at the center we will become a beacon for all resistance against the evil forces. Your awakening must have been a sign to all, the nearest Divine tree is about 3 years of travel, so we have time before the army of evil reaches us. But in the meanwhile, all of the demonic beasts around us will try to attack you."

"What do you mean demonic beasts? Also, I thought you were Rank 1 after the ceremony. How can you even help me?" asked Ryan with worry creeping into his voice.

"Yes, that is true. Demonic beasts are filthy creatures corrupted by evil. If we defeat them and extract their monster core, you can infuse it with Mana and create some followers. I will you teach you the techniques for it but to learn them you will first need to rank up to Rank 1 – Potentiate level." She said.

"Again, with the ranks. What are they?" Ryan asked.

"I will tell you what the first three ranks are. We both need to start cultivating. We don't have much time before we need to fight. Possibly 5 days or less. The first three ranks in the cultivation are Potentiate (Rank 1), Acolyte (Rank 2) and Scholar (Rank 3). Once someone reaches the Potentiate rank, they can use Mana to do basic spells. In case of druids, we can cast the bind which causes vines to erupt from the ground and tie someone up. If someone were practicing the Cardinal of Fire, they would be able to shoot fireballs" explained Alyssia.

"What happens when I reach the Potentiate level?" asked Ryan eagerly. Now that he was here, he was starting to look forward to some genuine magic.

"Since you are a divine tree and I am your Guardian we can cast all the basic spells. As a divine tree you will also be able to create minions when you reach Rank 1." Alaina explained with amusement to his enthusiasm. It reminded her of her youth when she was excited about magic.

"So, what do I need to do to break through to Rank 1? Do I continue absorbing the Mana around me? I want to gather as much power as I can. From what you have told me, we need to be ready to fight." Ryan said.

"Absorb the Mana as you were before, you should not face any obstruction like before since you have chosen your Guardian. Circulate the energy from your roots to your leaves. Instead of just absorbing them, imagine you are directing it to your leaves. Imagine broad leaves and new leaves forming. Once you have formed ten leaves you will know." Said Alaina.

"Okay, I will start absorbing the Mana now. I will go into a natural stage of absorption, you may need try and get my attention because the last time I went into this mode, I ended up fast forwarding my sense of perception" Ryan told her thinking back to the stage where the days and nights went by trying to create the sapling.

Seeing her nod, he started absorbing the ambient Mana. He could see the familiar alteration in his perception of time, the time started moving faster and faster. He could see Alaina moving fast and creating a camp for herself near him. Creating a small campfire and eating her dried rations. He never saw her move more than 20 feet from him. It felt weird looking at some one caring for him so much.

Slowly the Mana grew in him, he ignored her presence and he started accumulating the Mana around him, he could see it forming small vortexes around him. He pushed it to his leaves keeping the image of broad leaves and 10 leaves. Nothing happened initially for a day. It started to pick up pace once he started concentrating more and more. Two more leaves sprouted out of him.

By the third day he had ten leaves. He stopped himself as soon as the tenth leaf unfurled. He could sense the resistance back in place. He now had 10 leaves and just as he was about to ask Alaina why nothing happened. Suddenly his range exploded to 1000 feet around him. He could also see the charred ground slowly sprouting. He could also see a small underground spring come into life 500 feet to the east. If felt as if the world was slowly coming alive around him.

"Congratulations, you have succeeded in breaking through to the Rank 1 Potentiate initial stage. We can now finally start working on making this a defensible place. It's about time we turned this war around" said Alaina. He could almost swear that the petite black-haired woman was jumping from one foot to another.