Fields of perfect yellow-gold shimmered under the intense star above. A summer breeze swayed the grass dusting up the sweet scent of honey. Sporadic soft lavender clouds lazily traveled overhead.

  “Our mission is clear. Find the stairs and ascend.” Vorin was straight to the point like always.

  “How many floors do you believe there are?” Prith asked the question on everyone’s mind.

  “No one knows. Those that have completed the labyrinth have never disclosed the secrets.” Gene clearly knew more, but naturally no one was going to push.

  Zuls sent Gliya, Hyren, Sovereign, and Whimper into the air with kumo to get a better view of their surroundings. As far as they could tell from the ground, the golden fields stretched on forever. From above, the flyers were able to see weird trees in the distance. Nothing that resembled stairs.

  “Let’s move that way. Keep two flyers in the air at any given time to scout and adjust our course. Prith you’re up front with me. Kumo and Zuls will take the sides. Shell take the middle and keep the songs to a minimum. Synexus you take the rear and cover any tracks we make. We don’t need to be followed.”

  Everyone nodded before taking their position amongst the pack.

  Synexus quickly bent down and touched the grass to collect its foundational code.

  Peleeca (Common): Peleeca is a common variant of grass. Mostly this plant is yellow, however, in colder regions, the grass is known to turn deep purple and lose its sweet aroma. Used in some perfumes. No other alchemical purposes are known.

  Not super useful. Pretty though.

  He followed in the footsteps of the rest of the party using Instant Growth or Instant Repair to cover any signs that they had been there. Realistically they would be able to see anyone following them for miles, but you never know and it was better to be safe.

  His thoughts wanted him to lose himself in a project within his Progress Garden or visit with Splash. Vorin wanted him to stay present and watch for any signs of hostile wildlife. Naturally, he decided to work on Branching Intelligence while they were on the move.

  Altering a blade of the Peleeca every now and then didn’t take any time at all. He simply made quick edits for them to give off a slightly stronger aroma. After the edits, he wove a mana thread between himself and the grass by using his skill. Odd sensations burned in the back of his mind as the sensory information streamed in from dozens of blades of grass.

  Images of the sun beating down on him several times over, the brush of the breeze even when it hadn’t reached him yet, and a slight chill when the clouds would cast their shadows down.

  Synexus was expecting the first connection to snap when they got a good distance away, however, that wasn’t the case. The mana thread persisted for miles. There was no way to tell if the sensory information was being delayed and he didn’t want to risk giving them orders in case someone or something was following them.

  Hours later, the party found themselves at the tree line. The trees in question were strange in that they had white trunks with swirling patterns of blue on them. Looking up to the tops revealed solid round orbs of varying shades of red instead of leaves. Synexus didn’t even wait for an invitation and pressed his sensors to the trees.

  Lotchin Oras: 100%

  Lotchin Wood: 100%

  Lotchin Bark: 100%

  Lotchin Salira: 100%

  Lotchin Oras (uncommon): Oras are a middle ground between fungi and trees. The Lotchin variant is known for the swirling pattern on the trunk and the brightness of its Salira. An Oras forest is often grown from a single seed, and all their roots are connected deep underground.

  Lotchin Wood (uncommon): A spongey wood used for decoration. Poor applications for construction.

  Lotchin Bark (uncommon): Sought after for the beautiful patterns. Used in several alchemical creations.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Lotchin Salira (uncommon): Used by the Oras to absorb nutrients from the light and air. Popular decoration due to the bright shades of either red, yellow, or green. Few alchemical uses.

  Synexus had never heard of an Oras before, but he was instantly fascinated. For all he knew they could have been the creation of some Progress Druid before him, or it could have been a natural evolution. Perhaps fungi adapted to the foundational code of trees and copied them to become something new. Either way it was something he knew he’d continue to think about. What if someone found a field of one of his creations growing years after he died?

  One thing about the description did take over his thoughts. Reading it again, System says that the Oras forests are often all grown from one seed meaning that the entire area around them was one plant and if it was one plant then he could shorten their search.

  He quickly altered the plant DNA so it would grow slightly taller. Nothing that would be noticeable now, but maybe in a few decades or so. Then he activated Branching Intelligence and nearly fell over.

  Kumo ran over to him and caught him before he hit the ground. Silver blood was flowing from his nose, and he groaned in pain while holding his head.

  “What’s wrong? Was it poisonous or something?”

  Vorin created a circle of defense out of the others ready for an attack. Shell started playing her song of healing before Kumo even got to him.

  “No. I tried to use my skill on the forest. It’s all one plant. I needed to use less mana and not dive in so quickly. Way too many stimuli at once.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you to be careful?!”

  “Says the person who attacked a powerful class chosen without thinking.”

  “You know I was under her mental skill!”

  Zuls chuckled in the background.

  “Alright, I’m going to try again, but slower this time.”

  A tiny sliver of mana snaked from his soul to the tree and barely touched it. Migraines came. Waves of agony pushed against his skull as his mind rebelled. He still didn’t break the connection. Instead, he started to filter out the feel of the light, and the weight of the dirt, and the feel of breeze until he could feel the bare minimum. Until the waves calmed and dissipated.

  Slowly he started to add back the different stimuli, but only for a few oras at a time. Using this method, he mapped out the forest a few oras at a time. The closer he got to the middle, the more external movement he felt. That meant the forest wasn’t empty and they would either have to talk their way through or fight waves of hostiles.

  A bright flash in his mind and a searing pain let him know when he was sensing the middle oras. The original. He could feel how much bigger it was than the others, how much older it was. There inside the original was the faint impression of a carved staircase.

  “Three days journey to the middle of the forest. That’s where our staircase is. Multiple people or monsters surround the middle in layers.”

  “Three days? That’s massive. How far until we encounter the movement you sensed?” Vorin was already attempting to formulate a plan after Synexus debriefed the party on the experience.

  “Maybe a day for the outermost movements, but it’s hard to say for sure. For all I know, it could have been a squirrel.”

  “That’s a bad example. We were almost killed by squirrels, remember?” Zuls always knew what to say to lighten the mood.

  Prith laughed boisterously.

  “Let’s hope there is a fight. This is getting boring.”

  “I’m with Prith. We haven’t had a good fight since those snakes.”

  “We agreed not to bring up the snakes anymore, Kumo.”

  “Synexus is right, Kumo, I have it logged from three weeks ago.” Gene spoke for the first time since the conversation began.

  “Maybe whatever they are, they will be friendly. It’d be interesting to see any civilization in this place.” Shell ignored the back and forth to get everyone back on track.

  “Always the optimist! Fine, I won’t hope for a fight, but my blade will get dull if we don’t find one soon.”

  “Should I have Gliya, Hyren, and Sovereign fly ahead to see if they could identify our opposition?”

  “Send only Gliya and have her stay high. We don’t want to scare them if they are friendly. Synexus, can you give us an update every hour with your skill?”

  “I can do you one better, Captain. I’ll leave the connection stable and hone my skill to focus on the oras in front of us.”

  “Real time intelligence, I like it. This is turning out to be something completely unexpected.”

  “Exciting, Captain. That’s the word you’re looking for.”

  Everyone nodded at Kumo’s apt description before cautiously moving forward through the blue swirls of the Lotchin Oras. Beautiful colors surrounded them and blurred together at the speed they were moving. After being stuck on a mountain for nearly a year, being in an alien forest was a nice change of scenery.

  Synexus continually pinged his connection to the forest getting feedback about movement along their path. Things were going great and the party was making great progress towards the center when a surge of mana came out of nowhere and struck through the thin line of the connection.

  Inside his head was a battlefield of mana. A tidal wave continually poured in from the forest. His brain felt like a wooden ship in a sea of flames. Sensations from miles away stung. For a second, he became the oras forest. A forest contained inside one body. Impossible amounts of sensory details confusing every nerve. His senses became distant and lost before a bellowing voice washed it all away.

  “FOUND!”

  Synexus instantly cut the connection looking up at his friends who had surrounded him in however much time he was being mentally attacked. Seconds passed as his body felt normal just being a body again and, in that time, the oras started to move. The forest was sentient, and it found its prey.