Book 13: Chapter 46: Solutions

Path of Dragons

“I’m a moron,” Elijah muttered to himself.

It wasn’t the first time he’d berated his own intelligence, but the self-inflicted insult felt more personal – and appropriate – than ever before. Largely because the answer had been staring him in the face.

Or answers, plural.

In retrospect, it seemed so clear. But in his defense, he’d been too disappointed to see things clearly. For the past couple of weeks, he’d tried to repeat the train of behemoths method, hoping that he could overwhelm the corruption through sheer volume.

It hadn’t worked.

And now, it was obvious why that was the case. There were multiple issues, but the first was the soil itself, which emitted a not-so-subtle aura of corruption on its own. It was mixed with incredibly dense ethera which it used as fuel – probably from the planet’s core – but regardless of the source, the result was the same. So long as the earth itself was corrupted, he would never accomplish his goal.

Thankfully, he had a potential solution for that.

Over the course of his time in Gorveth, he’d attempted multiple times to employ the Soil of Reclamation. He’d never used more than a grain or two at a time, just to test it out, but he’d never achieved any real success.

That was due to the second issue, which came from the air itself. His free-floating soul glyphs, arranged in nine rings, went a long way toward cleansing the atmosphere, but not to the degree that it was entirely devoid of corruption. That was one of the reasons the natives used the farming discs.

Unfortunately, Elijah didn’t have any of those with him. What’s more, he didn’t think using those would help him accomplish his goal. He didn’t want a sterile farm. He wanted real life.

And to achieve that, he needed multiple means of cleansing.

To that end, he established a four-pronged plan. The first leg required quite a lot of crafting. Thankfully, he had a lot of experience carving enormous rocks, so that wouldn’t be that difficult. Time-consuming, certainly. But not difficult.

The second leg would hinge on the seeds and cuttings he’d taken from the Broken Crown. They were still inside his Herbalist’s Pouch, so they were fresh and ready to be planted. Most importantly, they were uniquely suited to existing in a corrupted environment.

The third part of his intended plan came from his already-established strategy of using the local monsters as fuel. If he could sufficiently cleanse, revitalize, and stabilize the environment, he could get the plants and trees that came from Flames of Renewal to persist. With even the slightest foothold, he might be able to reclaim some small part of the world.

Which would enable the fourth part of his plan, which was more of a transition into his overarching intentions. But that wouldn’t come until he’d accomplished the first three.

So, with that in mind, he got to it.

As he set off to find appropriate stones, Elijah felt a twinge of optimism. Or perhaps hope. For so long, he’d wandered Gorveth with no real plan in mind. Sure, there were elements of intentions there, but nothing concrete. Now that he had a real blueprint to follow, he was much more hopeful.

And as he found appropriate stone and began to quarry it, there came a certain satisfaction. Such was always the case when it came to working with his hands. In another life, he might’ve been a builder. A crafter who took pride and pleasure in the act of creation.

The process of quarrying the stone was not quick. Because of the incredibly dense ethera in the region, the local stone was extremely hard. Still, Elijah was well-suited to such an endeavor, even if it took him far longer than he preferred.

More than a month, in fact. Mostly because of the sheer volume he required. But eventually, he managed the feat and toted his product back to Druhmor.

Unfortunately, his free-floating glyphs – once carved into the surface of the Cyst itself – had begun to degrade. And with that degradation came an increase in the ambient corruption. So, Elijah was forced to spend a few days scouring the area before he began to place the stones.

For his purposes, he chose trilithons – mostly because of his experience in building the primitive arches. Doing so took a bit more work than using simple pillars, but that didn’t deter Elijah. The first stage required him to dig holes and plan the arrayment of his intended circle, which took more than three weeks.

He did the work, sinking into a meditative labor trance. Nothing else existed but the task at hand, and he used the resultant focus to his advantage.

When he grew weary, he returned to his tent and slept. When he was hungry, he ate. And at all other times, he worked.

Eventually, he transitioned from digging holes to building the trilithons. That went much more quickly, even with the necessity to carve mortice holes and tenons to hold the structures together. For that endeavor, he used his dragon form’s claws. He had some stoneworking tools in his Arcane Loop, but using them didn’t feel right.

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Ever one to listen to his instincts, Elijah abandoned that notion.

Fortunately, dragon’s claws – especially powered by his silver tier body and massive attributes – were more than adequate for cutting the native stone.

After another month, Elijah had deployed the first ring of trilithons, which stretched all the way around the Cyst. That was when he started carving. Upon the lintel, he cut the familiar glyphs associated with the nine-ring system. However, he let his instincts guide him when carving the posts.

Elijah was no carver. His talents were mediocre at best. But when under the influence of his instincts, he could create truly beautiful works of art. Perhaps they weren’t as technically impressive as those created by real Artists, but they were evocative in a simple and primitive way.

In this case, he carved impressionistic representations of flowers and vines, and in the violet light coming from the rivers of corruption streaking across the sky, they almost looked alive.

Carving the entire ring of stones took the better part of a year.

At first, Elijah lamented the passage of so much time, but eventually, he came to accept that he had no choice in the matter. As important as his project was, he couldn’t afford to rush.

And when he’d finished, he moved on to the next ring.

Thankfully, this one was much simpler. He didn’t use trilithons, and the stones were well-placed. So, it only took a few weeks to deploy them appropriately. So it was with the next six concentric rings. The final circle mimicked the first ring, though on a much smaller scale, encircling the arch.

It all looked so appropriate together.

When Elijah finally completed the nine-ring system of monuments, it became active. But as he’d suspected, the result felt a lot like the atmosphere in Ithalon or Dravkein. Sterile, though with a hint of vitality that gave him hope. It wasn’t more than a tiny thread, but Elijah took it as proof that all his effort wasn’t in vain.

With that, he took a few weeks to rest.

The process of building the rings hadn’t been taxing in the same way that cultivation or battle was, but it had still drained him. Taking a little time to recuperate was necessary. But soon enough, he was back to work – this time, to deploy the Soil of Reclamation.

He’d barely used any of it during his time in Gorveth, but there had never been much of it to begin with. So, Elijah was forced to dole it out a grain at a time, and according to a very strict pattern that he hoped would ensure total coverage. Each spot shimmered with a subtle note of ethera, but he knew that if he didn’t immediately jump into the next phase, it would all be for naught.

So, he quickly set out to gather more monsters.

By that point, Elijah had well established his hunting pattern, so gathering fuel for Flames of Renewal almost felt routine. Of course, that was complicated by the fact that if he made a single mistake, the monsters would crush him. After all, without the advantage of his nine-ring system – which functioned as a draining trap for the corrupted creatures – he would be very much outmatched.

Elijah maintained his focus and repeated his established strategy. And as planned, he used Flames of Renewal just inside the first ring. As was the case every other time he’d used it, vegetation bloomed in its wake.

His heart dropped when he saw it begin to wilt.

But just as despair began to take hold, he saw something miraculous. Around the grains from the Soil of Reclamation, the plants held firm. They weren’t particularly healthy, but they were still alive.

Even after an hour, they lived.

Elijah pumped his fist in celebration, then set out to repeat the process.

Hundreds of hunting trips followed over the course of the next year. Thankfully, there was no shortage of monsters, and similarly, Elijah possessed no lack of determination. He worked stoically, constantly rebuilding the environment inside the circle.

Between hunting trips, Elijah planted the seeds and off-shoots he’d taken from the Broken Crown, though he was disappointed to find that they failed to thrive. It wasn’t until he planted one outside the ring – in the Abyssal Moat – that he adjusted his strategy. The small bush took hold, converting the ambient corruption into energy it could use.

That prompted him to incorporate more horticultural pursuits into his schedule. In addition to maintaining his hunting cycles, he continuously planted, grew, and harvested seeds from new plants.

By the end of that next year, the Abyssal Moat had been transformed into a sea of scrubby bushes and twisted trees. They didn’t feel quite like any other form of life Elijah had ever encountered, but they weren’t corrupted either. Not in and of themselves, despite the fact that they used that foul energy as fuel for their own survival.

But they also formed something of a buffer around Druhmor.

Finally, Elijah finished.

Standing on the very cliff where he’d first caught sight of the Cyst, Elijah now saw a ring of scraggly vegetation surrounding a green meadow that stretched for more than a hundred miles. The coverage was patchy, but from afar, it looked almost solid.

But to Elijah, it represented something far more than an expanse of grass. It was hope incarnate.

However, he knew he was far from finished.

Now, it was time to put his real stamp on the world, to truly convert the area into an island of life amidst the desolation of excisement. With that in mind, he descended the cliff and strode through the Abyssal Moat. Along the way, he couldn’t help but smile as he ran his hand along the prickly bushes.

That smile only widened when he entered the first ring. It almost felt like a natural place.

Almost.

His path led him to the gate of the former Primal Realm. There, he summoned Blessing of the Grove. Water, clean and pure, fell in sheets of revitalizing rain. It collected in the well, filling it quickly.

Meanwhile, Elijah knelt beside a patch of grass and laid his hand on the ground. He could feel it all. The roots. The soil. The nascent bacteria hiding in the dirt. It almost felt like a real ecosystem, but it hadn’t quite made the leap.

Not yet.

It was a small gap, but the area between life and whatever he’d built in that meadow was as wide as a galaxy. Elijah needed to bridge it.

To that end, he used Nature’s Design.

He’d been practicing for months, and he thought he’d found a solution. But incorporating some of the lessons he’d learned from planting the moat was one of the most difficult endeavors he’d ever embarked upon.

Yet, he was committed.

It was no different than one of his cultivation sessions. Sure, he wasn’t being ripped apart by hostile forces, but the willpower requirements remained the same.

Slowly, Elijah wove the plant’s energy, prompting and guiding its growth. He didn’t mimic the corruption-feeding plants in the moat. Rather, he simply used some of the lessons he’d learned from them until, at last, he achieved what he’d intended.

The grass looked no different. Just a simple clump of green blades. However, the structure had changed dramatically, and to the point where it could convert tiny motes of corruption into true vitality.

One plant would do almost nothing.

But Elijah had plenty more with which to work.

With a satisfied smile, he moved on to the next clump.