Roge woke up surprisingly well rested the next morning, finding that the caravan was still moving through the early morning. The sun hadn’t even risen, though he could barely see anything through the fog outside the wagon. The only light he could see was when he went to the front curtain and noticed the bright orange light in front of the caravan, most likely from a light. It was also really warm inside the wagon due to some bright orange crystals he could see around the inside of the arches. Even though it was pretty chilly out, Roge decided to sit on the front bench of the second wagon to start his day, finding the heat a bit much now that he was awake.

  After harvesting all of the plants he could, noting that his inventory was getting a bit full, Roge frowned. Without the main city for him to sell potions in, he wasn’t sure how he was going to handle all of the inventory space he was taking up. Besides taking another [Blighting Fire] coin, he couldn’t really add anything to his hoard without breaking the rules. ‘Though…’ he thought to himself as he looked over the bonded coins he already had, ‘I can just… increase that… right?’ The buffs he would get from getting more coins of a type he already had would just be upgrades of what he currently had, so it shouldn’t effect him too much. ‘Right?’

  He started off with the [Pigment] coins, using up seeds so he could still have a supply of leaves. As he started adding the coins, though, he found he could go far beyond what he thought he could, increasing the total coin count up to thirty each. He was right about the colorful buff not being an issue, it just allowing him to be more precise with what colors he used. [Color] was the exact same, though it did allow him to use more pinks, which he hadn’t really been able to get outside of adding red and white.

  Since he didn’t have a plant for [Inscribe] yet, he looked through his [Farm Hoard] for any random plant, trying one of the tulips first. He sighed when the coin refused to go in, having encountered that with his coins before. If the magical plant couldn’t *reasonably* hold the ability, it rejected it. And trying to hold an ability that allowed a pen to write wasn’t all that feasible. What he hadn’t tried before was adding it to a non-magical plant, though he wanted to wait until they stopped to try it. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but considering fire wasn’t the best effect to have for a flower, he thought it might work better if he started out with a rank zero plant.

  [Glass Bottle Making] was also something he wanted to try in the future, but he skipped it in favor of his elemental coins. Unfortunately, besides the [Icing] coins giving him the third version of the buff, nothing else gave him more. He was also wary of adding more [Flame] coins to his hoard, being unsure of if he could even get the buff for it in the first place. He was grinning at the boost buffs going up two more notches, bringing the overall buff to four. He was tempted to bind more to himself, but he reasoned that, with his friends’ rules, binding one of each a day was a good thing. Even if he skirted them by just filling up his hoard, he still wanted to go by the letter and try not to get more buffs than needed.

  Thunder, shockingly, gave him nothing, increasing without a fuss as he finished up filling up hoard. Just to keep everyone satisfied, he would consider that his [Ability Hoard] increase for the day, moving on to his [Farm Hoard].

  That one was a bit trickier, as he wasn’t sure which tree to go for next. He was getting a good feeling from the ironwood tree, as well as he needed the materials from the ash tree. ‘One thing at a time,’ he chanted to himself, looking out at the dark fog in thought. He then chose to bind the ash trees, closing his eyes and reaching towards the plants. His blueoaks and flowers gave him a warm feeling as he skimmed over them, while his orange trees seemed to look on in glee. He wasn’t sure if having that last one was the best decision, but it *was* the best way to get materials that couldn’t come from normal plants.

  As soon as he focused on the ash trees in his hoard, Roge felt an overwhelming feeling of protection, the trees feeding on his mana to protect the various plants he had. He didn’t even need to ask if they wanted to join him, as they already communed with his own need to protect his friends. Opening his eyes, he saw a popup, grinning at the new effect he’d received.

  ‘Finally. Something useful for that,’ he thought to himself, chuckling as he looked over the various buffs and effects. There wasn’t really one that fit as a general benefit in combat, but outside of combat, he knew exactly what he wanted to choose. Especially since Hops had just come out to join the dragon, his teeth chattering at the biting cold wind.

  “How can you-“ the elf was cut off when Roge extended his aura, blue embers fluttering in the air around them. The effect of plus eighteen resistance took immediate effect, Hops’ chattering and shivering coming to an abrupt halt. It wasn’t just the buff, though, the heating cloak adding just enough heat now to make things comfortable.

  “Oh. I assume that’s a new buff you got?” Hops asked, looking around at the slowly brightening fog.

  “Yup. Makes it so I can share one buff or effect I get from my hoards,” Roge replied, leaning back and giving the elf a large grin. “Watcha think?”

  “I think that we need to increase that as much as we can.”

  Roge chuckled at that, pulling up his [Status] and letting out a hum. “I could increase it by… Another two by this time tomorrow. If it scales the same the whole way through. Will make a total of plus twenty to ice and cold resistance, though I did just find out my [Ability Hoard] grew in size. So I’m unsure how much I can do.”

  “Go for it.”

  With that nod of approval, Roge tried adding in seeds for his icing tulip one at a time, feeling surprised when he could add up to twenty of the suckers total. “Welp. This time tomorrow, it should be plus forty…”

  Hops just laughed at that, though both of them quieted down when a head pocked out of the front wagon. The wind made a lot of noise as they continued to move, but the glare from the person told them they were being too loud.

  “So I assume you went ahead with your other upgrades just now?” Hops asked, moving closer to the dragon so his lowered voice could still be heard.

  “Yup. Figured out my limit for the coins I have bonded, though I didn’t bond any more today. Thirty for ability and twenty for farm. Also got the ash trees, which should make arrow making a lot more streamlined.”

  “What’s your intelligence at?” Hops asked, frowning as he pulled out one of his books.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Fifty now. Just upgraded it yesterday.”

  “Of course!” the elf shouted, shrinking back at the person glaring at them again. “It’s similar to your inventory. Ten for every ten ranks you have in the skill, but also an additional ten per fifty intelligence you have. So once we get your farm up to snuff…”

  “Just got it to rank nine by adding in the ash,” Roge commented, finding more and more that he kept accidentally swiping away the boxes before reading them. “So by tomorrow or the next, it should be up to ten. Which means ten more plants of each kind.”

  Roge felt very excited by that fact, looking up and noticing the morning sun burning away the fog as the caravan started slowing down. Off to the right was still a lot of fog rolling over another lake, while off to the left, Roge found the beginning of a large forest. The entire wood had a mixture of blueoak, the lime colored pines, and the grey colored ash trees, leading the forest to blur together to make really odd colors as they zoomed by. Soon the caravan came to a stop, though not before moving off to the side on the lake side of the road. While the lake had sand surrounding it’s edges, the side of the road still had enough grass for the wagons to not sink into the ground.

  “Alright! Everyone disembark!” the fire elemental shouted, her voice booming through the three carts. “Time to scout the area! Don’t want any surprises!”

  ~~~

  As everyone disgorged from the wagons, Hops explained what the usual protocol was for caravans. Apparently, the front wagon’s occupants weren’t passengers, but hired guards. Generally, you wanted a team somewhere between six and ten, or Red adventurers, to guard the person driving. Things generally weren’t too bad, as at least one caravan traveled the roads every day each way, but you couldn’t be too careful. Roge and his party wouldn’t have to do much, just set up their own camp to rest in while the guards defended the area.

  “Lot of ash trees,” Roge muttered after setting up their magical campsite using his tarot cards, the fire crackling merrily at the center. The tents weren’t really needed but were good for privacy, though Roge didn’t like how fancy their camp looked. “Maybe I can ask them if they’ve noticed anything?”

  “Could be worth a try,” Marge mumbled, the deer woman currently cooking their stew over the fire. “Why the ash trees, though?”

  “They’re protectors. It’s how I can give you all my buff.” He started walking over to the other side of the road, Sean getting up and following the dragon as he walked up to one of the grey bark trees. One of the guards gave them a bit of an odd glare, Roge recognizing the orc woman from when he and Hops had disturbed her earlier. He paid it no mind and placed a claw on the tree, sending it a bit of mana and closing his eyes.

  ‘Protect. See. Learn,” the tree felt, Roge smiling at the more simplistic emotions.

  ‘Can you protect us?’ he asked, getting a negative feeling in response. ‘Why?’

  ‘Current charges. So cute. Need protecting from bigger beasts.’ Roge opened his eyes at that, for the first time noticing something glittering on the bark.

  “There’s something this tree is protecting in the area…” Roge mumbled, Sean giving him a questioning look. “Something cute and… playful? Small. And it needs protection.” He tried to get as much of an explanation as he could from the vague feelings he was getting, though he stiffened at the next feeling he received.

  ‘Home.’

  “Something’s here!” he shouted, picking up a buzzing noise as it got steadily louder. The lion next to him immediately summoned his shield and looked towards the trees, though the various guards game them both puzzled looks. Roge had no more time before the threat became clear, though he hesitated even as Sean stepped in front of him.

  ‘Cats and dogs?’ he wondered to himself, the creatures looking like black and grey puppies and kittens, each one meowing and barking at each other as they dodged around the trees. What most confused him was the iridescent butterfly wings on their backs, the patterns mixing between purple, gold, and black.

  “Fairies!” Sean screamed out, grunting as one of the creatures bounced off his shield. That got the guards’ attention, all of them rushing over as around a dozen of the creatures started swarming.

  “Watch out for th…” one guard tried to warn, his words quickly slurring as he fell to the ground. More of the glitter had coated him that Roge had seen on the tree, sprinkling itself off of the fairies’ wings as they circled around their prey.

  ‘Prey…?’ he wondered to himself, teleporting a few meters back towards the caravan to avoid a cat’s pounce. The rest of the guards and Sean all slumped to the ground, whatever the glitter was obviously being very strong. ‘They look more… playful?’

  As he dodged another pounce, this time from one of the puppies, he noticed the downed adventurers taking damage from the creatures, though their behaviors almost made him flash back to dog and cat videos on the internet. ‘Cats don’t know their own strength until their taught it,’ a voice echoed through his mind, taken from one of the lion taming videos he’d seen.

  “Stop!” he yelled out, crying out in pain as one of the puppies scratched him on the arm. “I said STOP!” Having used his aura for a good bit to keep the chill away, it naturally flared out at his words, buffeting the creatures and causing them to fall to the ground. Roge had no idea his aura could be used that way, especially when he noticed all of the animals laying on their backs and whining at the dragon. “What did…”

  “Roge!” Marge called out, quickly stopping next to him and pointing her bow at the downed creatures. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah I-“

  “Fairy wolves and cats,” Hops muttered, coming up to Roge’s other side. “Very dangerous. One good hit of their fairy dust and, well, you can see.” Roge could indeed see, scanning the unconscious adventurers to see if they had any injuries.

  “We need to run. Killing them is near impossible.” The deer woman pushed Roge away from the fairy creatures, though he pushed back as he started to walk forward. “Roge!”

  He ignored the call, moving up to one of the cute kittens and scratching it softly behind one ear when he got close. It wasn’t just to calm the creature down, though it did start purring, but also to try and use his [Druidic Touch] on it. ‘What were you doing?’ he asked, having a bit of difficulty turning that sentence into feelings. The best it came out as was a questioning feeling, one that he got a response for.

  ‘Playing. Fun.’ His earlier suspicions were confirmed at that, the cat flipping back onto its paws and batting at Roge’s claw. The attack hurt as it ripped open his scales, causing him to hiss and pull away. ‘Wrong?’ the creature asked.

  ‘Too much. Hurt,’ he felt back, the cat’s ear’s pinning to its head. He reached out again and scritched them, earning him another purr. He also noticed that the fairy dust had coated him at this point, though the dust didn’t seem to effect him. ‘Good thing I have mental immunities…’ he thought to himself.

  ‘Weak. But fun. Powerful,’ the fairy cat communicated, Roge chuckling at the contradiction and letting his mirth flow through the temporary connection. ‘Join your pack?’ was the best way he could describe the next feeling, Roge sending back an unsure one as a response.

  ‘Others fall asleep because of you.’

  ‘Just join you. Feel your meadow.’ At that confusing emotion, Roge mostly getting the feeling of spring grass from it, the cat disappeared with a small pop, causing Roge to jump in surprise. He could feel the feline creature’s joy as it flew around his ash trees in his hoard, Roge’s eyes going wide as he checked his farm list.

  The rest of the creatures quickly mobbed him at that, the constant feeling of a meadow assaulting his senses. Apparently they all had a connection with each other, knowing where their fellow playmate had ended up and each one joining them in the hoard.

  ‘…What?’