You try not to sigh, Mai and Yui taking turns hugging you as the golem carried the trio through the mountain range. They were offline and Idle, but it was still slightly annoying of the Idles responding to your thoughts. None of the guild was online, so you took the Idle twins to boost their stats
The trip was mostly uneventful, no players in the area thankfully. So you try to test several methods of transport and see if you could make one that doesn’t reveal your location. The best you can do is make a root spider and be quick and subtle. You can alter the color of the roots to make it harder to spot, but the movement can still catch eyes
You look around the mountains for a good spot to practice. Finding a decent spot out of sight, the golem places you and Idle twins down. Their total stat count was lower compared to the other guild members, so you used Nature’s Bounty to full effect by being nearby. Giving them a 10% boost. The dungeon was in a mountain area and unexplored by you yet. You make sure the twins were equipped with proper gear to keep them safe
You couldn’t stop seeing them as mini Maples, from the crazy actions to the adorable sight of them smiling. Maple was titled from the game as your wife, which you accepted at this point. Sally being a great friend, Kasumi acts as an older sister, Iz is either a friend or mother. If you were to pick what the twins were to the guild, it would be younger sisters
You turn back to the dungeon, wondering the better approach. They needed XP so they would have to do the fighting and you supporting. So you activate Living Armor on them. You think on where to be when Yui chose for you, in her hair
With it reaching to her back, you just added a helmet and you were as safe as Yui was. Her hair was soft and you used your vines to secure and set a clone on Mai, making it easier for you to protect her also. The living armor would act as shields mostly, giving the twins the option to counter attack. Monsters was the main threat of this dungeon, but seemed unique to you
The creatures were clumps of rock that shift into the shape of another monster. Halfway through you were sure, the monsters change to what best suits the situation. The twins being hard hitters but slow made the clusters change to quick and agile. An interesting mechanic, adapting monsters. You mainly block with Living Armor and the monsters have few ways to counter that
Reaching the boss room, you see the boss as a clump of rocks in the shape of a bull. You let the twins handle it when it changes to something like a tiger, becoming more agile. Smashing it, you wait for the loot chest only to feel the room rumble. The center of the arena cracks and out comes a humanoid being of rocks. The rocks fall and what you saw get revealed shocked you
It looks similar to you, but normal sized and earth themed. It’s hair was spiky rocks with a metal crown and stone mask on. Your engravings were green and wavy while it’s was brown and jagged. Instead of clothes woven from leaves and vines, it had plated armor made from rocks. You had vines while it had sand falling off it. Dirt colored eyes and skin that looked like a mix of sand, gravel, dirt, and other earth things
You stand up from the shoulder perch and sprout a root, using it to hold you up. You felt your connection to Sanctuary waver when this thing appeared. The twins lift their weapons as you call roots and Bark Armor while the boss calls jagged rocks and grows more rock armor. It stomps and the arena grows larger, to the size of a stadium
‘The King of mountains maybe?’ The thought flickered in your mind of the king of forests fighting against the king of mountains made you nervous yet excited. You harden your bark armor and the twins Living Armor to the max
It’s a silent stare down as one waits for the other to make a move. The ground shifts and chaos starts. Roots sprout and root golems rose to be matched by jagged stone pillars and the stone monsters
The creations fight while the kings stare at each other. You had the advantage since your roots creations could burrow into its rock creations. Both kings knew this and the mountain king drew a giant stone hammer, you making a hardened root golem with a root battle axe to hold him back. You felt a bit annoyed that he could fight with a weapon while you were 5 inches tall and needed plants or Idles to fight. Yet you were winning the creation battle
The boss was in his own category, smashing your creations with ease. You take out Trunk, your best golem. You started on him when you got the Harden skill, using the skill AND your focus to make the roots Trunk was made of as hard as possible
Harden made it tough as steel and your focus increased it past the limit. This allowed you to reapply Harden somehow and repeat the process, making Trunk grow in power and durability the longer it was in battle
For some reason it doesn’t work out of battle, at the start being as durable as your steel roots and climbs in power over time, but each growth makes the pause between growths longer. Iz and Sally helped you come up with this idea, being the ‘Trunk’ of Maple Tree. It resets when the battle is over, but you felt like Trunk was a birthday gift
You have other root golems slow the king so Trunk can grow. He doesn’t grow in size, his roots, AKA his whole body gets tougher and more mass from the roots growing harder and larger before compacting
You managed to buy 20 seconds for Trunk, making him twice as strong as a root golem already. You give an order and Trunk’s arm moves and becomes a sword. You use clones to see the whole battlefield. Your plant creations fighting the earth creations made it look like a war taking place. After a minute the mountain king reaches you, Trunk and the twins fighting him
Roots and jagged pillars ripping each other apart while the root and earth golems fight barehanded or with weapons made from their arm. After some time of fighting, there’s a loud shing and cracks heard through the arena
You were restraining the mountain king with vines as Trunk drive it’s sword into the king’s chest and the twins bash away with their hammers. After a minute of hammering and stabbing, the twins and Trunk stop to see the results
He lays there for a few seconds before standing up and dusting himself off. Trunk raises it’s sword arm only to be shattered instantly. The twins get restrained by strange looking rocks, straining to break free with no results. You shiver from barely seeing the mountain king flick it’s hand, taking out powered up Trunk and restraining the twins
He turns to you on the root and you consider you might die here when the he drops a glowing rock in front of you “Pass” That was all he said before sinking into the ground, the loot now appearing and the glowing rock left with you “You were testing me? Were you even serious?!” You now realized how small you were compared to the actual powerhouses of the game, your best attacks being dust to them
You sigh and take the rock and twins to Sanctuary. Yui picks you up and Mai picks the rock up. Walking to the couch, you bring Idle Maple and Sally just in case and touch the rock. It doesn’t knock you out but does hurt. Not enough to make you fall to your knees, but still hurts
The pain passed, and nothing happened. You were thinking what happened when Idle Maple lifts you up. You see her menu in front of you and get surprised by the notification ‘Leaf, king of the forest has absorbed _____ and has been upgraded’ You look to see a new passive and ability. Your roots and bark get naturally tougher and the ability catches you off guard
You could use the mountain’s king ability to make adapting monsters like he did. Making a root golem, you have Sally slash at it to find it toughen its hide and sprout vines that block when she comes close. Several other tests confirmed that your golems were naturally tougher and can adapt on their own
This would definitely help an order and forget situation and make your creations more resilient. There’s more to your upgrade from the item but it says locked when you try to read it. Satisfied with today, you call it a day for grinding. The Idle twins go to the beds for them and Maple picks you up to cuddle you. You just lay back and think when Maple speaks “That’s a cool ability”
You sit up and Maple pulls back “How long?” “Just in time to see you test it” Not long then. Maple shrinks and pushes you on your back and hugs you again as Idle Sally watches “Was the fight difficult?” “He wasn’t even serious and my best attacks were nothing more than dust to him. And Yui and Mai’s attack were treated as a massage to him”
Maple moves up to kiss your cheek and looks at Sally “She won’t be online for a bit. What do you want to do?” You don’t get to answer from Maple getting excited suddenly “Am I able to take control of Sally?” You pass control over and Sally picks you two up
Maple hugs you as Idle Sally lays on her back on the couch, placing you two on her stomach. Maple being on top of you, Sally places a hand over you two and stops. With Sally’s hand as a warm blanket, Maple smiles and continues cuddling with you wondering what Maple madness will ensue today
Maple looks up from your chest and pouts. You were enjoying the sight of pouting Maple when she asked “Can I have something back?” You pull her up to eye level and kiss her cheek. Idle Sally moves her finger to rub Maple’s back and the tiny fortress smiles. Doing what you can to satisfy her, Maple and you take a quick nap
“Wakeupwakeupwakeup” You stir to tapping on your forehead. You open your eyes to see an excited Maple “Let’s go do something” You get pulled up and Maple grows before leaving Sanctuary, back in Maple Tree
“What are we doing?” Maple doesn’t answer “You didn’t think that far did you?” “I did!” You wait for Maple’s idea as she wracks her head for ideas
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
