Marcus, having over a dozen different natural tressures being held in front of him. Took a couple of them and began eating so as to not seem rude.
Certainly, Forlorieous had been a bit weird when they first met. But he still needed their help. So, for now he would try to be friendly.
“If it is alright, may I ask you to help me with a certain problem that some acquaintances of mine are having?” Marcus said, in between bites of the delicious black fruit he was eating.
Smiling Forlorieous said, “Sure, but I have something I want to ask you first. How did you get in here without my noticing? My barrier should have alerted me to another great spirit entering my domain immediately, but it did not do so until you were already with the wood gnome’s village.”
“Ah, that must have been due to my false status unique skill. I had it set to show me as human, until I tired to prove to that gnome over there-“
Stopping mid-sentence. Marcus looked over and realized that the gnome that had first approached him was still bowing nearby. Not having gotten up or made any move since Forlorieous had arrived.
Of course, poor Dorser had been too overwhelmed by Forlorieous’ presence, and could only stay their prostrating himself.
That was just the kind of idol that Forlorieous who had saved and protected them from oppression was to the wood gnomes.
“Oh, I had not even seen Dorser over there. I must have been too distracted to notice him.” Forlorieous said with a surprised expression.
She then turned to the gnome and said, “You can stop bowing like that Dorser.”.
With Forlorieous’ permission Dorser stood back up. Though he did not raise his head, still keeping it bowed.
“Now go and tell the others that nothing is wrong, and that the intruder is my honored guest.” Forlorieous said, waving Dorser off.
Doing as he had been commanded, Dorser slowly walked away while still bowing until he was out of sight.
“Okay, now that we are alone. Why do you not continue telling me about this false status skill you have.” Forlorieous said while placing her elbows on the table and holding her head up while looking at Marcus with interest.
Answering Forlorieous’ question. Marcus told her all about his unique skill, and how he just slipped through the barrier while being ethereal.
“I see, it must be some sort of gap in the parameters. The barrier I set up would indeed keep any human out of here, but it is not meant to bar spirits. I suppose this is what I get for having taken a shortcut and linking it to the information generated by the system.”
Forlorieous then sighed, thinking of all the trouble it would take to rearrange the barrier to make sure that something like this did not happen again.
Still, they had learned what they wanted to from Marcus and said, “Okay, now that I know how you slipped in here without my noticing. Feel free to ask what you want of me.”
Nodding his head, Marcus said, “A friend of my lover’s family, is currently having some trouble, and I volunteered to come and ask for your help. I do not know the exact details, but a spirit of nature named Slavia is currently struggling. She apparently is having trouble dealing with the build up of waste from growing natural treasures within an atrium.”
Taking a moment to think. Forlorieous certainly had a number of ideas as to what the problem likely was, being an expert in growing natural treasures herself.
“Hm, if I were to help you, would you become my partner. I promise that I can get you a lot stronger really quickly. For a great spirit to only be level fifty is unheard of.” Forlorieous said trying to entice Marcus to her side.
Shaking his head, Marcus said, “I am afraid that is an absolute no. If there is one thing I cannot agree to, it is that. I already told you that I have someone, and I have no interest in being with you.”
Grumbling, Forlorieous was displeased that her latest attempt to rope Marcus in had failed.
Still, if he was this vehement in his refusal there was nothing she could do.
“Very well. Tell me where this Salvia is, and I will go and help.” Forlorieous said, the dejection clear in her voice.
However, Marcus was surprised by the immediate agreement. Especially after he had just rejected her advances.
“Wait, so there is nothing else you want of me? You are just going to help me like that?” Marcus asked, with disbelief.
“Yes. I mean there really is nothing else I need you to do. And I am not one to hold a grudge just because you refused me.”
Getting up from her seat. Forlorieous moved over to Marcus and waited for him to tell her where Salvia was located.
“She is in the castle in the capital city of Borealia.” Marcus said, not exactly sure what Forlorieous was going to do.
Yet the second he told her where to go, the foliage in the area began to wrap around them, and glow brightly.
An instant later Marcus felt the familiar sensation of warping.
‘Don’t tell me.’ Marcus thought feeling that they had just been transported a great distance.
As the plants that had encompassed him and Forlorieous began to pull away, just as he thought, they were now in the middle of the Borealian royal castle’s atrium.
Normally this would have been impossible, as the castle was protected against spatial infiltration. But in the face of a fully realized great spirit, theses magic formations might as well have not been there.
Just an instant after they had arrived, another tear in space opened up, and Gwyneira in her full dragon form rushed in. Her mouth open and already charging up with a frost breath to attack whoever was intruding.
Forlorieous’ sudden arrival had triggered an alarm all throughout the castle, that an overwhelmingly powerful entity had broken in.
Of course, Gwyneira had gone to confront this entity, but was surprised to see that it was Marcus along with someone she had not seen before.
Still, it only took Gwyneira a moment to understand who was with Marcus, and she ceased her attack.
“Oh, now this is a surprise. I never expected to see a true dragon pop up in here.” Forlorieous said, as if she had seen a cute puppy and not a massive beast.
Shrinking back down and taking her humanoid form. Gwyneira looked towards Marcus and said, “Marcus, I assume that this is Great Spirit of Nature Forlorieous with you?”
Nodding his head, Marcus affirmed Gwyneria’s assumption.
“Great Spirit Forlorieous. It is an honor to meet you. My name is Gwyneira, and I am the protector of this kingdom. I believe that you have come to help out my friend Salvia.” Gwyneira said, trying to be as respectful as possible.
“Yes, that is why I am here. Now would you tell Salvia to come out. I am not going to hurt her so there is no need to hide in that tree.” Forlorieous said, looking directly at the amethyst blossom tree where Salvia was hiding.
Exiting out of her tree. Slavia was understandably overwhelmed by Forlorieous’ presence, as they were the strongest spirit that embodied nature.
Looking Salvia over, Forlorieous said, “I thought I at least knew of all of the humanoid superior spirits of nature? Where did you come from?”
With genuine interest, Forlorieous stared at Salvia, waiting for her answer.
Except Salvia just shook her head and said, “I do not know. One day I just remembering being in a small pool before being picked up by Juniper and her friends.”
Not getting the answer she wanted and having no context as to who Juniper was. Forlorieous reached out and connected with Salvia.
“Ah, now I see. A dungeon born spirit. That is quite rare.” Forlorieous said after looking though Salvia at her past.
After that, Forlorieous having found out what she wanted to know about Salvia looked around at the atrium.
“Hm, a simple matter to fix. Truly for a human they made a decent formation that promotes the growth of plants. Unfortunately, they must not have known about the mana that natural treasures release that degrades formations.”
Walking over to the amethyst tree which was actually the center of the formations that ran the atrium. Forlorieous phased her hand deep into the ground and fixed the issue like she was simply screwing in a loose bolt.
“There that should do it. I have added a new formation to the exiting ones, that will absorb the corroding mana that used to build up. This way Salvia can simply disperse it when it has reach capacity and not have to manage it at all times.”
With astonished faces. No one else had thought that this issue would be so easy to solve.
However, this was just the power that great spirits had. Well except for Marcus, who was still a runt.