"You need to take care of a sapling for that long? Wouldn't that take you a couple of years?" Eisen asked with a slight frown on his face, thinking that this trial was a bit over the top, but Fluke swiftly shook his head.
"Not exactly. These seem to naturally grow quicker... And since they can't be influenced by regular plant control, I can't cheat the system either. But it should just take roughly a month, I'd say. Judging from the growth so far, at least." The Warforged pointed out. With a slight nod, Eisen started moving his fingers through his beard curiously, "I see... A plant that can't be controlled by plant control, huh?" Eisen muttered to himself.
"Mhm. It's the same with any of these trees, they simply can't be controlled like that." Fluke explained, and Eisen just smiled, "Well, fair enough, I guess." He said, and then looked around the tree they were still standing under and extended his hand toward one of the fruits that were hanging from it.
From their shape, they seemed to be like simple apples, but actually they were completely made up of a Ruby-Like material. It was far softer than a regular ruby though, that was for sure. It even had an apple-like fragrance.
Curiously, Eisen just held it in front of his mouth and tried to take a bite out of it, since it technically was supposed to be a fruit, but Fluke just looked at him with a wry smile, "Erm, I don't think those are actually edible..."
However, just when the Warforged said this, he could hear a loud crunch as Eisen took a bite out of it as if it simply was a rather hard apple. With every chew, it sounded like he was grinding up glass, but the old man actually rather enjoyed it.
"Hmm, interesting..." He said after swallowing, "It tastes pretty good, and there seems to be a remnant of some sort of juice in it as well. It is apple-like but vastly different. I wonder if these will have any effect on potions... If so, fruits like this would be the perfect addition for the flavored potions..." Eisen pointed out, before taking another bite from it while noticing Fluke's expression.
"What's wrong?" He asked, and Fluke just smiled back wrily, "I tried taking a bite from those as well and nearly shattered my teeth..."
With a confused expression, Eisen just raised one of his brows in response, "You just have to make use of the same principle you do when grinding crystals like this down for alchemy. Just think of your teeth as pestles and you'll be fine."
"Is that actually that easy..?" The Warforged asked, but Eisen just shrugged as he finished the crystal apple. "Anyway, this will all definitely come in useful in some way." He added, "The Dragon, is it that way? That's the large tree I heard about, I think."
"Mhm, Cracton is that way. There's a cave entrance underneath one of the roots, it's not hard to find. He should be down there." Fluke explained, "Then let's go get my Trial from him." Eisen replied.
"Sure, but... I think you should know something about him first."
"And what would that be?" The old man asked curiously, and Fluke just sighed and explained it to him in detail. But Eisen himself couldn't really believe what he was just told.
---
"Argh, stop it! Close the gate already!" A loud voice yelled out angrily, echoing throughout the whole cave it came from the moment Eisen pushed open the large metallic gate placed at the end of the cave's entrance.
"This is a joke, isn't it?" Eisen asked with a wry smile as he stepped into the room, and Fluke slowly shook his head in response, "I'm afraid it's not... Cracton hasn't left this cave in the past hundred years... He just stays in here and reads..."
"You've got to-" Eisen muttered annoyedly, and then turned over toward his three monsters with a deep sigh, "Melissa, get as many Sunbees out. Sal, make some glowing thread, and Caria, make some Glowshrooms." The old man said with a deep groan as he pushed the gate open even more to let in as much sunlight as even possible while the monsters did just as asked.
Something that the Dragon inside really didn't like, "Didn't you hear what I just said?! Close the gate! It's too bright in here!" He yelled out, and Eisen just sighed deeply.
"Cracton, get off your lazy ass and go outside at least once every few years. I know that Dragons have a long lifetime, but that's no excuse to live like a complete bum." The old man exclaimed, and the large copper dragon on the other side of the room slowly stood up and started approaching Eisen, albeit with closed eyes due to the light, and growled deeply.
"Who are you to tell me such a thing? A mere mortal like you! I won't need to worry, in a few years, you will be dead anyway! If I don't kill you right here and now, that is." Cracton exclaimed, a poisonous green mist slowly seeping out of the corners of his mouth. But before he could continue, Eisen already took out the giant crystal scale that he was carrying around in spatial storage. The moment he noticed the mere presence of that scale, he stopped and took a step back.
"Y-You, but how?! How do you have a scale like that?!" He asked, and Eisen sighed deeply, rather annoyed for some reason, "Doesn't matter, just shut it and listen up. I need to take your trial here and now, so please let me know what I need to do. And once I passed that trial, we're going on a walk outside."
With a slightly nervous chuckle, Cracton sat down again and transformed himself into his humanoid form. It was rather scrawny and thin, just like Eisen somehow expected. He had pale white skin like snow from being in here this long and obviously wasn't even very clean.
"Of course, of course, excuse my rude behavior. Just please don't tell on me, will you?" Cracton asked, and the old man sighed deeply, "Now you're acting like a child? Interesting. But nevermind that, just please, tell me your trial. I've already taken three of them."
"Got it, got it..." Cracton laughed nervously, rubbing his own hands as he slowly turned around, looking at the giant pile of incredibly old books laying there, "I'm quite interested in gathering different unique knowledge, you see? So, my trial is nothing but to make me something that piques my interest out of the plants in this part of the forest. Your time limit is one week, and you can make as many items as you want. But, you need to present them to me all at once. If any of them interest me, you will pass the trial. Of course, you can ask me to look at them at any point during this next week."
While he was moving his fingers through his beard, Eisen slowly nodded his head. That was actually a pretty interesting trial, something he didn't expect. It was pretty straightforward though.
"Alright." Eisen agreed, "Sounds good to me." He added, and while Cracton seemed weirdly relieved, the old man said something that he really didn't like, "I'll get the materials myself, so get out while I'm working. You won't be interested if you see what I'm working on from start to finish." Eisen pointed out, but Cracton couldn't help himself but look at him confusedly.
"Excuse me?" He asked, and Eisen just crossed his arms, "What would you like more? Staying in here, or getting to see something interesting?" The old man inquired, and with a deep sigh, Cracton kicked the ground a bit as if he was a child that just lost an argument.
"Getting to see something interesting..." He admitted, so Eisen smiled lightly, "Good, then that's what's going to happen. I'll let you know when I'm ready to start working."
Just when Eisen wanted to leave again, he remembered something, "By the way, can I use parts from this tree itself? The one we're under?" He inquired, and Cracton slightly tilted his head to the side confusedly and then slowly nodded.
"Sure? I mean, I guess you can use the fruit and some of the smaller branches, and obviously the leaves... Just don't take anything that would majorly influence the development of the tree, will you?"
"Of course, of course, don't worry." Eisen said reassuringly, before slowly making his way out of the current cave as he cracked his knuckles while Fluke ran up next to him.
"What the hell did you just do?" The warforged asked confusedly, and Eisen just lightly chuckled, "I just got a way to freely indulge in making anything I want using free materials, that's what. Hmm, I think I should let the others know that it might take longer than a single night after all..." He muttered quietly to himself.
"Erm... it seems like you know exactly what would intrigue him... Could I ask what that would be?" Fluke asked curiously, and Eisen just started smirking in response to that question, "It's something that anyone like that would enjoy. An addictive snack and drink." The old man pointed out and then looked over toward Melissa.
"Could you get your bees to gather as many nuts, berries, and fruit as they can? But only from these material plants."
With a quick nod, the young girl agreed and swiftly placed her thumb and index finger into her mouth to whistle loudly, "You heard the man! Swarm out!" She exclaimed before at the same time numerous more bees flew out of any place in her hoody as possible.
"And why exactly did you ask for materials from this tree?" Fluke inquired, squinting to even be able to see its top, and the old man just kept smirking.
"I'll explain in a bit. For now, I suggest you clear the area out a bit." Eisen pointed out as he increased his size to the maximum and activated his demonic transformation, just slightly starting to flap his wings.
"And what exactly-" The Warforged tried to ask again, but before he could finish the sentence, Eisen already pushed his body into the Air and jumped incredibly high with the help of his wings. Since they increased in strength ever since Eisen was gliding town that tunnel starting at Marcear's cave, he was able to actually somewhat fly now, even if not for too long. But he was still able to jump incredibly high up, and then just used the side of the tree to propel him even further by kicking off of it whenever he had the chance.
And just like that, Eisen soon made it to the first branch he could stand on, soon making his way over toward the nearest fruit. The fruit that was the size of Eisen's whole body.