Synexus walked straight up to the tree in pure wonderment. His hand reached out to touch the trunk and instead from a hard invisible barrier about a foot out from him. That annoyed him quite a bit and he backed up to see if any parts were exposed.

  All the way at the top of the crown, on what looked like the fourth floor, the branches flooded over the railings. He would have to go up there and see if those had a barrier as well. His interest didn’t go unnoticed. The librarian walked over and said, “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

  “It really is. Is it a real tree?”

  “It is indeed. This tree is probably the oldest living thing in all of Gale. This library was built around it.”

  “Wow! That is truly fascinating. Is there anyway I could touch it?”

  “Ha, if you could, you’d be the first. That barrier is a mystery to us all. It seems the tree species evolved to have its own forcefield.”

  Synexus wanted that genome even more now. The secrets that tree holds are probably powerful. It was curious that his sensors didn’t pick up anything if the forcefield was part of the tree itself. This was a mystery worth solving.

  “Do you happen to have any books about it?”

  The librarian looked amused, “Unfortunately we only have texts about other’s observations on the tree. There is nothing concrete about the tree itself though.”

  “Interesting. May I read those? Also, I am looking for books on a few other topics if you could help me.”

  “You may. I’m the first-floor librarian, but I can certainly help you find some things. I’m Xila by the way. What could I help you find?”

  “How rude of me, I’m Synexus. It’s nice to meet you, Xila. I’m looking for books about the Progress Druid class, the Ullashtt, and the Zaxillian race, if you have any of that.”

  “Woah, quite the knowledge seeker, I see. I have not heard of this Progress Druid class, but we can find you a book about classes to check. The Ullashtt are fabled beasts, so we have some books with claims of sightings, but most are simply stories about them. As for the Zaxillian race, I’m not sure I have anything on that topic. Perhaps a book on the races found on Motholo?”

  “Any help would be much appreciated. I have a long day of research ahead of me. Thank you.”

  Synexus followed Xila around as she collected the books that would fit his needs. She told him more about the library and some tidbits of information about Gale. She seemed interested in his desire to learn about these topics; however, she wouldn’t come straight out and ask why. It must be against the rules of the library to ask questions.

  They collected twenty-two books in total across the four floors. Four were on classes, levels, and evolutions. Five looked like children’s story books about the Ullashtt. There were two journals regarding that subject as well. Six of the books were observations about the tree, dating centuries back. Then there were five volumes on the races of Motholo, the planet Synexus now called his home.

  Intelligence was an interesting stat because it quickened your processing speed, which for Synexus was already heightened due to his race ability. This meant he could read extremely fast and due to his perfect memory, he would retain the information. The twenty-two books lasted an hour and a half. He had learned quite a bit in that time.

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  First was he finally got conclusive information about his stats. Strength for example only makes you physically stronger to a point. Once you hit that point it only made your body stronger. Agility works the same way. It only makes you faster to a point and after that it only heightens your reflexes and reaction time. Endurance helps with physical exhaustion but works in conjunction with strength to strengthen your internal organs. Perception heightens all senses to a limit and then opens other senses to you such as the ability to sense mana. Vitality and intelligence were fairly straightforward.

  The reason the stats worked like this was because the System was supposedly created as the great equalizer. It was a way to even out the flaws of nature or at least that’s what the book said.

  The second thing he learned was that this class book wasn’t very comprehensive. It didn’t have his class in it or the Cloudmancer class which was disappointing. The regular druid class also wasn’t very helpful except it also had skills that evolved at level 10 and the class itself evolved at level 10 which Synexus now thought was a possibility. There was however a mention of a specialized druid coming to inspect the tree almost 83 years ago. It was vague, but something.

  The third thing he learned was that there was no mention of his race on Motholo. That meant he truly was the only one of his kind here unless they are really staying under the radar somewhere on the planet. This was probably the most disappointing thing he had found out.

  The fourth thing he learned about was the Ullashtt. Xila and Kumo were right; people thought of them as no more than stories. The journals were about sightings which weren’t very clear. One mentioned a living mountain though and he thought of the worm. The children’s books were a series, and each one had depictions of massive monsters. They talked of great battles between the Ullashtt and how they were out to devour each other. It was a warning to read your children about the endless desire for power. Synexus wasn’t quite sure of what to make of them.

  The final thing he learned was that humanity seemed to try everything to get to this tree. Well almost everything. Their definition of everything was every violent thing they could imagine. They tried weapons ranging from common to legendary. They tried fire. They tried spells of all classes to try and break the forcefield. They even tried digging its roots out but failed due to the forcefield going 360 degrees around the tree.

  This poor tree would have faced death a thousand times over if not for its shield. Synexus felt bad for it. Why can’t humanity just leave it alone?

  He sat there in thought when Xila returned to his table. “Hey, this book came to my mind while I was putting some others away. I had forgotten about it, but I read it as a kid. Zaxillian jogged my memory. It’s fiction though. Maybe it will still help. Did you find everything you were looking for?”

  Synexus looked excited and practically snatched the book from Xila’s hands. “Thank you so much for this. The rest of these books weren’t super helpful. The class book isn’t complete. I know of at least two classes not in there. The observations on the tree made me sad. They weren’t trying to solve its mysteries; they were trying to destroy it.”

  Xila looked sad for a moment. “I’ve always wondered if that’s why it keeps people out. It knows the nature of man better than we do. I’ll leave you with that book. I hope it has something useful.”

  She left and Synexus immediately started reading. The book was indeed a fiction novel about a great space war. The Zaxillian were mentioned, but not as a major part. It said they were a highly evolved variant of humans that had integrated technology within themselves and evolved to incorporate it. This definitely sounded like him with his sensors, enhanced brain, and silver blood. But why was the only information about them in a science fiction book? This raised more questions than it answered, however, he would take even the smallest amount of information he could get.

  He got up and started putting his books away even though Xila said she would do that for him. After he finished, he let Xila know and thanked her again once more. She told him to come back if he was on the search for knowledge about anything again. He nodded and then walked over to the tree.

  Placing his hand against the forcefield he spoke in the language of nature, “I’m sorry people have treated you so poorly over the years. You must have been so scared. They even built a prison around you, so you’d never have a true moment of peace. You are one of a kind and your beauty is beyond words. You deserve better than this.” Synexus could feel the sorrow building in the tree. It felt alone, scared, and ancient.

  Then in vibrations shaking the world around him he heard, “Thank you, Progress Druid.” And a seed shot from far above to land perfectly in his hands.