After fruitlessly trying to rip the roots away from Stalker. The cocoon covering him completely, the branches interwoven and tight, with a green glow enveloping it all and I couldn’t even see inside. I looked around the cavern for anything that could help, saw the axes! I was half way there, when I came to my senses and thought the better of it (It is rarely a good idea to take an axe to your friends, cocoon or not).

  There was movement from the giant wooden construct and I saw Frino stirring, roots connecting to his skin and a slow red pulse from the sap running through his body barely seen.

  I ran over to him and yelled,

  “Help Stalker! Please! I don’t know what dropped from the infected roots, but please save him!”

  Frino, moving slowly, as if still half asleep or getting used to his new body, looked over at my friend and then with slow deliberation, as if tasting each word said, “He… follows… his… path… no… help… needed…”

  Could he be trusted? I know he was a friend, but how much was still him?

  Still if both Stalker and Frino said it was ok? I would try to relax and maybe the way to do it was by getting some answers from the new guardian.

  I nodded, and said “If you say, he is ok… I trust you…” calming myself I continued, “How about we wait for Stalker to be done with his path while you tell me what this is all about?” I gestured at the cavern filled with roots and the woodwraiths standing around.

  Frino looked at me with eyes I could not recognize as his, filled with millennia of experiences and memories and with a voice like a fresh breeze through a tree, said, “I took the mantle of guardian and guard the system and its secrets as my predecessor would…”

  A slow wink indicating my friend was still in there and he added, “Know that the camp and logging teams will be safe from the forest… If they leave us alone.” I don’t know if the wink was more terrifying or comforting, but the words were welcome, curiously I asked, “But what if they continue cutting down trees?”

  “The trees are not important, the roots are…” for a moment some semblance of life returned to Frino’s face and he said, in a slightly faster cadence, “Tell Nelly and Barlo, I saved the day! And that I will live forever!” tears began flowing from his eyes, first clear then getting redder till they were the tears of sap I knew from the previous guardian. He added softly, “I will miss them, I will remember them… forever...”

  Not knowing what to do with myself, and not daring to touch any of the branches (I didn’t feel ready to handle more memories right now). I awkwardly stood and mumbled, “I will let them know Frino…They will know what you did for them and everyone else!”

  Silence filled the cavern as Frino was lost in his thoughts, Stalker in his cocoon and I in the status screen. It was finally time to allocate stats and to see what the Custodian of Lore was.

  I decided to divide the four stat points evenly among vitality, perception, intelligence and willpower. But something was off … Looking at my stats I could see that willpower and intelligence was higher than expected, the reason became clear as I looked at Custodian.

  Custodian of Lore (Profession)

  One time stat gain: 2 Willpower, 2 Intelligence

  Skill:

  Identify (novice)

  Sense corruption (novice)

  Skill selection:

  Echo of knowledge (novice)

  Echo of aptitude (novice)

  Echo of martial prowess (novice)

  Nice that was four stat points more! A shame that it didn’t look like the profession would provide level up benefits. Interestingly, the identity skill worked on items and system manifestations… I quickly used it on the wooden construct that connected the roots with Frino…

  You have identified Ghostwood overflow facility

  I still did not know for certain what it meant, but this could come in handy! The other skill was Sense corruption and seemed to be an active skill that I could use to sense corruption, range was determined by level and perception skill. Ok, that might be useful… Hopefully no more weeding memories… please just no.

  The last was a skill selection, and what a selection! It looked like the Echo skills were tapping into the memories I had connected too and could be used to burrow a skill from there! This was the jackpot!

  I was sure that there would be limitations and quirks for these skills, otherwise the potential for abuse was just way too big. But that was part of the fun! Discovering how to use the skills!

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Echo of martial prowess was not really something I wanted right now, so it was between aptitude and knowledge. Both seemed like solid choices, but I had to go with knowledge here… I mean come on, Custodian of Lore!

  As I selected the Echo of knowledge, a quick blue flash notified me of new stuff to look at.

  Quest (profession): Cleanse the Corruption

  Duration: Open ended

  Objective: Clear the corruption from system facilities or entities

  Reward: Depending on corruption cleared

  Nice! My first profession quest. Looks like a way to possibly get the other echo skills! Maybe that was just me being greedy though. I would have to keep my eyes open for more opportunities.

  Looking at my sheet. This was beginning to look like something I could be proud of! The gains from stat increases in willpower and intelligence were harder to notice right away, than the increases in the physical stats, but perception was noticeably better. I was able to pick up way more nuances looking around the cavern, and also my low light vision was getting better!

  Name: Mike Nielsen

  Level: 5

  Class: -

  Profession: Custodian of Lore

  Race: HUMAN

  HEALTH: 35/35

  STAMINA: 35/35

  MANA: 0

  CONDITION:

  Traits:

  Boon of the traveler

  Companion Bond, Stalker (Lesser Amberpelt Fox)

  Lesser Pain resistance

  Skill:

  Echo of knowledge (Novice)

  Identify (Novice)

  Improvised weapons (Novice)

  Melee weapon (Novice)

  Sense Corruption (Novice)

  Survival instinct (Passive)

  Stats:

  Strength: 5

  Dexterity: 5

  Vitality: 6

  Perception: 7

  Willpower: 8

  Intelligence: 8

  In the grand scheme I was probably not that powerful, but the added hitpoints and stamina and increased stats were welcome and with my “knowledge is power” skill I now had a path that didn’t force me to kill…

  Thinking back on the harrowing experience of culling the memories I had to admit to myself at least, that no power was truly free. I might not have shed blood for these two levels or the profession, but I couldn’t say my conscience was entirely clear either.

  This was something I would have to work through, but right now it was time to see how that echo of knowledge skill worked. I immediately tried to choose appraisal, as that would be very useful. Unfortunately it seemed like appraisal was not categorized as a knowledge skill…

  I would have to see if I could find someone with knowledge of the skills and how they were grouped… Wonder if there was such a thing as skill lore? As I thought it, a faint echo of an elderly woman studying tomes in a long forgotten city came to my mind and suddenly my mind was filled with knowledge about categories, skill types and what they did! Oh so many skills! And more than three categories! Combat, knowledge, crafting, social and more. Appraisal was categorized as a system skill.

  Interestingly I could sense areas where there was more to know, like I was reading a book on skills and when turning a page, it would be blank… My mastery of the echo skill was only at novice level and I could not gain information that went above novice level in the skill I borrowed.

  I could spend hours just going through the different skills and playing with my echo skill, but two things put a stop to it. The first was that my echo of knowledge skill had a timer (How long I did not know, I would have to experiment more with it). The second and more important thing, was that the roots around Stalker were visibly withering and releasing Stalker!

  I rushed to his side and waited as the last roots fell from his body. He was breathing and appeared to be sleeping. His fur looked as it had before, slightly dirty and muddled brown and red, the tail bushy and still the size of a retriever… I emoted Tiny protector awake?

  I got an annoyed little huf and a yawn from the fox in response. I emoted Tiny protector Safe? Danger food?

  He stood up and stretched, then looked at me and emoted food strong... Tiny protector strong... pack strong and then he gave me a little bump with his head.

  Smiling, but not quite ready to relinquish my worry, I said “I’m happy you are okay Stalker, but you scared the shit out of me, that stuff could be dangerous!” Stalker growled softly and emoted Tiny protector strong no kit. Fair enough, I guess I did sometimes forget that he was an adult and maybe I should trust him more…

  He took a step towards Frino and emoted strong prey old pack, I had to think about that a second, and agreed, yes the combination of Frino’s youth and the old facility did make a strong combination, this would probably hold several centuries and if they kept curating the memories, corruption should be at a minimum. Our cleansing, while vital, had really only been a stop gap measure, without Frino’s sacrifice the problems would have been back within a decade or two.

  With Stalker free from the cocoon. It was time for us to get going and after assuring Frino, that we would bring his message to Nelly and Barlo we said our goodbyes and left through a tunnel that slightly sloped upwards, after some time everything changed from the mixture of structures to earth and eventually we exited from a hole in the side of an ancient ghostwood tree.

  We were on the way back to the camp!