Once Jack clicked the accept button, the seed seeped into the soft ground.
"So… I guess it takes some days before we can see the sapling?" Jack asked.
Before either John or Peniel could answer, Jack heard a popping sound from underneath him. He looked back down and saw the ground had cracked. Something that looked like a green vine sprouted from that crack. Jack jumped away to not block the vine's growth.
The green vine continued to grow until almost Jack's height before stopping. Jack used his Inspect then.
*
Rune Tree, stage: Sapling
Heals 1000 HP every 10 seconds to all allies within a 1-kilometer radius.
Purify all allies within the AOE of 1 status ailment every 1 minute.
The area will enlarge following the rune tree's growth.
Active ability: Heals 30% HP and removes 2 status ailments to all allies within the area. Requires a registered ally nearby to activate this skill. Cooldown: 1 day.
HP: 50,000/50,000
*
"Oh? It even has an active ability," Jack said after reading the description.
"Yes, it can only be activated by either you or someone you register into the tree's system. Try accessing the system and inputting my name," John said.
Jack touched the tree and such a display box appeared. There was a command to use the tree's active ability and the second part of the box was the option to register the names. He inputted John's name. He could register a total of five names. John gave him four more names of those who were most likely stationed inside this mobile fortress, so they could come and activate this tree's active ability when John was occupied.
John called a nearby native officer. He told the officer to round up the wounded Themisphere soldiers and have them stay either inside or near the fortress. In this way, they could cut down their usage of recovery potions.
Jack reminded the officer before he left to also invite wounded Sangrod or Hydrurond soldiers if there was available space.
The tree's AOE was huge, but a 1-kilometer radius was a far cry from Peniel's claim about it being able to affect a metropolis-size area. If they were to fit all the wounded soldiers from the three armies, they would have to take turns.
John mentioned in one month, the rune tree's AOE should be able to cover the territory of their guild headquarters. Their guild headquarters was about the size of a large village or a small town, so that was significant enough.
"The tree's HP is very low for a static object," Jack remarked. "It will be easy if our enemy wants to destroy it."
"That's why the tree needs to be planted in a protected area," Peniel said. "Don't worry. It is still a sapling. Its HP will increase as it grows, and so will its healing ability. The number of HP it heals will also increase as it becomes bigger."
"It will reach its highest potential after one year?" Jack asked. He hoped the war didn't last that long.
"No, it will reach its adult stage after one year," Peniel said. "Its highest potential is when it reaches the ancient stage. At that stage, its AOE can cover even a megalopolis."
"Wow, how long will that take?" Jack asked.
"Ten years," Peniel answered.
'I definitely hope the war doesn't last that long,' Jack repeated in his mind.
"By the way, where are Emris' troops?" Jack asked John. "I thought you were supposed to come with our army from Themisphere."
"I have another task for that army. No need for you to be concerned about that army," John answered.
"What the hell do you mean I no need to be concerned? They are my army, aren't they?" Jack complained, but John ignored him and resumed waking toward the keep.
While the troops reorganized themselves to make use of the rune tree's effect, Jack and the others went into the keep inside the mobile fortress. The interior was roughly the same as another fort's keep. There were living quarters, a kitchen, and a mess hall.
As they went upstairs, they passed a room that John called the bridge. This was where the players piloted the mobile fortress and manually controlled its arms. John brought them to a room another floor above. When Jack entered, he found the room to be similar to a throne room, only much smaller. It even had a throne at the end of the room, only less extravagance.
Seeing this miniature throne room, Jack could roughly guess its function. "Are you telling me I can access my monarch system from here?" Jack asked.
John nodded. "That's right. With this mobile throne room, you don't need to return to Thereath."
"Awesome!" Jack exclaimed. He walked to the throne to give it a try.
"Nice choice to choose this mobile throne room to build first," Peniel praised John.
"Wait, are you saying this room isn't here when the mobile fortress is built?" Jack asked.
"No. This mobile throne room is one of the available upgrades for a mobile fortress," Peniel answered. "You can only have one, though. If you construct another mobile fortress, you can't build a second mobile throne room in that second fortress. Unless this first one is destroyed, then you can build another to replace the destroyed one. It sort of has the same rule as a war table."
"I see."
"There are still other upgrades we can do to this fortress," John added. "We can build a blacksmith workshop or alchemist workshop. With those workshops, we can better supply our troops during a long campaign. We can also improve the fortress' mechanical arms and its assault towers, giving them elemental properties or increasing their attack rate. However, kingdom funds, kingdom mana, and time are needed for the upgrade. The mobile fortress cannot move during the upgrade. I built this mobile throne room when I was waiting for the siege weapons to be installed in this fortress."
"Well, since we are not moving at this moment, maybe we can build more upgrades?" Jack asked.
"You can do the upgrades from that throne," John said. "This used to be the control room to apply for the fortress' upgrades before it was transformed into a mobile throne room."
Jack sat on the throne. An interface appeared asking if he was willing to spend 10,000 of kingdom mana to establish a connection to the monarch system.
