Daughter of the glade? Who's your daddy now?

John figured it would probably be 50/50, half a chance it would work, half a chance it would trigger something even worse and get him killed, but he already had worse odds.

John ran to the clearing with the large tree that the Dryad came out of. He took out of his inventory the civilian clothes he had worn to get here and tied them around the gas canister of the camping stove he had bought. Making sure he was far enough from it he threw the bundle in the opening where the Dryad was slumbering and used a lightning Magic Projectile on it.

It exploded into a fireball inside of the tree, and the sap that was seeping inside the hole (probably to feed her when she was there) began to burn, spreading the fire to the tree.

"Nooooo! Father! What have you done!!!!" screamed the Dryad.

John threw a few units of wood from his inventory into the fire to make sure it wouldn't be possible to put it out and turned to face the group that was approaching.

The Dryad had stopped, holding her head like she was in pain and sobbing while falling to her knees. The wardens had a very strange reaction. One of them was flailing around, hitting another by accident. The second was transforming himself, but not into something more dangerous like John feared, he was regressing to his earlier stage, the golden and green lights flowing from him to return to the tree.

The spirit of the glade was apparently trying to grasp at any bits of energy it had left, and it wouldn't be enough. The last warden was charging in John's direction, but before he could reach him, one of his feet had taken root and wouldn't lift from the ground.

John quickly charged towards the Dryad; there was a slight possibility that she would die when the tree would burn totally (which wouldn't be long, apparently ancient tree spirits burned very well).

Without weapons, he tapped her with his hand using the stun version of Charged Strike . He could see in her eyes surprise (that he didn't kill her) and then horror when he locked the collar around her neck.

Just in time, enough damage had been done to the tree that the spirit was defeated.

500 xp

You enslaved: Tamed Dryad lvl 9 creature.
She is now your property as long as she is wearing the Bitch Binder collar. She can follow you in or out of illusion barriers, but she will start weakening in the real world after (your lvl) hours and will have to spend an equal number of hours in a barrier to lose the modifier.

Achievement unlocked: every collection has a start.
You enslaved your first monster girl, how many can you get into your little harem?
+5 endurance (you'll need it)
Training crop (you can use your own carrot, but here's a stick.)
150xp
500$ (treat your girl to a nice gift, bitches ain't cheap)

"He's dead; you killed the forest spirit. Look, all the plants are drying and fading. Master, why would you do that?" asked his new piece of property.

"I told you, I didn't know this forest was alive. I only need some wood to buy stuff, and once you started attacking me, you left me ****. For what it is worth, I am sorry we had to get to this point. I'm John, do you have a name? I can't call you Tamed Dryad," he asked her.

"I.. No, we never needed names. There was father, I was the daughter of the glade spirit, and there was the forest. What a waste, what a desolation. I will never live in the woods again; this place will disappear now that the spirit is gone," she replied; her tears were making plants grow, but soon enough the blight that was hitting all the green around them made them die too.

"I'll call you Sylvia, it means from the forest in an old language. And you will see woods again, but you might have to work for it. Get up and answer me truthfully. Have you lost all your powers now that the tree is dead? And how do you feel about me?" he instructed her.

"What do you mean? How could I see it again when it is gone? I have little powers of my own, but without any plants around me, they will be limited. I feel... It is strange. I know I should hate you for what you did, but I don't. I mourn the tree spirit but feel no need for vengeance for the one that burned it. I don't love you, but I feel... respect for you. And I feel that I have to obey you even in small things. I wanted to lie, but because you asked me to be truthful I couldn't," she answered.

John looked at her, and no surprise, her score wasn't good, but it was very strange.

Sylvia
Lvl 9 Tamed Dryad
-150 rp (+50)

Her feelings were at -150, but the collar was fixing them at +50. Apart from that, she would obey him but without enthusiasm... unless he ordered her to like it (would that even work?). John knew he should feel guilty about what would happen to her, but he couldn't. Gaia had created her from nothing when he made this dungeon, and he couldn't have left once in combat. There would only have been three outcomes to this situation: him dead, her dead, or her enslaved. John couldn't feel guilt for choosing a solution that saved both his and her life. Even if he had managed to exit the barrier, she would have disappeared forever; another one would have been there if he created the same dungeon, but she wouldn't be her.

"You see Sylvia, I am a King too just like he was. But my realm is poor and rather empty still. It was why I was here, to gather materials to improve it. I will bring you there, and you will use your powers to bring life to it. You will no longer be the daughter of the glade, you will be the mother of it. And when I'm there, you will serve me as a loyal subject," he explained. The hope on her face was bringing light to this gloomy situation.

"A forest? One of my own? What do I have to do? When do we start? Let's leave this place of **** and go to your kingdom, Master," she pleaded.

"Not so fast. I guess you won't like this, but where I killed the saplings, some things fell to the ground. Help me gather them and we will be able to leave," he barely finished his sentence, and she was running away to gather them.

John walked back to the ashen remains of the spirit tree. He was curious to see what he got from it.

The first items made him laugh considering that the tree was almost entirely burned.

30 units of enchanted wood.
20 units of enchanted lumber.

Hey video-game logic, right?
Holy fuck!

1 Life Essence
30 units of Amber
1000$

That was it, now all he had to do was enhance a skill with Life and one with Darkness to complete the quest. Putting the essence on the Hearthstone in his kingdom would give him another kingdom element, and the quest would give him three more, not counting the forest that Sylvia would provide.

He gathered it all just in time for Sylvia to return with her arms full of stuff.

"Here, Master. There was also some wood, but I couldn't carry all of it," she said putting the loot down at his feet.

"I'll gather the wood myself, thanks for the help. We will leave here soon. Show me where you left it," he replied.

He picked up what was laying there and got his bike out to use the saddle bags as storage and to free space from his inventory.

357,65$
9 units of Amber
1 book
1 bottle with a yellow liquid
1 wooden shield (that Sylvia had used to carry all the loot)
7 units of fruits
5 units of berries

John followed Sylvia to the places the creatures died; he got one unit of lumber from each of the wardens and 27 units of wood from all the rest.

He mounted his bike and noticed that the saddle was long enough for someone to ride behind him (if that someone held him close enough). He made Sylvia get on it, and once she obeyed, he raised his hand to dissipate the Dungeon.

"Is it this? Are we in your kingdom? There's so little life and energy in this forest, I don't feel well here," she asked as they got back to the woods. He would have to cut his lumber operation short, it would be too cruel to do it in front of her.

"No, this is the real world where I live. I'll take us to my kingdom now," he replied getting his blue stone from his inventory.