F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 372: A Small Start

Daru quickly dashed in for the rescue.

It was two malnourished Oak Runebarks versus two rather healthy Birch Runebarks, a Beech Runebark, and a thriving Pine Runebark.

There was simply no victory for the warriors of the Royal Sapling.

With his arrival, the battle immediately fell into a stalemate, then slowly improved for the Royal Sapling.

In the end, both its thralls fell in battle, but it survived.

Daru sheathed his tachi and headed over to the Royal Sapling, examining it. He actually felt that it was looking right back at him, even though trees don’t have eyes.

He felt a subtle life energy brushing against his skin. That was how the princely tree "scanned" him.

The Royal Sapling didn’t seem to be against his presence and was, in fact, quite enthusiastic about their encounter.

It was as though the princely tree knew instinctively that Bladeborns aren’t enemies.

Was this a natural phenomenon or arranged by the Overseer specifically for this event?

Daru didn’t know, and he didn’t have too much interest in knowing.

What he was interested in was the notification that appeared in front of him.

[Form a connection with Rafhan (Royal Sapling)? Y/N]

Daru unhesitatingly pressed [Y]. In the next moment, a confirmation, followed by a system interface, appeared in front of him:

[You have formed a connection with Royal Sapling Rafhan.]

==

Royal Sapling: Rafhan.

Condition: Declining

Subjects: N/A

Description: A bold and desperate Royal Sapling. Die it shall in honor than live scraping by somewhere it does not deserve.

Progress to Sovereignty: 0% [Expand for more options].

==

As much as Daru wanted to explore the new interface, dusk was upon him. It would be unwise to stay out, alone on the first night.

He proceeded to use the strange mental connection to uproot Rafhan, carefully grabbing the Royal Sapling and carrying it by the roots before traveling back to camp.

He felt its tiny roots wrap around his hand, as if securing itself, allowing him to run faster.

Thankfully, nothing went wrong.

It took him almost two hours, but he managed to return before the night deepened, to Elara’s relief.

She was also delighted that he found his own candidate like Durandal did.

Now, they have three Royal Saplings, while the Vesharis didn’t even know what was going on yet.

The princess prepared dinner using the last of Durandal’s resources, and the three of them began to discuss how they would maximize their advantage.

If they want to go fast and secure significant land and resources for their saplings, then they must split and take on some risks.

All three were highly talented youngsters.

Risk did not faze them, and so they easily agreed on this strategy.

Daru and Durandal were more than happy to leave this camp to the princess, as they both had starting points in mind that were neither too close nor too far from this area.

Only, if Elara wanted to advance her cause, she would have to move further upstream, look for a starter Vitality Tree, even a malnourished one, and use that to allow her sapling to enthrall how many Runebarks were allowed with that one "outpost".

The only issue was communication. The Whisper Sigils not working in Yggdrasil was a problem.

Naturally, everyone would have to survive the starting phase on their own, but later, when armies were raised, they had to establish some sort of connection with each other, even if only for a slow and clumsy call for help.

The three agreed to return to this exact camp for a progress meeting after two days to discuss what to do further.

After all, chances were, the Vesharis would have already arrived at this stage at that time.

If someone’s forces were still too weak by then, they could easily be ambushed and killed by the Veshari trio.

It would be better to merge immediately if that were the case — consolidate their advantages.

With that decided, their only problem was now food.

They would last longer with water around.

However, they still needed food, and Daru and Elara’s stocks of Limbo Carrots and Hellberries wouldn’t last, especially since they gave Durandal some as compensation for the food he gave up.

’I should return to Limbo from time to time to grow crops...’

He helped in the fields back then, too, so he knew how to cultivate simple Limbo Carrots, Hellberries, and Limbo Celeries.

The more complex crops were out of his reach, but perhaps he could ask Nando if he needed those in the far future.

With the conclusion of their meeting, the three proceeded to sleep a refreshing eight hours.

Come morning, the two young men prepared to leave.

Daru approached Durandal; the half-jerk turned with an unfriendly look that softened to neutrality as he lent him one Dark Sentry.

He also left one for the princess, who was struggling to open her eyes, bidding the two of them a sleepy goodbye, planting the ward herself, and proceeding to sleep some more.

She was not an early morning person.

A bit familiar with the path he previously took to the "slums", Daru arrived around an hour and a half later.

Thick energies slapped at him as he crossed the mystical borders.

In his arms, Rafhan shifted, as if settling for this place for now. The location where it attempted to thrive had more vigorous life energies.

However, the Royal Sapling seemed to have acknowledged that being willful would only lead to its death.

Daru, upon arriving, checked the Royal Sapling’s status.

Rafhan’s condition seemed to have improved from Declining to Stabilizing — a good start.

But he still had to look for a location where he could plant the sapling and establish their territory.

So, Daru continued his search.

He saw a couple of slightly malnourished Runebarks uprooting themselves to attack him, but he paid them no attention.

He simply dashed off, and the threat was gone.

Daru was considerably faster now than he was back then, plus these Runebarks are sluggish. The gap was massive enough that he could simply opt out of battles against them.

He also didn’t want to kill the Runebarks, as he planned to enthrall them.

Soon enough, his search bore fruit.

He arrived at a small glade with a pond. It was way too open for his liking, but it would do, as watersource is extremely important.

The density of life energy here wasn’t too bad, either.

Daru chose a good spot for Rafhan and willed the Royal Sapling to root itself in the ground.

The quest for Sovereignty had begun.