D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 1161 1161 Mint Musings

”What did you do for fun, or just to stave off boredom? Do you guys have like… books and stuff? Or is that a bit icky to think about?” asked Lily. 

Mint shrugged, ”We make plenty of things from wood, so books are perfectly normal to have. I suppose the comparison would be like… like making wigs from real people hair? Or perhaps a sculpture out of nail clippings?” Mint ignored the shudders from Kat and Lily at the latter suggestion. ”As for fun… well…

”We donʼt really focus on fun too much as children. I think it comes from the fact that we canʼt get bored. Itʼs simply impossible. As a species dryads just do not experience it. We can loose focus on a task, we can become slow and lethargic if weʼve had no sunlight on our main tree for an extended period of time, but boredom is simply impossible. 

”The saying ʼblink and youʼll miss itʼ is scarily accurate to some dryads. We can rather easily ʼzone outʼ and go into a semi-dormant state if we donʼt have enough mental stimulation. Itʼs not considered a problem, and if we donʼt delve too deeply into it the longest weʼll remain unaware is until spring comes and gives us a bit of a jolt, but normally something will grab our attention before it gets that bad,” 

”So… you canʼt get bored?” asked Lily, mostly rhetorically. ”Thatʼs such a strange thing. I mean… it makes sense because youʼre trees and all but itʼs still strange to think about. So… you canʼt get bored at all?” 

Mint shook her head and explained, ”Not at all. It doesnʼt necessarily mean we can focus on a dull task forever, for while we might not get bored, if the task lacks stimulation our mind might decide that weʼre trying to sleep, regardless of what weʼre doing with our hands or branches, depending on the form. So itʼs still a risk. We canʼt just… copy out books for people or make nails endlessly. It becomes dull, and then we become ʼsleepyʼ for lack of a better word.,” 

”Wait… do you sleep?” asked Lily. 

”Sort of? When night comes we get a dip in energy, and we can easily drift off into something close to sleep until the sun rises, but we donʼt necessarily NEED it like the other races. Sleep for us is… itʼs like a magical crystal. As the level of magic in the crystal goes down, you need to recharge it. Weʼre the same. As we use energy, eventually we need to recharge. Though if youʼre big and strong enough you can take in more energy then you use up doing things and avoid sleeping. 

”We donʼt really dream, not like the other races. Which can be really strange when one of us gets ʼdreamʼ affinity. Grape actually has it, and apparently it works really strangely on dryads. Itʼs both more and less effective. Oh, and we can review our memories as we rest, but itʼs not the same, or so Iʼm told. Itʼs not really an area I cared much about before, so I donʼt know it that well,” explained Mint. 

*It can be strange just how different dryads are. A lot of the other races are ʼlike humans but Xʼ or I suppose ʼLike the others but more Yʼ. Dryads though… they seem really different. I wonder if itʼs their nature as more plant based then… what meat based? Huh, you know… I wonder if itʼs because they donʼt have brains? Do they have brains? Surely they donʼt have a brain like we do.* 

[Their original tree probably acts like a brain… and a heart, and lungs. It probably acts like a lot of things really. I do get what you mean though. I wonder if itʼs something thatʼs been study?]

*How though? Itʼs not like they have access to any other species that are plant based like dryads to compare them too.* 

[Hmm… yeah though I wonder if Alraunes exist in this world. Probably not, Iʼm sure the dryads wouldʼve mentioned it, but I do wonder.]

*I only vaguely remember those from the list. What are they?*

[Theyʼre… well if dryads are tree people then Alarunes are flower people. Just as stationary most of the time, and theyʼre sort of like the Succubi of the plant-based person family. Though they arenʼt strictly female, they just tend to look that way, because well, flowers.]

*I donʼt get it.*  I think you should take a look at

[I think itʼs because they are predisposed towards the idea of ʼbeautyʼ and with magic as a real thing these days… I wonder if itʼs that theyʼre actually aligned to the concept in some higher energy way instead of just genetics. It would explain the female dominance in their looks, because most men are considered ʼhandsomeʼ which might have different magical alignments.]

*I sort of get what youʼre saying. But thatʼs more your wheelhouse then mine so Iʼll just trust youʼre idea is correct.*

[No Kat, itʼs an educated guess. Donʼt just listen to me.]

*Lily is always right. I see. Noted.*

Lily just rolled her eyes. ”Sorry, Kat and I got into a minor… argument feels combative so… discussion? Yeah, a discussion about what makes dryads so different from the other races and we were wondering if you know why?” 

”Nope, sorry,” said Mint. ”Itʼs something Iʼd like to know as well, and Thyme… well… they donʼt really care? I mean, they did need to know a lot of these differences, and catalogue them to help teach about the subject but the ʼwhyʼ isnʼt something Thyme was interested in investigating too deeply. Maybe itʼs something Iʼll do in the future when Iʼve grown up a bit. What ideas did you both have?” 

”Well we had two,” said Lily knowing she could put things a bit more eloquently then Kat. ”The first is that most races seem more aligned with the ʼanimalʼ side of the world, while dryads are aligned with the ʼplantʼ side of it instead. The other idea is that itʼs because you guys donʼt have brains. Or at least, we donʼt think you do?

”On my home planet, we know that itʼs the brain, the thing stuck inside an animals skull,” Lily tapped her own for emphasis, ”that letʼs us think. Everything else might help us live, but our brains are the drivers. Dryads though, they seem to be based on their main tree… but weʼve got no reason to think that tree has a brain somewhere, or that it acts as ʼjustʼ a brain,” 

Mint considered the ideas for a few moments, ”I think they both have some merit. Iʼm not really sure which would make more of an impact. I donʼt know of anything with a brain thatʼs more plantlike, and I donʼt know anything without them thatʼs more ʼanimallikeʼ without a brain. Then again, itʼs also not something Iʼve looked for? They could also be connected. The whole brain thing. Oh, and yes, dryads donʼt have brains. 

”Well, some of these bodies do. Thymeʼs been testing it out and having a sort of brain-like structure does help with moving everything correctly but itʼs still in development. Our main trees though are basically indistinguishable from regularly trees. Thatʼs one of the reasons itʼs so hard to pick out all the trees with potential to be dryads. 

”As Iʼve said before, weʼre pretty sure we can pick out those differences… sometimes. Some people think every tree can be a dryad, though we do know that the trees need to be a certain size. Most smaller tree species can never turn into a dryad. So that might be a limitation. Not enough… stuff… in the trees to give us sentience?”

”Actually, what do normal dryads grow up to do?” asked Lily, after thinking about it for a few moments. 

”Well… a lot of them do nothing. Thyme isnʼt very happy with that and theyʼve been trying to fix it, what with making us more involved with the other races and learning more stuff… but a lot of the older dryads just donʼt do anything. They just… live, tend to their tree and occasionally chat with each other. 

”See… we donʼt really need anything. The sun gives us more than enough food, the rains make sure we have enough water. Our presence invigorates the soul so thatʼs never an issue. The only thing we have to fear is certain magical predators, like magical termites but theyʼre not too hard to get rid of with a few secret techniques… which mostly just boil down to throwing mana at the problem. Something most dryads have plenty of,”

Lily almost wanted to ask how they could live like that. ʼWouldnʼt they get boredʼ was the thought… for just a moment. No, thatʼs the thing. They couldnʼt get bored. A dryad with no drive could live for hundreds of years before any problems might arise, where a human would starve in only a few days. Truly, an different way of looking at the world.