So, how did you knight an entire grove? Lily was sort of the grandmaster of the order of maid knights. Ash could be a captain, in charge of the dryads. She should be on the same level as Minerva and Iris.

  “I think we should do a maid knight ritual with the entire grove!” I announced.

  “I will get the blood!” Shani shouted, while simultaneously running deeper into the forest.

  I looked at her disappearing form, hearing a faint: “Weeeeeeeee.”

  “Ok… Anyway, we shall have Ash kneeling in front of Lily. Lucy and myself are going to be behind Lily. The other dryads will kneel behind Ash. Lily will hold the sword to knight Ash in her hand and I think we can levitate a sword over the shoulders of the other dryads.”

  I was not entirely sure if that was necessary but it visually appealed to me. It was a ceremony after all. Visuals were important.

  “Actually, do we need to involve the trees?” I wondered.

  “I am no expert on such things, I apologize. But our body is connected to our tree. Magic that kills our bodies can also hurt our tree.” She replied.

  That was good to know. But… Hm…

  “I have an idea!” I shouted.

  “Is it a good idea?” Lucy asked.

  “Of course! So, what if we form a ritual circle out of roots? You have some roots that you can move to attack, right? Why not move them into a circle!” I suggested.

  “I do not think we will be able to form such delicate lines, my lady.” Ash replied.

  “Maybe we can paint on the roots?” Lily suggested.

  “Ohhh, great idea Lily! Yes, just bring enough roots to the surface and I can paint runes on them.” I liked that plan.

  “Yes, we can paint it with blood. Let me help Shani get some.” Lucy suggested, then she transformed and ran after Shani.

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  I watched her go, then shrugged. “I guess blood would work.”

  “We are getting more maids! This is great! You need maid outfits too!” Adhira said, buzzing around. “Hey, can I help? I could paint things!”

  “Hm. Maybe I should draw the runes myself, just to be sure. But you can help. You could be involved in levitating the swords. Being a sprite you are pretty good with that kind of magic, right?”

  Adhira puffed out her chest. “I sure am! Moving big things is tricky when you are small.”

  “Ok, let’s start preparations!” I deposited a bunch of swords on the ground. Having a lot of loot in your inventory was very convenient at times. They were nothing special but I made sure they were all in decent shape.

  Next I directed the dryads and their roots. I wanted a big circle where we could all stand inside. Then a few smaller lines inside the circle. This was exciting! It had been a while since I did a proper ritual.

  “First batch coming through! Who needs blood? Shall I shower everyone in blood?” Shani asked.

  “No showering for now. I need the blood for the circle. Also, make sure you don't wash away any runes if you wildly dump blood!” I cautioned. “Oh, and dear dryads, please don't absorb the blood on your roots.” It would be awkward if they ate my runes.

  “I love blood runes! I will go get more!” Shani ran off again, a giant blob of hovering blood remained.

  I scratched my head. Then I summoned a pen and dipped it into the sphere. “Yeah, that works.”

  “I do have some control over blood.” Lilith said, suddenly. She had been watching the entire process so far.

  “Do you have an idea for improvements?” I asked.

  “If your ritual involves a storm I might be able to protect the blood from being washed away.” Lilith offered.

  I admit I had not thought about that. Yes, rain would be an issue. Unless I was able to direct it away from the roots. I suspected Lilith offered her help so she could study the ritual. Something I had no real problem with. If she wanted her own maid knights I would not complain.

  “What would your help involve?” I asked.

  “I can simply add a spell to the blood to make sure it stays in form long enough. The spell is normally used to create things like blood armour. But it should work just fine for runes.” Lilith explained.

  “Let’s try it!” I replied.

  Then she got to work, waterproofing my runes. Shani returned with more blood. Lucy returned as well, with blood around her snout. No idea what she had been eating.

  It took quite a bit of time but eventually everything was ready. We took our positions and I unleashed my aura. Lucy joined with hers. This time I wanted the storm to embrace my new allies. To welcome them, to change them, to improve them…

  Lightning danced in the sky as Lily raised her sword. “Do you pledge yourself to House Delphinium?”

  “Yes!” The dryads answered.

  “Will you serve faithfully as their maids and knights?”

  “Yes!”

  “THEN EMBRACE THE STORM!” Shani shouted.

  Lightning struck each sword, charging them with electricity. Lily placed hers on Ash's shoulder. The others were placed telepathically.

  “Then rise as knights!” Lily shouted. The swords turned into lightning and were absorbed into the dryads bodies. The runes started to glow.

  “BE BORN ANEW!” Shani added, then she threw a ball of blood at every dryad.

  And the dryads changed. I could feel them through the bond. A new network appeared, the grove. I felt a strong connection from Lucy and myself, through Lily towards Ash and the dryads. I could feel our power flowing towards them. The plane of air was happily dumping more mana into the bond as well.

  I heard gasping. I saw some dryads shudder. Then their skins changed. Ash was still mostly white but she had purple accents now. Just a few tasteful lines on her bark like skin. Her hair, which were twigs, had a few red leaves on them. Not all dryads changed the same way. But I saw red, purple and pink added in some ways.

  Project maid knight grove was a great success!