Chapter 284: How Innocent Can You Be?

Sarah silently stored the beast's corpse in her storage ring.

With a wave of her hand, water mana erased all traces of blood and fighting.

Their fight also destroyed many of the so-called treasures.

'Varian said he never used any treasures to progress. I believe his words, but I'm afraid the high awakeners are suspicious of him.

Given his progress speed, they'd suspect him to be using treasures…at least father trusts him.'

Sarah felt a little better but soon, her brows knit together.

'Why can't you trust me too, father? You didn't even ask me to win in the trial. I'm not the strongest, but even I have a winning chance.'

While her thoughts took a depressing turn, they moved to a slightly different location and waited for the next prey.

Sarah blurted out. "Do you like William?"

"Huh?" Philia opened her mouth in surprise.

'Wait, why did I do that?' Sarah had no idea and attributed it to her disturbed thoughts.

"Un." Philia unexpectedly admitted.

"Why?" Sarah followed. She wasn't actually expecting Philia to answer.

She was only a normal friend to Philia. Philia's cold temperament caused people to stay away from her.

Sarah was almost the same. The biggest social thing she did was to be a captain of Siarah adventure team. Other than that, she spent all her time practicing.

'We both don't talk much...' Sarah thought of her similarities with Philia. Then she added. '…I talk a bit with Varian, I think? But that's because we're friends, but I'm also friends with William, Dhruv and Mia…'

Philia's answer snapped her out of her thoughts.

"We were on Noik planetoid. We were still level 5s, patrolling the borders."

Sarah's face turned weird.

"Then the Abyssals suddenly attacked. I was seriously injured. He didn't run away, he held onto me despite the dangers and fought…" Philia's eyes showed a look of nostalgia as she began describing the battles.

"Wait, wait!" Sarah interrupted. "Not abandoning your comrades, isn't that camaraderie?"

Indeed, it must be followed in both military and adventure teams.

That's why Varian risked his life to save everyone. Save her.

Philia looked at Sarah and shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. But it's from that moment, I think.

William is a narcissist, sometimes thinks he has too much charm, and sometimes I just want to beat him up."

"But…" Philia's cold expression melted and she smiled sweetly. "I can count on him when the time comes."

"….isn't that the same as comrades in arms? You fight together, you trust one another, you can die for another?" Sarah asked in confusion.

"…."

Philia rubbed her forehead and looked at Sarah's genuinely innocent look.

Weren't cold beauties like her supposed to ask these questions?

Why is Sarah the one asking?

How innocent can you be?

"Ho! Ho! Come catch me, you slithery yolo snake." William's voice sounded from the distance.

Sarah unsheathed her sword and turned towards Philia.

Philia said. "It can overlap with a lot of things…but it's different. You'll know when the time comes."

'…you might as well have not answered it at all.' Sarah thought but didn't ask any further.

Philia's expression also changed back to her usual coldness and soon, they were facing a ten meter long peak level 6 beast.

Under the Snow palace, beasts began to fall as a slow, but inevitable massacre began, one at a time.

*** *** ****

Varian reached the Vine Forest. However, he didn't go fighting directly and instead asked Boo to confirm all the messengers in the area.

Meanwhile, he rushed into the Vine Forest, avoiding the sight of messengers.

He was here to learn one thing.

All this time, Varian could practice his divine paths through combat.

But somehow, Morpher Path was sidelined. It only improved because of the injuries he had rather than him actively trying to increase it.

In a sense, it was a side benefit.

So, Varian wanted to fight the plant morphers here and if possible, learn more.

He wanted to reach a state where he could progress in his morphed path without injuries.

Thus, here he was, wearing a face mask that concealed his identity and in very common but standard clothes.

Shuaa!

Varian spotted a small flower and observed it.

The flower resembled a sunflower. It was lovely and was about one-meter tall.

Suddenly, Varian used his system's new ability to check the level of the flower.

It must be a normal flower, right?

[Level 5. Morpher Path.]

"Fuck!"

Then he scanned the other plants, flowers and trees.

[Level 4. Morpher Path]

[Level 5. Morpher Path.]

[Level 3. Morpher Path.]

"….are you serious?" He looked at their harmless appearance and asked.

He kicked the ground and reached the sunflower-like flower. He bent down and was about to pluck it when the change happened.

"Grauww!"

The one-meter tall lovely beauty turned into a hideous five meter tall and three-meter wide man-eating flower.

It opened its mouth full of barbs and tried to devour him.

"…Die!" Varian almost killed the thing, but fortunately he withdrew his strength in the last second.

Boom!

Yet, that strength was also high for it and the flower shook violently and Varian feared it'd be break apart.

Taking a deep breath, Varian's hands transformed into large brown branches and he exuded a vibrant aura full of vitality.

The man-eating flower's mouth extended and tried to bite him off.

"Hmph!"

With a snort, Varian slapped the branch-arms at the flower.

At the same time, he observed how the man-eating flower was using its prana.

For body path, he learnt this instinctively. But for Morpher Path, he needed to put in some effort.

[+5 Xp]

[+5 Xp]

After the two prompts, studying the flower's prana didn't give him any improvement.

Varian didn't take injuries like usual, so that was it.

He destroyed the flower and picked another plant. It used its leaves as projectiles and attacked him.

[+10 Xp]

[+10 Xp]

And then another…

He continued until Boo said. "Master, I've marked all messengers, their patrol locations and timings."

"Good." Varian nodded and checked his status.

[Morpher Path Level 4: 400/1000 (+150)]