Chapter 53. A Sylvan’s True Strength.

Chapter 53. A Sylvan’s True Strength.

Liu Shu had been dazed, looking at the notifications from the almost 35 River Beavers she had killed.

[Congratulations on defeating <River Beaver Level 5>. You've gained 1 Experience Point.] x15

[Congratulations on defeating <River Beaver Level 6>. You've gained 2 Experience Points.] x9

[Congratulations on defeating <River Beaver Level 7>. You've gained 3 Experience Points.] x5

[Congratulations on defeating <River Beaver Level 8>. You've gained 4 Experience Points.] x4

[Congratulations on defeating <River Beaver Level 9>. You've gained 6 Experience Points.] x1

[Congratulations on defeating <River Beaver Level 10>. You've gained 35 Experience Points.] x1

'Really nice~, so much experience. Hehe.'

Then, she looked at her accumulated experience and saw that it had jumped to 346 points. She was far from leveling up, but that didn't mean much to her. Liu Shu was happy with any progress.

While thinking of this, Liu Shu looked at how the Rose Fairies began moving the corpses around. 'Will they also transform them into fertilizer?'

Without proper soil and proper resources, her energy-gathering method wouldn't work; after all, it didn't give her experience daily out of nowhere. She needed to feed.

Other than that, Liu Shu grew like a normal creature as well. It was much slower than the bursts her Level Up gave her, but she did increase in size constantly as time went by.

Her roots slowly expanded around her, piercing through the moist earth at a very gentle pace. 'Hehe, it feels nice~. The earth is cool and refreshing. Hm?'

Liu Shu suddenly felt one of her roots hit something piercing straight down. 'Rock?'

Her senses expanded in that direction, sending pulses of energy in the direction of the root that found an obstacle. The energy pulse she sent expanded on the root, giving her a clear vision of that area. 'This root is around 40 meters deep, hmmm. Is this... a wall of rocks? Can I dig through?'

While Liu Shu was focusing on that, a notification appeared in her mind that surprised her.

[<Charm of the Seedling> has attracted a <Ceperet Human Level 9>. Proficiency increased by 9.] x4

[<Charm of the Seedling> has attracted a <Pyroaether Emberites Sylvan Level 6>. Proficiency increased by 6.]

'Humans? Sylvans? What kind of little friends are those?' Liu Shu looked at her Aether Mana and Anima energy and became a bit worried. 'I hope they are not bad little friends.'

She retracted her gaze from the wall of rocks, for now, looking toward the place where she had sensed their approach. Once she looked in that direction with the <World Tree Eye>, she spotted one woman with fiery red hair and orange eyes looking her way with a very strange expression.

Far behind that woman, there were four humans that were "hiding" behind some trees. However, they were out in the open for Liu Shu as her roots had already extended that far, making their current appearances quite comical.

'Do they like crouching?'

Still, there was one thing that took Liu Shu's attention, and that was... 'They are so tall!'

While the Rose fairies were humanoid, their stature was just too small compared to others. So, with them as a reference, everything else appeared to be enormous to Liu Shu, even when she knew that humans and sylvans were the standard size; knowledge gained while reading, or rather, absorbing, the Woodcrafting books.

Ariel shouted with urgency. "CINDER! RUN! THAT'S A LEVEL 12!"

However, Cinderielle refused to leave. "Rose Fairy Chief, I'm not here with ill intentions!"

However, Flor was not buying it and snarled. "You know that there is a World Tree here now; how could I leave you to return and be sure that Fortuna's World Tree won't send an army to kill the sapling!" Flor's energy became increasingly turbulent when she considered the dangers that leaving these people could cause to the young Liu Shu.

"You are unlucky, but I can only kill you to silence you!"

Liu Shu looked at the situation and couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when she imagined the red-haired Sylvan dying. However, she didn't know how to interfere.

Her usual energy pulses worked by sending energy right onto a creature. When Flor was actively using Aether Mana, she created a shield to protect her weak body. This shield blocked all kinds of attacks, including Liu Shu's pulses.

Cinderielle saw that Flor wasn't prepared to talk and couldn't help but bite her lips, shouting. "I don't want to hurt you, but you are leaving me with no chance! Rose Fairy Chief, I sincerely have no ill intent toward that World Tree; on the contrary, I'm willing to help you protect her!"

Flor extended her hand forward and scowled. "Lies! How could a resident from Fortuna City be so willing to help nurture a World Tree so close!"

After all, World Trees didn't like each other's presence, and more often than not, when two World Trees met, it would end in a brutal fight where only one of them remained alive.

Cinderielle saw that Flor was truly going to attack, so she bit her lips and chanted. "Don't blame me, Rose Fairy Chief. <Pyroaether Sylvan Body Liberation>!"

With her chant, a tornado of fire surrounded Cinderielle, and Flor quickly shot several powerful wind blades.

The tornado of fire destroyed the wind crescents and dispelled quickly, revealing an entirely changed Cinderielle.

Unlike her human form, which had just different-colored hair, she looked like a completely new being this time.

Her skin was reddish and bark-like, while her body was covered in clothes made of flaming leaves. Her stature had doubled, and her legs had grown root-like protrusions that quickly latched on the ground. Her hair was made out of pure Fire Aether Mana, and her orange eyes glowed while leaving trails of light as she moved.

The reason for Sylvan's race domination throughout the world was this natural ability to transform into a tree-like being that was mobile as well. While she could latch onto the ground, she could move as quickly, if not more rapidly than before.

It was a complete transformation whose only weakness was its short duration and inability to use as they pleased.

Flor's face became serious when Cinder's aura seemed to have made a qualitative leap and caught up with hers. With a heavy heart, she quickly analyzed her. 'Her previous stats were around 5,000 Aether Mana, while her other two didn't reach 3,000 but were close. Now...'

***

Level: 6

Aether Mana Shards: 11896/11896

Phoer Body Shards: 9413/9413

Anima Energy Shards: 8892/8892

***

Flor's face changed to one of horror as the Sylvan's stats had almost completely overcome hers. 'What!?'