Chapter 212: Alraune

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Ervas and Veronica walked out of the castle while attracting the Dead Spirits of Plants which often gathered more around Ervas due to his Vegetation Charm and Death Attribute Charm Skills.

Both of the split souls walked towards the forest, nearing a clearing, they were planning in practicing new types of Dead Spirit Spells using Ozgeth, Legion, and Pete, but after Ervas suggested the possibility for a Life Attribute Ghost through the combination of many Dead Spirits from Plants all across the forest, Veronica thought of the idea as a genius, accepting Ervas proposal, which needed her extra Mana for it to happen.

"But why exactly do we need that much mana? Not even raising Pete cost us that much, right, little Pete? It was only like one hundred million…" said Veronica.

"Gryshia!" said Pete.

"That's because I estimate that we will need to infuse even larger quantities of Mana into the Plant Dead Spirits… This is because these spirits are fairly weaker than those that came from more active and sentient beings… We will need to not only infuse Mana for the mutation into a Ghost to occur but also to feed upon their consciousness so they can create one too… It is more complicated than I thought at first, but it's doable after having finally grasped this cycle of Life and Death thingy… Hm, I imagine that it might be easier to simply convert the dead spirit of something like a Dryad into a ghost, but there are no Dryads in here anyways," said Ervas.

"I see! And Dryads might be easy to raise into a ghost rather than plants, I suppose… But I believe that we would never have the opportunity anyways, they are very rare, and it's not like we want to simply kill them to make them ghosts" said Veronica.

Dryads were an intelligent race within the world of Kritias, perhaps one of the rarest that there are. And often creating many debates within the other intelligent races over their actual origins and what they could truly are.

Most factions treat them as actual Demons, while others treat them as a family of Elves, and amongst Elves, they are greatly respected, something that other types of demons often do not receive within the Elf's families.

There are many tales where Dryads are always with the other Elves families, some of such tales even state that the Dryads are the descendants of a giant tree often named the Tree of Life, which is said to have existed in the past when Kritias was still a young world.

And other tales talk about Dryads being an Elven family that strived towards a path where they became one with nature, giving in to their Elven bloodline and become more like plants, but at the same time, this made them monstrous and therefore, Demons.

However, it is vastly known that the Dryads are an intelligent race greatly connected with nature and the Life Attribute, to the point that they are a race known for being capable of naturally holding the talent of taming Plants.

"That's right, now let us begin…" said Ervas.

Ervas and Veronica entangled their souls together as their consciousness concentrated on the task given. They began to call upon the small, almost faint presences of the dead spirits of plants while filtering that of other dead spirits.

"Come here, little ones," said Veronica with a melodic voice.

"We mean no harm, you're bound for greatness…" said Ervas.

"Ervas… I'll help!" said Gaia.

Gaia also decided to help Ervas by infusing Life Attribute Mana into his aura and that of Veronica too, making for the calling of the dead spirits of plants even easier.

"I wish I could help…" muttered Shade, his affinity wasn't close to plant-type beings, so he remained mostly silent through the whole 'ritual'.

Ervas and Veronica kept calling more and more, the faint, small presence emerged from within the forest, like an enormous stream of golden and phantasmal flames.

"Just how many… how many there are?" wondered Shade.

"Every plant and fungus that dies becomes a dead spirit, even the most little of grasses, the smallest of weeds, the tiny flowers, the mushrooms… even the moss or the mold…" said Ervas.

Thousand after thousands of plant-type dead spirits emerged, covering the entire sky as they danced around Ervas, Veronica, and Gaia.

They lacked egos and consciousness but had slight natures, and by the natural attraction, they moved towards those that called upon them.

"So many… Do we need so many to create a single ghost?" asked Veronica.

"Yes… These… These might be enough… Let's begin the Mana infusion," said Ervas, as Veronica nodded, both of them raised their arms towards the sea of tiny plant dead spirits, infusing them with enormous streams of mana that enveloped them all.

Flash! Flash! Flash!

The dead spirits of plants began to combine into a larger mass of ethereal essence, exuding Life-Attribute Mana like an aura of enveloping warmness.

"Its… Forming!" said Veronica.

"Far from over, as we talk, more are joining… The Dead Spirits of trees are the largest, then there are the small plants, grasses, weed, mushrooms… there might even the algae from nearby lake and rivers…" said Ervas.

"So many! There over thousands!" said Veronica.

"Almost… there…" muttered Ervas.

Veronica and Ervas concentrated their minds on the task, glancing at the mass of dead spirits converging together into a larger spiritual body!

The Mana given to it gave it even more energy, while slowly shaping it and forming an actual slight appearance.

A chimera of plants. A creature that seemed to be made of countless twisting wooden branches, vines, spines, flowers, and even mushrooms, within its enormous body, there was deep darkness on its center, where two crimson flashes of light emerged…

Flash!

"GUUUOOOOONNN…" groaned the creature, as it gained consciousness and became a being of its own, its phantasmal presence leaking both death and life, a Life Attribute Ghost, an Undead infused with the essence of Life. Such a creature should not even exist, yet Veronica and Ervas conceived it within their capabilities.

"This… Rank 4…? Let's gave it a name…" said Veronica.

"Let's gave it one… How about Alraune?" asked Ervas.

"Sounds good enough…" said Veronica with a smile, glancing at the enormous amalgamation of plant-type dead spirits, a chimera of many of them, similar to Legion but also vastly different, its name was Alraune. 

Alraune was a Rank 4 Chimera Plant Ghost Legion, it seemed weaker than Pete for the moment, as the power that both Ervas and Veronica could draw from the thousands of dead spirits of many plants and fungi was not enough to be stronger.

"Guooonnn…" groaned Alraune, her groans seemed as if the plants themselves twisted around to emit an ear-wrenching sound. 

Alraune flew towards Ervas and Veronica as it received their petting and more mana to nourish itself… Ozgeth, Legion, and Pete also welcomed the newbie to their ghost group.

"Two newbies in one day, this day has been quite long…" said Ozgeth.

"Indeed, it is quite wonderful… Now, my lords, it should be a good idea to practice spells," said Legion.

"You're right," said Ervas.

"Alright, let's get to it!" said Veronica.

The party then spent several hours practicing new spells through their combined use of Dead Spirit Magic, which let them use Ozgeth, Legion, Pete, and Alraune to conjure stronger spells. And after combining the ghosts with their actual Elemental Spirits, the spells would become even stronger.

"I can finally conjure offensive Life Attribute Spells… this is reassuring," said Ervas, conjuring countless dark, green-colored phantasmal vines around himself.

"And now the combination of Ozgeth and Shade feels even stronger, see guys? You two weren't as different as you thought!" said Veronica.

"I am still vastly different…" said Shade.

"Indeed, my lady, we are quite equal," said Ozgeth.

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[Name: Alraune.

[Race: Chimera Plant Ghost Legion

[Titles:

[Type: Plant/Ethereal/Undead

[Rank: 4

[Level: 001/100

[Health Points: 1200/1200

[Mana Points: 860/860

[Strength: 620

[Defense: 754

[Magic: 960

[Resistance: 810

[Agility: 405

[Passive Skills]

[Special Five Senses: Level 3]

[Phantom Form: Level 2]

[Life-Attribute Immunity]

[Plant Form Manipulation: Level 2]

[Mana Enlargement: Level 1]

[Self-Enhancement: Subordination: Level 2]

[Self-Enhancement: Following (Veronica): Level 2]

[Self-Enhancement: Following (Ervas); Level 2]

[Enhanced Attribute Values (Stats): Creator (Veronica, Ervas): Level 2]

[Phantom Materialization: Level 3]

[Active Skills]

[Life Drain: Level 2]

[Mana Control: Level 2]

[Flight: Level 1]

[Projectile Fire: Level 2]

[Long-distance Control: Level 2]

[Unique Skills]

[Aura of Healing: Level 1] 

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[Name: Pete.

[Race: Thunder Millipede Ghost Emperor

[Titles:

[Type: Bug/Thunder/Ethereal/Undead

[Rank: 5

[Level: 001/100

[Health Points: 1300/1300

[Mana Points: 660/660

[Strength: 920

[Defense: 854

[Magic: 560

[Resistance: 610

[Agility: 1005

[Passive Skills]

[Special Five Senses: Level 5]

[Phantom Form: Level 3]

[Wind-Attribute Immunity]

[Thunder Form Manipulation: Level 4]

[Mana Enlargement: Level 3]

[Health Points Enlargement: Level 2]

[Self-Enhancement: Subordination: Level 2]

[Self-Enhancement: Following (Veronica): Level 2]

[Self-Enhancement: Following (Ervas); Level 2]

[Enhanced Attribute Values (Stats): Creator (Veronica, Ervas): Level 3]

[Phantom Materialization: Level 4]

[Active Skills]

[Flight: Level 2]

[Projectile Fire: Level 3]

[Long-distance Control: Level 2]

[Electrify: Level 5]

[Charge: Level 2]

[Unique Skills]

[Aura of Thunder: Level 2]