Syl

Chapter 84: Plant Horror

I cheered at the rush of new knowledge filling my mind once again. This time, it looked like [Fire Magic] was teaching me something unexpected - it could not only create destructive fire but also generate heat and warmth. I was immediately reminded of the custom spell Dewi had demonstrated and was shocked that he used a fourth-level spell to do something as simple as drying clothes.

I picked up a rock, cast the spell on it, and watched it slowly heat up. The heating process would speed up if I increased the mana flow. However, I couldn't think of any immediate practical applications, and it was vastly inferior to [Blaze Slime]. To confirm this, I picked up another rock. I activated the trait to the maximum, causing the small rock to heat up rapidly, far beyond the spell's capacity, even though this was transmitted through contact while the spell directly affected it.

"I guess they can't all be winners. The next level is [Fireball], so at least I have that to look forward to."

"What?" I questioned and looked around.

Nothing.

I checked my profile; everything had stayed the same. I continued looking around frantically and couldn't spot anything. As far as I knew, I had just randomly gained a skill point from... nothing? It couldn't have been from [Apex Hunter] as that gave a prior notification.

'Are you screwing with me, Gramps?' I questioned, but it remained unanswered.

I even checked my quests; both still needed to be completed, and as great as the guild was, I doubted they had enough privilege to award skill points. By the time I reached the farmland, I still had no clear answer and could only assume Gramps had something to do with it. The farmer and his family were extremely grateful for my presence.

"Thank the Gods you're here... We thought no one would take up our quest until our land was sucked dry." The farmer said, leading me to the field in question.

In the center of the field, I could see a large mass of vines, flowers, and corn plants. The field looked almost barren, and the remaining plants were withered and dying. As if whispers on the breeze, I heard quiet sobbing and pleading for the pain to stop. I looked around questioningly and realized it was coming from the field. I had forgotten entirely about the trait [Nature Commune], but the plants must have been truly desperate to reach out like this - not even the tree I had dug into had said a word of protest.

Despite its size and level, it left less of an impression on me than the salamander I had just fought. My gut told me this creature was relatively weak.

'Does this creature not evolve?' I wondered.

Luke had said they grafted plants to themselves and grew in size and ability, which sounded far different from any monster I had fought previously.

"Don't worry, I'll deal with it," I told the farmer and plants.

"Be careful, ma'am. It killed one of my farmhands with a strange spore." The farmer warned, and I nodded, watching him retreat back to his home.

One by one, I cast my debuffs on the creature, who hadn't noticed my presence yet. The obvious solution would be to kill it with fire, but I was vaguely concerned about the collateral damage to the nearby plants, now whispering with hope.

'This trait is a little off-putting... I should stop using it unless I need to.'

Since [Fire Magic] was out, and [Water Magic] seemed stupid against a plant that left only slime or acid. I directed each core to form the [Acid Dart] spell and launched an opening salvo, hopefully, boosted by [Sneak Attack]. The spells struck successfully, causing the plant mass to tremble and rapidly break off any plant segments before rapidly regrowing them.

Vines started thrashing around, revealing a singular trunk in the center as it opened up to attack its surroundings. Not wanting to lead the monster towards the farmer's house or the few surviving plants, I rushed towards it while still keeping up a consistent barrage of spells.

Fighting a monster that couldn't scream or yell at me was odd. I could only feel its outrage through its violent thrashing of vines. The flowers and fungus growing along its trunk started to twitch, and with the aid of its vines, a strange substance was distributed in a relatively large area.

I laughed at its attempt to poison me and kept casting spells. Multiple vines approached me, and my [Sub Cores] started to fire at them to intercept them. The ones that made it through, I managed to nimbly dodge thanks to the combination of [Elven Reflexes] and [Evasion]. Things were going well until suddenly, a root burst out of the ground and wrapped itself around me in a tight squeeze.

'Again, I've failed to sense something underground. Whitney is going to be furious.' I reprimanded myself before activating [Cryo Slime], 'Fire is a no-go, but let's see if you can handle the cold.'

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Almost immediately, I felt the roots reluctantly trying to let go of me, and they were starting to take on a darkened coloration. But it was too late for the plant, and with a flex of my mana-reinforced body followed by a horrific cracking sound, I freed myself from the constriction.

"Seems you really don't like the cold. Here, have some more." I taunted the silent creature before firing [Slime Burst] from my palm.

The sticky solution clung to the plant, and with [Thermal Vision], I could see it rapidly stealing away its life-giving warmth. The plant monster knew the source of its pain and quickly was discarding its graftings - only for me to unleash another burst of slime on it.

It still made a few attempts to assault me with vines, but they seemed sluggish, and its main focus was trying to preserve itself. I glanced it over with [Dissection] to see if there was anything worth saving, but the results were on par with basic tusks and fangs from my approximation. The plant that would have had value was the funguses grown on its bark, but they were the first to die from the cold slime.

As I approached it against expectations, I watched it uproot itself and poorly attempt to writhe away while it abandoned most of its body. What remained of the monster was a cluster of living roots and vines wriggling over itself like a colony of worms. I raised a palm and fired a [Slime Shot] that engulfed the plant parasite, and it died shortly after, curling in on itself and darkening.

Would you like to swap classes?>.

I celebrated my goal of finally meeting the minimum requirements to unlock the class but held off on immediately swapping until I had disposed of the creature's corpse. I enveloped it in slime from my palm and dissolved everything, not wanting to leave anything behind in case it could somehow recover or form a new one. Then, I quickly devoured the frozen ball of root tendrils.

I cleaned up whatever acid or cold slime remained where I could, even casting [Heat] on the patches of soil where cold slime had dripped. I could hear the plant whispers celebrating the end of their calamity. On a whim, I decided to help the plants in the area. I withdrew all the water from my consecutive morning deteriorations, which held a form of purity over even water generated from magic and used [Mana Infusion] to enrich it further. Then, casting [Torrent], I fired the water straight up into the air into a large burst to rain down upon the land.

"Life..."

"So good..."

"Healing..."

"Thank you..."

I heard the whispers of the plant life and then immediately removed the trait from my mimicked profile. While I felt good to do a small good deed, if I was going to constantly hear their voices, I would go insane. I turned to my previous notification

Would you like to swap classes?>.

'Yes'

.

.

'Wait, you can get trait revelations from your class? I mean, yes!'

See the flow of mana and its underlying complexity throughout the world.

Mana conception can see through obstructions based on trait level.

Trait level also determines the minimum level of mana to be detected and the detection range and complexity of mana formation.>

'Does this mean what I think it means?' I questioned and immediately formed and held [Poison Mist]. Looking closely, I could identify the individual components of the corrosion mana and see the concepts it held, such as poison, duration, and damage. Looking at [Erode], it held the concepts of weaken, duration, and debuff. When I compared it to [Flammable] and saw all the parts I had dug out and replaced with Fire mana, I could only be shocked at how I had blindly brute-forced myself through what should have been a delicate and careful operation.

'Well. I can thank my cores for that. Now let's get that new magic.'

Like all first-level spells, it was basic in its function. Casting it, it created a long, pointed shard of ice that I could fire. Staring at the spell and its mana, I recognized it as similar to what contaminated my [Water Orb] when I touched it with [Cryo Slime], which held the concepts of freeze and cold.

The door erupted when I approached the farmhouse, and the farmer and his family looked ecstatic. The harder I tried to brush off their thanks as no big deal, the harder they pressed to thank me. When one of his daughters questioned why it had rained, I explained that I had cast a spell to help the fields recover. The farmer and his wife almost choked up in gratitude, and I had to practically flee the scene before a newfound barrage of praise overwhelmed me.

Looking over the profile of the plant monster proved my earlier theory correct; it did not seem to evolve and instead just existed. Like my slime, it had a bunch of interconnected traits that started with it grafting plants to itself, which led to another trait allowing it to empower grafted plants, mutate grafts, fuse grafts, and eventually procreate grafts. The one I fought must not have gotten further than empowering or mutating its grafts, judging by its lack of available arsenal.

While I could mimic the chain of five traits, I didn't feel the need or want to, as I'd need to keep natural plants and nurture and care for them to see any benefit. I found one trait worth the occasional mimicking, [Solar Rejuvenation], which would increase vitality and mana regeneration in direct sunlight. Since elves had their connection to nature, I hoped it would be compatible with my elf form, but sadly it was not. The minimal amount I could get away with was adding vines around my arms and shoulders, like some strange scarf.

'Well. It's not like I'm desperate for another form of mana regeneration.'