Chapter 123: Chapter. 108: The Light Maker

There was no doubt in my mind that I was powerless in my situation, but at the same time there was something else⁠— an intrusive thought that ⁠— it wasn’t an intrusive thought, it was just me. I disliked the idea of sitting around and waiting for Elasia, at the same time it was undeniable that I had to get as far away from the treant as possible. I got down from my tree and even though the forest was in chaos, I quickly collected myself and began to distance myself once more.

Admittedly, I was worried about the beasts that lurked in the forest. The wolfes based on my limited experience weren’t something that would kill me, but the others⁠— the lycans, I would certainly die in a one on one fight against one of them. Things were much more⁠— they were always troublesome, but now my circumstances had truly settled in.

The inner forest, as I had begun calling it, was closer to a safe haven rather than a danger zone. It protected me from all the super high level monsters, at least to some extent, but now that I had left it, there was no assistance. I was going to fight level 100 monsters just because it was annoying, it was…

I shook my head as I advanced forward. Realizing I had some time, I reviewed the new plants I had learned from my Prophecy.

[Prophecy Knowledge Discovered ⁠— Blooming Smil (Dark Plant) ⁠— A small vine plant that resides inside of trees, it has a trigger reflex that launches poisonous thorns in all directions. It can feed off from other plants or animal protein. Weak to fire. Thrives in dark and water-rich places.]

[Prophecy Knowledge Discovered ⁠— Coiling Corrosive Smil (Dark Plant) ⁠— A corrosive vine plant that dissolves its prey through an abrasive touch, it can feed off nutrients from the soil, from other plants or animal protein. Weak to fire. Thrives in dark and water-rich places.]

[Prophecy Knowledge Discovered ⁠— Sangir Tree (Dark Plant) ⁠— A type of tree with flexible wood and deadly poisonous vines. Its trunk is woven and has no core, giving it high vitality. Slowly corrodes its surroundings and the things it touches. Thrives in dark places.]

The Sangir Tree was among them, granted I was unsure about what was great about it, but it seemed good for treants. The other two could be overlooked as a man-eater tendril that shoots thorns instead, and the other one was basically just a different type of coiling vine. One that might be better⁠ to the one I already knew⁠— that I was unsure.

It was a bit disappointing to know that was all I got for C grade, but I supposed the actual ability I had gained was plant mutation. Something that seemed useful in the very long run and would stick with me for the time to come. The skill was complex and trying to imagine learning it without The System help sounded like a major pain, so I was thankful for that.

I traveled for what felt like close to an hour, the danger did not disappear by much, and I felt constantly on edge. The treant followed loosely behind, struggling to keep up at times but it was alright. I felt a bit reassured knowing what it had done to one of the wolves in the past.

◇ ◇ ◇

Expectedly, trouble arose. I sighed as I stared at a wolfe in front of me. It was growling, but it also seemed scared. It could’ve probably slaughtered me if it took me by surprise, but instead it chose to act defensive.

[Blight Corrupted Wolfe. Lvl. 104]

I evaluated my situation for a few moments. The treant at the center of the forest was far away now, and there had been no earthquakes past the initial one. It hadn’t moved. I was also a bit weak, too weak for the place I was in anyway. With that in mind, I made my choice, and with the perfect timing the treant arrived by my side, causing the wolfe to bare its fangs.

“Kill it.” I commanded.

I moved out of the way as I felt danger explode from behind, only to realize that it came from the treant. Its wood shifted and it launched a salvo of vines, wanting to assist I grabbed my bow and nocked three arrows with vines. Intending to fully explore the Plant Mutation skill.

The wolfe dodged, and dirt billowed forth. Its eyes darted between the treant and me, only for it to pounce towards the treant. It crashed against the tree, destroying its tree bark and that’s when I saw the opportunity. I pulled back the three arrows and enhanced all of them. The bow shone and with a smile, I fired.

The three arrows streaked through the air and found their target, causing its unceasing rampage to stop for a moment as vines coiled around its body and gripped around its neck.

[Activated: Mark of Death.]

In an instant, the treant recovered and whipped the wolfe into a tree, splintered wood and thorns flew. I could feel the vines around its body and the odd nagging feeling to shift, I felt all the options come to my mind for a moment.

Ensnaring Smil, Coiling Corrosive Smil, Blooming Smil⁠— they were all the same stupid type of vine. Suddenly, I kind of felt like I had been played, I expected more flexibility, like being able to use the Nefarious Wisteria even though it was weaker. With a small scoff, I turned the vines into corrosive and blooming ones. The shift occurred instantly, and with annoyance I commanded the blooming ones to explode⁠— thorns burst into all directions as I heard a yelp of pain.

Burn⁠— my mana boiled and exploded into yellow flames, as the treant attacked with its vines once more. I heard dying throes as the notifications came to mind.

[You have killed: (C) Blight Corrupted Wolfe. Lvl 103.]

[Level up: You have achieved level 74. Prophecy Bonus: +2 WIS +2 VIG]

[Level up: You have achieved…

[Level up: You…

[Level up: You have achieved level 81. Prophecy Bonus: +2 WIS +2 VIG]

[New Milestone reached ⁠— Skills & Knowledge Available]

I took a deep breath. Mark of Death was active, was it not? It really was a great skill. Still, even though the wolfe had practically gotten destroyed, it was in large part due to the treant’s help. I smiled as I looked at the skill available notification, perhaps it was time to check if there was anything good, I had skipped levels: 65, 70, and 75 now in terms of rewards.

Just as I was about to take a glance at the suggested tab I felt danger engulf my being and a raspy but powerful voice entered my ears, it was domineering and had a System-like tone.

“Get down!”

My body collapsed on its own as I saw a ray of bright light pass through everything. I felt the treant ⁠— the plant that was part of me ⁠— get wiped in an instant, and at that moment I understood why Elasia got injured that time. I felt as if multiple bones were snapped, and I began to fervently cough as blood pooled on the ground. I could hardly move as I lifted my gaze and at that moment all I saw was:

Destruction. Coal. Charred wood, billowing smoke. Ashes rained from the ground, as fires raged at the edges of my blurry vision. The danger had disappeared, but I could sense all the plants in my vicinity were dead. All I saw were cinders. I coughed as my lungs were stuffed with the smoke, and when I finally got to see clearly. I saw a figure walking towards me, shaped like a human but covered in metal. It had dots of mana light on its helmet and arms, and a tattered cloak.

[The Light Maker. Lvl. 232]

It stood before me and extended its hand to try to help me up, but my body was unresponsive. I coughed in response as I tried to say something only to throw more blood on the ground. The fact that my treant died⁠⁠— it injured me. But the person before me. Who were they?

“Hm, still alive? Good. I made it in time.”

Before I could try to reply again, I felt its cold arm wrap around my torso and lift me up rather effortlessly. As soon as it had me at the same height as itself, I saw the helmet open and shift only to show a human. He had a rugged face, and a gruff beard but he smiled.

“Glad to see you’re alive,” he chirped. “This isn’t a good place to talk, so let us go to my hideout, yeah?”

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I meekly nodded, not exactly understanding what was going on. I closed my eyes. Then again, the trial space wasn’t even trial space. It was just a planet. In that sense, then I had practically skipped a step of the integration and jumped into a different planet altogether instead of limiting myself to the New World.

Still…

The Crimson Stretch?

My gaze wandered around the destruction.

This place is dangerous.

I turned to the man who was now under the helmet.

Very dangerous.

◇ ◇ ◇

I was taken to a cave, where there was for lack of a better word a metal box with flashing mana lights. The door slid open on its own, and the place was akin to a small house with furnishings and well lit by some sort of artificial light. My confusion increased as the man assisted me to the nearest couch, and finally I slumped. He turned around to do some things elsewhere, and I took that moment to take out a bead and pop it in my mouth.

I felt some annoyance, some confusion, and in spite of the attempts of small talk I denied all of them. Feigning to be too hurt to talk. Which I kind of was. I didn’t know who the human was, or what he was doing here, but the fact that he killed my treant in one hit was worrisome.

My eyes wandered around the home. I saw clean white colors around, sharp edges of metal and flashing lights. I saw panels of glass with lights on them, and the fixtures on the ceiling looked anti-natural. I even saw a floating illusion over at a distant table. I heard running water, and then the man came back, still wearing his armor.

He grunted and sat across from me.

“So, I’ll get to the point.” He sat straight. “What is someone like you doing in the Crimson Stretch?”

I frowned. “What do you mean by someone like me?”

He shook his head. “In case you live under a rock, which⁠—” His eyes wandered to my ragged armor. “You might. Then allow me to explain. The Crimson Stretch is a classified area, and is in a quarantine zone. Basically a place that shouldn’t be roamed by outsiders. This place belongs solely to the Legacy of Brilliance, or more specifically its Quarantine Specialist Legion.”

I nodded.

“What I am trying to say is. Why are you here, or how are you here? Given you are too weak to roam this place. If I hadn’t saved you from that dark treant you’d be long dead.”

I almost lashed out but held my tongue.

Enemy of the universe.

“Thank you.” I breathed. “I am very new to The System and simply started a trial and found myself here.”

“A trial?” He pondered. “What kind of trial?”

“I cannot answer.”

He sat in silence. “I suppose that there are indeed ancient trials of high rarity that will lead to dangerous places such as this one,” he mused. “Did it not occur to you that a C rank trial was too high?”

“It was… D+ actually…”

He nodded.

“Well, I suppose you will have to wait before continuing due to the gigantic treant outside.” He grunted and stood up, walking away.

I thought for a moment before calling. “Why is this place under quarantine?”

“The dark plants. They are a threat to everything.” I gulped, understanding the implications. “But also the Blight Corruption that emerged recently.” He walked back and sat once more. “Normally, dark plant ecosystems like these can be largely ignored and simply marked as dangerous. However, the corruption that comes from Blight is unnatural. Blight is an artificial affinity that should not exist. My mission is to destroy its source.”

“As in?”

He shook his head and stood up. “I’ll fill you in later. Make yourself at home. Realm Breaker.”

With those words, he left the room.

I sighed.

What kind of mess am I in? From the sounds of it, if the man found out I had a dark plant affinity I would be dead. From then other sounds of it, it sounded that Elasia wouldn’t be here any time soon. Annoying. Artificial this, artificial that. All annoying. The man had called me Realm Breaker, so I supposed that was my title on The System, just like his was The Light Maker.

Confusing.

I slumped as I felt my internal bleeding finally stop. The death of the treant really hurt me deeply. In more ways than one too. Sigh. Quarantine zone… I felt fatigue hit my body as I drifted asleep. I couldn’t even force myself to stay awake in spite of how annoyed I felt. There was only one question left.

Should I try to continue the trial and quest objective?

I didn’t know.