Chapter 39: 40-Sprout

 

Winter just passed and the snow melted into the ground.

Rowan looked around the campground as he geared up himself for what may be his final time in a safe place.

Five winters had passed which meant five years had passed for the boy. There was a certain degree of change that was to be expected. His body had grown taller and stronger. His arms had grown naturally to match his growth, something he had been unsure of at first. Since they were made of wood, he had thought he needed to manually force his arms to grow inorder to match with his body. Fortunately that did not happen and everything occurred naturally.

Not only did his body grow, so did the camp grounds. Originally the camp did not have a lot in the first place with Rowan being its only inhabitant. That meant more freedom and space for him to design and change the camp as he wished. HIs first construction, the target mound, had collapsed long ago. From it’s end, a new training target was designed and constructed. The new design was more compact and sleek as Rowan hands grew used to digging and compiling the soil. Rowan called the new training targets, target pillars. They could have been mistaken for logs if one looked from afar. They were spread out through the camp for the different training practices that Rowan had thought up. They lasted longer and could take more arrows than the original mound that Rowan had created.

There was one major difference in the camp compared to when Rowan just started and it growing in the center. A certain young tree had sprouted from the ground. It was about ten feet tall and the leaves had just begun to bud. However if one focused on one of the branches, there was something else that was growing besides the leaves. 

A fruit.

The hard work that Rowan had done all these years for the Mother Tree had allowed it to grow large enough to bear fruit. What kind of fruit? Rowan had no idea as it was the first time he saw it. The fruit that started to grow was currently the size of a cherry and still very green. It gave no indication about if it would grow larger or change color once it became ripe. 

The speed of growth for the Mother Tree could be considered miraculous. And could only be attributed to the fact that Rowan constantly injected his mana and carried out the exchange throughout all these years. When the sun had gone down and he couldn’t sleep, Rowan would perform the mana exchange in his spare time.

The life mana that Rowan received had transformed and strengthened his own body. By how much? He had no idea as he had no one to compare to. The training that he put body through at times made him wonder how much was his own growth and how much was due to the Mother Tree. 

Not that he was ungrateful or anything.

Rowan was fully aware that he was currently alive thanks to the Mother Tree healing and sacrificing its original self for him. However, whenever he tried to push his body to the limit, it would take several hours before he was able to fully tire himself out. Exercises that should have exhausted his body out when he just started for the first time took a while for his body to reach its limit. It was baffling to the boy in a good way.

The transformation in his body was not the only thing Rowan discovered. The next and most important discovery for him involved the Mother Tree seed.  When Rowan had first found out that the Mother Tree seed had sprouted, it was just after his first winter. He was so excited that he injected as much mana as he could like a madman inorder to quicken the progress of the newborn plant. As it turned out, there was no visible difference with the amount he injected. The young plant grew at its own pace no matter how much mana Rowan gave it.

Fortunately it was a pretty fast pace. Rowan liked to think it had something to do with his blessing, but he wasn't sure as he didnt know if he was able to properly activate <Plant Growth>during the process.

It was around the fourth year when Rowan noticed something about the mana he sent to the Mother Tree. The Mother Tree took in the mana as usual, but there was a surplus amount of mana as Rowan’s own mana pool had also grown increasingly larger. His body no longer took in all the transformed mana and it seemed the Mother Tree noticed. The tree always sends just the right amount of life mana to Rowan. No more, no less. 

Rowan had grown curious about what happened the rest of the life mana so he decided to take a chance to once again observe the transformation process. With a keen eye, Rowan watched the Mother Tree change his mana and sent a portion of it back to him.

You are reading story The Evergreen Knight at novel35.com

 The rest was sent underground. The remainder of the mana followed a trail of roots that branched out through the earth. To Rowan surprise the rest of the life mana went into the vines that created the barrier for their camp.

It made sense to Rowan after witnessing it.

He had never thought of how the vines survived on their own. He thought they survived off sunlight and water just like regular plants, but regular plants would not be able to fend off the monsters of the Forest of Death. There had to be something else, but Rowan had never noticed. Afterall, the vines originally came from the Mother Tree so they must have been special in some way. Otherwise it would not explain the strength and survivability of the vines for so long.

If the vines were part of the Mother tree, did that mean he could connect with them?

When Rowan had found out he was practically shaking with excitement. If he could use his mana to connect with the vines like he did with the Mother Tree, then that meant he could open up the barrier.

Just like how he saw Almar did so long ago.

The method to open the barrier was practically confirmed to him and he just needed to test out his theory. Rowan knew he was onto something, but he didn’t rush. There was no point since he had a promise to keep. To wait for the fruit of the Mother tree to grow. Even if he opened up the barrier there was no guarantee he would be able to come back once again so he decided to be patient. Rowan at the time was not completely satisfied with his own skills yet. He wanted to be completely confident of his own skills before setting out.

That didn’t mean the boy completely dropped the idea. He immediately injected his mana into the barrier of thorns and found he was able to establish a connection. 

That was enough for Rowan as he immediately stopped and went back to his training.

Now a year after his discovery, the Mother Tree has begun to bear its first fruit.

 It was time for Rowan to leave. He geared himself up and stepped in front of the barrier.

Rowan sent a tendril of mana which immediately set up a sense of connection which he send just one thought.

OPEN.

The barrier of thorns parted and opened a path forward.

You can find story with these keywords: The Evergreen Knight, Read The Evergreen Knight, The Evergreen Knight novel, The Evergreen Knight book, The Evergreen Knight story, The Evergreen Knight full, The Evergreen Knight Latest Chapter