Chapter 12: Aspite Tree

BOOM!

SCREEEEEEEEEE

The tree roared in fury as if tried to bring out more power, but it was in vain. It was born just minutes ago, resting here to gather mana, not disturbing anyone even though it had sensed people close by, but they had to just come and disturb it.

So it decided to use it's full strength against them. So having already unleashed its wrath from the beginning. Its roots had been nearly impossible to fend off, and even as the students began to hold their ground, the tree continued to see their actions as a desperate last stand, slowly wearing them down.

But, when it seemed poised to deliver the final blow, the students fought back with renewed vigor and and the tides changed and before it knew it, they even managed to strike at its core-hidden.

CRACK…CRACK

Jon's spear, initially ineffective against the tree, found an unexpected advantage. The tree's core was hidden in an unpredictable location—its branches. Jon hadn't anticipated a core, but if he had, he would have considered attacking the bark. But given the spear's ineffectiveness against the roots, it wouldn't have worked. However, with Moon Gaze, he spotted it.

The tree had cleverly concealed its core, but had underestimated the power of ocular skills, or hadn't met anyone yet with ocular skills. Though Jon had to sacrifice his spear, it was a necessary loss.

The screeching halted abruptly. The roots fell, and silence returned. The battlefield was strewn with gaping wounds and deep lacerations, but the focus of the group was elsewhere.

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED REMAINS OF FIRST REALM LEVEL 20 'ASPITE TREE']

The surge of power they felt from the remains was far greater than anything from the zombies they had previously encountered.

They exchanged glances, realizing they had all received the same message. It seemed the system allocates rewards based on individual contributions, but even with that, the remains they received was larger than the highest-level zombie, they had killed individually.

[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

[YOUR **** HAS GROWN]

The notifications abruptly stopped, and they missed the final one that flashed briefly. As the messages faded.

They rested for a moment while surveying the damage done to the ground and the tree. It was a terrifying battle. And if they hadn't thought outside of the normal things, they would be dead.

Even with what they had done, they were still covered in cuts, bruises and not to forget their bleeding parts-eyes, nose, mouth.

Since it was over, they nodded to each other, and moved cautiously toward the tree, since they couldn't talk for now.

They had expended most of their mana developing new strategies to battle the tree. And with the tree's remains boosting their mana reserves, it would take some time to recover fully.

At the foot of the tree, its once vibrant green and gold leaves had died down. And it's fruits now stood out. Five golden apples hung temptingly from the branches, close to the location the core was hidden. Jon stretched to reach for one, but the effort was too much. He ended up faltering foward an collapsing.

"JON…JON!"

"Hey…"

Jenny and Cynthia rushed to his side, panic etched on their faces. Seeing the pool of blood beneath Jon, they quickly realized the severity of the situation. Jenny had managed to use her silver flames to stop her own bleeding, and Cynthia was the least injured, but was the one who bled the most, overextending himself to crush the core opened it more.

"E-Err… what do we do now?" Jenny asked, trying her skill on Jon, but it had no effect. They checked his breathing—it was steady, and they took slow, steady breaths.

"I'll take the fruits. You carry him. Let's get back to the dormitory," Cynthia quickly thinking of a solution.

...

In the distance, a group observed the scene with wide eyes. Once part of a group of four, they had been forced to kill their zombified companions. Though initially distressed, they quickly moved on after acquiring their own skills.

The two had once belonged to a gang named Krad, notorious for their scams and violence.

They had even been in the midst of showing their notoriousity on a student when the world fell.

Now, as they hid from zombies, trying to get to a safe place. They heard the tree's roar, and due to their personalities, they decided to investigate.

Upon arriving, they saw three students fighting a tree. At first, they seemed on the losing side but they ended up defeating the monstrous tree. Because of that, they were reluctant to intervene. However, with one of them unconscious and the others injured, they saw an opportunity to claim the fruits for themselves.

"Hey Jed, they're getting close. Let's take them," one said.

"Yeah, Toad, Dog, let's jump them." Jed turned, expecting to address his teammates, but realized they were the one's they killed to survive. Jed smacked his forehead in frustration. "Looks like it's just us," he said, his voice tinged with unease. Even injured, the students might still be dangerous.

"Yeah," Max agreed.

Then as the two stood up, ready to intercept,

THUD…THUD

With the dull sounds of heads hitting the ground. And if one saw their faces, it was Jed and Max. The looks on their faces didn't even show that awareness of being killed. And, behind them stood the pair of followers from earlier, their anger palpable.

"How dare they," the woman seethed, her rage evident. Having restrained herself from aiding Cynthia in the battle, the theft of the fruits was unacceptable.

Her companion, though more composed, became a bit restless after what she had done, "We need to leave now?" His voice tinged in urgency.

Rumble....

Looking up the sky, a large red like shape was forming.

"Farewell, young miss," but the woman smiled instead, as if not bothered about the dangerous thing forming above them.

The man though didn't react and quickly threw a ball to the ground and dissappeared. And the woman followed after a while.

And immediately they left, the red shape dissipated like nothing happened.

...

Jon eyes fluttered opened, only to be greeted by a system notification:

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED REMAINS SKILL OF FIRST REALM 'ASPITE TREE']

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED UNRANKED SKILL 'SPEED-HEALING']

Confused about what he was seeing, he checked his status.

[STATUS]

[NAME: JON WHYTE]

[AGE: 19]

[LEVEL: 15]

[CLASS: NONE]

[TITLE: NONE]

[STRENGTH: 60] [AGILITY: 90] [STAMINA: 85] [MANA: 500] [HEALTH: 150]

[SKILLS: INSTANT CALCULATION (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 5, MOON (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 5, MOON GAZING (SECOND REALM), SPEED-HEALING (UNRANKED REALM)]

[TRAITS: COMPOSURE (THIRD REALM) LEVEL 5, SOLDIERS PHYSIQUE (EVOLVABLE)]

[STATUS POINTS: 12]

Now, his level had increased. All his stats had also increased, and there was even there were even new skills.

"Did I inherit the tree's healing ability?" he wondered. The first he saw was the speed-healing. 'I should ask Jenny about it.' "Wait, 'Moon gaze' how?" He couldn't help but say that aloud. Without wasting time, he checked the description,

[MOON GAZING (SECOND REALM) LEVEL 1: THE EYES OF THE MOON TOUCH ON THE BORDER OF MYSTERY. YOU CAN SEE THROUGH THINGS BETTER.]

[REACH FIRST REALM TO SEE FULL DETAILS]

"Too weak to see the full details? What bullshit." He felt a bit of frustration as he saw it, he was still conscious when he used the skill, so he was anticipating something good.

'Why give me in the first place.' his thoughts were a fair argument, but he got it too early. And his 'Instant calculation' played a huge role in it. Then he focused on the second,

[SPEED-HEALING (UNRANKED REALM) LEVEL 5: SPEEDS UP HEALING PROCESS TO TWICE THAT OF A NORMAL HUMAN. PERMANENTLY INCREASES HEALTH BY 50.]

"Twice the normal healing rate? I wonder how potent it'll become at higher levels," he became excited at the thought of healing while fighting.

With that done, he looked around. 'This is not the dormitory.' he realized almost immediately. Looking at the place again, he realized, he wasn't alone in the room. There was someone staring at him.

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