Chương 16: Unexpected Find

Maximus woke early with the first rays of sunlight piercing through his curtainless window, spilling across the room in soft gold. He yawned and got up, Sprout hanging off his shoulder, as he walked outside and sat on the ground, directly bathed in the sun's warm, gentle rays.

He took a meditative position, with Sprout climbing on top of his head, as he slowly started breathing spirit energy in and out, steady, controlled, carefully guiding it into his seed, while Sprout devoured the excess energy that Maximus expelled from his body as it finished a cycle through his system. Slowly, his body started growing a bit sturdier, like a seed when you fertilize the soil and pour water over it, nurturing it into something more resilient.

As he finished a few cycles of strengthening his insides and the seed, he finally opened his eyes and smiled.

"Small steps, Sprout, my friend. Seeds need to be tended to with care." He smiled as Sprout rustled his leaves contentedly.

"Morning…" Felix walked outside and coughed, spitting a bit of phlegm.

"Nasty…" he muttered with a grimace.

"That doesn't look healthy." Maximus frowned slightly.

"It's fine. What are you doing?" Felix asked, intrigued despite himself.

"I'm absorbing the energies of nature into my body. You cannot just wait for the system to make you stronger; you need to put effort into it as well." Maximus preached calmly.

"Oh, didn't you promise to show me as well?" Felix suddenly remembered, straightening his back a bit.

"I am not certain that I can, but let's try. Sit in the meditative position and turn your back to me. Close your eyes." Maximus ordered evenly. Felix nodded.

"Alright, but don't try anything odd," he added as he sat and closed his eyes.

"I'll try to guide mana into your body. You need to focus on the sensation and try to follow its path; it should go somewhere within your body where you usually store mana. Probably your heart, but some people have other organs they use as mana storage." Maximus explained.

"You know a lot…" Felix thought aloud as he waited. Maximus feigned ignorance and activated his Mana Sense. He then pulled a sliver of mana, but instead of drawing it inward, he made it swirl around his palm before pressing it onto Felix's back and slowly guiding the mana into his body. As he did, he started sensing the inner state of Felix's body. Oh, this is interesting. His mana is pure elemental ice mana; there is not even a sliver of any other element. And what is this? He possesses a mana core?

Do all participants have a core, or is he special? Maximus thought as he carefully guided the sliver of mana into Felix's core.

"Are you feeling this? Focus on the sensations!" Maximus raised his voice slightly.

"I can feel it; you don't need to yell!" Felix muttered.

"I will now show you how to strip mana into elemental mana and then store only what you can use," Maximus explained. Within Felix's body, Maximus slowly separated colorless mana into countless hues before he found a thread of icy blue, then guided it into the small, nail-sized core. Finally, he led the remaining mana into Felix's lungs.

"Now exhale the remaining mana," he said. Felix listened and exhaled. As the mana escaped his body, a small icy breath danced in the air before it melted away under the sun's warmth.

"So? Did you get it?" Maximus asked.

"I'm not you. I got some of it, but not the main part, really," Felix admitted.

"You need to spend your time sensing the mana yourself. Once you can do that, then you can do what I did. Come here." Maximus turned him toward himself, and Felix blushed for a brief moment.

"What are you doing?" Felix shouted, backing away.

"Calm down. What are you yelling for? I swear…" Maximus muttered.

"I'll unlock your Mana Sense. Since I'll do it forcefully, it will hurt, but bear with me," Maximus said simply as he rose. He condensed mana onto his index finger until it glowed like a firefly. Then he approached Felix and jabbed him between the eyes, pushing the mana into his pineal gland. Felix screamed.

"What are you doing?! What the fuck!!!?" he roared before collapsing unconscious into the dirt.

"Oh, he reacted better than expected. I see potential in this one." Maximus smiled, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Well then, let's pull him inside," Maximus said as he dragged Felix, bumping his head along the ground and steps before leaving him on the hallway floor and closing the door.

"Alright, Sprout, my boy, let's go find us some information. Leveling up is the name of the game!" He clapped cheerfully, Sprout mimicking him with his two tiny leaves.

"Haha, you are so smart! I should find you a good spot to absorb some high-quality spirit energy," Maximus said as he headed toward the center of the massive village.

Maximus walked slowly, taking in the sights until he reached the district from last night. There, he saw in one of the restaurants Oscar sprawled atop a large table, with a couple of men, including the guard from last night, lying scattered across the floor. Well, he sure had a lot of fun. Ah, to be young. Maximus chuckled and put his hands behind his back as he continued walking until he reached the main gates, where he found a single guard sleeping, leaning against the wall.

"Uhm, good morning, young man!" Maximus shouted. The guard jolted, scrambling to look presentable until he saw Maximus standing before him with a plant on his head.

"What the fuck, man?! I almost had a heart attack. Who wakes people like that?" the guard cursed, spitting on the ground.

"Apologies, I just felt it was a shame for you to miss such a nice morning. The sun is quite pleasant today." Maximus said with a polite smile.

"Oh, another nutcase. My fucking luck. What do you want?" the guard asked with a long, tired exhale.

"I wanted to know if there are any good leveling places around here. Or maybe a place with a thick forest, one that looks extremely lush." Maximus explained calmly.

"What am I, a tour guide, for fuck's sake? Yes, yes, there is one place not that far from here, actually. It's almost like a swamp, but there are some nice trees there, just beautiful!" the guard said, winking for some reason. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Oh, can you point me in the right direction then, kind sir?" Maximus said, trying to remain polite, feeling slightly bad for scaring the man. He hadn't expected him to be so useful.

"Kind sir, my ass. Yeah, yeah, just go northeast from here. It should take you half an hour to reach it; you can't miss it. Large willows grow there." The guard explained.

"Thank you, I'll pay for your lunch once I'm back," Maximus said as he left the village the moment the guard opened the gates. He left the guard shaking his head, mumbling behind him, "Crazy fucker…"

As soon as Maximus left the settlement, he transformed into his Cat Form and activated Prowl, his figure turning faintly translucent before he dashed off northward. After fifteen or so minutes of keeping a high pace, he arrived at the place the guard had described. Four-meter willows hung there, their branches drooping almost to the ground as they carved out a patch of land, transforming it into a quiet green oasis.

Between their roots, dark green waters flowed, on top of which thick, moss-like plants spread in tangled clusters. The swamp extended for at least a kilometer northward before it slowly merged into a large river that cut from the east through the northern lands of the First Plane. He sure wasn't lying. The spirit energy here is dense, and there are almost no signs of other participants; it's practically untainted by humans. He nodded, satisfied, as he entered the swampland in search of a denser pocket of energy.

As he walked, the swamp water rose to his feline neck. Sprout suddenly rustled his leaves, jumping up and down on top of his head, agitated. Maximus froze. What is it, buddy? He asked through their bond. Sprout pointed with one of its leaves to the left. Alright, let's see what you found. He smiled and trudged through the moss and mud until they arrived at a sheltered place surrounded by willows, and in the middle, a small patch of solid ground with three distinctively crimson-red flowers growing.

This looks promising. Maximus thought and jumped onto the patch, transforming back into his human form. He appraised the plants first before doing anything. [Ruby Blood Orchid] A rare plant that can be used as part of a recipe to brew a body-strengthening elixir. Usually grows in wetlands and can exist in a symbiotic relationship with the Crimson Pitcher Devourer plant, which is also an ingredient of many elixirs. The appraisal returned its information.

"That's right! I heard of those elixirs. Aura Masters used to pay a fortune for them. Didn't old Percilus show me how to do it once?" Maximus thought back to his earlier years in Veridiyum and nodded.

"Yes, that's it. I can do it like that! This body needs a bit of nutrients, doesn't it?!" He smiled as he carefully approached the flowers with a staff in hand. He released a ripple of spirit energy as a rudimentary scanning skill, but it detected nothing. With a small sigh of relief, he ducked low and plucked the three flowers in a quick motion, instantly storing them away. Lately, he'd been using storage more than his satchel, which he had also stored away for now.

The inventory actually worked faster than even his old Subspace Magic; one could summon items with but a thought almost instantly. Suddenly, as he plucked the last flower, the small dirt mound beneath him shook, the water around it rippling outward.

To the left, a three-meter-tall carnivorous plant emerged from the mud, its crimson vines thrashing wildly as its large plant-like head, formed of layered leaves and jagged maw, bit at the air in frenzy, its rows of sharp thorn-like teeth crunching loudly as they snapped against one another.

"Clever plant…" Maximus frowned.

"Spectral Wolf, help me distract it!" he summoned as his legs morphed into lupine limbs and he released a vine of his own, lashing at the mad plant's head. The Spectral Wolf lunged at it, only to be smashed aside by its tentacle-like vines, slamming it into the waters, while Maximus dodged with feral precision as the vines descended around him in a frenzy. He released his Thorn Whip and lashed out with a new one, this time focusing on wrapping it properly around the plant's meaty stalk. I didn't get a new sword.

Curses. It would've been easier that way. He frowned as he kept moving, already sensing that his lungs wouldn't hold out for long. Within the storm of vines, he managed to avoid some, but others lashed precisely, his Barkskin barely holding. The whipping tendrils battered his body through the bark-like membrane he had activated the moment he felt himself slowing down.

Seeing that the situation was worsening, he charged Nature's Wrath and released it, the wisp-like orb of burning spirit energy colliding with the plant's head. As it struck, the plant released a head-splitting ripple of vibration as its entire body glowed a bloody crimson. Maximus gasped as he observed that the attack had done nothing. The plant had actually swallowed Nature's Wrath and enhanced its own body.

"What in the seven realms is this madness?" He couldn't believe a plant could digest his strongest spell. I've never seen such a being in my old world. He muttered inwardly as another idea struck him. He lunged toward the plant, his legs bursting with the last sparks of power as he grabbed one of the vines embedded in its body. As he did, he released Static Surge, using the vine whip as a conductor. Electricity surged along the length, dancing violently across its thorn-covered body as it cascaded downward.

As the current struck, it spread like wildfire, even bleeding into the surrounding water and roots, amplifying the damage. But even as its body convulsed under the relentless electricity, it seized Maximus and bound him tightly before spitting jets of acid. The burning liquid splattered over Barkskin, breaching the membrane as if it were paper. Maximus screamed in pain. While electricity cooked the plant, acid devoured his flesh, and the crushing vines tightened around his body, cracking ribs and crushing his arms.

"By the light's mercy, I shall not be undone like this! Sprout, buy me some time, please!" he roared through agony as he cast Rejuvenation and shapeshifted his arms into those of a bear. Through pain and broken bones, he forced strength into those limbs, tearing through the vines just enough to escape its grasp.

Seeing him struggle and cry out, Sprout opened a small portal and slipped through, reappearing moments later atop the plant's large head just as Maximus broke free and collapsed into the muddy waters, fading arcs of electricity still dancing across the surface. Seeing Sprout on the creature's head, Maximus froze.

"You crazy child, what are you doing?!" His heart clenched as he watched, expecting the plant to swallow or melt him instantly. But instead, something unexpected happened. Sprout squealed, defiantly, and pierced the plant's head with his small root-like limbs, slowly pouring a trickle of his spirit energy into the creature's mind. The plant froze. Even its thrashing vines halted mid-strike as it attempted to resume its attack. Seeing the opportunity, Maximus moved.

He activated Cat Form and lunged, his claws glowing crimson as he descended upon the weakened plant. Swish. Swish. Swish. He unleashed a flurry of Claw Strikes, ignoring the pain of his broken bones, shredding through the plant's thick stalk until it collapsed into the water like a felled tree. Sprout detached himself, jumping back onto Maximus as he dragged himself onto solid ground. His Cat Form faded, leaving him sprawled in the mud.

"Sprout, my friend… You saved me today. I owe this new life to you," he said weakly as he finally noticed a warning flickering before his eyes. Warning: Critical condition!

Health: 64/650 | Spirit: 40/410 Physical Condition: Weak Human Vessel (Severe acid burns, four cracked ribs, three broken ribs, torn left shoulder, cracked forearms)"Nice of you to tell me this," he muttered cynically as he lay there unmoving while Healing Flow activated on its own, the abundant spirit energy pouring into his dry body and seed like water into cracked earth.

He suffered in silence as his body repaired itself, but even he didn't notice that the more spirit energy restored him, the deeper it fused with his being. ‎