Chương 117: Choosing New Elemental Runes

My vine whip and explosive seed techniques were useful however expanding my arsenal of elemental runes remained a necessity with the tournament approaching so quickly. I caught movement in my peripheral vision and saw Constantine had ditched his normal exercise routine, instead he was twisting around inside his reinforced terrarium doing weird yoga poses. Staring was a bad idea, but I couldn't help watching the plant contort its body into a stance I was certain was a downward-facing dog.

"Let us begin with a fun one!" Elder Molric dragged my attention back towards his direction.

"The Thorn Barrage Rune served as a personal favorite of mine in the past when clearing out massive enemy groups." One of his fingers traced over the pattern, it looked very similar to a blooming flower constructed entirely out of harsh angular lines.

"Activating this creates a storm of thorns shooting everywhere, the thorns contain spiritual energy inside them to let them pierce basic defensive techniques."

"That sounds messy," I pointed out, thinking about the massive collateral damage involved. The old man just grinned even wider.

"Oh, it absolutely is! There is zero targeting so whether you are an ally or an enemy, you better have fast reflexes or a strong shield if you are in the blast zone." He started laughing to himself.

"One time an initiate actually triggered it during a team spar, his teammates were quite angry with him after the match finished... at least the ones who remained capable of walking." Wiping out a ton of enemies at once was a really tempting thought, but I preferred techniques that gave me actual control over where they went, I really doubted Lin Mei and Wei Lin would be okay with me turning them into pincushions with my own attacks.

"Master, the design shares a lot of similarities with the explosive seed rune except it utilizes several projection points rather than one central focus, I went ahead and saved it into my database so we can analyze it later." Azure informed me. Giving a small nod that was meant for the elder and Azure at the same time I asked him, "Do you have any runes similar to this that are maybe a little more safe?"

"The Leaf Storm Rune!" The elder pointed at a pattern depicting a spiraling leaf.

"This generates a swarm of razor-sharp leaves under your command. It has less raw power compared to the Thorn Barrage, but the precision is greater. Spinning them around your body even allows them to act as a shield." Real potential existed there.

"What is the energy cost?"

"It takes a moderate amount, yet it drains constantly, the leaves stick around until they are destroyed or your energy reserves run dry and you can't control them." He waved his hand to show me, and dark red energy molded itself into the shape of leaves that floated around the room in a little dance.

"You see? It is extremely versatile." Different applications for a technique like this were already forming in my mind.

"What else is available?"

"Ah here is something you might appreciate, the Grove Guardian Rune." Turning the page, he revealed an intricate design of interwoven circles alongside branches.

"This sets up a defensive zone where wooden barriers automatically spring upward to block any incoming attacks. Energy usage is quite efficient too since activation only occurs when necessary."

"Why does that sound too good to be true?"

"Well..." A slight cough escaped him.

"The barriers has a tendency to be a bit overzealous. An initiate sneezed during his training and almost impaled himself with his own defenses. Though I suppose that proves it works!" I immediately filed that technique away in my head under the category of things I might use later but definitely need to test out in a massive empty field first.

"Next we have the Rootbind Rune." He displayed a design resembling intertwining vines.

"This forces roots to burst outward from the ground and entangle your opponents. Simple yet effective, especially because most practitioners focus heavily on defending against aerial attacks." That sounded highly practical.

"The main issue here is the distance since you have to be standing roughly ten meters away from the enemy and there needs to be actual soil around for it to work, so fighting on solid stone or flying in the sky makes it useless." He gave a small shrug.

"It is still reliable as long as you are in the right environment." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Master," Azure pointed out, "that could serve as a particularly useful combination alongside your vine techniques. You force opponents to dodge the vines and catch them using the roots when they land." Manipulating roots was something I almost never did because compared to my flexible vines, they were just a really stubborn element to work with. This technique was worth thinking about though.

Then my eyes caught something interesting sitting in the corner of one page, a pattern appearing completely different from the rest. The majority of these runes focused on external effects, whereas this specific one carried a more internal feeling. Lines flowed together like sap moving through wood to create a pattern reminding me of a tree cross-section.

"What is that one?" I pointed toward the corner. The elder adopted a much more serious expression.

"Ah, the Rootform rune. One of our more experimental designs." He stroked his chin with a thoughtful look.

"It grants the user the ability to transform their arm into a solid mass of roots and branches. Quite powerful in theory but..."

"But what?" I asked when he trailed off. He let out a sigh.

"Like I mentioned earlier regarding transformation runes, these deep physical changes affect more things than only the body. The person using it begins to think like whatever they are turning into, and we have had disciples in the past who became too botanical with how they viewed the world."

"Do you mean they started thinking like plants?"

"Yes." The elder sighed again.

"They gain an obsession with sunlight and constantly try to put roots down into the ground... Some even forget they need to move around! One fellow stood in the same location for three months while insisting he was growing." I gave a nod while attempting to hide my excitement. The second stage of the World Tree Sutra involved partial transformation, allowing the cultivator to take on world tree aspects while maintaining their human consciousness.

This rune might provide valuable insights into that process despite utilizing a completely different energy system. Yggy apparently sensed my thoughts and emerged fully from my sleeve to perform an action that could only be described as an enthusiastic dance.

"Oh, you like that idea, do you?" I smiled and reached up to stroke along its length.

"Let me guess, you want me to be more plant-like so I'm more like you?" The vine froze mid-motion and then produced a gesture that basically said 'well when you put it that way...'

"The Genesis Seed should offer some protection against mental contamination," Azure pointed out.

"I can also monitor your psychological state looking for any concerning changes. We can stop using the rune if we detect any negative effects." That was reassuring to know. Honestly, I would not feel confident messing around with a rune like this if I didn't have Azure and the Genesis Seed with me. Turning back toward the elder I saw him watching my interaction with Yggy with his eyebrows raised.

"I want to learn this one."

"Are you sure?" he asked, his normal manic energy vanished, now replaced by genuine concern.

"The mental effects are not the only issue because transformation runes are tricky to control and having multiple active at once…" He stopped talking suddenly and his eyes widened.

"Ah I just remembered, you also wanted that Scorpion rune earlier too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but is that okay? You mentioned earlier we should avoid mixing transformation runes..."

"Non-elemental transformations," he issued a correction with a sigh.

"They refuse to play well together, attempting to turn your arm into a wolf claw while holding onto bear strength for instance, tends to yield messy results." He offered a dismissive hand wave.

"Elemental transformations operate on completely different principles. They should not interfere with each other." A surge of relief washed through my body. The poison-delivering capability of the Scorpion rune was too useful to give up especially for the upcoming tournament. Having both of them was the ideal outcome. The elder spent a moment studying my face before shrugging.

"Well, you have shown good judgment so far. I suppose possessing a vine-spirit familiar already makes you uniquely qualified to handle plant-based transformations." Hearing this, Yggy preened and the tip of its body formed into a shape looking suspiciously identical to a flexing muscle. I started wondering if my buddy had been picking up behavioral cues from Constantine.

"There is another thing you should know," the elder added with a serious expression.

"The Rootform rune is more powerful and complex than most elemental runes at your rank. It'll take up two of your three available slots for elemental runes. Are you sure about this?" I put on a show of considering the information carefully despite already being certain about my choice. One slot still remained inside my inner world after all. I just had to figure out what I wanted for that last spot.

"I understand the risks," I finally spoke.

"But I still want to learn it." The elder nodded his head really slowly.

"Alright then. We're done talking about any other elemental runes for the time being." A tiny flash of his crazy grin finally came back to his face.

"Unless you somehow manage to break through to Rank 3 a lot faster than we expect, then I can start showing you some truly interesting combinations..." It was a little disappointing that Azure wasn't going to be able to scan any more runes into my database today but even so, I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Using up two whole slots for the Rootform rune was a steep price, but if it gave me the insight I needed to figure out the transformation steps in the World Tree Sutra, it would be worth the cost.

Plus being able to mutate my arm into a giant weapon made of thick roots and branches sounded pretty impressive.