Chapter 227-2: Virtual Seed, Real Root (2) |
Segments of written records surfaced on the light-screen, along with multiple animated diagrams.
[Growth Guidance, one of the Green Wood race’s basic natural arts. Establish resonance with a plant through spiritual power, infuse natural energy, and guide its growth…]
In the conceptual illustration, an elder of the Green Wood race gently placed his hand on a seedling. The seedling sprouted and budded at a speed visible to the naked eye and finally bloomed into a gorgeous flower.
For the first stage of study, one first needed to possess the Green Wood race’s natural talent.
In this respect, Ashen Sigil had no problem.
Although life strength had significantly weakened over the course of the era, the bloodline of the Green Wood ancestors still remained in his body, allowing him to sense the faint aura exuded by plants.
After entering Monster World, his primary form’s talent bar also listed the ability ‘Nature Affinity.’
After reading for a long time, Ashen Sigil followed the guidance in the materials and sat cross-legged.
He closed his eyes and calmed his mind, attempting to sense the surrounding spiritual energy.
Where were the free energy particles.
But he did not give up. He tried hard to focus his spiritual power and grope in the dark according to the instructions.
This process lasted for several hours.
Just as Ashen Sigil was about to give up, he suddenly sensed a faint wisp of aura wandering by his side.
Unlike the behavior of energy particles recorded in the materials, his vision did not switch to perception mode, nor did he see floating energy particles.
He could only sense that a wisp of aura drifted past him and then quietly disappeared.
When he tried to capture that wisp again, he could no longer sense it.
This left Ashen Sigil feeling disappointed.
“Just go try it in the game directly?”
With the thought, Ashen Sigil acted at once.
Although the contents of the inheritance database were connected to the Starnet network, there was a confidentiality mechanism, and it was obviously impossible to view them in Monster World.
He planned to memorize this portion of the content first, then try it directly in the game.
Spending half an hour committing the content to memory, Ashen Sigil came to the game pod. Still wearing his game suit, he lay straight into the pod.
At once, the nutrient solution blended for the Green Wood physique flowed from the apertures in the pod wall and enveloped his body.
After neural tubes connected to various parts of his body, his vision was gradually shrouded in darkness.
A few minutes later, Ashen Sigil’s figure appeared in a dense forest south of the Colorful Mist Coast.
He summoned the map and, after glancing at his position relative to the Colorful Mist Coast spatial node, decisively chose the convenient return-to-village mode.
An hour later, Ashen Sigil arrived at the newly opened Boundless Forest Domain spatial node via the Teleportation Plaza.
He had learned about this starter node on the forum.
This was his first time here.
Unlike other scenes where players all rushed around outside, the Boundless Forest Domain scene was extremely chaotic. As soon as he teleported in, a jumble of noises surged over him.
“Team needs a Gargoyle build player. Five-man team, you take 30 percent of sacrificial power spoils. Must be Gargoyle build, not Rock Shield Inherited soul tank build.”
“Team short one Extraction Inherited soul player. The other brothers will soon switch to Extraction too. Efficient hunting squad.”
“Static group needs a freelance tank. We found a hidden spawn point. Come quick. If the coordination works, we can form a static group.”
“Newbie guild recruiting rookies. Future goal is the large battlefield of Emperor’s Mound Village. Newbies unite.”
—
Ashen Sigil decisively muted the regional voice channel.
But there were still a lot of voices shouting on-site, trying to recruit all kinds of players.
This wave of recruited newbies was similar to the situation when he entered Monster World.
He had obtained his game qualification when appearing in the cavern world scene.
At that time, the various player teams he encountered mainly recruited tank Gargoyle builds. Basically every team lacked one, including top guilds.
Players who could run a tank build were ruthless in Ashen Sigil’s eyes.
Without willpower beyond that of ordinary people, they would give up before long.
By comparison, spellcaster players had an excellent experience.
If they won, it was because spellcasters had high damage output. If they lost, it was because the tank build players could not withstand the damage, causing the team’s damage sustain to break.
Weaving through the crowded mass of newbie players, a few of them actively sent team invites along the way, which Ashen Sigil decisively refused.
He was a veteran player after all. Teaming with newbies was meaningless, the process akin to babysitting.
Passing through the spatial barrier, Ashen Sigil arrived at his destination for this trip.
The four large characters Boundless Forest Domain flashed before his eyes, then slowly faded.
The scene presented before him made Ashen Sigil inexplicably tremble.
Looking around, there was lush greenery everywhere, as if he were in a fairyland meticulously carved by nature.
Colorful trees were thick with branches and leaves. Vines twined around the trunks. Leaves gently swayed in the breeze, rustling softly.
The ground was carpeted with soft grass, dotted with all kinds of wildflowers.
As a member of the Green Wood race, he was innately endowed with a certain natural perception.
He could sense that the plants here had more vitality than those in other scenes.
The leaves were brighter in color, the flowers’ fragrance richer. Even the vines seemed to have spirituality, gently swaying with the path of the wind.
Though night shrouded the land, a faint phosphorescence permeated the air. Together with the weak glow released by the plants, it bathed the entire environment in a dreamlike sheen.
“Hiss.”
Taking a deep breath, Ashen Sigil was shocked once again.
The air here seemed to have been purified by the hand of the Divine Mother of nature, so pure it was hard to believe.
With a deep inhalation, he could clearly feel a cool breath pouring into his lungs, carrying a faint scent of grass and wood and the moist fragrance of earth.
There was not the slightest pollutant in the air. It seemed even dust had been filtered clean. With each breath one could even feel the rhythm of life.
Compared with the real environment when he had just logged off, this place was simply heaven.
The air quality here was even a notch above that of the Colorful Mist Coast.
After activating Owl-Headed Fiend perception, countless flickering life particles were clearly visible. Every breath brought a slight increase in body tempering level.
Even without cultivating combat techniques, one could idle in this environment and still gain a degree of growth.
This made Ashen Sigil think of the Green Wood race’s decline of life.
If they had not descended on Earth back then, but on this scene, the decline of the Green Wood race would have been reversed. Instead they would have received nourishment from the environment, allowing the life strength of the Green Wood race to continuously increase over time.
“Came late.”
Feeling the natural aura flowing around him,
it was as if every wisp of wind and every leaf were whispering to him.
His body produced a certain resonance with this land. Every cell in his body was rejoicing, as if it had found its home.
He closed his eyes and allowed that unprecedented happiness to flow in his heart, as if his whole being were wrapped in nature’s warmth.
Before coming here, the Colorful Mist Coast region had been, in his eyes, the number one among the major spatial nodes.
But now, first place belonged to the Boundless Forest Domain region.
He did not know why, but he even felt he was meant to belong here.
The only thing ruining the feeling was the newbies around him. Their loud clamoring was truly noisy.
Ashen Sigil immediately probed forward, preparing to find an unpopulated scene to try casting abilities within the Monster World scene.
As he walked along, the natural scenery intoxicated Ashen Sigil.
The elder generation used to say that the Green Wood race was born as the children of nature.
In their blood flowed the power to resonate with nature. Their souls were closely linked to the earth, trees, and flowing water.
The ancestors of the Green Wood race could listen to the song of the wind, read the language of flowers, and even converse with mountains and rivers.
They were not only the guardians of nature, but a part of nature itself.
At this moment Ashen Sigil felt this deeply.
His breathing synchronized with the rhythm of the forest. His heartbeat resonated with the pulse of the earth.
He could also feel the trajectory of tree roots extending underground, hear the soft sound of a stream flowing over stones, and even sense the faint flow of spiritual energy in the air.
Though it was his first time here, everything made Ashen Sigil feel incomparably familiar, as if he truly belonged here.
Coming to a gigantic ancient tree, he placed his palm against the trunk.
The bark was rough, but he could feel the life energy flowing within the trunk.
Closing his eyes, the faint pulse gradually became clear.
It was as if the ancient tree were telling him something.
However, he could not read what the information meant.
He continued forward, heading toward the areas of the map shrouded in fog.