Mid Evening - Early Fall : The Forest of Giants | Temnota

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  "SCREEEE-" *VWOOM*

  Plugging the lizard's throat with my aura as it screamed, I looked down at Eve from atop its snout and casually crossed my legs. "Alrighty, you're up Eve." It had been a few hours since Bella had gotten her kill at that point, and while it took a while to find a suitable target, it was time for Eve to have a turn.

  "I-I see..." Just like with Bella, her target was a Kuuxl, a tree lizard so big I could sit in its nostril, and while it was a touch bigger than the one Bella killed, it was right around the same level.

  Over five thousand levels higher than Eve.

  But even still, for this world, it was the easiest target you could find. -I don't think she'll be able to get through its skin though...- "Do you want to give it a go on your own? Or do you want to use one of my knives-"

  "No." As if noticing the pessimism in my gaze, she responded firmly. "I can handle a mere lizard..." Looking back at the drooling monster with a slight hesitancy, her thoughts seemed to race before finally steeling herself and pulling her staff out of an equipment ring. *Vwoop*

  *Tap* Immediately gripping it, the woven vines making up the staff's body wrapped themselves around her wrist before she set the beautiful, deep blue gem at its end in her hand, and dragged it along her forearm.

  "Hooooh..." *WOOM* Letting out a heavy breath, she pulled so much mana out of her reserve that her aura dimmed noticeably, before raising her shoulders and pulling her staff down her arm and across her chest as if drawing a bowstring.

  -Hoh?- Feeling the mana accumulating in her hand, I watched as intently as a young child staring at their teacher.

  As much as I was trying to teach her a lesson, for that moment I became the student.

  Standing right in front of the lizard's mouth, she slowly raised her extended hand as if to point a bow at the brain of the creature before finally, her eyes snapped open, and a series of runes extending from the tip of the staff lit up. "HYUP!" *FLASH-WOOM* Releasing her mana into them, a blinding flash instantly flooded the air before a thick, meter-wide beam zipped into the lizard's mouth.

  It was a beam of liquid water mixed with plasma at such a high pressure that it was on the cusp of solidifying into ice.

  A jet that could cut through diamonds with ease.

  At least that was the case on Earth.

  *WOWOWOWOWOOOM* Watching as the beam was effortlessly deflected off the roof of the lizard's mouth, anger snuck into Eve's eyes before she grit her teeth and curled her fingers with everything she had. *VWOOM* Gripping her aura encapsulating the beam and twisting her wrist, the beam tightened more and more with every passing instant.

  Until eventually, it's diameter thinned to less than a centimeter and the splattering spray in the lizard's mouth ceased. *Swip* At long last, the beam got through its skin, and ripped a hole through its flesh.

  But she didn't stop there. *WOOM* Thinning it more and more, she got the diameter of the beam down to just a few millimeters before finally... *Vwoom* "HAH-" Gasping for breath, she fell to her knees and grabbed her head, barely mustering enough energy to look up and check if the lizard was dead.

  But unfortunately.. it still squirmed. *R-R-R-RUMBLE*

  While the beam managed to pierce the lizard's flesh, the moment it reached the base of its skull, it simply deflected once more, carving away the surrounding flesh without leaving so much as a scratch on the bone.

  "What a fucking monster..." Watching the mix of blood and water pour out of the thin hole she made, she slowly leaned back and looked up into the canopy before taking a few long, steady breaths to ease her nerves. "Talk about being bit by naivety... That was the strongest penetrative spell I could muster and it barely got through its exposed flesh..." Smiling with a scoff as she laid her staff across her lap, her gaze drifted with a mix of uncertainty and contemplation.

  But while she was overthinking her own inadequacy, I could only stare at her with wide eyes. -If she just swung it around when it was tightened.. it could've sliced through enough arteries that it would have bled to death...- Given the level gap, I didn't expect her to even scratch its flesh, let alone bore through nearly a meter of it. -It's one thing to draw blood with a weapon I give her.. but to do it on her own...- Even if it was the ultimate version of a spell that would never see use in an actual fight, overcoming a level gap of several thousand was the equivalent of making a god bleed.

  Even if she didn't realize it.

  "Hooh..." Letting out a heavy breath, her gaze sharpened and fell back on the hole she made before she forced herself onto her feet and raised her hands to try again.. and again.. and again, firing off a different spell each time in hopes of getting through the bone.

  But while the hole widened, and the damage spread, the bone never caught a scratch.

  Even after hours of spell.. after spell.. after spell.

  Until eventually... *Vwoop* Hearing a panel pop up, I looked over to see Eve's face lit by a familiar blue light before releasing my aura restraining the monster. -Looks like it finally bled out...- *WooOOOSH-SLAM* Pulling out my aura propping up its mouth, gravity promptly slammed it shut before letting me hop off and give Bella a few gentle pats.

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  Knowing that Eve's understanding of the world and her position in it was crumbling, a part of me wanted to go over and say something.

  However, it was for her own good that her world crumbled. -If she is to grow beyond the limits of her biology, she needs to understand that she is and will always be weak compared to other beings...- To truly grow beyond ones limits, you needed to come to terms with your own weakness, no matter how painful or unchangeable those weaknesses may be.

  But while I was worried how Eve would weather the impending storm, after sitting with an exhausted, dark expression for a while, mindlessly reading through the kill-confirmed panel countless times, her gaze did eventually steady, and before long, she looked back at me. "What is an 'experience cap'?"

  It was a simple question, but seeing the clarity in her eyes brought a smile to my face. -Maybe I don't need to worry about her so much...- "It's the maximum amount of experience you can absorb in a set period of time." -If I remember right, my old system actually let me select the timeframe...- "What is the timeframe of the cap?"

  "Uh.. it looks like I choose that, there is burst, daily, and weekly... And by the looks of things, the daily and weekly will take time to absorb."

  -Sounds like my old system...- "Then choose burst, it will give you the maximum amount you can absorb right now, but in a few hours, that cap will reset." Compared to the other modes, it had by far the lowest cap and would in-turn waste the most experience, however, because the caps grew exponentially with level, if you maxed the cap every time it reset, it was easily the fastest growth mode. "If this were an 'opportunity kill' that you would only get once every few years, you would choose a higher cap in order to make the most of this kill specifically, however, in a world where any kill would max your cap, burst is best."

  "I see..." Looking back down at the panel, her expression stiffened. "Then..." *tap* Selecting her mode and confirming her choice, she immediately gripped her stomach and grimaced while her face was lit with the light of countless panels.

  Similar to me and Bella, the System had taken control of her reserve to absorb mana at the fastest rate possible, a truly sickening sensation, but just as she looked like she was about to vomit from it, I managed to overhear her system reading out one of the panels. "Distributing remaining experience to weapon."

  -Huh?- Instantly snapping my gaze to her staff, still wrapped around her wrist, I darted over to her in a panic. "Hey, let go of your staff!" -This is an evolving weapon, if it changes form while she holds onto it, it might crush her hand!- But even as Eve's grip on it opened, the vines wrapped around her wrist never let go. "Unequip it!"

  But, still in a daze, she couldn't do that in time. *VWOOM* Before she could even react to my words, a mountainous mass of mana flooded into the gem in the staff, and its vine-like body turned into tendrils, growing and winding around Eve's arm before suddenly, without warning, digging into her forearm.

  "AAAHHH-!" Unable to hold it in, Eve let out a gut-wrenching scream before trying to grab her arm in a panic, only to stop herself and grit her teeth through a rush of tears.

  -Fuck!- "I'm gonna rip it off, just bare with me for a sec-"

  "NO!" Looking at me with a fiery glare, she gripped her bicep while doing everything she could to bear with the pain of the wooden tendrils digging through her forearm. "You can't.. break it..." *CrAcK* "-AGH!"

  Hearing her scream after the staff crushed the bones in her arm, I winced before coming up to her side. -Fuck...- "Then you need to bear with it. If you flood your arm with mana, it will numb the area."

  *VWOOM* Almost immediately, a waterfall of mana flowed into her arm but it was too much for her. Without a single extra second, her pale, exhausted expression mixed with sickness and she leaned over to vomit a blend of bile and thick black goo. "BLEGH-"

  No matter how much I wanted to help, there was nothing I could do. After all, she seemed to have some sort of special attachment to the weapon, and if I ripped it out, it would either break the weapon or rip her arm off...

  So.. over the course of the next hour, I just let it happen.. trying to give guidance wherever I could while the staff dug into her.

  Until eventually, it stopped.

  "Hah... Hah... Hah..." Letting out endless, foggy breaths, Eve was pale as a ghost and so exhausted she was simply delirious. However, as the pain finally stopped, and she finally looked down at the gem embedded in her palm, the wood covering the back of her hand, and vines encapsulating her forearm like armor, there was a faint joy in her eyes.

  At least that was for the moment before she lost consciousness. *thump*

  Quickly catching her, I laid her back to give her mind, overloaded by stress, pain, and fatigue a chance to rest.

  "Is she.. gonna be alright..?" Looking at her arm with nothing but worry in her eyes, Bella stood next to me. "That doesn't look.. safe... It looks like a parasite..."

  Sitting down, I was quick to nod. "I got the same impression, but..." Looking at Eve sleeping rather soundly while bathed in sweat, I could only sigh. "She clearly has some sort of attachment to it, so we'll have to ask about it when she wakes up... For now, we just need to make sure it doesn't spread into her body..." Gently setting my hand on it, I could more than easily feel a pulsing flow of mana as if feeling a heartbeat bouncing back and forth between her reserve and the gem embedded in her palm as if the staff was asking to spread its roots toward it. -What a freaky artifact...-

  It was unlike anything I had ever seen...

  However, after giving it some thought, perhaps that was just because the only evolving weapon I gave more than a bit of experience to was Draco, a weapon that never truly evolved.

  "Haah..." Looking down at my palm after taking off my glove, I looked at the black mythril ring for a moment before pressing my thumb into it, and guiding mana through it.

  But as soon as my mana met the ring, it felt as if a maze lit up inside of it, filled with endless layers, turns, and intersections like some kind of circuitry—a puzzle of sorts.

  But that didn't change that it was something I couldn't begin to wrap my head around. -I have too much to learn still...-

  I needed to pick up the pace.

  As I knelt down next to Eve though, I really had to question if what I was doing was the right thing. -Even without my guidance, I'm sure she would be able to manage with Earth...- Even if it was undeniable that she would eventually hit a limit.

  Closing my eyes, the scene of Bree formally introducing me to Eve filled my mind. The day she asked me to protect her daughter from the horrors of the world.

  -But look at me now...- Slowly but surely, I was corrupting the child I swore to protect with the desire for power and bestowing her the curse of strength, things that gave me purpose for many years, but brought havoc and regret to the minds of most. -Just like Bree...-

  I could only hope that she took her own path, cultivating those around her or cultivating Earth rather than endlessly pursuing strength because of the fear of death.

  Even if that fear was something that I had already unknowingly instilled in her...

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