Chapter 9— Benefits and their Drawbacks

Valor opened his eyes, stared with hued iris and thought. He soon made a hypothesis, "Father knew it would take me months to perform a single strike of the Phantom God technique... Then he must be telling me the requirements with this letter alone." He said before looking at the paper; It is smooth— made with materials that reflects light vividly— It matches the sunlight from his window.

"Father is stating the requirements indirectly..." He muttered analyzing, "What could it be, What could it be." He thought of many possibilities, But he couldn't think of anything that sounds right.

Three minutes later and Valor still looks at the books, he sat there thinking. But with his abstract of thoughts, He remembered Marcus's ability—The scene where he turned his hands into copper. So Valor suddenly wondered what he got, this lead him to look at his golden screen,

"Name:Valor lustrave

Race: ???

...

The deity of the Holy Tree

The ability of the Tree:

—The Power of The Roots: Know it yourself

—???: You'll discover more of your power as time passes by." Valor noticed the change in regard, but it still conveys the same meaning.

"The Ability of the Holy tree... The power of the roots..." He completely went out his main objective, Pondering the words tree and roots. Valor kept thinking before reconciling some part of his memory. "Mama, look! There are white worms coming out of these seeds... Is it already bad?" His younger self asked with curiosity.

His mother chuckled warmly, wearing a sunny dress with a matching straw hat—Her smiles brightened with the warm breeze of the months, fluttering her hair to dance. "That's not a seed anymore Val, That's a Seedling. The white worms coming out isn't worms, It's their roots, They will suck the nutrient and water out of the soil so that the seedling can grow. Then They will continue growing and will soon be a plant or a tree like this silver tree here." His mother then touched the woods of the silver tree, teaching him some basic knowledge.

"A big tree like this comes from this small seed?... Then... Then if I have roots, will I become a giant that is strong?" He said with his innocent mind, also ignorant.

With him remembering that memory, a smile couldn't help but blossom on his lips, Amused and happy. The memory then continued.

His mother chuckled and said, "There many more factors like Photosynthesis or Co2... But yeah, if you have the power of the tree, You can become a Powerful Giant! You can ride the clouds and walk over mountains!" His mother was about to educate him again but noticed how it would affect Valor; She can't for sure announce it all in front of him. So she smiled and enthusiastically supported Valor's dreams. The memories ended there.

"Ability... Ability... Wait, My power should be a tree, A tree! And I'm only a seedling now... and that's why I can't use the others!... So that's how it is." Valor analyzed, thanking his mom along the way.

"Then the nutrients must be the souls; the more I feed it, the faster it grows.. the stronger the abilities becomes! ... With these and the books of great-grandpa, I am for sure ready for the 'thing' we have prevented." Valor was filled with ecstasy and with his mood brightening up. He got a clue about the requirement.

"Wait, the ability! ... Dad said that my great-grandpa is a magic swordsman, But father isn't. So he had to use his technique to open the lock, and he passed this message to me as a clue— Indirectly giving me the way to open it..." Valor stopped and continued, "Then it must be something grandfather, and I have, that my father doesn't Have." He stopped before already guessing the requirement.

"The magic body it is." Valor smiled figuring it out. He went to the shelf and touched the wood and made a circulation, he planned to use the fire circle. But he did not enter his magic body yet—Last time burnt like hell. So he heaved a deep breath to stiffen his resolve, before placing the magic circle on his chest.

"Aaaarrgghhh!" He shouted in pain; clearly, his body wasn't ready for it. The first time he used it was an exemption; they were in a battle— He has more severe problems to think of than the pain. But he is not this time; He felt the total despair of this circulation. It's a torture, He can feel his body burning, But he doesn't fire up.

He knelt to the ground with the burning pain, clutched his fingers to bleed. "This fucking hurts without the power of battle adrenaline!" He shouted in pain. One minute later, and he managed to calm himself, he weakly stood up before hardly placing his hands on the wood. He then waited, But nothing came— No ticking sounds like before, Just silence of his room and the chirps of the birds outside. He was disappointed and was about to turn off his magic body, But he paused when he felt a shake to the wood, before he heard the ticking sound.

"Yes!" He exclaimed happily. Valor backed down and looked at the descending wood. Books of leather-covered were then revealed below; They're neatly placed but Dusted with time. He excitedly reached out one while turning off his magic body, His hand extended fast, But the knock off of having no sleep and overusing his body took its course. His sight became blurry and his muscles wiggled jelly. He quickly reacted and reached out the edge of the bookshelf.

He lost his balance the time he gripped weakly, he fell to the ground, but He prevented his crash and instead leaned his back against the books. Using the gripping hand to quickly guide his body before it also collapsed, "Hah... Overwork... failure... huh." He said weakly, sighing in nausea. It's the case where they overworked their body, past what it can do.

"Shit, Now I need to rest for a day... I'll fall behind..." He murmured before his sight totally blurred; he sat there unconscious, lumped and wearied, Vulnerable to anything that may come.

"hayys... I guess sleep would be my very cure right now." Valor sighed before muttering words; he closed his eyes, and the blurry vision totally vanished. Also, his sight disappeared. He can drink a revitalizing potion, but the government only gives three every month for unregistered like him. So he better save it for later.

By the time they arrive at their main path, they must start serving the military as soldiers— To the lowest rank, newbie. There they'll be given higher benefits, Like breathings that can add to their stats and some magical weapons.

He could just leech to his parents so that they can buy him many resources, But he finds it not necessary. If he needs resources, he'll kill monster for money— not with his father's account card. So he will be now resting for energy, in order to preserve his stocks.

He slept sitting, but he later on stumbled to lay on his chest— Sleeping exhausted.

In this medium room of his, Lights entering his window illuminates the bed, But the supposed person to lie there slept on the wooden floor. He snoozed with dreams while he recovers energy.

But in the middle of his sleep, he started to twitch, heaved heavily, and sweated with cold sweats. He muttered words, fast and mumbled.

Inside him, Valor's consciousness suddenly went into a place of darkness. He doesn't have a body, but his sight remained. Here darkness dominates everything, But with this domain of darkness, a tingle of light glinted— Valor instantly focused there, where he found a ball of light. It should be 1cm in diameter, but the light makes the illusion that it is slightly larger.

He observed the ball, 'What is this?...' He asked in his mind though he already knows what it is, 'The seed.' He answered his question quickly. He then noticed white roots extending out below, so he followed where they go before arriving at a ball. It is at the size of a handgun bullet, Also shining, but not as intense as the seed— it is dim.

Valor kept looking, analyzing what composes this ball of dim light. He knows that it is the souls, but souls are weak, and the majority are even harmless. He doesn't believe that the seed is feeding off by souls; it will be worthless if so— What you eat is what you are. He doesn't believe in that regard, but that should apply in this seed, It would grow weak if what it's sucking are souls.

"Wait a minute... They're life force!" Valor finally recognized it. Lifeforce is a very vital component of all living beings. The more they grow powerful, the more powerful and plenty their lifeforce becomes— because they are harder to kill. This is what the higher clerics use for high-tier healing; some higher mage may even use their lifeforce for a sacrificial spell— those spells that can blow up a country and evaporates oceans.

There's a way to extract life force in this era, but it is sacrilegious and illegal— Because the donor will need to die, For only three percent of the initial to be stored. Because the lifeforce will be depleted as time passes after death, It will lose many components beyond the first second.

So still no alchemist had invented harvesting lifeforce even at three percent; that's for the dead, because there is no technology existing to extract alive. But his root can extract life force easily! Though what he had only seen is sucking the lifeforce of the dead, It's still a great thing.

With this discovery, he cannot help but feel excited about this tree power of his. If this tree had grown to the right size, Wouldn't he have a supply of life fore? He can use them freely without worrying about the dangers of getting weakened or dying. That's just the power of the roots; what can the leaf do?

As far as he can remember, the two are the main components of plants— in the typical types, the roots suck water and nutrients, Then leaves inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen; It also takes energy from the sun to compose its food. He can now list the powers he can get as time passes by.

Valor was fascinating when he found a problem, 'Wait a minute, Isn't a tree needs continuant supply in order to survive?' He asked before concluding, 'It wouldn't turn on me when there's no more life force to suck, doesn't it?' And with him saying that, Valor started feeling uncomfortable, Hunger and bloodlust started filling him.

So he looked at the dim light ball and saw it flickering like that lightbulb in their basement, It later on died.

"Shit! It's sucking my lifeforce!" He exclaimed waking up, Still weakened. With now the uncomfortable feeling of thirst and hunger, but it isn't physically. It's inside the soul, so he thought twice before making a decision. He crawled with his shaking arms, Nailed his nails on the floor with every push, then reached the space under his bed. There he saw his metal box— Marry Cookie, The box where he keeps his potions and savings.