CHAPTER 7 "A TASTE OF POWER"

"You saw through my magic! Well it wasn't complete but it should still be hard to see through an illusion magic spell" the woman spoke as she walked on water towards me while I stood, still in a state of confusion and relief my eyes blurred out and my senses faded, my body fell on the floor losing consciousness hearing the voice of the woman calling out to me...

"Wake up are you alright?"

I slowly opened my eyes to see a beautiful woman with a light green hair and eyes that shine like jewels looking down on me as I was laying my head on her lap, I sat up and looked at her again as she looked at me with worried eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked

"I am the guardian of this forest, I go by the name 'Finia' how about you child what's your name?" she answered.

"I'm Lucius, I'm from the..." "How did you do it?! Its not easy to see through an illusion Lucius, so tell me how did you do it? Hmm?". She spoke cutting me off midway of introducing myself.

"Well.. The illusion definitely got me but I saw a part of the magic circle on the corner of my eye" I explained.

"I see... My illusion magic control really is sloppy, thank you for helping me Lucius if there is anything you want in return please do tell" her response but the only thing that went into my mind was...

'This is it!! In every esekai novel and manga that I've read there is always something like this! What should I ask for? An insane skill? A way to break this damned curse? Infinite mana? Overpowered gea...'

"You're making a weird face you know?" she spoke.

"Ah, well can I ask you for one thing then?" I responded as I fix my face.

"Sure, ill try to grant it if I can" an assuring response to which I spoke

"I have this skill that let's me learn skills instantly after I analyze them but the problem is... mine has a restriction preventing me to gain skills above basic ranked".

"I see, unfortunately I cant undo any skill restraints but if skills are your problem then you can just learn high leveled one's through time and effort" she suggested.

"That would be great but this skill also restricts me to learn any skills above basic level which means even if I train all my life I would never get a skill above basic" I spoke in return with a sigh painted on my face.

"I'm sorry I cant help you with that but I can atleast give you another skill if you would like?".

She suggested as she stood up holding her hand out to me to help me stand up. 'Another skill wont hurt' was what came into my mind "that's better than nothing I guess" I replied.

"Come and follow me"

She asked me politely as walked deeper in the forest. Not following strangers is a basic rule for children below the age of ten as it would always be taught by their parents but right now? I wont lose this opportunity!.

We walked further and further in the forest seeing only trees on all direction, this never ending series of trees made me lose my sense of direction but after multiple minutes a light at the other end of the unending maze of trees slowly emerged revealing a tree made of pure crystal.

"We have arrived" she spoke

"This big crystal tree will give me skills?" I asked in confusion.

"Crystal tree? Ahh... Yes that's what people from the outside could say about it, people may call this the mystical tree or the tree of life but to us, the spirits of this world, we call this THE GENESIS TREE"

she explains as we move closer to the tree.

"Pour your mana into the tree".

She instructed. I held my hand out to the tree and poured mana as instructed and the tree started shaking and glowing, the tree grew leaves and flowers at an abnormal speed, the leaves glow in different colors, some gold, some silver but mostly white slowly soon after multiple fruits that looked like an apple but without curves and is perfectly spherical grew on the tree.

"Your mana and soul is quite pure, maybe that's the reason why the tree bare a lot of fruits, whatever the reason may be you may choose a fruit and eat it".

She ordered as I looked above and examined the fruits and chose the one with the brightest color, it was a bright green tinted fruit.

"Can I get that one?"

I pointed at the glistening fruit as Finia looked towards it and spoke...

"Is that your final choice?"

... She looked back at me and I looked at her assuring my answer and responded wuth a nod. The fruit fell from the tree and floated towards my hands as I held it out, I looked at Finia again for confirmation and she nodded at me in response.

Crunch*

I took a bite from the fruit, it tasted weird, it tasted like a mix of an apple and an unripe banana, chewy yet crunchy, flavourful yet tasteless, it was definitely one of the wierdest food I ever had in my entire existence. I finished eating the fruit as a screenaaaaaaa popped up in front of me.

==NEW SKILL ACQUIRED==

SKILL : Leveling

RANK : Basic (???)

TYPE : PASSIVE

DESCRIPTION :

Skills are set on a specific rank and once it has been set it will never rank up or rank down but the leveling skill is different from the ranking system. Leveling increases the power of a skill but keeps it on the same rank. It would be too overpowered so it caps on only basic to unique ranked skills.

DURATION: UNTIL DEATH

"This is insane!! Thank you Finia!"

I shouted in excitement and showed my gratitude towards Finia.

"It seems you gained a skill much favorable to you, I congratulate you if that's the case" she responded.

Tap*

"hmm?"

"what was that?"

I looked around to find where the sound originated from and saw another fruit that fell from the tree.

"You really are a lucky child huh" Finia spoke as she saw the fallen fruit.

She walked closer to pick up the fruit from the ground and handed it to me.

"Normally I would have given you a singular fruit but it seems the tree wants you to have this one as well" she added while handing me the fruit.

The fruit she handed out glistened in a golden glow, it glows as bright as the one before just in a different color. I took the fruit and asked...

"Can I really have another one? The one I had was an awesome skill and I dont want to be too greedy"

"The tree gave you this fruit itself I cant make the decision and I suppose another skill in your skill set wont be too bad?"

... Her response, I smiled and took a bite from the fruit and finished it.

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Author's note

Sorry for the late updates the past few weeks guys, I've been busy with my classes and personal work and so my updates haven't been as consistent as when I started since that time I had an ample amount of free time, anyways enjoy this chapter for now I'll try to make time for the next chapters and post it as soon as I can.

🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶