18 Chapter 18: Tree

It's been almost two weeks since that kid came here. At first, I was surprised out of my mind when he suddenly materialized in front of me. Never thought I would see a human this close to myself.

Still interesting creature. I couldn't help but be curious about it. So, I started observing it after it tumbled down into my roots and manages to lose consciousness. But most interesting about this little human is its soul. It's so strong I can actually feel it faintly.

Next morning it wakes up to its stomach growling. I think poor thing is hungry. And it looks so pitiful. Suffering from starvation. It's hard to watch. So, I drop one of my fruit next to it as it was looking at it like its life depends on it.

And it eats it like a most delicious thing in this world. The expression on its face is priceless. So priceless it actually looks a little exaggerated. Then after eating my fruit it simply falls asleep again. Lazy little bum huh.

After a few hours I start to get a strange connection from the young human's soul. And after few more hours I actually feel a connection to a new seed that took root somewhere. And that somewhere seems like this child's soul.

As I reach out to that connection I connects to a new seed that took root in some strange independent dimension. And its development is entirely dependent on this new seed. Only different thing is green wooden door. From behind that door I can feel same resonance as the child's souls.

This is truly interesting. No wonder that child's soul is so strong. It is actually capable of connecting to independent separate dimension on its own.

But another peculiar thing is thing child's state of mind. It's almost like blank slate. Like a newborn baby.

But problem is that is impossible. No matter how I look at it, this child is not a newborn baby. Seeing that it already gained basic consciousness. And another peculiar thing is its actions seem too mature for a child this young. I'm sure it's at most six or seven years old.

Still I wonder how it looks behind that door but no matter what I try I can't open this door.

After waking up young human goes out and starts exploring. And he somehow manages to feel me observing him. This never happened before. I think it might be related to the newborn sprout. I can actually feel little bit of an affinity with the child.

After walking west for about five minutes child suddenly turns back and comes back. Then he continues heading west again. Twenty more minutes later he comes across the boundary. And takes a sip from the creek that marks no entry to other creature in The Forest.

Standing up he looks across the creek and looks into the dark of the forest. If he crosses the creek he will certainly die. Wonder what he will do.

Seems like he listened to his survival instinct. After standing there for a while pondering he turns back. After coming back, he suddenly lies down and sleeps. Strange.

After waking up again, the young human starts his first training. First, he tries to suck in surrounding Pure energy and fails. No wonder, everyone fails at their first attempt. His will and visualization can't strong enough. After pondering for a while, he tries again. And this time he succeeds, actually he succeeds too well. He manages to suck in everything around him. Well I suppose that can be attributed to his powerful soul. Wonder what he imagined.

After sucking surrounding energy, he manages to convert it into mana and finds an ingenious way to store it. Most wizards compress their converted mana into solid matter and simply store them in their Mana Vessel.

But this child manages to both store mana in his Mana Vessel and at the same time nurture his brain cells by storing his mana in its initial form and keeping it moving in some network like path. Again, his strong soul gives him sufficient control over his mana to use this ingenious method. Most rookie wizard, hell even advanced ones don't possess this kind of control over their mana.

Now that he managed to obtain some mana and started nurturing his Mana Vessel he tries to cast his first spell. From the looks of it, it looks like a fireball. And again, surprisingly he manages to cast it at his first try. Well considering his assets, he is born to be a wizard.

Well for now let's hope he won't throw that fireball here under my roots. After casting it he somehow manages to pump more mana into it albeit in small quantity and increases its temperature. That is something only advanced wizards can do. Only after reaching at least Rank A- can wizards manage to multitask and pump mana into spell matrices while visualizing it. that's why they high ranked need spell to cast powerful spells.

This implies this child can increase power of any spell he can cast by simply pumping more mana into it. That is actually uncanny.

And for some reason, after casting the fireball look in his eyes becomes somewhat different. More determined, more resolute, like he found his path. Like he realized what he needs to do. Wonder what he realized.

After casting his first spell, he goes outside and starts heading west again. Coming before the creek boy thinks for a while and after ascertaining his resolve he crosses the creek and walks into the unknown.

Right after crossing the creek he encounters his first adversary. Wolf.

After staring at each other for a while, Wolf makes the first move and manages to scratch the boy. Clenching his teeth, boy manages to endure the pain. After that they crash once again and wolf manages to bite down on the boy's shoulder. But boy doesn't just give up he manages to thrust his finger into the wolfs eye and makes it let go.

After being provoked by the boy, wolf lunges at him with its gaping mouth for some reason he shoves his arm into its mouth. After doing that he casts his fireball right inside wolf mouth and starts to burn it from inside out.

After some screaming and cursing he manages to roast the wolf and kill it. Right after he killed it most strange thing happens. Boy's body actually absorbs the dying wolf's dissipating life force and assimilates it into itself. That is first, even for me.

And the boy smiles over his first blood. And comes back. As soon as his head hits the ground he goes into slumber.

I can actually sense him behind the door after he fell asleep. And I try to call for him from this side. It seems he heard me. He comes in opening the door. Actually, his soul comes in. just in form of an interchanging colored floating orb.

"Hello"

"What the hell. Who was that?"

After little bumpy contact we manage to fain insight into each other's identity.

Next time he heads east. But this time he acts more cautiously. Before crossing the boundary, he starts to blend in and manages to camouflage himself adequately. And after almost encountering and nasty piece of work he comes before the second boundary and witnesses the fight between slightly stronger creatures in The Forest. After watching it for a while he turns back and once again I see a change in his look.

After coming back, he starts training intensively. He trains for 10 days nonstop. When you consider his age, it is actually quite impressive. And his progress is astonishing. Only after training for 10 days he manages almost triple his strength.

Today he finishes his training and goes out for hunting. This time he heads west again.

He first encounters a tiger and manages to kill it. But during his fight he almost gets consumed by his rage. Most usually gets consumed by their rage. But apparently not him. He actually managed to control it and used it to fuel his new spell and increased its power to next level.

The fact that he managed to control his fury once again shows his steel like will. Humans biggest weakness and strength is their emotions. For their powers and actions are usually affected by their emotions. It can become their strength if they control it to their own use. But if they let it consume them it becomes a weakness.

Even though he is a talented boy, it seems luck is not something he is blessed with. Just as he was about to cross the boundary he runs into a ram and gets wind knocked out of him. But even with tattered body and exhausted will he endures and struggles. And manages to kill the ram. And loses consciousness after crossing the boundary.

I can't help but think while carrying the boy.

"What will you show me in the future, young one?"