- The World Tree

{As thanks for awakening the world tree, I shall grant you the second and third mana circles}

Before I have time to question it a huge burning sensation, many times more potent than the last, starts coursing through my body. I focus in on my heart and see two rings forming around it like a planet. The smaller one, that is closer to my heart, glows with a bright blue color, while the one further away starts glowing a bright red. After a few seconds, this burning sensation is replaced by a nice warmth as the mana stops forcing itself into my body.

{This gift shall keep you much further ahead than the rest of the world so long as you stay on your current pace of evolving. The area around you will be blessed with fertility and shielded from the outside world.}

{Within the next few years the rest of the world will catch up to where you are currently, with mana being introduced into the world. Many creatures have already started evolving into magical beasts, including the king of this forest. As of right now, you are the second strongest creature in this forest with the first being the dryad you just awoke.}

{You should rest for today, as tomorrow the king of the forest will challenge you to try to take the world tree. Protect her, and become the king at the same time.}

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[Main Quest updated! Due to the mana awakening, many creatures will now covet the energy of the world tree. So long as you stop them, the tree shall share some of its energy with you.]

[Protect the Dryad and become King]

[Reward: 40 Modification points]

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{I wish you luck, Adam}

With that, everything in the world seemed to calm down for a bit. The Dryad hadn't woken up yet, so I just decided to start practicing my magic. It felt as though everything about magic had been ingrained into my mind so that I would never forget it. I have access to healing, water, and fire magic. I also know that my rings are glowing, which corresponds to exactly how powerful my magic is. Normally, a creature would start off with a very dull ring that they would have to spend many years to brighten.

The system seems to grant me the maximum power with each element instantly with the tradeoff being that I experience extreme pain with each ring I create. I start off by casting a fireball. As soon as I think about it, a small fireball appears in front of me. The fireball is a light blue color with white near the center, and it feels as though I'm holding a sun in place with my mind. I send it flying into a stone nearby and it explodes on impact, turning into something like napalm. After a few minutes of burning, the fire disappears, and all that's left is a puddle of lava.

"Holy shit. Ellie, how powerful is this compared to dim rings?"

[It should be around one hundred times as powerful, as one from a newly formed ring would barely be enough to make the stone warm.]

"Yeah, that's about what I thought. Alright, let's try some water magic."

I cast a spout of water in front of me, aiming at a tree. The second the beam of water hit the tree, it cut straight through it and out the other side hitting the other trees behind it. This spout managed to cut through about three trees before finally stopping and turning into ice at my command. I then made it start to explode outward, covering the forest in a hail of spikes. Some of these managed to embed themselves all the way through a tree while others pierced into stone before shattering said stone.

A grenade wouldn't even be a close comparison to the power of this ice. Adam thought to himself that if he put all his power into the ice, he'd be able to easily pierce through a tank's armor! Of course, the fireball would be able to melt through it easier than the ice could pierce it. Adam had a thought, what was stopping him from hunting humans? They gave more energy and they were weaker than even the coyotes! The only worry he had was guns, but even before leveling up they were barely able to slightly hurt him!

'Wait… Why am I suddenly just okay with killing people? Now that I think about it, why did I feel okay with eating raw meat? I could never even think of touching raw meat before because of how much it grossed me out!'

[This is because the title of 'Beast King' also manipulates your psyche, making you capable of doing things you could never think of doing before while also getting rid of your phobias.]

'So it's messing with my mind? Is that why I also feel okay with it doing that?'

[Most likely.]

As I talk with the system about the morals of messing with someone's mind, I hear a little voice say:

"H-huh?"

I turn around and look at the little girl sitting on top of the golden leaves staring at me with the most amazing pair of eyes I have ever seen. Her irises have changed to the shape of pink flowers, with the pupil becoming a light yellow.

"D-Dinosaur!"

Her eyes turn up as she looks at me with the biggest smile on her face. I walk towards her and lower my head offering to let her touch the front of my face. She jumps up from her sitting position and runs over to me, immediately rubbing my nose. Before I start playing with the little girl ;however, a voice starts talking in my head.

{Consider this the last gift from me for awakening the little Dryad.}

I feel a flood of information start to flow into my head as the familiar burning sensation etches something into me; however, this one is coming from around my body! I feel a black ring start forming around me, seemingly not needing to glow in order to get stronger. This ring is for transformation! It allows me to change the form of anything into anything I wish so long as the magic inside me is enough to allow it! As for changing myself into a human, it's gonna be more simple than driving! I start to cast the spell to change me into what I imagine. I imagine my old body, just more well built and handsome. My hair is something I seemingly can't control, as it turns dark red and grows to about my jawline.

My entire body starts to emit a black smoke as the mass of a t-rex is forced into the small body of an adult human. After a few seconds, this black smoke disperses and all that's left is a handsome, fit, naked man. I use magic to transform the mana around me into clothes. I give myself a grey t-shirt with black pants and a black cardigan.

The little girl looks at me with giant eyes as she starts walking toward me. Before she can get to me; however, she doubles over in pain.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"