Chapter 172
Ancient Rune
The next morning, Ellie woke up naturally, accustomed to rising early, as the sky began to show the first light of dawn.
The two members of the Setter family had already started their duties. They hadn’t been ordered to follow Ellie unless requested, so they stayed close to the City Control Platform. Their task was to monitor enemies and try to optimize its efficiency. If Ellie needed assistance, she could find them there, or in an emergency and needed help, she could simply light a signal flare. They would reach Ellie so quickly that no beast could attack her in time!
Ellie was now at level 3, so she believed she was far from weak. She had already chosen a target after spending the previous night training and absorbing energy. This morning, she could head out and practice her skills, but she had other tasks to attend to first.
Yesterday, she received a lump of green fermented water from the Microbial Spirit Orb. Her first stop was her secret dimension to test the power of this fermented water and see how wonderful it was. Although the orb didn’t seem quite useful, it was still a level 5 orb, the same level as the Spirit Rake. The Spirit Rake had amazed her with its abilities, often saving her life. Therefore, her expectations for the orb were quite high.
The girl appeared in her secret dimension. Recently, she didn’t need to till the soil or expand the cultivation area. A year of hard work had almost filled the entire cultivation area. Only a small space was left for planting valuable herbs she might find. There were many red herb bushes, similar to the herb the orb had received, which were level 5 herbs like the Pure Flame Dragon herb that were sprouting. If the large man, who had just been overjoyed to receive 2 herbs, saw the multitude of growing herbs, he might faint from shock.
In truth, if anyone deserved thanks for this, it would be the lucky Nara. Without Nara, even if Ellie used her spores to search the entire mountain, she wouldn’t have found anything as valuable as what Nara discovered by taking just 20 steps into the forest!
Ellie didn’t pay much attention to them. The plants she wanted to grow the fastest were 3 types of fruits: "Camouflage Apple," "Night Java Apple," and "Thousand-Handed Orchid." These 3 fruits were exceptionally delicious, and Ellie had obtained them from the food the Setter family served at the debut of their young lord.
Having had a private meal with Young Lord Aman, Ellie took the opportunity to save these tasty fruits in her dimension. She carefully selected them as the best-tasting table fruits.
These fruits weren’t high-level, but they were expensive and quite rare. It was said that they only grew on the 1st floor of the tower. However, because the 1st floor had limited space and most of it was destroyed early on, the humans of that era didn’t realize the high value of these fruits. Thus, they destroyed them to build cities. As a result, these 3 types of fruits, which were not initially sought after, became scarce.
People had tried to grow them outside but failed. Hence, these 3 types of fruits could only be found in forests. With decreasing forest areas and the same or increasing number of beasts, competition for these fruits drove their prices up.
Ellie experimented with growing the three fruits in her secret dimension. She used her cheat-like botanic power to feed them abundantly, speeding their growth to about knee height. However, they were still far from being fully grown and bearing fruit.
If she infused more magic power, she might make them bear fruit. However, too much magic power would elevate their level to 1 immediately, making them unrecognizable and preventing Ellie from openly consuming them.
She already had many secrets to keep; she didn’t want food to become another problem. If she had to wait, she would. That was Ellie’s mindset.
Until she discovered the natural fermented water from the Spirit Orb, Ellie had a bright idea. She wanted the plants to test this premium fertilizer, hoping they might grow rapidly without leveling up...
"Alright, try to produce some delicious fruit for me." Ellie touched the fruit trees in front of her. Whether her wish would come true remained to be seen.
Ellie poured the thick, dark green fermented water onto the roots of the trees, dividing it into 6 parts since she had planted 4 of each type of tree and only had 2 bottles of the water. She had to be careful, as some trees might not keep up with their companions.
After pouring the fermented water, Ellie watched the trees for any changes. Nearly 10 minutes passed with no visible effect. In this dimension, the trees usually showed signs of accelerated growth gradually. She remembered when she channeled her botanic power to the trees, they immediately showed the changes. Yet...after receiving the fermented water, there was no reaction at all...
"Sigh, well...it’s a way to pass the time." Ellie left her secret dimension, waiting for the trees to show any changes. She remembered there was something she had forgotten to check earlier.
She recalled asking a merchant in Gaia for a peculiar ring. At that time, she sensed botanic power from the ring, but the merchant didn’t sell it at a high price. So, when she bought other items, she took the opportunity to acquire the botanic power ring that no one else had noticed, at no cost.
She wasn’t sure if her decision on that day was right or wrong. If the ring proved useless, it would have been a waste of a bargain. But if it had something to do with botanic power, then she would have gained significantly!!
Ellie’s small hand tapped once, producing a small, rusted ring. She examined it with interest. The botanic power within the ring was very faint; without observation or being close, it would be impossible to detect. She couldn’t even send her spores to take root in the ring. Perhaps, only her botanic power could reveal if it had any true value.
Ellie placed the rusted ring in front of her and began channeling her botanic magic power into it. Initially, the ring had a faint trace of botanic magic power that seemed ready to dissipate at any moment. However, as it absorbed Ellie’s botanic power, it started to come to life.
“Hmm?” Ellie only intended to use her botanic power to examine the ring, not to infuse it with a large amount of magic power. Yet, the magic power kept flowing into the ring, as if the ring was actively absorbing her magic power.
She tried to stop the flow of magic power, not understanding what was happening. However, she couldn’t. Despite her mental commands to cease, her magic power continued to pour into the ring.
For over a minute, a significant amount of her magic power was drained continuously. Ellie felt her strength waning, a result of excessive magic power usage. If this continued, she might lose consciousness. Not knowing how to stop it, her only option was to ensure she didn’t run out of magic power.
High-level restorative potions were quickly brought out. Whenever her magic powers were nearly depleted, Ellie drank a potion immediately. As a result, her mana bar was affected due to this process.
This was similar to every time she practiced of exhausting her power in each day, because she felt that it helped to expand her capacity in storing the magic powers. This time, as her magic power was repeatedly drained and refilled, her mana bar rapidly expanded.
Ellie didn’t know if this was beneficial or harmful. If the ring drained all her power and even the restorative potions ran out, she could die from being completely drained. But until that point...she decided that if the potions were about to run out, she would immediately signal for help. Ellie didn’t believe that the eldest young lord of the Setter family wouldn’t be able to do something about it!
Ah...she didn’t know when she started having such confidence, but she felt that the eldest young lord could always ensure her safety. It was a special kind of trust, and even Ellie herself wasn’t aware of how she came to think this way in such a critical moment.
The young girl allowed the strange ring to continue absorbing her energy while she kept drinking restorative potions. As a result, her energy seemed to increase as if she had been training for about 10 years!
However, it was unfortunate that the ring seemed to have absorbed enough magic power. It began to slow down its absorption significantly. Ellie realized that her chance to rapidly increase her power was coming to an end...
The rusted ring started to show cracks, with green light seeping out. The cracking sound made Ellie frown. She felt the ring was about to break apart, and it seemed that it wasn’t the ring that held the botanic power but a living entity inside it!
The green light glowed so bright it hurt her eyes. Ellie couldn’t keep her eyes open against the light. However, after she closed her eyes, she felt something rush into her, affecting her little Apple and Purple Mushroom, as well as her rake, the Microbial Orb, and even the little Nocturnal Rabbit that was leveling up.
A warm sensation washed over her entire body, making her feel as if she had been reborn. When Ellie opened her eyes, she saw a strange character in front of her, resembling upside-down V’s in large English letters, with smaller V’s connected in a pattern.
Despite the simplicity of the writing, it exuded a profound sense of mystery. The strange character floated in front of her momentarily, as if it had a life of its own. Once it noticed Ellie looking at it, the strange character rushed towards her arm, forming a small imprint on her forearm. Ellie felt a brief pain before that sensation vanished and transformed into an overflowing surge of power.
“Wee!” A small cry came from beside her. It was her cute little Nocturnal Rabbit. Ellie was a bit surprised because the Nocturnal Rabbit was usually confined to her pet ring and couldn’t come out. More importantly, when had it completed its evolution?!!
The rabbit seemed equally confused. It looked at Ellie, its master, before hopping onto her lap. It felt as though it had undergone countless life-and-death experiences, and then suddenly, a burst of power had hit its shell, allowing it to awaken. Certainly, its power had increased significantly as expected, but it was still not fully mastered.
- Nocturnal Rabbit, Level 1 (Special Class) (Evolved Once): Attributes - These beasts live a valuable nocturnal life and are called “Shapeshifting Spirits” due to their abilities to become forest allies at night. Historically, they were often raised by high elves because they could transfer their power to cultivate plants.
Action Panel
Option One: Gather moonlight energy to glow.
Option Two: Use moonlight energy to create a moonlight bomb.
Option Three: Transfer the power for plants to grow better at night.
Special Option: A beast that has formed a contract through ancient rune will not betray its master. -
Ellie curiously checked the information of the little Nocturnal Rabbit and was stunned by the action panel that appeared. Normally, the action panel for beasts would have options like "Decompose" or "Take Root." This was the first time she had seen that she could give commands to a beast.
What caught her attention most was the special option, which made the little beast similar to the plants bonded to her. Typically, beasts raised by humans did not have perfect loyalty, and many beast trainers were betrayed by their pets. Therefore, in Ares Kingdom, people believed it was pointless to rely on beasts for strength. Few people chose to study beast training.
In contrast, the city of Rhea highly valued raising beasts as hunting companions. However, they had to accept their own weaknesses. Rhea would never become the number 1 city because they relied too much on beasts.
But the difference Ellie had received came from the "Ancient Rune," a term she had never heard before. Still, she wasn’t foolish enough to not recognize what the ancient rune was!
It seemed she had stumbled upon a great fortune with an item she acquired without spending even a single copper coin...
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