episode_0034

Day 85 in the Misty Forest.

It’s been about three months since I arrived in the Misty Forest.

I took a moment to reflect on the situation.

I have been taking care of Shaela.

I created elves as needed.

I even created an elf village and accepted hundreds of elves.

But it’s not an easy path.

Slave hunters.

They deliberately invaded the village, and they won’t easily retreat in the future.

The presence of Cardephion is evidence of that.

The city is eyeing the elf village.

The more we resist, the stronger opponents they send, and we never know what kind of presence will come next.

Also, I was weak.

That’s why I tried to avoid fighting, which led to the sacrifice of an elf who had nothing to do with it.

If I had trusted Shaela more, I could have set a trap as soon as I met Cardephion and prevented the damage.

Whatever the case, a plan is needed.

Shaela helped this time, but we never know what kind of presence will come next.

I need to get stronger.

I need to trust those around me more.

I need to understand the movements of my enemies.

So first…

Tap~

“Hurry up and grow.”

I caressed a large fruit.

Inside this newly created fruit lies a replicated Cardephion. This body will somewhat alleviate the worries above.

“Grow~”

Tap tap~

Shaela next to me also caressed the fruit.

I’m not sure if she’s just following along or sincerely blessing it.

It didn’t seem bad.

I could feel the stem rejoicing.

Swoosh.

I moved slightly to the side and touched another fruit.

By the way, besides the replicated Cardephion, I created two more fruits.

Two new female elves.

But they are not the 11th and 12th elves.

These two will have no consciousness and no power, becoming ordinary puppets.

More precisely, they will be disposable slaves and spies to be taken with Cardephion’s body when infiltrating.

Discarded bodies.

Sacrificed bodies.

Or suicide bodies.

Of course, they shouldn’t have any consciousness.

Swoosh.

I stood up from my seat.

Thud!

Shaela also stood up immediately.

She looked straight at me.

But…

“How long are you going to wear that?”

Shaela’s face.

Her eyes were covered with black cloth.

I made it for her a few days ago at her request, and she wore it not only when sleeping but also during the day.

It’s puzzling.

Why would a person who can’t see wear an eye mask?

“Bothered?”

“I thought even if I recover quickly, it wouldn’t hurt to wear it just in case.”

“This is training.”

“Training?”

“I am a god. I’m special.”

“Are you deliberately speaking in a difficult way to understand?”

“I am a goddess. A great goddess! Munchan. You need to know me properly.”

“You’re just lazing around, so saying that doesn’t sound convincing, does it?”

“Hmph. I saved you!”

“I’m grateful for that, but… if you think about it, didn’t I save you too? Isn’t it a mutual thing?”

“Munchan trash.”

“….?”

“…Hmph. I’ll be back.”

“Suddenly?”

“I want to take a walk.”

“Ah, okay. Let’s go together.”

“I’m going alone.”

“Why?”

Giggle.

“Do you want to follow me?”

“No, I just said it because I was worried.”

“You were worried?”

“…Are you suddenly feeling unlucky again?”

“Are you the only one who can feel that way? But! If you want to follow, you can.”

“…Fine. Do as you please. I’ll give you a stem to hold onto instead.”

“Okay.”

Shaela wrapped a strand of stem around her wrist like a bracelet and walked outside the house.

I have no idea what she’s thinking.

What could she possibly want to do outside?

Maybe she just wants to feel the wind?

Let’s not worry too much.

Just by talking, it seems like she’s recovered.

Even without sight, the monster moved skillfully, so it would probably handle it well on its own.

For now, I…

I should probably interrogate.

“YOU!! What have you done to Lord Cardepion?!”

A thunderous roar.

The blue-haired woman trapped in the stem prison grabbed the iron bars and stretched out.

This guy is a slave warrior of Cardepion.

With her blue hair and delicate features, she was the strongest among the slave warriors, killing and capturing elves with a maniacal laugh.

But now, she’s just a regular girl.

Addicted to sangongdok.

“I have something to ask you.”

“Shut up!! I have nothing to tell you!! Bring Lord Cardepion here immediately and kneel down to apologize!!”

“Hey, you saw it too. Cardepion is dead.”

“Shut up!!! He couldn’t have died. Eventually, you will know. How small and weak you all are!! It’s useless to come and beg later. You will all be trampled to death!!! Hahaha!!!!”

“You’re completely insane.”

“Haha! Stupid elf brat. If my body were intact, your brain would have exploded long ago!”

“Why do you follow Cardepion so blindly?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? He is everything to me! He used me sincerely, raised me, and taught me what happiness is. It’s only natural to follow him!!”

“You probably didn’t feel that way at first.”

“Outrageous!! How dare you try to insult him by leaving me!!”

“How did you get brainwashed like this?”

“It’s not brainwashing!! I truly believe!!-”

She trailed off.

It’s hard to persuade with words.

So… is torture the answer after all?

Clang~

One side of the iron bars opened.

I entered there.

“What, what are you trying to do to me? Whatever you do, I won’t yield!!!”

“You’ll see when you look.”

I reached out my hand.

No mercy.

Because he’s the one who killed several elves.

Because he thinks it’s only natural.

Torture begins.

“Rather… just kill me……”

It failed.

The guy who had his breath cut off half-heartedly collapsed with half-turned eyes.

Preventing him from breathing through the stem.

Administering a small amount of poison.

Breaking his bones with the stem.

It was all in vain.

He recovered and endured the pain again, but he didn’t break.

Breaking the brainwashing is impossible.

No, maybe it’s real.

In that case.

“I didn’t want to go this far….”

“……?”

Clang.

I moved the stem.

“Guk… What are you trying to do this time? No matter what you do, I won’t yield….”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“I’m going to make sure you can’t do anything.”

“What does that mean!-”

Swoosh!!

I tightly wrapped him with the stem.

Just like when I healed Shaela, I trapped him in a fruit state.

But it’s a little different. I’ll just provide nutrients to keep him alive, and he won’t be able to do anything inside this.

Not listening.

Not seeing.

Not feeling.

Not eating.

Not sensing.

Loss of all senses.

Losing track of time and space.

It’s a truly horrifying torture that not only destroys me but also Shaela.

Hunger or not being able to breathe is not a problem. I’ll stick the stem in his mouth. Once he gets used to it, he’ll become numb to it too.

“If you can endure that and stay the same, I’ll let you go. You probably didn’t even hear what I said….”

Swoosh~

I turned my steps.

A few days of confinement should do it.

I briefly felt my own body.

The wide field of vision and senses of the main body extend further than the village.

A radius of 3km densely planted with stems.

A radius of 700m connected underground roots to the main body.

A radius of 500m surrounded by stem walls.

Hundreds of rectangular-shaped farms.

Ten houses of the New Elf and High Elf.

Dozens of houses built for new Elves.

Several houses where humans reside.

There are still many empty spaces, but houses and farms for 400 Elves are continuously being built.

It’s starting to feel like a real village now.

“It has developed quite well. Here too.”

Swoosh.

I got up.

It’s nice to watch from the main body’s perspective, but I also wanted to take a walk.

I leisurely moved outside the house.

I just wanted to feel the village up close.

It was nice to see the Elves running around.

Thud~

I left the stem house and walked along the path between the farms.

“Oh! It’s the great Shinmok.”

Some of the Shinmok Elves and High Elves recognized me and bowed their heads.

The ordinary Elves looked puzzled.

Most of them didn’t know that I was walking around in my avatar form.

Without getting discouraged, I sat in front of a crop.

It’s richer in nutrients than before.

Thanks to the mutation of the stems and the care of the Elves, the growth rate is very high. As a result, it produces new fruits every day and significantly increases the nutrient efficiency of the fertile soil.

Thanks to this, there are often leftovers of fruits and vegetables, which are either buried as fertilizer for the soil or absorbed by me as a source of greater energy.

“Mu-chan? What are you doing here?”

I was observing for a moment when Floryn approached.

Swoosh.

I got up from my seat and approached him.

“Oh… Why are you doing this?”

I looked at him quietly.

He’s stronger than I thought. He feels at least tens of times stronger than when we first met.

“You’ve gotten a lot stronger.”

“Oh! It’s because you give me fruits every day. I pick crops here and there and cook and eat them when needed, and I’m training with them~”

Floryn brought me meals every time and took one of the concentrated fruits from me.

It’s an experiment for me.

I was curious about how much the fruit could enhance a human.

The current result is this.

Floryn Level 244.

An unbelievable growth.

He has become strong enough to compete with the early Shinmok Elves.

However, the efficiency decreases slightly if he continues to eat them, but if he combines training with it, the decrease in efficiency is reduced. So Floryn trained with humans except for working hours.

He seems to be approaching the threshold… but if he continues, he might surpass level 300.

“How about other humans?”

“They’re not as high as me, but they eat crops that raise their stats, eat together, and train. They must have increased their strength, right? Of course, they are still lacking compared to the Elves.”

“Since Elves eat less, maybe you guys will catch up someday.”

“Hehe~ Does that give you motivation?”

“How about the Elves you raise?”

“Oh, Ryan? Well… Mm-hmm.”

Floryn blushed.

He had grown a High Elf fruit with the help of a Shinmok Elf before.

They live in the same house…

It seems like their relationship has progressed a lot based on his reaction.

“I’m counting on the Half-Elf.”

“Eek!! What, what are you talking about!!!”

“Why are you happy while getting mad?”

“No!!… Ugh!! I don’t know!!!”

Thud!

Floryn ran away.

He’s not very honest.

After he left, I took a leisurely walk alone.

Just looking at the village filled me with energy.

And…

“Now I really look like a tree.”

My tree trunk house where I stay.

It feels real when I look at it from a distance.

It’s like looking at a giant tree trunk.

The stem is definitely thicker and soaring higher than before.

To the extent that it has grown to about 15m in height.

Moreover, to enter the house, one must walk through a stem pathway of about 3m, not a door. It is becoming a space where no one can enter except for me and the tree elf.

“I should expand the interior again soon.”

I walked towards the house.

The closer I got to the house, the more I felt a tremendous power.

A shelter growing in a huge form to protect the main body.

In the end, what will it transform into?

That will be known gradually.

“Here. Take it.”

Shayella came back.

However, the moment I saw his appearance, I felt my head go white.

“…What is that appearance?”

“It’s yours. Take it.”

“Well, it is, but…”

I looked at him incredulously.

The stem bracelet he handed me in the morning was now wrapping around everything except Shayella’s face, hands, and feet, having become very bulky.

Grrr… Gulp…

I feel it.

The stem is bloated.

It is filled with an unbelievable amount of nutrients, moving sluggishly with a sense of fullness from consuming a large amount of prey.

“Not taking it?”

“…What did you come here for, exactly?”

“I brought you food.”

“…Why?”

“Monsters attacked. I just fed it.”

“I see… for now.”

Although it is bewildering, it is not bad.

The main body does not simply grow by absorbing nutrients but needs to digest various creatures to grow quickly. So, retrieving the stem that Shayella has fattened up is a big advantage for me.

Swoosh~

I absorbed the huge stem into the floor of the house.

Since the house itself is as much my main body, there was no need to take it as a clone.

“Oh. Interesting.”

“If you can’t see, what’s so interesting about it? Take off the blindfold and speak.”

“I am a god. I can know everything.”

“That god talk…”

First, I focused on absorbing.

The stem is saturated.

It contained a tremendous amount of nutrients.

As I absorbed it, the main body responded as if wriggling and accepted the nutrients.

This is unbelievable.

It is growing rapidly.

Just like when I was hunting slaves, the main body is growing uncontrollably.

Already the size of a fist and 1.8 fists.

At the same time, the memories of the stem were read.

I saw Shayella wandering around.

‘Right~’

In the memories, Shayella would pet the stem whenever there was a chance, and crazily roam around the forest, knocking down monsters and feeding them to the stem.

‘Right, right.’

Then he would pet it again.

Each time, the stem grew rapidly.

The stem danced happily every time, following Shayella like a tamed horse.

Huh…

What is this?

He said he just caught them.

But this is clearly using evil means, killing monsters and feeding them to the stem.

Why?

I looked at Shayella.

Huff~

It seemed like the smile of a grandmother who feeds her grandson an extra bowl and feels proud.

And then.

“Moochan, give me fruits. A lot.”

He demanded fruits from me.

As many as possible.

Since the nutrients have increased, I have been providing him with multiple concentrated fruits every day. Yet he still asked for more.

However…

I can’t just accept this and not give it to him.

Boing!~

I made several for him.

He seemed satisfied, lying on the bed and eating them one by one.

From then on, Shayella went out for a walk every day, killing monsters and fattening up the stem.