Massive branches gathered together like a vast army, surrounding the five of them from every direction. The sharp branches were like spears, stabbing toward their targets.
Facing these branches, Ryougi Shiki showed no fear. Her figure flashed, then a blade gleamed. The "army" of branches before her was instantly cut into pieces. Without touching the ground, Shiki swung her knife again and attacked the branches beside her.
Though both were connected to the Root, there was actually a vast difference between Ryougi Shiki and Sajyou Manaka.
Fang Zheng had investigated this before. Unlike Sajyou Manaka, although Ryougi Shiki was connected to the Root, she did not enjoy the benefits brought by the Root.
The reason was simple: it lay in the method.
The Ryougi family's method of connecting to the Root was to give the Root a personality. The idea itself was correct: wrapping something intangible in something tangible. It was like people. If you merely said "a person," there were six or seven billion people in the whole world. Who would know whom you meant?
But if you gave a name, the scope became much smaller. Add qualifiers such as country, city, street, company, position, gender, and so on, and you could pinpoint and grasp a person's existence even more accurately.
The Ryougi family had used this method to fix the Root, which was hidden among countless possibilities, in place.
However, this also created a problem.
That was the distinction between self and other.
Everyone was an individual. Once the Root had gained a "fixed" concept, there were only two possible outcomes: either it erased Ryougi Shiki's own personality, or it existed within her as another personality. But in that case, Ryougi Shiki could not enjoy the benefits brought by the Root.
It was like two people both being