Tree Spirit Guard

For two consecutive days, Du Ke explored the area around South Lake. The Great Blue Forest was simply too vast; he couldn't possibly explore it all alone. He could only focus on thoroughly understanding the geography around Earth Valley first.

Furthermore, South Lake was surrounded by mountains, and the trees within those mountains were exceptionally tall. One particularly large tree was estimated to be a hundred meters high, its trunk so wide that dozens of people couldn't encircle it. In a forest like this, the lower levels were so dark that not even light could penetrate, filled with danger. Although he had the Mind Armor for protection, Du Ke was still unwilling to venture in rashly; the atmosphere was truly terrifying.

"Let's see, I've been in the Fantasy World for almost a week now." That evening, after finding the fourth Devil Explosion Flower spore powder, Du Ke returned to the Sea of Flowers to spend the night.

It was also on this night that Shawa Shawa, who was in the process of advancing, hurriedly returned to her blue reed flower after eating a mouthful of spore powder, bidding him farewell.

"Is she advancing?"

Du Ke stared intently at the now-closed flower and then watched as it miraculously shrank until it disappeared. He understood that Shawa Shawa had gone to sleep at the roots of the blue reed. After a full hour, a flower bud grew again at the tip of the blue reed and, under the light of the three moons in the sky, slowly bloomed with radiance.

As the petals unfurled, Shawa Shawa, who had been curled up inside, stood up and stretched.

She let out a crisp cry, "Ah."

Du Ke blinked, confirming that Shawa Shawa had successfully advanced. At this moment, Shawa Shawa was three palms long, estimated to be nearly sixty centimeters tall. Her general appearance remained the same. However, she now had three pairs of wings, which had changed from transparent to a faint, grassy color with a translucent quality.

She held the Heart Flower Stamen in her hand, but her attire was no longer the primitive clothing woven from petals and leaves. Instead, she wore an exquisite garment that looked like silk, its surface shimmering with light, giving her an ethereal aura.

"Du Ke!" Shawa Shawa flew up to the window of his bird's nest dwelling and called out to Du Ke, "I've advanced."

Her speech was much more fluent than before.

At this point, the other Flower Spirits had already flown over, bowing to Shawa Shawa, and then cheering in unison, "Shawa Shawa!" They were celebrating the birth of a new leader—the only Flower Spirit besides the old leader to have advanced twice. Previously, she had barely managed to serve as the leader of the Sea of Flowers Tribe due to her largest size, but her authority was certainly insufficient.

Now, she was undoubtedly the queen of the Sea of Flowers Tribe.

"Shawa Shawa, you're even stronger than the old leader." Xise Xise, riding her Displacer Beast Spirit, also bowed in submission. A Flower Spirit who had only advanced once like her was less than half Shawa Shawa's height.

After the surrounding Flower Spirits expressed their subservience to Shawa Shawa, they flew off to play. Carefree enjoyment was the theme of their lives, and the 12-year-old Xise Xise was no different. She quickly rode her Displacer Beast Spirit away with a flourish, off to play somewhere unknown. Apart from the Flower Spirits who enjoyed the air conditioning, Shawa Shawa was the one who enjoyed conversing with Du Ke the most.

"The petals I shed turned into this long dress. Isn't it pretty?" Shawa Shawa spun around proudly, making her dress dance, looking exceptionally lively.

"Did it grant you new magic?"

"Yes, I call it the Colorful Skirt. It granted me a new magic—Tree Spirit Guard." As Shawa Shawa spoke, she waved her hand at a large tree not far away. Green light rose from her body and fell onto the tree.

The next moment.

The tree suddenly began to tremble. Then, its trunk thickened, its crown retracted, and its roots pulled out of the ground. The entire transformation took about three minutes. An unknown large tree had thus become a "treant." Although it didn't grow a human face, it could now slowly walk on the ground using its bent roots under Shawa Shawa's control and wield its branches like whips.

Most miraculously, it could cast Earth Magic—summoning giant rocks to hurl into the distance, perhaps it could be called Rock Throwing Technique.

"Is this the Tree Spirit Guard?" Du Ke observed the strange tree up close. He could no longer describe what kind of existence it was, whether it was plant or animal. Its bark remained hard, but its branches could bend and extend freely, and it could even cast Earth Magic. He couldn't give it a biological definition, only attributing it to the power of Magic Elements.

"How many Tree Spirit Guards can you summon?"

"My Magic Power is limited. I can maintain three Tree Spirit Guards of this size simultaneously. Larger trees consume more Magic Power. If the tree is very large, I might not be able to awaken it," Shawa Shawa replied after thinking. Her fluency and vocabulary had improved significantly, suggesting that this advancement had also brought about considerable progress in her intelligence.

When encountering unfamiliar Flower Spirit language, Du Ke had to rely on Touch of Mind to communicate and learn these new words.

That night, Shawa Shawa summoned all three Tree Spirit Guards at once, positioning them on the east, north, and west sides of the Sea of Flowers to protect her tribe. Although the Tree Spirit Guards moved slowly, taking a minute to walk ten meters, they were not slow at all when throwing rocks. Moreover, they seemed to have infinite Magic Power and never tired, constantly casting Rock Throwing Technique.

With the Tree Spirit Guards defending them, the safety of the Sea of Flowers Tribe's Flower Spirits gained another layer of assurance.

"Before, predators often came to the Sea of Flowers to hunt us. Now we have Displacer Beast Spirits and Tree Spirit Guards, we can definitely drive away many predators," Shawa Shawa said confidently.

A night passed.

The morning sun cast its rays upon the land. Du Ke waved goodbye to Shawa Shawa, watching her return to her flower to rest.

After washing up, he ate some roasted meat and spore powder, then began his exercises. It was then that he noticed the three Tree Spirit Guards still standing on the east, north, and west sides of the Sea of Flowers. Their roots were firmly planted in the earth, their branches spread out, and their leaves bathed in the morning sunlight. They stood motionless, as quiet as ordinary trees, except their trunks were disproportionately thick.

He reached out and patted a trunk, but the Tree Spirit Guard showed no reaction.

Du Ke didn't disturb the Tree Spirit Guards any further. He mounted his Mountain Motorcycle and sped off towards the forest to the east. Today, he planned to survey a small mountain stream, investigate its ecological environment, and see if he could find more Devil Explosion Flowers along the way, as well as other valuable items. The Flower Spirits could help him identify which items were nutritious and edible.

After several days of spore powder and Magic Beast meat, he felt his physique had greatly improved, likely surpassing that of an athlete.