Ancient Maple Guardian

Last night, Lincon had carried a lamp and dealt with quite a few Dark Creatures wandering the streets. With the buffs from his dual classes, his personal attributes had now nearly reached the threshold of a D-Class Ability User.

Among those of the same rank, mages did not possess his strength, while warriors did not have his mental power. He was a true hybrid of warrior and mage, following a dual-blade path.

However, he had yet to fully bring out the Plant Cultivator's abilities. Only Advanced Plants and Accelerated Growth were particularly distinctive.

Lincon glanced at the Sunlight balance on his panel.

Perhaps he could try cultivating even more powerful plants.

But before that, he planned to use a Reinforcement Rune to strengthen the Shadow Sword.

Yesterday, he had used Purifying Fire again, slashing down two Anomaly Calamities in one stroke.

As a result, the Shadow Sword was still somewhat listless today, continuously sending him weak thoughts.

The warm daylight shone over him as Lincon drew the Shadow Sword from his shadow. His knuckles tapped against the blade, producing a clear ring that was neither quite metal nor jade.

Mental power flowed into his fingertips. Lincon drew a rune in the air, and a Reinforcement Rune merged into the Shadow Sword.

The next second, the Shadow Sword began to tremble faintly, sharp sword energy constantly splashing outward.

Yet after barely two seconds, the process abruptly stopped.

The Shadow Sword remained much the same as before, without much of a change.

"Failed?" Lincon frowned slightly.

He had known for some time that Infusion Runes and Reinforcement Runes had a certain chance of failure. Both belonged to the enhancement category, and the odds of success depended on the item's quality, as well as the Rune Master's mental power and technique.

If it were merely an Ordinary Shrine, either Reinforcement Runes or Infusion Runes could be easily inscribed. That was because the former contained no other energy.

The Shadow Sword, however, had advanced through Dark Matter and possessed dark matter energy similar to that of Dark Creatures, making it far more difficult to inscribe.

Lincon quickly adjusted himself, calming his mind as he began searching for the state he had entered when he first carved a Fine Shrine.

That feeling, akin to sudden enlightenment, could allow him to perform far beyond his usual level.

Lincon closed his eyes, trying to bring his mind closer to that elusive thread in his thoughts.

He did not need to grasp it. Even a trace of that feeling would do.

Mental power gathered at his fingertips once more. The air seemed like boiling water at that moment, gradually becoming restless.

This time, Lincon poured nearly all of his mental power into drawing a Reinforcement Rune onto the Shadow Sword.

A phantom azure rune merged into the Shadow Sword, vanishing in a flash.

After several seconds of quiet, nothing happened.

Just as Lincon thought he had failed again, the Shadow Sword suddenly erupted with a violent hum.

Its color deepened, and a layer of black mist swirled around it like burning black flames, devouring the sunlight.

The Shadow Sword's thoughts gradually shifted from pain into a single word.

"Awesome!!"

The Reinforcement Rune had not only strengthened the Shadow Sword's purity, but also seemed to have enhanced its own dark-element energy. Like that D-Class Weird Corpse from before, it could now control black mist.

If this were a game, the Shadow Sword would probably have gained a Reinforcement +1 symbol.

"It really drains mental power, though."

Lincon rubbed his brow, feeling as though his brain had been drained dry. He was even seeing double.

He rested with his eyes closed for a while, then slowly stood after his mind had recovered slightly.

Today, he did not plan to leave the fortress for anywhere else. Instead, he came before a withered maple tree within the city.

This maple tree was already several hundred years old. It had tenaciously survived Dark Erosion, but its branches and leaves had grown sparse and drooping, while its bark was covered in scars, like a silent old veteran riddled with wounds.

A few days ago, Lincon had investigated the old maple tree with a Seed Mark, and the result had pleasantly surprised him.

[Century-Old Maple Tree]

[Advancement Route 1: Ancient Maple Guardian]

[Required Sunlight: 100]

[Having survived for several centuries, it has finally developed a faint self-awareness. Though it has no eyes, it once sensed the determination of Longwind Fortress's warriors to defend humanity unto death during the early days of the dark catastrophe.]

[Hidden Advancement Route 2: Twisted Treant]

[Required Sunlight: 500]

[Unlock Conditions: C-Rank Dark Matter Crystal, Treant Core]

This century-old maple tree required more Sunlight than any plant Lincon had seen so far. Its hidden advancement route was even more outrageous, requiring not only a massive amount of Sunlight but also a C-Rank Dark Crystal.

One had to know that the Weird Corpse Lincon had struggled so hard to eliminate before had only been D-Class.

A C-Rank threat was more than a hundred times more dangerous than a D-Class one.

Lincon had come this time to advance it into an Ancient Maple Guardian and bolster his combat strength as a Plant Cultivator.

He would not tell anyone that he possessed two classes and two abilities.

Previously, he had lived alone in Longwind Fortress, so there had been no need to hide anything.

But now that he was preparing to develop citizens and expand Longwind Fortress's population, he needed to find a way to conceal the abilities of his main class.

To outsiders, he would be a Plant Cultivator who primarily relied on mental power but possessed very little physical strength.

His right palm pressed against the old maple tree's sturdy trunk. The Seed Mark glimmered faintly, and as the Sunlight on his panel rapidly drained away, an inexplicable tremor suddenly spread outward from the old maple tree.

It was gradually awakening.

A faint heartbeat seemed to echo beside his ears. The ancient life had been bestowed immense vitality by Lincon, its very essence undergoing a drastic transformation.

Then, the ground began to shake, and the entire old maple tree rustled violently.

Golden veins appeared across the surface of its once-dry trunk. Its sparse branches and leaves rapidly filled out at a visible speed, their color changing from withered yellow to fiery red.

Amid rumbling sounds, the trunk slowly swelled and rose. Its thick roots violently burst through the ground, thrashing through the air like giant pythons.

The branches no longer reached messily toward the sky. Instead, like a giant stretching its limbs, they twisted and coiled into the outlines of human arms and shoulders.

On the main trunk, a blurry, aged face slowly emerged, formed from rough, warped bark and crack-like raised lenticels.

"Whoo~"

Its eyes abruptly opened like two burning golden flames, staring at Lincon.

A heavy, ancient, and gentle will spread outward from the Tree Spirit.

Several Sunlight Sunflowers Lincon had planted nearby were affected. Their leaves and petals stood even straighter, radiating increasingly vigorous life and vitality.

Hearing the commotion, Zhang Rui's family hurried out of the house and looked in the direction of the sound. They immediately saw a shocking sight.

A massive treant braced both hands against the ground, lowered its face, and knelt before Lincon in the posture of a servant, making a dry, hoarse sound.

"Mas... ter..."