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‹Master! Miss Allo! Wh-where did you go?!›
Tremors rocked through the ground every time it moved. Holy cow. Talk about big, loud, and proud, Treant! It’s way bigger than the Ngai Forest trees!
‹D-down here, Treant!› I called.
Treant turned its trunk and looked down at Allo and I. It made a face as one of its branches slammed into another tree, breaking off a handful of branches in the process.
One wrong move in this forest, and who knows what’ll happen…
‹Master! Miss Allo…!› Treant’s enormous face came close, staring at us. Even I felt a pang of intimidation. It felt like a Legendary class to me…
‹Have you…gotten smaller somehow?› Treant asked, confused.
No, Treant. You’ve just gotten way, way bigger…
World Treant: Rank A+. Legends say that when a world is born, so too is a World Treant born to protect and watch over it. A nurturing presence, all nearby flora and fauna will flourish under its protection, and the lands surrounding it become fertile. Many nations have been built with World Treants at their center. The World Treant makes the country prosper, while its ruler vows to rule its subjects justly. Its powerful, eternal life force watches over its subjects forevermore.
With that, Treant had successfully evolved into an A+ class monster. Whoa… A World Treant, huh? Talk about a transformation.
Species: World Treant
Status: Cursed
Lv: 1/130
HP: 538/1258
MP: 21/477
Attack: 197
Defense: 553
Magic: 292
Agility: 169 (338)
Rank: A+
Special Skills:
Dark Type: Lv —
Grecian Language: Lv 3
Harden: Lv 7
Automatic HP Recovery: Lv 7
Automatic MP Recovery: Lv 6
Fly: Lv 4
Healing Drops: Lv 6
Stalwart Protector: Lv —
Gravity Compression: Lv 5
Soft Steps: Lv 5
Give Life: Lv —
World Tree Bark: Lv 5
Fairy Curse: Lv —
Solid Body: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 8
Falling Resistance: Lv 9
Magic Resistance: Lv 7
Normal Skills:
Take Root: Lv 5
Clay: Lv 5
Hi-Rest: Lv 5
Fire Sphere: Lv 7
Aqua Sphere: Lv 4
Clay Sphere: Lv 6
Wind Sphere: Lv 4
Telepathy: Lv 5
Gravity: Lv 6
Poison Cloud: Lv 4
Physical Barrier: Lv 6
Anti-Power: Lv 6
Decoy: Lv 6
Statue: Lv 6
Meteor Stomp: Lv 6
Tree Spirit Transformation: Lv 6
Berserk: Lv 5
Wood Strike: Lv 5
Wood Counter: Lv 5
Armor Break: Lv 5
Guard Lost: Lv 5
Clay Wall: Lv 5
Tremor: Lv 5
Heat Beam: Lv 5
Barkskin Armor: Lv 4
Reaper Seeds: Lv 4
Eternal Regrowth: Lv 4
Human Transformation: Lv 2
Title Skills:
Demon King’s Underling: Lv —
Devourer of the Fruit of Wisdom: Lv —
White Mage: Lv 7
Black Mage: Lv 7
Dragon’s Lost Property: Lv —
World Tree: Lv —
Wow…it’s a total tank type. It’s hard to believe these are its stats at level 1. It’s still more focused on durability than attack, though… I’d secretly hoped Treant would switch to an attack-type monster because it was so much easier to farm experience points that way, but it looked like Treant was dead set on a complete endurance build.
W-well, maybe I’ll keep that little tidbit from Treant for now. With its new skills, it should have a bunch of new battle strategies, depending on how it uses them.
Its halved agility stat was because of its Solid Body skill; Beelzebub was the same way. By transforming with its other skills, like Tree Spirit Transformation, it could double its current agility.
‹W-well?! How’d I do, Master?!› Treant asked with Telepathy as it stretched out its trunk, waved its branches, and struck a pose. Its voice felt stronger than usual, and it echoed through my brain. It seemed like it liked its new look, at least. And it seemed pretty strong…
‹F-first, mind getting into your tree spirit form for now?› I asked. In its natural state, it felt like the entirety of Ngai Forest would be able to spot Treant. I doubted it’d have a whole lot of chances to use its World Treant form to its full potential, especially in such a dangerous place—we’d be noticed wherever we went.
‹Oh…right. Understood.› Treant sagged, disappointed it couldn’t show off its new form anymore.
S-sorry, Treant. I feel bad, but it’s just not safe.
Treant shrank into its tree spirit form. It didn’t look much different than before; maybe its green body looked a bit more vibrant, but that was about it.
‹Okay. First, congrats, Treant! You’re officially an A+ rank monster!›
‹O-oh?! Hooray! I finally caught up to Miss Allo!› Treant crowed with glee. I didn’t blame it; it’d been trailing behind for so long, it had to feel nice to be on par with its friends at last. It had also learned quite a few new skills: In Special Skills, it got Give Life, World Tree Bark, Fairy Curse, and Solid Body. It also got Magic Resistance, which Treant never had before. And under Normal Skills, it learned Barkskin Armor, Reaper Seeds, Immortality, and Human Transformation.
…Human Transformation, huh? So it can transform into a human now? With Tree Spirit Transformation already under its belt, it felt like the two skills’ roles would overlap to a degree. But now Treant could safely travel in human villages, which could be useful in the future. Even so…I was interested to see what Treant’s human form would look like, or if it’d even look humanoid enough to pass for a human.
Well, I’ll look through the other new skills for now. I’ve already seen Solid Body, Magic Resistance, and Human Transformation, so I don’t need to worry about those. I’m definitely curious about Human Transformation in a different way though…
Special Skill “Give Life.” The user’s life force is powerful enough to turn a withered patch of land into a flourishing garden of flowers with just a touch of magic. While activated, this skill also heals the HP of all nearby life forms indefinitely.
Hmm… Is that…strong? I feel like just healing everything around it is too general. Maybe it can be used somehow? I don’t think it’s weak, but…I can’t think of any use for it, other than just going to the farm of someone I don’t like and making all the weeds grow.
Special Skill “World Tree Bark.” World Treants possess thick, tough bark. It also breaks down magic, greatly reducing damage taken from magical attacks. The bark is frequently used as a base for expensive bark armor. When World Treants lived in harmony with human nations, countless petty thieves would peel the bark off it without permission.
Dang. Poor World Treant. Isn’t it supposed to be some kind of guardian deity? And humans just took advantage of it? I wouldn’t blame it for getting angry at ’em every once in a while.
Special Skill “Fairy Curse.” When hit directly with a magical attack, forest fairies will come to the rescue, counterattacking by casting the same spell back at its user. Their magic will be as powerful as the original attack, regardless of the skill owner’s magic power. The fairies’ magic will only affect the attacker.
Whoa. Fairies? I don’t know much about ’em, but this seems like a pretty crazy counterskill. Between this and World Tree Bark, Treant’s got some serious defense against magic. It’s also got Wood Counter to counter physical attacks, but I’ve never seen Treant use it…
Treant tended to go up against opponents stronger than itself, which thankfully meant it wasn’t at a huge risk of getting into a down-and-dirty fistfight. If that happened, Treant would definitely lose. It’d only ever be safe in a physical fight against opponents much lower in status than itself. These counterattack skills seemed handy as a last resort if Treant got backed into a corner, but they didn’t seem like skills to base its entire strategy around.
That said, unlike Treant, Allo wasn’t super durable, so she could land herself in trouble from a single lucky hit from even a lower-rank enemy. In that respect, Treant’s status meant it might even be a better choice for taking on groups of weaker monsters than Allo.
It…feels a bit plain compared to Allo’s evolution. But really, it seems better-suited for living a stable life in nature.
Normal Skill “Barkskin Armor.” Covers the user’s body in a thick layer of entwined branches, preventing attacks from landing on the user. Can also be used to increase the user’s mass before striking its opponents.
Is this a defensive skill? But it can also be used to attack… While simple, this skill seemed like it could be really useful.
Normal Skill “Reaper Seeds.” Creates plant seeds that siphon MP from those seeded. The closer the skill’s user and its target, the faster MP is absorbed. Once its prey’s MP is completely absorbed, the Reaper Seeds will grow rapidly, destroying the user’s prey.
Whoa. This skill came outta left field. I thought Treant didn’t have much in the way of attack, but if it used Reaper Seeds, it probably wouldn’t need attack power anyway. If the Reaper Seeds could handle a few attacks, Treant could take down all kinds of monsters with this.