Even though Rialyne gave energy as a form of food, Kyferne still had to sleep since he was human and essentially an animal like any of the creatures and monsters of the day. But a tree does not necessarily need to sleep. Thus, Rialyne could grind throughout the night.
_________________________________
Soul Inhabiter: Rialyne
Host: [ Dielweiss Tree ] Lv. 26
Rank: [ Gold ]
Evolution at 30 levels.
Next Level: 480,719,638 / 671,088,640 EXP
Domain: 335,283,292,296 HP (413,253 Self)
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— STATS —
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HP: 1440 (411813)
MP: 366 (21972)
PATK: 134 (9831)
MATK: 212 (5776)
PDEF: 130 (8415)
MDEF: 131 (8415)
SPD: 94 (9654)
FLX: 94 (10137)
Absorbed Stats: 483,029
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Basic Attributes:
STR: 67
AGI: 47
INT: 106
VIT: 47
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Special Attributes:
LUCK: 15
CRIT: 18
ARM: 16
BLK: 14
PEN: 12
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Resistances:
FIRE: 30
ICE: 30
WATER: 60
EARTH: 58
WIND: 60
DARK: 33
LIGHT: 35
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Magic Blast, Thorn Missiles, and Constrict all leveled up once. Sap was close to half of the proficiency necessary for the next level. Her elite team also grew significantly in the same proportion that the Dielweiss Tree grew.
With this, she was all set to explore that cave with Kyferne. He was a bit dubious at first about Rialyne controlling his body movement, but he had agreed to the contract, so as long as she didn't purposefully injure his body in any way, it was acceptable to him.
In fact, when she tested it out, to both of their surprise, she could carry along all the stats of the individual Dielweiss Tree! With these massive stats backing him up, the rest of Kyferne's hesitation immediately disappeared.
Thrilled, she left the Domain offense to the elite team, the defense to the rest of the plants, and the overseeing of battles to Cardisys. She didn't realize she would have to depend on the elite team so soon, but she was glad that they were strong enough to replace the Dielweiss Tree in main offensive maneuvers.
Additionally, unlike the contract with Brownie where Rialyne could only bring herself along and was unable to communicate with Cardisys outside of the Domain, she could communicate with Cardisys outside of the Domain while with Kyferne. She reckoned it was due to the Dielweiss Tree essentially being with her.
Once everything was settled, the two headed off, and Cardisys would notify Rialyne if something arose back inside the Domain.
The duo ignored all monsters and creatures on the trip to the cave to save on time. Strangely enough, no one was near the entrance of the cave. All the Wildesmen Kyferne had seen yesterday seemingly disappeared.
Curious but cautious, they entered the dim cave. Once inside, they were struck by its abnormally cool and damp atmosphere. With this kind of enclosed environment, Rialyne expected to see some sort of plants growing inside. But not a single leaf blade sprung up from the rock walls and floor. Additionally, they saw no other living beings in sight.
Carefully, they treaded through the straight cave path. And instead of the cave becoming darker, the faint light gradually grew brighter. Dumbfounded, they continued until they were struck by blinding brilliance at the end of the tunnel.
Here, the end was actually a cliff drop off to an enclosed valley that stretched well beyond a hundred kilometers. This vast, hidden space was like a mini nationstate.
In this valley's clear skies, various creatures and monsters of both prehistoric times and mythical lore flew. Stunned, the duo gawked at the pterodactyl-like monsters, wyverns, griffons, and other fantastical creatures.
Above the treetops, some long-necked dinosaurs and serpents roamed. Rialyne even shuddered at a monster that looked like a tyrannosaurus…
And in this mishmash of primordial folklore chaos, a gaping chasm several dozens of kilometers across marked the center of this strange terrain. Scooped ledges like scattered steps inside the chasm held deep enough bodies of water for aquatic beasts to inhabit. The water which overflowed the ledge banks simply poured down in rivulets that either entered a lower ledge or plunged straight into the abyss.
Taking this all in, Rialyne started laughing in shellshocked nervousness. Being in the forest, she had almost forgotten that this was a magical world. The creatures and monsters almost became mundane to her. But here, she was reminded that she had truly awoken into a different world.
"Hey, you okay there?"
Rialyne snapped out of her blank hysteria and assured Kyferne. "Yeah, this is just a little too much to take in. I certainly didn't expect this valley when we decided to explore the cave. I just thought it was going to be like a dungeon."
"Haha, same here. I'm really surprised myself. Do you think the Wildesmen got eaten up here or something? These monsters look crazy strong to me."
Rialyne agreed. "There's no way we could take on even half of them. I mean look at that one!" She pointed Kyferne's finger to a towering serpent that had roamed near the cave cliff.
[ Archaic Stygian Wyrm of Destruction ]
Lv. 49 [ Monarch ]
HP: 672,800
MP: 73,360
"Like what even is that from? Styx? Greek mythology? That doesn't even make sense!"
Rialyne felt a little queasy looking at the pitch black, opalescent scaled monster with numerous needle-like horns ridged along its spine. The flickering, narrow vermillion eyes looked like it could swallow anything whole.
"You think?" Kyferne questioned. "It's just a Monarch rank."
"JUST a Monarch rank, are you serious?"
"Well I've fought a Lv. 7 King ranked monster before." Kyferne thoughtfully propped his chin on his right hand with his other arm supporting the right elbow.
Rialyne internally rolled her eyes. "Come on, it was a level SEVEN monster, no wonder you could beat it!"
"Hmm, and I was also in a team of four at that time."
Rialyne internally face-palmed.
"That does it, we're leaving here before you get any stupid ideas."
"No wait!" Kyferne struggled against Rialyne's control. "That was a year ago! I bet I could take on even stronger monsters now! Not to mention, you're basically ten times stronger than me too!"
"You're right, and I'm not going to risk dying the third day after my reincarnation! You're crazy! At least choose a more suitable target!"
Kyferne chuckled. "Come on, it'll be exciting. And we can always run back into the cave!"
"And turn our backs against a possible long-range attack and have this nice ledge inconveniently demolished for the next time we come here? No way, idiot!"
"Aww, let's just give it a shot. If your strongest attack doesn't do enough damage to it, then we'll retreat, ok?"
Rialyne was in a dilemma. Truthfully, she was pretty exhilarated about the idea. But this cave discovery was the most exciting event to occur so far in this world, and she didn't want to waste this journey or an exploration below in case the serpent was smart enough and would guard the entrance after they retreated.
After all, plants and most creatures typically had much a much higher proportion of HP to the rest of its stats while monsters were usually the other way around.
Weighing the odds, she finally relented to Kyferne's delight.
"But we're standing right inside this cave mouth, okay?" Rialyne directed. "I'll spend extra mana in a long distance attack from here, so if I don't deal significant damage, we can run into the tunnel, and hopefully it won't see us from its high vantage point."
"Hmm, that's pretty smart," Kyferne commented.
Rialyne mockingly made his eyes roll in exasperation. "Someone needs to be smart between the two of us, so we don't get killed."
"Hey!"
Rialyne smiled to herself. "No worries, Ky. Let's do this."
"Ky?" He raised an eyebrow at the nickname out of the blue.
"Let's just say I picked up nicknaming from a certain little cell…"
The two sunk back into the entrance of the cave and waited until the serpent wandered within ten meters from the edge of the ledge.
Taking a deep breath, Rialyne activated Iron Wall and then hurtled a Magic Blast at the back of the monster's head.
-2305 -2305 -2305
The startled serpent jolted vaguely at the unexpected strike. It swiftly spun its head around, searching for the source of the disturbance.
"Uhh…." Rialyne quickly racked her brain to calculate the percent of damage done. "…1%?!"
Kyferne's eyes glowed in soaring anticipation. "We can do it, Rialyne, we can do it!"
Her hope fluttered a little. A hundred Magic Blasts? Maybe this was possible if they could avoid most of its attacks while landing theirs… She gulped. Well here goes nothing.
She ushered Kyferne's legs to run toward the beast at the moment the serpent turned away from them.
"Constrict!"
Vines shot forth from his body, startling Kyferne a little bit. He wondered if this was how Rialyne felt when she battled as a tree. The vines lassoed around the monster who now realized who its attacker had been.
"Grraahhhh-erryyoouu~~!!!" The serpent screeched, red eyes alight with fury at this insignificant ant who dared to assail it unawares.
Coalescing shadows reeled into a spherical mass from the tip of the monster's gaping mouth.
Kyferne's gut churned apprehensively at the sight of the black sphere and when the monster released it at him. Rialyne's agility enabled him to dodge the bulk of it just narrowly, but a few tendrils still lashed his legs.
「 - 1950 HP - 1950 HP - 1950 HP - 1950 HP 」
Kyferne's eyeballs bulged at the sight of the huge amount of damage from just the fringes of the shadow sphere. If he was hit directly by one with his own stats rather than Rialyne's…then he'd be blasted into smithereens for sure.