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Today, as father was in the farm and mother was cooking, I sneaked outside the house and went to see my favorite Eden Apple tree, Yggdra.
It has been a few months since I began to nurture her, so she has grown into a pretty fine little sapling. Her bark was hardening and although she had yet to bear any fruit, she looked healthy and had already surpassed my own height.
She had been my main project ever since I took her as a tiny seed from an apple I ate once. Now, she's like the friend I come to visit every day and talk to her.
I know trees don't talk, but I like to speak with her sometimes. I usually ask her how she's doing, and how the sun over her leaves feel like. Of course, she doesn't answer, she's a plant, after all.
However, I still remember that one time when I heard a faint whisper telling me "Thank you" when I planted her.
Perhaps that was her? Mother did tell me that all living beings have souls, even plants.
With that in mind, hoping that one day she would answer me, I nourished her using my Agriculture skill and all the mana I had until I became exhausted.
The times when I got exhausted while using a lot of mana has become a lot less frequent now, but don't expect much from a one-year-old, please.
However, today… there was something different. I had felt something faint before. But now, it was very strong, like so strong it's already palpable.
Pondering over it, I soon touched her and gave her my mana to let her grow, and then… I felt it. Her entire body began to glow with bright emerald light as a small halo of yellow light emerged over her leaves.
What's going on?
I panicked a bit at first, I really didn't know what this even meant… But my panic quickly went away as I felt a soothing embrace wrap my tiny body.
A bath of light soon reached my body, as several sparks of light began to surge from Yggdra and me.
It was so mystical…
"Y-Yggdra?" I asked timidly.
"…"
I expected an answer, but she remained silent.
I suppose it's not the time yet…
"Ahh…"
However, I suddenly heard something.
"Yggdra?! I knew it! You really spoke to me before, didn't you?"
"…"
"Come on… don't be shy with me… we're friends, right?"
"…"
"Yggdra…?"
"Ooh…"
She said a few more words… though nothing coherent. It seemed as if she was undergoing something.
Flash!
Soon, the particles of light from the tree began to all gather in front of me, turning into a blinding flash of light. In response, I covered my eyes for a bit until it receded.
What remained after that was a faint little body.
Something floating in front of me…
It didn't have a humanoid body, nor did it look like a fairy.
But it was a little thing. In fact, it resembled a fist-sized seed.
It was green and had two beady golden eyes. On top of that, it had a cute little mouth.
It had a big leaf on top, which glowed quite brightly if I might add.
"Waa!"
It didn't even speak, but it launched itself at me.
BUMP!
Ugh…
From that, I fell over the grass on the ground as I sensed something enter my soul.
What was that?!
Was that really Yggdra?
"Yggdra?"
Sometime later, the tree stopped glowing as it soon went back to normal.
What was that?!
Suddenly, I heard something.
"Take good care of it… it's a Nature Spirit, created by our bond."
"Yggdra…?"
The soothing voice of a young woman resounded inside my mind, but I looked at the tree, and it remained silent.
A nature… spirit?
So… this glowing creature wasn't Yggdra, but a Nature Spirit…
Father noticed something wrong was going on and rushed to my side right away.
"Sylphy? Are you okay?!"
He grabbed me and checked me out, casting a few Tier 3 healing spells over my body.
"Uhh… yeah. I think something weird happened to Yggdra. A Nature Spirit came out of her and entered my chest… I don't know where it is right now," I told him.
"A… Nature Spirit? From Yggdra, the tree?" father asked.
"Yeah…"
Father quickly moved back to the house and told mother about it.
"Ohh! Sylphy… you've made a pact with a Spirit Familiar already?!" mother asked.
"Is that it? But the spirit is gone…" I replied.
"That's because it most likely entered your Soul Scape," father told me.
"Indeed. When we make contract with a familiar, our souls open up a small internal space where they can go inside and rest, recover, or even revive," mother quickly explained.
"They can even revive?!"
"Indeed, a familiar is bound to our lives. So, as long as we stay alive, they'll also stay alive… although it might take years for one that has died to fully revive," father said in response to my question.
"Anyways, Sylphy. Concentrate right now and close your eyes. Try to look into your soul. You're a talented girl, so I'm sure you can find it," mother told me soon after.
"Faylen, don't pressure the girl. She just got the spirit… plus she's also tired, maybe she needs to rest a bit." Father could not help but let out a sigh.
"But the spirit suddenly made the contract! She has to look at it!" said mother, rebuking father.
"And I say that she must rest." Father was adamant.
The two looked at each other rather defiantly, most likely from what they want me to do.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I will look at it. After all, father healed my exhaustion," I said.
After that, I closed my eyes and looked at my soul as I always did.
Surprisingly, within this dark place, there was now grass all over.
Huh?
The floor had a lot of grass now, scattered all throughout.
There were even flowers growing here and there, and the sky was now blue instead of black.
"System?"
"I'm here… something entered and changed the entire landscape… well, it's not like I'm complaining about it," she responded.
"So a Spirit can actually do such a thing…"
"Perhaps the Spirit reflects its true nature by changing the appearance of this place…" the System could not help but say.
"Did you see it? Where did it go?" I asked.
"It's there."
With that, the system pointed out a fist-sized bean playing around with butterflies.
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