Shall we continue?

As if that weren't enough, the woman raised the scepter and waved it from side to side to flaunt it.

Duman had to take a deep breath and control his urge to throw the sword inside his space gem at her, but, unfortunately, he knew it wouldn't reach that high. Merely recalling that his powers weren't working made the veins in his hand and neck bulge all the way out.

A complacent smile spread across the woman's face, her annoyance dropping several levels.

The scepter was hers to begin with, but to hear someone being so brazen as to claim it as their own incensed her.

"Is he a child who thinks that what he finds is his?" She snorted in irritation, making the veil flutter vigorously.

Whether it was deliberate or not, her words fell on everyone's ears. The plants stirred as if in agreement and this mortified the hilmir even more.

The only ones who dared and could openly criticize him were the regents of his kingdom, and these were his father and his two wives. Although his older brother used to throw sarcastic remarks to reproach him, at least he did it in a discreet way. But to be ridiculed as an ignorant child and by a complete stranger, this was a first.

"Sir Zagan."

With those two words, the paladin knew at once that the woman's fate had been sealed and, no matter what excuses he made to mitigate his fury, the hilmir would disregard his words and go for her neck anyway. If only she had handed over the scepter without saying anything, then they could have come to a peaceful resolution.

Hundreds of runes formed in the air as Zagan began to mutter the archaic language. Each of the glowing letters shifted in the air until they were horizontally to the ground, pointing in a specific direction.

The veiled woman, oblivious to the impending threat, gazed in awe at the purple-haired man and the strange letters around him. She had never seen anything like it, so she really wanted to learn more about this world and the several existing skills, hoping that one day she too would be able to use them.

Suddenly, the violet runes shot towards her with great accuracy and speed. The plants got in the way but were no match for the aether arrows.

〚 Alert: Large amounts of energy detected 〛

〚 Assimilation enabled 〛

〚 Replenishing energy levels 〛

System alerts sounded again inside her head as the flashes of light headed her way faded as if they had never existed in the first place.

Once her life was no longer in danger, the woman patted her heart out of habit to calm herself, but only an unbearable silence settled in her chest. There was no pounding heartbeat to prove how frightened she was to witness the ferocity the group exerted in disposing of obstacles, making it clear that they were the kind of dangerous people who took down whatever got in their way.

'I think we need to define what "none" is to you, you damn system. I was almost skewered to death!', she protested in a fit of anger, raising her fist into the air as if she was facing it. If the system were a person, she would have beaten it to a pulp by now.

She had dared to act so brazen against opponents who seemed to be stronger than her because every single screen that had popped up in front of them said the same thing: threat level 'none'.

But the only response the nonchalant system threw in her face was a small loading bar.

〚 38% 〛

"Oh!" She gasped upon seeing that the percentage had increased after being stagnant for more than half a day. And the best thing is that it had gone up by 3%!

As the woman analyzed the reason behind the sudden increase, the paladin and his party stood speechless. Among them, the saintess was the most affected.

Placing one hand to her stomach and the other to her mouth, Elisha forced herself to endure the awful nausea brought on by the sharp sensation of the aether coursing through her veins being forcibly absorbed. The feeling of her flesh burning under her skin was unbearable, but she seemed to be the only one affected. Without understanding why, her gaze unconsciously fell on the woman in the tree.

Skeptical of what he had witnessed, Zagan muttered the spell once more and resumed his attack.

The veiled woman watched as the same alerts reappeared before the glowing arrows faded again. She then looked at the charging bar which now read 40%.

It finally dawned on her that the runes molded with that kind of supernatural energy was what could fully replenish her system, but since she didn't know how to use it or absorb it, then the process slowed down to the point of stagnation.

〚 Perception heightened 〛

〚 Enhancing Area of ​​Effect 〛

Her eyes widened as her senses spread like wildfire throughout the island.

The surrounding trees rustled and the plants stirred briskly, conveying to her a subtle concoction of hazy sensations; relief, indignation, outrage, satisfaction, among others.

As much as the flora could not communicate with words, the slight emotions they conveyed to her were enough for her to understand them a little better. And the two most outstanding emotions were relief that she hadn't been hurt and anger directed at the humans who dared want to lay a finger on her.

Duman and his group watched in horror as the vegetation around them began to change drastically.

The trees crackled ominously, their thick branches resembling emaciated fingers hovering over them. Even the grasses began to grow and mutate, pointing their now sharp leaves at their enemies.

A defensive barrier was erected by the paladin, who, together with Duman, strengthened the idea that the woman in the tree was the illegitimate daughter of the Great Rig. If not, they could find no other explanation for everything taking place.

Green hair and never-before-seen plant elemental powers.

Even Duman couldn't make plants mutate in such a way or grow from nothingness itself, and could only control what already existed within the range of his power.

"Shall we continue?" asked the woman, enthusiasm apparent in her voice.