Last Ruler Of The Empty Throne

Chapter 12: Aspite Tree



BOOM!

SCREEEEEEEEEE

The tree roared in fury as it tried to bring out more power, but it was in vain.

It was born just minutes ago, resting here to gather mana, not disturbing anyone even though it had sensed people close by, but they had to just come and disturb it.

So it decided to use it's full strength against them. So having already unleashed its wrath from the beginning. Its roots had been nearly impossible to fend off, and even as the students began to hold their ground, the tree continued to see their actions as a desperate last stand, slowly wearing them down.

But, when it seemed poised to deliver the final blow, the students fought back with renewed vigor and the tides changed, and before it knew it, they even managed to strike at its core-hidden.

CRACK…CRACK

Jon's spear, initially ineffective against the tree, found an unexpected advantage.

The tree's core was hidden in an unpredictable location, its branches. Jon hadn't anticipated a core, but if he had, he would have considered attacking the bark. But given the spear's ineffectiveness against the roots, it wouldn't have worked.

However, with Moon Gaze, he spotted it.

The tree had cleverly concealed its core, but had underestimated the power of ocular skills, or hadn't met anyone yet with ocular skills. Though Jon had to sacrifice his spear, it was a necessary loss.

The screeching halted abruptly. The roots fell, and silence returned. The battlefield was strewn with gaping wounds and deep lacerations, but the focus of the group was elsewhere.

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 20 'ASPITE TREE' REMAINS]

The surge of power they felt from the remains was far greater than anything from the zombies they had previously encountered.

They exchanged glances, realizing that moment that they had all received the same message. It seemed the system allocates rewards based on individual contributions, but even with that, the remains they received was larger than the highest-level zombie they had killed individually.

[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

[YOUR **** HAS GROWN]

The notifications abruptly stopped and they missed the final one that flashed briefly. 

Collapsing on the ground, they rested for a moment while surveying the damage done to the ground and the tree. It was a terrifying battle. And if they hadn't thought outside of the normal things they knew, they would be dead.

Even with what they had done, they were still covered in large and smalls cuts, bruises and not to forget their bleeding parts-eyes, nose, mouth.

Since it was over, they nodded to each other, and moved cautiously toward the tree, since they couldn't talk for now and with the tree's remains boosting their mana reserves, it would take some time to recover fully.

At the foot of the tree, its once vibrant green and gold leaves had died down and its fruits now stood out.

Five golden fruits hung temptingly from the branches, close to the location the core was hidden. Jon stretched to reach for one, but the effort was too much.

He ended up faltering forward an collapsing to the ground.

"Jon…Jon!"

"Hey…"

Jenny and Cynthia rushed to his side, panic etched on their faces as they saw the pool of blood already gathered beneath Jon, they quickly realized the severity of the situation. Jenny had Cynthia had mainly received internal injuries, however Jon was the one who bled the most, he had overextending himself to crush the core. Hence, the injuries he had accumulated made him collapse.

"E-Ermm…what do we do now?" Jenny asked, trying her skill to stop the injuries, but it had no effect. 

"I'll take the fruits. You carry him. Let's get back to the dormitory," Cynthia quickly thinking of a solution.

...

In the distance, a group observed the scene with wide eyes. Once part of a group of four, they had been forced to kill their zombified companions. Though initially distressed, they quickly moved on after acquiring their own skills.

The two had once belonged to a gang named Krad, notorious for their scams and violence.

They had even been in the midst of bullying a student when the world fell.

After hours of hiding from zombies, they then wanted to get to a safe place. And in the midst of that, they heard the tree's roar, and due to their personalities they decided to investigate.

Upon arriving, they saw three students fighting a tree. At first, they seemed on the losing side but they somehow ended up defeating the monstrous tree. Because of that, they were reluctant to intervene. However, with one of them unconscious and the others injured, they saw an opportunity to claim the fruits for themselves.

"Hey Jed, they're getting close. Let's take them," one of them said.

"Yeah, Toad, Dog, let's jump them." Jed turned to his back, expecting to address his teammates, but then remembered, they were the one's they killed to survive. Jed smacked his forehead in frustration. "Looks like it's just us, Max." he said, his voice tinged with unease as even the injured students might still be dangerous.

"Yeah," Max agreed.

Then as the two stood up, ready to intercept,

THUD…THUD

With the dull sounds of heads hitting the ground. If one saw the faces of the headless bodies, it was of Jed and Max. The looks on their faces didn't even show their awareness of being killed. And, behind them stood the pair of followers from earlier.

Their anger was palpable.

"How dare they," the woman seethed, her rage evident. Having restrained herself from aiding Cynthia in the battle, the theft of the fruits was unacceptable.

Her companion, though more composed, became a bit restless after what she had done, "We need to leave now?" His voice tinged in urgency.

Rumble....

Looking up the sky, a large red like shape was forming.

"Farewell, young miss," but the woman smiled instead, as if not bothered about the dangerous thing forming above them.

The man though didn't react and quickly threw a ball to the ground and disappeared. And the woman followed immediately.

And immediately they left, the red shape dissipated like nothing happened.

Jon eyes fluttered opened, only to be greeted by a system notification:

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED REMAINS SKILL OF FIRST REALM 'ASPITE TREE']

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED UNRANKED SKILL 'SPEED-HEALING']

Confused about what he was seeing, he checked his status.

[STATUS]

[NAME: JON WHYTE]

[AGE: 19]

[LEVEL: 15]

[CLASS: NONE]

[TITLE: NONE]

[STRENGTH: 60 AGILITY: 90 STAMINA: 85 MANA: 500 HEALTH: 150]

[SKILLS: INSTANT CALCULATION (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 5, MOON (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 5, MOON GAZING (SECOND REALM), SPEED-HEALING (UNRANKED REALM)]

[PASSIVE SKILLS: COMPOSURE (THIRD REALM) LEVEL 5, SOLDIERS PHYSIQUE (EVOLVABLE)]

[STATUS POINTS: 12]

Now, his level had increased and all his stats had also increased, and there were even two new skills.

"Did I inherit the tree's healing ability?" he wondered. He remembered the tree healing its cuts and he wondered how he got it. 'I should ask Jenny about it.' 'Then, 'Moon gaze'' he remembered receiving a notification after using moon energy on his bleeding eye. Without wasting time, he checked the description,

[MOON GAZING (SECOND REALM) LEVEL 1: THE EYES OF THE MOON TOUCH ON THE BORDER OF MYSTERY. YOU CAN SEE THROUGH THINGS BETTER.]

[REACH FIRST REALM TO SEE FULL DETAILS]

"Too weak to see the full details? What bullshit." He felt a bit of frustration as he saw it, he was still conscious when he used the skill, so he was anticipating something good.

'Why give me in the first place.' his thoughts were a fair argument, but he got it too early. And his 'Instant calculation' played a huge role in it.

Then he focused on the second,

[SPEED-HEALING (UNRANKED REALM) LEVEL 5: SPEEDS UP HEALING PROCESS TO TWICE THAT OF A NORMAL HUMAN. PERMANENTLY INCREASES HEALTH BY 50.]

"Twice the normal healing rate? I wonder how potent it'll become at higher levels," he became excited at the thought of healing while fighting.

With that done, he looked around expecting to be alone, 'Wait, this is not the dormitory.' he realized almost immediately.

Looking at the place again, he realized another thing, he wasn't alone in the room. There was someone staring at him.


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