I wake up on the eve of my Treant fight. I put on my clothes, sighing as my chest feels a little constricted; I’ll have to adjust it again. Going through growth spurts is annoying, and so is needing to adjust all of my clothes.

I have gone through the desert with Esofy and others, gaining four Class levels in the last month and six bond levels. Bringing my Class to level two hundred fifty and my Bond to five hundred ninety-five. The group is very well organized, and they quickly adapted to the new enemies. We haven’t fought any of the stronger enemies yet but will soon.

I see Lotis, my apprentice, walking to my parents' shop with someone else, a girl with long hair around her age. Perhaps she is Lotis' friend? She has long hair, wearing the village’s two-piece clothing style, and is holding herself reserved; perhaps she is a little shy to meet me? It is times like these that I wish I can see mundane color, and I wonder what her hair and eyes are really like? Her mana signature has its own color, but it’s indescribable; it’d be like trying to explain colors to a blind person, ironic, coming from me, but it’s the truth.

I go out to greet my apprentice, Lotis is already on her way, and it’d be rude to make her wait. She runs towards me and hugs me; she’s becoming more affectionate in the past few weeks. I wonder if it’s because of all of the flying lessons? Lotis introduces her friend Kyhana with an innocent grin. Kyhana is new to this village that much I can see, probably one of the few people who have moved in lately.

It seems like we get more and more people coming into the village, it’s like the Runalymo want to build their own grand city, and Guklaro is all the happier for it. I wonder if it’s the right thing to do and if I should not help. The grander I help make this village, the more people will want to move here, straying further from what made the Runalymo of today who they are.

Yet if I don’t make the city equally grand for everybody, it will create a clear hierarchy, those who live in the “good parts” and those who don’t. Guklaro will try to copy what I’ve done, but that costs resources, so not everybody will get it, splitting the city into different parts, the upper-class, the middle class, and the lower class.

This isn’t what I wanted, this is what Safyr warned about, and she took efforts to prevent this very thing from happening. Yet, introducing airships and sewers helps the quality of life so much, and I can do more. The spell crystals have yet to make widespread impact, and the inscriptions will undoubtedly do the same in time.

That’s what it boils down to, doesn’t it? Time. We need more time to let people naturally adapt to these new things; one can’t go from what is equivalent to the copper age to the modern age in a single decade. Chaos will ensue, and in chaos, people will be crushed under the weight of selective pressure. Those that can’t adapt will suffer, even if it means that those who can will succeed more than all others will, and in all of that chaos, the Runalymo I have come to cherish will be forgotten.

In order to right the wrongs I have done, I need more power to help introduce these new things to all villages, not just my own, for the good of my people, not just my village. Help spread out the population density and return things to the way they were if that’s even possible anymore.

“Instead of training my Bond today, I want to learn how to sense mana!” Lotis exclaims, drawing me out of my thoughts.

I can see it in her eyes; it’s pretty much written on her face; Lotis is very easy to read. Lotis wants to become like me; she wants to follow in the exact same footsteps I’ve walked. It’s very flattering, but it’s a path plagued with self-esteem issues should she be unable to match my stride. She will fumble, which will cause her to doubt herself, which becomes a self-fulfilling spiral of self-doubt and sense of unworthiness.

That said, there is no other reason to deny her, and Kyhana likely wants to learn too.

“You want to become like me, don’t you?” I accuse Lotis.

“Well, yes!” Lotis happily admits, “Why not? Carpenters become like their teachers. Smiths become like their masters; why can’t I become like you?”

Lotis is not wrong, but she has yet to realize that the quality of things are different. For one, I have cursed skills to help me, I consulted ancient beings on their wisdom, and I have years of self-study under my belt. However, admittedly, the latter things can be easily taught; only the cursed skills is something I won’t teach her, at least not until I have confirmed a cure to them.

“Also,” Lotis continues. “How do you always know what I am thinking?!”

I give the young girl a warm smile. “You’re an open book, Lotis,” I reply.

Lotis is just too easy to read; I can’t do the same for anyone else... perhaps our shared Bond may have something to do with it, I don’t know, but if it does, maybe she can succeed in the path I have set for her? Regardless it’s not something I should encourage even if I have no good reason to deny her the lessons.

“U-umm, I-I’d like to know how to s-see mana too,” Kyhana quietly says nervously, fidgeting and looking down.

Too cute! I have even fewer reasons to deny Kyhana she has a rare knowledge Bond, and being able to sense mana may help her with that.

“Very well,” I sigh.

“Yay!” Lotis exclaims as Kyhana’s eyes brighten.

I begin their lesson, starting with the basics. I don’t know how much they’ll understand, the later breakthroughs can be quite a hefty subject, and they are not even ten years old yet.

* * *

The next day I make sure I have everything I need to properly fight the Treant.

I have spent the last month making mana batteries to withdraw mana during the fight. Several huge mana batteries are completely full, giving me a total of almost five hundred thousand mana to work with; if I can’t kill the Treant with this much mana, then I have no hope of doing so. Since I will be operating from the village, I won’t be able to use my [Mana Manipulation], but I hope I won’t have to use it.

I have all of my clones in the dungeon ready for battle. I quickly scan the area for the Treant and make my way to it once I have spotted it; I quickly reach it with the use of my wings.

The Treant reaches to the top of the canopy, blending in just like any other tree. If it weren’t for its much higher mana production and vitality, I could have easily not noticed it. Its leaves are long but narrow and judging by the amount of Iron essence in them they are likely hard and sharp.

Razor Leaf Treant (Grand), Level 562 Iron Bark (Grand), Level 734 Nature Bond

It is a tank-type monster, something I am not very good against. Plus, its Bond level is way higher than its Class level, and this Treant is over twice my level. Then there’s the fact that I don’t really know what to expect from it.

My primary goal is to learn as much as I can from it. I will, of course, try my best to slay it; after all, if Esofy wants to exclude me from Heroic tier fights, then turnabout is fair play.

With my clones turned invisible, I sneak up on the wooden creature and start charging up a [Fairy Soldier] with [Channel Beauty]. By using my Bond skills, this attack should hold more mana and be more powerful than the beauty spears I’d been using.

Minutes go by as I charge up my spell; tens of thousands of mana drain from me as five clones each make a super fairy. I fully drain four batteries before the spell is ready to cast. I hold off for only a few moments, observing the Treant. Most monsters have some type of danger sense, alerting them to my impending attack by the Treant remains completely still.

Since this is a Bond skill, how much mana I can channel is not just governed by my wisdom stat but also by my Bond-level, making the total mana each fairy has a little over fifty thousand mana. I further empower them with my support skills. [Fairy Heart], [Intensify Beauty] a Bond skill I switched to for just this battle, [Fairy Arms], [Fairy Explosion], and [Fairy Rush], and [Summoner’s State].

Power thrums and echoes throughout the forest, yet still, the Treant remains motionless. Could I have been tricked, and it’s not actually here? I shake my head; of course, it’s here I can see its magic frameworks, its mana signature, I even [Analyzed] it, so it has to be it.

I cast my spells, and five Runalymo sized fairies wielding weapons materialize and instantly charge at the Treant. Taken by surprise, the Treant is slow to react, that or it is just slow to move in general. Hit after hit, strike after strike, the Treant’s bark splinters and is thrown everywhere as if a cannon has blasted through the tough wooden skin.

Each bite of my fairies’ weapons digs into the Treant before an explosions rips the area apart. In seconds the fairies have landed an average of five blows on the foe, delivering half their mana so far.

If it weren’t a tank-type monster, It would have died two times over by now, but it stands tall and defiant against me, with deep holes blown into its tough wood. Sap drips from its wounds, the viscous liquid slow to drain the life from the powerful foe.

I can immediately tell that it has substantial defenses to survive the initial onslaught of attacks, even as it’s not a heroic tier monster. Its resistance skills are high enough level to challenge the most powerful monsters near its level, regardless of tier.

I don’t just stand there; I pour my mana through my clones and conjure as mana fairies as possible to aid my charged-up fairies. As the Treant lets out a loud roar like groaning cracking wood. A burst of nature mana flows out from it, and the forest comes alive! Everything green bursts into movement, grabbing onto anything made of flesh it can, trying to rip them apart. Squeals of animals echo around only to be cut off by the crunch and cracking of bone.

I don’t stop attacking, completely unhindered by the flailing plants. But a long arm swings down – much faster than is reasonable – and as a blur, it catches two of my super fairies. Its hand is blown apart by the fairies counter-attack, and the fairies fly straight at the Treant’s head. Nature mana pulses through the Treant, and its wounds rapidly close; it’s healing itself!

But this is not a bad thing; it’s not replenishing its vitality nearly as much. It will be a big deal against warriors as they will have to cut through all of that wood, but for me, I just need to deplete its vitality.

Suddenly all of the Treant’s leaves fall off and start whirling around it like a leaf-filled tornado; everything in its path, plant or animal, is cut to pieces, shredded into tiny pieces as effortlessly as a hot knife cutting through warm butter. The nearby trees fall, being turned into woodchips as gnarled wooden spears grow from the woodchips and start flying in all directions! Slamming through everything, leaving nothing but devastation behind.

The sound of trees falling echoes throughout the forest craking and crashing like a thunderstorm. There is no way Esofy and the other can fight this monster; as well-coordinated as they are, they cannot withstand attacks this ferocious. This thing must die before they try to attack it or they might die!

All of my fairies, including my super faires, are intercepted and blown up, all of that mana wasted! I don’t let up, it’s regenerating its vitality at a fast pace, but its mana is dropping quickly too. I reveal four of my clones that run off in separate directions. I need the Treant to waste its man. I start channeling more super faires, and streams of wooden spears follow my clones.

It’s not leading its attacks; it’s just aiming at where my clones currently are, not where they will be.

I make an important note and set those clones on autopilot. I create four more clones, invisible again, and have them start channeling more super fairies. This will eat up the last of my mana in my batteries, so I can’t afford to lose these.

The Treant does not care for the plant life in the forest; instead, it adds them to its arsenal. Leaves join its whirlwind, now turning the nearby trees into dust that then grow into wooden spears to fly at my clones. Vines sprout forth from the ground to catch my clones, to try and trip them, to wrap them up and strangle them. The Treant does not seem to know my clones are not real.

In its attempt to kill my clones, it is expending tremendous amounts of mana, perhaps I can just wait it out. However, I see flows of mana and vitality being drawn from the forest; it’s taking mana and vitality from the forest to heal itself. The trees that have survived the devastation are losing their vitality and mana. I have one chance to defeat this Treant before I am out of mana; I can keep trying to defeat it; I can keep coming back and challenging it over and over again, but it will learn.

The more I fight it, the more it will know my fighting style, and once it figures out my clones can’t be hurt, it won’t bother attacking and just heal-tank through my attacks until I am out of mana. I need to kill it this fight, or I’ll never be able to kill it by the time Esofy challenges it. She, tana, Chyzu, Uloru, Kadona, Jowaru, and Irela will all die. I don’t think I can convince them to not attack it, so it must die today!

How do I get past its razor leaf whirlwind, though? The twisting defensive skill makes it impossible to even get close to it; it tears up everything, even my spells; there’s no way past it as long as it is taking mana from the forest to fuel it. The longer this fight takes, the higher the chance it will learn how to deal with my clones. I need to get past its defenses soon!

[Inquisitive Perfection] pokes me, pushing my attention to the solution as if saying, “Are you dumb?! It’s a whirlwind just up and over the damned thing!”

The Treant has never fought a flying threat, has it? It has left its top completely unguarded. I smile and thank [Inquisitive Perfection] for pointing this out. I blanket the area my clones are in under invisibility using my [Figment of Reality] and conjure my super fairies with an entourage of normal empowered fairies and have them fly over the whirlwind under a cloak of invisibility.

One by one, the fairies stream down, gathering around the core of the Treant. I order them to blast a hole into the wooden monster and swarm in, to destroy it from the inside out. With a distant ‘boom,’ a huge hole is blast into the chest of the Treant; another ‘boom’ signals that the blast digging is working. Attack after attack, all in rapid succession aided by [Fairy Rush] and staggered by the numerous fairies, have a deep hole already dug into the dangerous lord of the forest.

The Treant thrashes about, clawing at its body, stripping bark away to tray and get the fairies out. It tries to heal its body, but that only seals the fairies in and makes it impossible for them to be taken out. In its panic, it hasn’t thought to use vines to grab the fairies and take them out, but it has now sealed its fate. The forest seems to tremble as its tyrant lets out a death cry.

Ting! You have killed a Razor Leaf Treant (Grand), Level 562 Iron Bark (Grand) extra experience has been rewarded for being under-leveled and being solo, and for being in an enemy empowering environment.

Ting! Your Bond has obtained levels 596-600!

Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner, has obtained levels 251-254! 60 status points awarded.