“What am I looking for?” Abelino asked.

We were at the foot of the tree that the Jaguar had been resting on—the tree that Samantha identified as the heart of the forest. There was very little about the tree that made it seem special. It was the same height as the other trees, and its trunk was more or less the same size as the trees around us.

When I tried to Identify the tree, though, I just saw one thing:

Pledian Moss (E-rank)

Like several of the nearby trees, the tree in the heart of the rainforest was completely covered in a dull brown fuzzy moss, from the base of the trunk to the highest branches.

Samantha explained.

The camouflage wasn’t effective for me—I still saw the tree’s incredibly dense and vibrant mana

I went up to the tree and scraped off a layer of the moss.

“Try Identifying the tree again,” I said, glancing at the Abelino clone that had been following me. The other Abelinos were busy clearing the area of monsters. I could hear shrieks and roars, angry caws, and more, but at this point, it was just background noise.

Transcendent Taproot (C-rank)

I saw Abelino’s eyes open. “Should we harvest it?”

The question itself showed that Abelino had started to understand how the Schema worked. Plants with high rankings were often able to provide bonuses to individuals, like the Yanir Flower, or the Crystal Rose.

Killing a plant that could grant permanent benefits would be a huge shame—even if it granted a C-rank core or C-rank materials, which would likely be worth tens of millions of coins.

I shook my head, placing my hand on the tree’s bark, hoping for a stat boost of some kind.>

Samantha said.

I saw an amused smile on Abelino’s face as he watched my previously calm expression turn shocked.

“It’s called Life Transfusion,” I said to Abelino, once I felt I had sufficiently recovered from the shock. “Humans would need an E-rank Plant Affinity to gain any benefits. If you do have a Plant Affinity, then the tree will directly transfer XP to you. If you have the affinity, all you would need to do is touch the tree, and over time, it will grant you levels, all the way up until level 49. Then, if you can break through level 49, and upgrade your Plant Affinity to D-rank, it can level you directly up to level 99.”

“Plant Affinity,” Abelino said, somewhat absentmindedly, then he smiled slightly. “Pouch!” He called it into the air, and for a second, I feared he was demanding my Interdimensional Pouch.

An Interdimensional Pouch flew towards him—tossed by one of his clones—and Abelino took out small, shining green gem, popping it into his mouth before I could identify it.

Then, the Abelino clone placed his hand on the Transcendent Taproot and closed his eyes.

Several other clones came over to watch the process.

“I feel it,” Abelino said. Then he split into 3 clones, and they each put their hands on the tree.

I waited awkwardly for a minute, shifting into place, asking myself, what have I done.

The three Abelino clones opened their eyes and smiled at me simultaneously. As was Abelino’s habit, the one nearest to me spoke for all of them.

“It seems I am in your debt,” he said. His grateful tone, and the implications of what I had just done, gave me chills.

Samantha said.

“There is something that you could do for me in return,” I said, slowly, processing Samantha’s suggestions. “While I was scouting the area, I also found a mine and a naturally occurring herb. I figure it might take you some time to find them and discover their true uses. And this tree is useless to me, since I will not give up any of my own Affinities. So how about I show you to the other resource points. We can share ownership of what we find, 50/50.”

The Abelino closest to me laughed. “75/25. It’s my land, and I would find them eventually anyway.”

“Deal,” I said, immediately. It was already a very generous offer. Abelino seemed to truly think he was in my debt.

I left the Transcendent Taproot with several clones in tow, turning back one last time to see the three Abelino clones surrounding the tree, all meditating in silence.

As I looked at the tree, and the clones surrounding it, I couldn’t help but feel that I had created a monster.

Our first destination was a small grove nearby which had a large variety of D-rank herbs that could be used by Alchemist to make a number of potions.

We traveled past the herb garden, towards the base of a nearby mountain,

There was a large crack in the earth at the base of the mountain, about ten feet wide and maybe 100 feet long, with sheer walls that continued downwards for long enough that I could not see the bottom.

“Do you think you can survive a two hundred foot drop?” I asked Abelino, who was staring down into the crack with a hint of trepidation.

“No,” Abelino said, simply.

“Alright,” I said. “I will go down, clear the area, and build a town. I can tell there is something valuable down there.”

I saluted Abelino, and then jumped into the pitch-black crack, before I could convince myself it was a bad idea.

I immediately put 150 points into Physical Defense, and then I waited, trying to enjoy the feeling of falling.

As I fell, I tried to make sure I was falling feet first.

I landed on a stony surface with an earth-shaking shudder. My feet managed to land on the ground first, but my legs immediately gave way, and I collapsed to the ground immediately.

My body was sore, but to my own surprise, I was able to rise unsteadily to my feet. I felt like I had taken a beating, but nothing was broken.

The area around me was much larger than the initial crack that I had fallen in would have led me to believe.

Buried in the walls, I could see various E and D-ranked ores. I recognized the blue tinge of Cerium, the fiery color of Igneal Ore, along with Gold and Platinum.

The stone under my feet had cracked when I collided with it, and there was a dust cloud in the air, which almost completely blocked my line of sight.

It was only thanks to Mana Sensing that I could see the massive worm-shaped creature burrowing through the walls to my right, about to appear right next to me.

Once again, it was a shame I didn’t have my Mana Cannon.

I had incredible Physical Defense at the moment, and very little else in my mana pool, so I decided I would fight the worm with brute force—more or less.

I moved towards the wall, but also a yard or two away from where I suspected the burrowing worm would appear.

The worm—a level 56 Ore Worm—appeared just a second later, a giant, gaping maw that could easily swallow a refrigerator, with a dozen rows of sharp, serrated teeth.

I attacked the “neck” of the worm, right past where I estimated its head was, splitting my remaining mana between Strength and Luck.

My Vampiric Blade caught in the metallic ridges of the worm’s body, only sinking a foot or so into the creature. Judging from the size of the worm, this was nothing more than a flesh wound.

The worm spun towards me just in time to receive two daggers thrown directly into its open mouth as I backed away quickly.

Even without many points in Agility, I was more or less the same speed as the worm, allowing me to retreat by running backwards, throwing my knives repeatedly into its open mouth, until it died an ignoble and relatively fast death.

Once it died, I surveyed the loot:

Ore Worm Core (E-rank): Grants E-rank Metal Affinity

Metallic Armor (E-rank): Using Martial Energy, you can imbue your skin with the defensive power of metal. Requires: Defense Affinity, Metal Affinity.

Town Token

After just killing a Zone Lord, it was underwhelming loot. I collected the loot and the corpse, and I surveyed the area again.

Samantha suggested.

The tunnel the worm left in the rock wall beside me was large—about ten feet in diameter—so I walked through the tunnel, trying not to remember my battle against the Gravity Leech, the weight of tons of earth collapsing in towards me, blocked only by Dawnbreaker’s unisuit…

I shook the memory out of my head, and continued walking through the tunnel, crossing my fingers in hope about what I might see on the other end.