As they returned to their guild’s base, the fossilized tree was easily visible from a distance.
Even though it wasn’t one of the largest trees in the forest, considering that some of those trees were thousands of years old and reached hundreds of meters in height, their guild’s tree was still massive, standing nearly 50 meters tall, even though its hollow interior was only 15 meters wide.
What made that tree stand out the most was that, unlike all the living, lush trees in the forest, theirs was a less colorful tree, lacking any vitality, with dry, parched, and hard bark, but with bright golden amber filling the gaps and cracks in the trunk, which transformed its appearance from that of a mere dead and dull tree into a very beautiful sight.
The problem was that when they got closer, they saw that some large earthworms, 10 to 20 centimeters thick, were rolling into the tree as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
And there were plenty of earthworms; even from a distance, they could already see at least eight of them crawling inside, who knew how many were inside the tree.
"Shit, are they stealing our base?" Lohan said, frustrated.
"It looks like it... we’re going to need guards ASAP to protect this." Lisa replied in a cold voice, enraged that someone was trying to steal their place.
Picking up the pace, Lisa turned them into a bluish-white blur, burning Spiritual Energy to get there faster, and without mercy, she spat out a line of white flames that, upon coming into contact with those worms, began to char those large bodies at high speed.
So as not to miss out on the experience, Lohan didn’t just stand by and watch; he fired small Ice Spikes at each one as well.
[Experience: +145]
[Experience: +160]
[Experience: +158]
[Experience: +125]
[Experience: +138]
[...]
After digesting the bodies of the Elf and the Mage, evolving his Magic Core to a Superior one, and his Harmonizer from an Artificial to a Natural one, Lohan’s control over Magic had reached a whole new level!
Instead of merely reproducing the Ice Spikes as he had learned from that bird’s memories, only being able to adjust them slightly after much practice, Lohan now controlled this magic with far greater precision.
He could control the power and speed while consuming far less Mana to produce the same result. Combined with his enhanced Mana pool, which now held twice as much Mana as before, Lohan had advanced onto a much deeper magical path.
’Wait, this feeling... so that’s what these little runes are for!’ He was shocked to realize that by using magic now after these advancements, he not only had better control over it, but subconsciously he was understanding how that structure worked and what each little rune in the magic circle was for!
This completely changed the game for Lohan, who could now understand how this ice magic worked and use that knowledge to cast different spells!
Sure, the process was quite slow, to the point that Lohan wasn’t confident he could invent new spells anytime soon, but seeing the potential for growth in this area was already incredible!
For someone whose entire growth in Elysium was based on time and grinding, having one more thing to slowly improve rather than remaining stagnant like any other creature was already incredible.As they crossed the colossal opening in the trunk, the scene that greeted them on the first floor was even more bizarre than the view from outside.
The floor of fossilized wood and resin, which they had left clean, was now covered by a layer of slimy mucus left by Earthworms.
Lohan felt his Instinctive Perception go off. There were at least twelve thermal signatures moving slowly and heavily along the tree’s curved walls. But, upon looking more closely at the floor, he noticed something that made him freeze.
Several of those worms, monsters that should have been between Level 8 and 9, were already dead.
Their long, ringed bodies hadn’t been charred or pierced by ice, but seemed to have been sliced apart by something extremely sharp and fast. Precise, clean cuts split the creatures into pieces that were still twitching weakly.
’Wait... if we just got here, who cleaned up part of the floor?’ Lohan wondered, feeling a twinge of worry. ’Could other Players have found our base?’
"Halon, look at that!" Lisa transmitted, pointing her snout toward a corner of the room.
There were greenish burn marks on the walls, a type of magic that didn’t belong to Lisa’s white flames or Lohan’s ice. Before they could investigate, three live worms fell from the ceiling, trying to wrap the pair in their slimy bodies.
Lisa didn’t give misfortune a chance.
Propelled by the Spectral Step, she moved like lightning. Lohan, taking advantage of his new understanding of the magic runes, didn’t just fire a standard [Ice Spike]. He visualized the small "Acceleration" and "Piercing" runes that now made sense in his mind and channeled Mana in a more concentrated manner.
SHIIIIIIING!
The ice spike that shot out from his membrane was slightly faster and spun slowly, which seemed like only a minor improvement, but it was enough to pierce the first worm from end to end and pin it to the ground with an impact that cracked the fossilized resin.
[Experience: +143]
The other two worms tried to retreat, but Lohan used [Partial Division Lv 16] to expel four clones that fell upon them like small blue grenades. With Lohan’s monstrous digestion combined with Lisa’s flames, the worms practically melted.
"They’re too weak for us now," Lisa commented coldly, but her ears twitched toward the spiral staircase leading to the upper floors.
BOOOOM!
A muffled explosion, followed by the metallic sound of something crashing against wood, came down from the third floor. The noise was constant and accompanied by shrill screams of fury and exertion.
"The Astral Chest!" Lisa hissed mentally, her fury overcoming her curiosity. "If anyone touched our money..."
She shot up the spiral ramp, climbing the levels of the tree with an agility that Lohan still struggled to process, even with his keen environmental awareness.