The realization appeared in his mind naturally.
The tree did not move.
The tree did not attack.
The tree simply existed.
Simon felt a lot of pressure looking at Mother Fleshwood, then he compared it to the visions of the Devourers he saw in the past.
’The First Fleshwood is terrifying, but the Devourers... are still far more terrifying... Mother Fleshwood seems to originate from the Devourers or has a link to them.’
Suddenly, his soul trembled violently.
His Sea of Consciousness shook.
And the Seven Stars Blessing began shining on its own.
Then Simon saw them.
Nine enormous pulses of crimson light coming from the massive tree.
One after another.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The world itself seemed to pulse alongside them.
’The nine hearts of the First Fleshwood?’
Simon was not certain if they were hearts. He could not see them clearly.
Every time he attempted to focus on the lights, his vision blurred and his head felt like it was about to split apart.
But he was fairly certain that these were the nine hearts of Mother Fleshwood.
Nine monstrous hearts pumping vitality through an existence that should never have existed.
Then...
For the briefest moment.
Simon saw something strange.
The tree was afraid.
The emotion appeared suddenly in Simon’s mind.
Fear.
It was only for a fraction of a second.
A tiny fragment.
Yet Simon was absolutely certain.
The Mother Fleshwood had once felt fear.
Before Simon could think further, another image appeared.
Light.
A golden light.
The golden light was moving beyond the limits of his perception, and it was approaching the Mother Fleshwood.
The moment Simon tried looking at it...
CRACK!
Pain exploded through his soul.
His vision shattered.
His Sea of Consciousness trembled violently.
The black star released an overwhelming light.
The baptism abruptly ended, and Simon’s eyes snapped open.
The instant he came back to the real world, he immediately coughed out a mouthful of black blood.
His body was drenched in sweat.
His breathing was rough.
His head felt like it had been split apart and stitched back together.
Yet despite all of this, Simon’s eyes were shining brightly.
Because he definitely did not expect to have seen such visions.
The Mother Fleshwood was far more terrifying than he had imagined.
But what truly unsettled him...
Was not the size of the tree nor was it the nine loudly beating hearts nor the unfathomable corpses in the Corpse Abyss.
It was the fact that an existence like that had once been afraid.
Simon never expected his Seven Stars Blessing to show him visions of the Mother Fleshwood.
Aside from the time he obtained the Devour skill, Simon had experienced such a thing in his past life.
There were certain skills he obtained, and his Seven Stars Blessing would show him the origin of the skill or its past.
He had seen visions of certain gods that created some skills he had in his past life.
However, it was completely random.
He could not control what the Seven Stars Blessing shows him, and if it didn’t show him anything like when he obtained Shadow Sense, then he would not obtain anything.
However, Simon guessed that the Seven Stars Blessing only shows him visions when it comes to skills with a significant history.
And the Fleshwood was one of significant history.
But Simon was only concerned about one thing and one thing alone.
’What was the First Fleshwood afraid of?’
’What was that golden light?’
Simon narrowed his eyes, then he contemplated asking Lilith since there was no way he could come up with an answer or theories on his own.
"Hey, Lilith."
[Yes?]
"How did the Mother Fleshwood die by the way?"
[Hmm... Well, according to what I heard, it was killed by the joint attack of numerous Daemons.]
Simon frowned in confusion and tilted his head slightly.
"According to what you heard?"
[I was still a child back then and I was too weak to even think of participating in such a war. I was only given the details later on.]
Simon’s eyes flickered with a surprised light. He didn’t expect that.
"What about your father and mother then? Did they participate in the war against the Fleshwoods?"
[No. They did not. They had other things to do. Why are you asking so many questions about the death of the First Fleshwood?]
"No reason exactly. I was just curious." Simon lied.
[Hmm.]
Lilith said nothing else, and their conversation ended.
’It’s either she’s lying to me or she doesn’t actually know. Either way, if there’s something that can terrify a colossal and terrifying entity like the Mother Fleshwood, I cannot even imagine what it is.’
Sigh
Simon looked at the sky and released a deep sigh.
’In this life, I’ve encountered so many things and learned so many things. It’s so shocking that I was a frog in a well in my past life.’
’The peak is much farther than I ever expected.’
Simon released another sigh, then he looked around.
While he was going through the visions of the Mother Fleshwood and was baptized by the star containing the Fleshwood’s power, nearly two hours had gone by.
Because the Fleshwood’s power was so unique and it involved making changes to his mind, soul, and body, he had to wait for such a long time for the baptism to be over.
Simon looked down at his fists, then he clenched them.
He instantly felt the difference.
It was not the feeling of having extreme power or the feeling of being able to defeat a Greater Demon.
No.
If Simon were to describe it, it was the feeling of being... Immortal.
Simon felt like no matter what, he could not die.
That no matter what was thrown his way, he would not die.
Even if his heart was stabbed, cut into several pieces, and thrown into the deepest sea in the world, he felt like he would still come back alive.
This was obviously fake and not true.
But Simon had this immense belief that he could achieve such a thing with time.
’I wonder... Did it also increase my life span?’