Xavier soared through the air above the great forest of the hundredth floor of the Tower of Champions, his great black dragon wings pumping the air, keeping him afloat.

From this vantage point, he could see almost everything. The forest looked unending, as it always had, but if he flew high enough, he could see its edges.

The wind whipped his face, making his robes billow and flap. His senses were so strong and acute he could hear beasts running along the forest floor far below.

A massive grin was plastered on his face as he spotted some prey.

Xavier swooped toward the ground. He curled his wings around him to make himself fall faster. His enemy hadn’t even spotted him yet. He was in the deepest parts of the forest, in places he’d never tread before, and had just spotted a high-level D Grade enemy—a beast on the brink of reaching C Grade.

A wonderful enemy for him to test his new abilities on.

He had never seen a beast such as this one before. Before he reached the ground, he used Identify.

{Level 299 - Forest Dryad}

Forest Dryads are beings at one with nature. They are a race of nymph—an offshoot of elves—that live in wild woods. They can control the very roots beneath the ground inside the forest. Dryads are highly territorial. If you step into their domain, either bring an offering, or prepare yourself for a fight.

Xavier reread the description the moment he’d finished with it. This dryad… it wasn’t a beast, not like what he’d been facing recently. It was a sapient being.

But that did not make him falter, for here it was clearly his enemy. There was a dead Champion at the dryad’s feet—he’d smelled the man’s blood from miles away. As he flew closer, Xavier recognised the Champion as someone that Xavier had seen back at the Hunter’s Home tavern before, if only in passing.

That made him all the more interested in this fight. Perhaps the fallen Champion had left something of worth behind—or, maybe other members of the man’s party might be at risk somewhere in the forest, though he couldn’t hear them.

They might all be dead.

He could hear other dryads near the one he’d spotted, but the gaps in the forest’s canopy weren’t wide enough for him to spot them. Either that, or they were adept at camouflage. Something told him it could easily be the latter explanation. These creatures were at one with nature, after all.

The Forest Dryad didn’t look exactly as Xavier had imagined it would. In his mind’s eye, he might have thought it would be a beautiful woman with tree-like, bark skin—and, as he could hear other dryads in the area, it could very well be that there were some that resembled that description.

This Forest Dryad, however, was a sword-wielder, and distinctly male. He did have tree-like, dark skin that looked to be rather rough. He also had tree-trunk, muscular legs and a thick chest. The Forest Dryad—much like the Fetid Forest Troll—didn’t wear traditional armour. Instead, it looked as though the armour it wore had been grown onto it.

As Xavier flew toward the large gap in the vast canopy and spotted other Forest Dryads nearby. He used Identify on them.

They each bore identical descriptions to the first dryad, the only difference was in their level. They were still rather high level. Each of them was Level 250. Though the descriptions were the same, these dryads looked markedly different. There were five other dryads in the clearing. Two of them were bow-wielders, while the other three had staffs of different designs. Two of the staff-wielders were most definitely the traditional dryad that he’d been anticipating seeing in the forest. They were slim and female, and had an ethereal look to them. The bow-wielders were male and strong, but more slender than their sword-wielding counterpart.

The dryads spotted him before he reached the gap in the canopy. The sword-wielder’s eyes narrowed as his gaze locked onto Xavier’s flying form. The dryad barked an order to one of the other dryads. A staff glowed, and the gap in the canopy began to disappear, closing faster than Xavier could reach it.

But it was only branches. That wasn’t going to be enough to stop him. Xavier cast Heavy Telekinesis on a wide area, breaking through, snapping the tree branches and the very trees they were attached to. There was a great cracking noise as the area he’d targeted was absolutely flattened by his spell.

Xavier’s eyes widened at the sight of what he’d just done. He hadn’t expected the spell to be so powerful. It was the first time he’d used it since he’d gained all those titles and advanced to D Grade.

A smile split his face. He flew through the gap he’d made in the trees and landed lightly on the ground. Every single one of the six dryads had been knocked to the ground, though they quickly made their way back to their feet. The felled trees parted for them, snaking out of the way.

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The first of the dryads to make it to their feet was the Level 299 sword-wielder. The male Forest Dryad had a fierce, defiant look on his face, a rage boiling in his deep green eyes.

Xavier spotted the body of the slain Champion he’d seen. A man who looked no older than twenty, though could have been decades past that age. He wore the armour of a tank. His weapon, a warhammer, was still grasped tightly in his hand even in death. Several Storage Rings glinted on the man’s fingers. There was no sight of his party. Xavier felt a slight tinge of shame that his first thought on seeing the corpse was that he would be able to loot it when this battle was done. That wasn’t exactly the attitude he wanted to bring to the fallen, but it was the type of attitude the Greater Universe and its dangers had instilled in him, so the shame didn’t last long.

The sword-wielding Forest Dryad shouted a battle-cry and raised his sword. Xavier watched. He wanted to see how fast his enemy was.

The dryad appeared to his left in an instant.

A teleportation spell.

Xavier wasn’t sure how it worked, but it left behind a pile of leaves where the dryad had just been standing, then the dryad had sprouted from the ground like an incredibly fast-growing weed.

The dryad’s sword came down, its trajectory toward Xavier’s head. At the same time the other dryads had made it to their feet. Staves were whirled as spells were cast. Arrows were loosed as bowstrings were released.

For a fraction of a second, it looked as though Xavier wasn’t even going to move out of the way. Part of him wanted to see just how much damage he could take from these enemies, but it was foolish just to stand there and take hits from six different enemies at once.

The fraction of a second passed.

Xavier’s wings moved instinctively, slapping away the arrows that flew toward him, diverting them.

Schick, schick. The arrows slammed into the trunks of fallen trees.

At the same time, he slapped the sword coming down at his head to the side with his reinforced, clawed hand. The muscular dryad’s eyes widened briefly at the force he hadn’t been expecting. There was a sharp pop as his shoulder suddenly came out of its socket.

A soul apparition sprang to life, blocking the first of the three spells that came his way, absorbing all of the potential damage.

Two more spells had been cast. Bolts of green energy that zig-zagged through the air. He felt the ground beneath him vibrate. The dirt beneath him stirred. Roots were writhing beneath the surface.

He had a good idea of what those roots would attempt to do to him. They would latch him to where he stood if he let them.

Xavier leapt backward, dodging the arcing bolts of green lightning with a fluid ease. They slammed harmlessly into the ground where he’d just been standing. The roots, however, moved with him. They burst upward from the dirt and grasped one of his legs, curling around it and tightening.

Xavier didn’t bother trying to get out of the way. He simply swung his arm downward, his long claws slashing the roots in half. The roots’ grip slackened, and he was able to dislodge his leg.

He looked around at the six dryads.

My turn.

He burst forward. As he did, his wings moved. He hadn’t expected that. His race had changed, turning him from an altered human to that of a dragonkin. With that change came muscle memory he wasn’t familiar with.

It was strange, how his body moved of its own volition. He could sense that he would move even more fluidly with practice. Once he gained control of the new ways that his body reacted.

The flap of his wings as he strode forward gave him a massive burst of speed. He already moved faster than he’d expected himself to, considering how much his Speed—not to mention every other one of his attributes—had improved.

As he’d moved so swiftly, he hadn’t even had time to raise his claws. He slammed straight into the sword-wielding Forest Dryad with his shoulder. There was a crack as the force fractured the Forest Dryad’s armour. The sword-wielder went flying backward and slammed into a faraway tree, breaking the tree on impact.

Huh, Xavier thought. That worked out well enough.

He turned his attention to the five ranged fighters. He could have taken all of them down without casting a single spell, but he’d come here to test out more than just his melee proficiency.

Xavier cast Soul Shatter on one of the Forest Dryads at the centre, one of the male bow-wielders. These dryads weren’t as high level as the sword wielder, but it still came as a slight surprise as the dryad died the instant Xavier’s spell hit. Shards of the dryad’s soul shot out, digging into the now-dead dryad’s comrades.

They all cried out in pain.

Xavier cast Core Burn on one of the female mages. She wasn’t able to resist it—he didn’t even need to soften her mind first. The spell took her over, making her cores go into overdrive, burning through all the energy she had stored in each of them until there was nothing left.

She fell to the ground.

The sword-wielder sprouted out of the dirt to Xavier’s left, sword in mid-swing. Xavier dodged the strike easily and cast Telekinetic Enhanced Strike as he slashed toward the dryad’s neck. The Forest Dryad’s throat opened up. Blood shot from the wound. He clutched at it and made a strangled gurgling sound as he collapsed to the ground, his life pumping out of him as he writhed, sword falling from his hand.

Another kill notification popped up in his vision.

Three down, three to go.

Xavier could see the expressions in the remaining three dryads shift. One bow-wielder and two mages remained. Before, they had looked defiant, ready to fight. Now, all he could see in them was an intense fear.

He had slain the dryad that had clearly been their leader, and he wasn’t any worse for wear. Xavier hadn’t taken a single strike from these enemies. Xavier didn’t even need to use Aura of Fear for these enemies to be afraid of him. They looked as though they wanted to run.

Xavier, for a moment, thought about letting them. Then he glanced over at the dead Champion nearby. If that had been him, he would want someone to avenge his death.

Xavier stepped forward. Something came forth, out of his arms. His soul bound weapon—Lost Bone of a Dead God—was reforming itself. It had been reinforcing his arms, hands, fingers. Now, it turned into a staff.

Xavier cast Willpower Infusion. Purple mist shot from the weapon and went straight for his enemies. He targeted all three of them. Perhaps he was foolish to think he would be able to claim all three of their minds…

The mist seeped through nostrils, mouths, ears, before the dryads even had a chance to turn and run. Mental blocks snapped up, and he could feel the strength of them, but they weren’t strong enough to resist his attack.

Xavier clamped down. He broke through the mental barriers and took absolute control of the three dryads with an ease he hadn’t anticipated.

God, how powerful have I become? And is this just the beginning of my journey?

He killed the three dryads as swiftly as he could.