The flashing of battle constantly appeared, left and right, filled with screams, blood, spells, and fire. She swung her staff, moved around, and created fire everywhere. However, regardless of her efforts, everyone was too strong. The World Tree screamed for help, fell, and everything was consumed by what appeared to be an all-consuming darkness.

Anguish.

Helplessness.

Anger.

Wrath.

Regret.

A primal desire came from within as her soul ignited, but everything was for nothing. She was too weak, too feeble to protect, too young to matter.

Finally, a sensation of falling consumed her body as she tried to rush somewhere. She could see the light, and right as she fell, her heart thumped strongly.

"AH!"

Cinderielle sat up quickly and looked around swiftly, her orange irises swirling with Aether Mana as her body released plumes of fire. Thankfully, none of those could burn the bedding around her or the curtains that elegantly draped at the sides of her comfortable bed.

The Fire Aether Sylvan dropped her body back again, being cushioned by the comfortable and clean bedsheets.

Placing her forearm over her forehead, the Sylvan muttered. "This nightmare again…" Cinderielle sighed as she felt her heart beating against her chest. "Aunt Verena said that Liu Shu is okay, but… Sigh."

Cinderielle looked right and gazed out of the window. When she saw that the sky was dark, barely illuminated by the rising Sun, Cinderielle muttered. "Really… Can't everything be a bit more simple?"

"Good morning, child. How are you feeling?"

Cinderielle scrunched her nose and looked sideways toward the mature woman, who was looking her way with a smile. "Hey, do you have spies in my room? How are you always here a minute or two after I wake up?"

Verena clicked her tongue, but amusement danced in her eyes. "That's how you talk to your lifesaver~? Who knows if you would have been forced to do this and that had you fallen into Eldric's hands?"

Cinderielle pouted. "That… This and that are two different things!"

Verena walked toward Cinderielle and sat by her side on the bed. Then she asked while caressing her red hair. "How are you doing? Still having nightmares?"

Cindrielle's face softened like that of a child's and obediently nodded with a hum. "But don't worry. They just agitate me a bit. I get over them quickly. You can go check the others as well!"

Verena sighed. "Cinderielle. Verdantia and Tempestria have both gone through a lot of difficult situations before this happened, unlike you. While the fight the other day was quite brutal, their mental strength is far above yours, who is just a rural child involved in all this mess."

When Verena carried her here for the first time after the battle, Cinderielle was a bit stubborn. She constantly repeated that she was okay and that she had to go and check on Liu Shu.

While the other two were as eager as Cinderielle to check up on Liu Shu's situation, they understood that things had gone far beyond their control. Therefore, they didn't really vocalize their desires.

Verena was experienced and naturally knew how to handle naive and inexperienced people like Cinderielle. Therefore, using a bit of heavy hand and logic, Cinderielle eventually calmed down.

However, as someone who has very recently started taking part in brutal fights and getting educated on them, her psyche naturally couldn't really keep up with her experiences, provoking several nightmares that sometimes kept her awake at night.

This took a mental toll on Cinderielle, but after the few months that she stayed here, she was doing much better.

Verena looked at Cinderielle, and her thoughts moved toward Eldric. 'That boy is getting a bit out of hand, isn't he?' Sadly, she could do nothing about it. Relationships between people were complicated, and while Eldric was not the most morally right man, he had everything else an inheritor should have.

He was intelligent, charismatic, had connections, knew how to guide people, and had a natural leader-like predisposition. While his debauchery was a problem, it was not large enough for his father to actively involve himself with it… yet.

Many parents of people like Eldric classified such behaviors as things the children would eventually grow out of. Sadly, more often than not, behaviors like Eldric's could worsen with age if not corrected.

Verena snorted. 'Moreover, having dealings with people associated with the is really repugnant. If I didn't find that World Tree quite peculiar, I would've done this differently. Tsk, tsk, quite a heartbreaker.'

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Cinderielle asked after hearing Verena snort. "What's wrong?"

Verena pinched her nose and said. "Nothing, don't worry. Now, it's time to get up from bed. We are doing morning training in 20 minutes."

Cinderielle groaned but didn't complain. While getting out of bed and moving toward the wardrobe, she saw that Verena was about to go, and she asked, "Aunt Verena, how is the Academy thing I asked you about doing?"

Verena paused for a second and smiled. "Don't worry. Everything is going well."

Cinderielle frowned for a second but nodded right after, starting to change clothes.

Verena closed the door behind her and rubbed her temples. "The Academy… Another headache. That woman, Eila Neoflora…" Verena liked Eila quite a lot. She was very genuine. 'But… she is just too obedient. Orders this, orders that. She just can't say no to orders from above…'

Verena sighed. 'That World Tree spawned in a really complicated situation. Couldn't she have chosen to grow a bit more south in the ? Wait. What if there is ANOTHER World Tree over there?'

The woman looked at the wall to her right, and it somehow was tempting her to smash her forehead through it. 'Hm. Let's not. It would hurt.'

Verena walked into her room and went toward an open flower with a comfortable-looking seed bed. It looked like a beautiful lotus but with a sunflower-like center.

When she was before it, she flopped on it. The flower gently moved and massaged her body, making Verena squint.

The flower spoke with a soft tone. "Are you tired, love?"

Verena rubbed her face on the flower and used her arms to hug the giant plant. "I am not~. I just want a bit of pampering~."

"Hahaha~." A soft and melodic laugh tingled Verena's ears, making her laugh as well.

Verena muttered. "Say, husband… What do I do with them? They all clearly love that World Tree, but that path is… quite difficult."

The flower used its petals to gently cradle Verena and give her a comfortable, warm, and engulfing embrace. "Don't worry so much, love. Haven't you noticed that they all feel strangely similar?"

Verena turned around, looked at the ceiling, and sighed as half her body sank into the flower. "I know, husband. If they weren't that similar, I wouldn't have given them so much attention." Verna frowned. "It's so strange—Cinderielle specifically."

"It is. She was born so pure from the union of a Sylvan and a Human. Have you checked if the mother cheated?"

Verena felt one of the leaves cupping her breast and slapped it gently while scolding lovingly. "Be serious while we talk about these things."

The flower's soft laughter reached her, making Verena smile. "Well, I haven't really found proof. Moreover, appearance-wise, that human male is quite similar to Cinderielle. At first glance, you can tell that they are related."

The flower expressed. "That's even more strange. If her Sylvan bloodline is so pure, resembling the mother would've been the most obvious… Hm? What if the man cheated?"

Verena was flabbergasted by that conjecture. "How?" Because of the surprise, she didn't even realize as her mischievous husband's leaf touched here and there.

If the husband had a face, he would probably be smiling victoriously. "Well, what if the man had a child with another Sylvan, and then he exchanged the children at birth?"

Verena shook her head. "It's Impossible. That man looks ordinary. Doing something that evil is impossible. Not to mention, while handsome, he is low-level… Also, love. It is quite early for your pollination months, right? Why are you so horny today?"

"Hmhm~ my beautiful Sylvan suddenly jumped on me and pressed her entire body against me. If I didn't become excited, as humans say, I would be an eunuch!"

Verena laughed and warned. "Well, I need to give classes in… 15 minutes, so there is no fun for you~."

"You sure?"

Verena felt a pleasant chill go up her spine as the flower teased her inner thighs. She looked at the time once more, and after coughing once, she muttered lowly. "Just once... Ahn~. Impatient!"

Outside in the garden, Tempestria leaned against a tree and murmured. "It is rare for your mother to be late, by 20 minutes at that."

Verdantia answered calmly as she read a book. "She is not completely free. She must be doing something important."

Cinderielle spun her staff around and smiled. "What will we learn today? Did you hear, Verdantia?"

Verdantia shook her head. "We are already Level 10, but I don't really know what we will do. Perhaps real combat? It has been a while since we did it."

The three heard steps from the right and looked over, seeing Verena walking at them with a strange gait. Clueless, they tilted their heads, feeling something amiss but unable to pinpoint what.

Verena spoke. "Today, you are going to fight against a Level 20 summon." The girls blinked, feeling that the three of them would probably be able to overwhelm it. But Verena continued. "Of course, you will fight individually and without using your transformation skills."

The three Sylvan girls who were confident before felt like someone punched their gut. While their stats were currently ridiculous after completing a 70% Completion Rate , that didn't mean that they could fight one of Verena's Level 20 summons.

Verena waved her hand at the tree Tempestria was leaning against, and it started trembling. The Wind Sylvan quickly dashed away and turned around.

The tree took a humanoid shape, gaining a pair of powerful arms while its strength increased.

***

Race: Awakened Root Spirit.

Level: 20

Aether Mana Shards: 27,552/27,552

Phoer Body Shards: 89,367/89,367

Anima Energy Shards: 46,059/46,059

Attributes: Aether 120, Physique 348, Anima 195, Willpower 250, Destiny 120

***

Tempestria looked at Verena and asked incredulously, "That thing has 350 Physique, and we need to fight it alone?"

Verena lifted her brow. "You have almost 300 Physique points yourself. What, not satisfied? Isn't it just 50 points less?"

Tempestria complained. "Don't speak about a difference of 50 points as if it was little! That's enough to make defending myself from it almost impossible!"

Verena smiled. "Such a shame. I thought you would train a bit harder for Liu Shu; it seems that you were not that eager~. I can change the difficulty if you want!"

Tempestria paused and glared at the enormous living tree. "TSK! BRING IT ON!"

Verdantia looked speechlessly as her friend rushed forward to exchange blows with the living tree. "Mom, you really know how to motivate them."

Verena laughed. Then, she added. "Oh, right! Darling, remember that if you can't beat it, I will take care of your garden for a week and not let you get close to it."

Verdantia's face hardened, and a powerful aura burst from her, making her green hair fly around crazily. "Tempestria! Get done already!"

Cinderielle looked at Verena, and when the mature woman smiled at her, the Fire Aether Sylvan didn't dare say a word. She also released her aura, preparing to fight. "B-Bring it on!"

Verena nodded a few times. "Seeing youngsters motivated is such a joy~."

Cinderielle felt a drop of sweat fall from her temple. 'Verdantia's mom is really scary sometimes…'