Chapter 37

Nick lay on his bed meditating, waiting for Liam to return with the herbs he needed. Over the past few days, Nick saw that his physical stats had jumped several notches, even without alchemical mixtures. This was due to the development of the [Low adaptability of characteristics] [Common] skill into the [Adaptation of Physical Characteristics] [Uncommon] skill. This once again proved how important it was to have the best race. If he were a [Human] [Uncommon], he wouldn't have been able to develop this skill, nor would he have been able to get the [Fast Recovery] [Rare+] skill, and it would have taken him forever to level up his pain resistance to a higher level.

Of course, developing all these skills already justifies the name of my race, but I'm sure that's not all it has to offer. It's probably possible to get the evolution of all skills, but the question is, how to do it? Why didn't my father tell me anything about this? It's logical that in order to develop the [Minor Adaptation] [Common] skill to a higher level, you need to subject yourself to various "sufferings", and without better pain resistance, doing this is simply stupid. But what about the main skill of our race? Does no one know how to develop [Quick Learning] [Uncommon]? Surely ordinary people can develop it too. Why didn't my father tell me how to do this, or is it something else?

While Nick was thinking about this, Cassandra entered his room, holding a bloody cocoon with his severed hand in her hands.

"Hello, a troll has come to see us, he would like to take a look at you. Maybe you will be lucky and he will heal you and attach your hand."

Nick had of course foreseen this development, and with the help of telekinesis he had caught his sword, thus making his healing inevitable. He still couldn't move normally, so he looked at Cassandra with pitiful eyes.

"That sounds very good! Surely you can carry me?"

Cassandra rolled her eyes at his antics. Without another word, she walked over to the bed and picked him up like a princess. She carried him outside while Nick's smile grew wider and wider.

But when he saw the 6 meter high Troll, his cheerful mood evaporated. Foresight could not prepare him enough for this sight. If it had been any other day, Nick would have tried to run away, the Troll's appearance was truly terrifying, especially the growths on his face and his very large nose. Of course, Nick immediately appreciated him.

Name: Green 170 years old

Race: Forest Troll [Special] Lvl 233

Class: Forest Druid [Rare] Lvl 200

Class: Ax Adept [Rare] Lvl 200

From the assessment, Nick saw that everything that teacher Elton said was true, he didn’t know why the troll couldn’t develop his classes to the [Special] level, but he could guess that even he had a hard time fulfilling the necessary requirements, and perhaps he didn’t even know them.

The troll didn't pay much attention to him at first, but when his gaze fell on the sword in Nick's hands, the troll's demeanor changed. His eyes glowed green from some kind of spell. Cassandra ignored it and sat him down in front of the troll and placed his hand next to him. Nick supported his back with telekinesis and waited for what the troll would say.

"GREENE SEE THAT THE LITTLE HUMAN HAS MADE A CONTRACT WITH THE WOOD SPIRIT. GREENE RESPECTS THOSE WHO ARE LOVED BY THE SPIRITS OF NATURE AND THOSE WHO DO THE SAME. GREENE WILL OF COURSE HEAL YOU HUMAN." The troll said with respect in his voice.

Many who had heard the troll before did not hear respect in his voice, even when he spoke of the Great Mage, yes, there was fear in it, but there was no pure respect.

The Troll's voice made Nick's ears pop and he regretted being brought so close. Thinking about what to say, Nick spoke.

"I will be very grateful to you Green, maybe later I can somehow repay you for this."

"GREENE WILL BE HAPPY THAT HE WILL CURE A MAN. GREENE HAS NOT SEEN SOMEONE WHO HAD SUCH A STRONG CONNECTION WITH THE SPIRIT OF NATURE FOR A LONG TIME. YOUR CONNECTION WITH THE SPIRIT IS VOLUNTARY. THIS IS NOT SOME KIND OF CONTRACT LIKE THE SPIRITS SUMMONERS HAVE, WHERE BOTH OWE SOMETHING TO EACH OTHER. THIS IS ALSO PURE LIKE GREENE'S CONNECTION WITH THE FOREST." He said and began to take out various herbs from his bag.

Nick didn't know what to answer next. He was just developing magic, the connection was completely random. Moments from his childhood began to emerge in his memory, the moment when he first saw a tree and how it seemed magical to him. In the shade of the tree, he really felt better in his soul, he noticed this, so he tried to conduct all his training near it. Looking back, this is how this relationship developed.

While Nick was remembering pleasant moments from his childhood, Green finished grinding the herbs. Bringing the plate and offered to drink it. He immediately agreed. When he brought the plate to his mouth, Nick felt many different aromas and not all of them were pleasant. Gathering his courage, he drank the whole plate in one gulp. It was hard, his throat immediately began to burn, and his stomach twisted very unpleasantly. A notification popped up in his eyes and he became slightly worried.

Congratulations, you have leveled up the skill [Low Poison Resistance][Common] Lvl 21 > Lvl 23

The troll placed his hand on him and cast a spell that was completely unfamiliar to him, pouring a lot of life mana into his body. He began to worry again when the life mana completely filled his body and began to cause a mana overload. A moment later, the spell took effect and the life mana began to be spent, restoring his body. With his free hand, Green took his hand out of the blood cocoon and put it to the place where it had been before. Nick watched as he began to pour in even more life mana and weave a new spell. His left hand, which was completely overgrown, began to change, first his skin tore, then his muscles tore. Nick gritted his teeth from the intense pain and minimized the notifications.

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Congratulations, you have leveled up the skill [Rare Pain Resistance][Rare] Lvl 207 > Lvl 208

Muscles and nerves began to grow together between the two parts of his arm, Green noticed that his bone was much longer than it needed to be. He tore off the hand that was pouring life mana into his body and created a blade out of thin air at the end of his finger, with which he cut off the unnecessary part of the bone.

Nick was almost unconscious from this hellish pain. The feeling of his nerves growing was driving him crazy, if his body felt better he would scream, but he couldn't even do that, his body simply couldn't stand such tension. In his thoughts he began to curse the Troll.

Fucking bastard, did he forget that humans don't have high pain resistance? We're not trolls, damn it! Why didn't I think it would hurt that much?! Fucking foresight, it wasn't clear at all that it would be such a nightmare.

Nick couldn't watch his arm heal any further. His eyes rolled back in his head, but the others watched as the bone snapped into place, all the muscles and nerves fused together, and the skin came together without leaving even a small scar.

Green took Nick's body with both hands and placed it on the ground. Nick was still technically conscious, but all his senses were overloaded and he couldn't understand anything that was happening. Green took out a few more herbs, ground them in a mortar, poured the resulting mixture into Nick's mouth and poured water inside. Nick swallowed everything unconsciously, when the mixture reached his stomach, Green created another spell, which he placed in Nick's body, pouring life mana into it. The damage he had accumulated and couldn't heal properly in the fight began to heal. Green sat for about 5 minutes carefully examining Nick's body and finding new improperly healed parts. After examining him for the last time, Green was pleased with the work he had done. Hitting Nick on the head with his finger once, he came to his senses.

"You fucking idiot, why didn't you give me painkillers? It was so painful, I'm not a troll, I'm not used to fucking healing!" Nick screamed and quickly got to his feet.

"DRUGS ARE BAD AND EXPENSIVE. GREEN PROMISED TO HEAL YOU BUT HE DIDN'T TELL YOU IT WOULD BE PAINLESS. HA-HA-HA-HA, HA-HA-HA-HA." Green said and laughed, patting Nick on the back.

Feeling the troll's light blows, Nick was able to think about everything and understand how good he felt. He also laughed out of joy, accompanied by Green's very loud laughter.

"Aha-ha-ha, you're a damn joker. Are you really used to this?" Green asked with interest, not paying attention to the people standing near them with their mouths open.

"YES, MY BIGGEST PAIN WAS WHEN [Rukh] [Special] Lvl 400 WANTED TO EAT ME. WIND MAGIC REGULARLY CUT ME INTO PIECES AND I REGENERATED AGAIN WITH THE HELP OF LIFE MAGIC." Green remembered with pain.

"Damn, I agree it's not sweet." Nick responded, imagining such a picture.

"SO SURE, LITTLE MAN, DON'T YOU WANT TO WARM UP?"

"Aha-ha-ha, of course!" Nick said and rushed for the sword.

Green looked at this with a big smile on his ugly face. When Nick took the sword, a sea of grass began to grow around him, which prevented Nick from moving by grabbing his legs.

Well, well, well. It certainly wasn't unexpected, but it was certainly pleasant. Hmm, plant magic, very interesting. What could I do?

Dividing his thought process and activating the [Accelerated Perception] skill, Nick began to create weak spells of power under his feet and move along them using the "technique" of movement. With a few jumps, he reached the required height while avoiding the trees. Green watched him with a slight smile, waving his hand, a strong wind blew towards him. Nick was unable to resist the spell, as it only created the effect of a gust of wind without manipulating it with mana.

Very clever, my aura is useless for this.

Nick was knocked down by the wind, his weak spells of power dissipated by the pressure and control of Green's "Aura". Before landing, plants tried to entangle him, but with a few swings of his sword, he cut them all down. Nick began to put much more mental effort into protecting his spells from aura attacks. He rose up again with a few quick movements, successfully dodging the wind and protecting his spells. He had no choice but to attack Green directly, but by all rights it would be pointless, since he could not even get close enough without being caught by the wind.

Nick ran in circles dodging the wind until a net of vines shot out of the ground at a very high speed. Any power spell he could cast in the second would be dissipated either by the force of the net's impact or by his own movement. The only solution was to try to cut the net in mid-air before it entangled him. Ducking upwards, Nick waited until the net was at a comfortable distance, he managed to make one swing of the wedge horizontally when the net completely entangled him. Nick did not take into account that even if he managed to cut the net, it was endowed with a command, would still completely bind him. As Nick fell downwards, he thought about what he could do, his hands were completely bound, the landing promised to be very painful. As he landed on the ground with a crunch, he cast a spell that fired sharp stones and cut most of the vines and left light cuts on him. With a quick movement, Nick broke free, cut the remaining vines. Looking at his mana pool, he was disappointed. His mana was almost non-existent, only enough for a couple of power spells for movement.

Having made up his mind, Nick activated all his techniques to the maximum and quickly moved towards Green. Green did not bother him with spells, but simply waited for him with a slight smile. When he was only a couple of meters away, Green waved his hand, it was not very fast, but Nick spent the last of his mana to dodge. Finding himself at Green's leg, he swung his sword horizontally with all his strength. When his sword sank into the flesh, Nick immediately realized that the troll was stronger than Ent despite the lack of a durability characteristic and that he should have stuck the sword in, not slashed with it. The sword sank 10 centimeters and got stuck when Nick tried to pull it out.

What kind of body type does he have to be that strong?! It's like a paper cut to him!

Nick hesitated because he didn't let go of the sword in time and got a finger in the chest from Green. It was nothing more than a light blow for him to show that he was already dead.

"VERY WELL, MAN! A GLORIOUS FIGHT FOR YOU, TRULY! BUT WHY DIDN'T YOU USE THE SWORD'S ABILITIES?"

Nick remembered the conversation with the artifact master at the estate and how his sword could supposedly change shape.

"I don't know how to do this yet."

"OK, IT'S PRETTY SIMPLE. YOU CAN MANIPULATE IT WITH AURA. THE SPEED OF THE SWORD'S CHANGE WILL DEPEND ON HOW MUCH ENERGY YOU POUR IN."

Nick nodded and walked over to the sword, taking it by the hilt. He tried to pour stamina into it and manipulate it with his aura, but it was no use. He didn't have any mana to try to do that with her. By applying more force to the sword and holding it with both hands, he was able to pull it out. When the sword was pulled out, the wound that was left on the troll immediately closed, but it didn't heal completely, a visible cut still remained.

"Apparently this only works with mana, and I don't have any right now."

"I SEE, IT'S NOTHING TO SORRY. YOU CAN TRY LATER."

Nick came to his senses a little and began to look around, examining the different expressions on the faces of those present, they were mostly not positive. Only Liam stood with a smile, noticing his gaze, Liam gave him a thumbs up.

Yeah, yeah, people. Oh, how hard it's all going to be now. They're going to know exactly how crazy I am. Damn, this could get nasty.