Putting the issue of how much time I spent unconscious aside for now, I quickly sent a wave of mana into my foot with Regeneration. The pain slowly eased and my skin began to reform. I watched the new, pale skin crawling over my foot, covering my exposed flesh. It looked kind of strange compared to the rest of my body, but at least the scar I had recently suffered was gone.

The scar that even Regeneration couldn’t fix was removed at the measly cost of a layer of skin. Wonderful.

When my mana stopped being drained, my foot was fixed and back in shape. I inspected my foot some more, but found no obvious injuries remaining. There were some minor spots of acid wounds over my shins and calf that I also healed, although the mana cost was much less.

Looking at my remaining mana, I frowned.

The extensive healing procedure drained the majority of my restored mana, leaving me with a meager three hundred. It was still an improvement to before. The problem was the slow rate at which my mana recovered.

Raising my head, I checked the sky through the dense canopy. The thin rays of light confirmed that is was daytime. Figuring that the amount of mana would I had recovered would not be possible in a few minutes or hours, I must have been out for a day, if not two. That was a concerning realization, but due to me being alive, I was not really shocked. I was actually more surprised that I was alive.

Just in case, I checked my surroundings, making sure that I was not in immediate danger and when I looked to my left, my eyes widened. Not because there was something dangerous, but because there was a river. Not just any river. It was the river. The one I had spent half a day walking away from.

My gaze shifted to the tree before me. A dark bark, crimson veins and an ominous pulse. It was a Bloodriver tree and something told me that it was the same one that stole my mana.

Why am I back here?

It was bizarre, but I was still of the opinion that being close to the river was a bad idea, so I prepared myself to set off again to gain some distance. I could think while walking.

My plan was interrupted by a small rumble in the earth and a root that broke out of the ground before me. It was as thick as my forearm and stood at my eye level. The root drew closer and I raised my arms in defense, expecting to be struck, but no attack came. Unsure what was happening, I lowered my arms a little, looking at the root.

It was now right in front of my face and when I exposed my head, it poked against my left cheek. Dumbfounded, I just let it happen. Unable to act in response, I endure the following pokes and head pats without a word.

What is happening? Is the tree… patting me?

Finally snapping out of it, I ducked away. The root did not pursue me, but I also did not run away. Instead, I faced the root, trying to make sense of the situation. The root suddenly pointed its end my way, then towards itself and the tree, then at the ground. It repeated the same cycle over and over again and with each repetition, my mind slowly put together a ridiculous thought.

Am I going crazy or is this root trying to tell me that it was the one that saved me?

I took a deep breath, causing the root to halt its movement.

“Did you bring me here?” I asked the root. For some reason, it felt not nearly as crazy as I thought it would. Well, trying to talk to it didn’t, but the assumption that the tree went out of its way to save me did make me wonder if I was starting to lose my mind.

The root nodded in response to my question. Or at least it moved up and down, which I just assumed to be a nod. As the response registered, I got mixed feelings. It basically just confirmed that it had saved me, which I was grateful for, but what bothered me was the absence of doubt. Maybe it was because I could feel the honesty in its response or because I could not think of a reason why the tree should lie to me.

So going with the flow, I simply decided to accept that the mana thief had saved my life.

“Thank you for saving me.”

The tree’s response was a simple wave of its root. Watching it, I noticed black spots on the roots, similar to the damage on the trees touched by that Slime Nucleus. Did it have to fight to protect me? Now I was really beginning to feel bad about judging the tree before, even if it had stolen my mana.

While I was still contemplating what to do, the root wrapped around my wrist. Feeling tighten, I tried to pull it away and free myself, but the root did not let go. I tried again, but the result was the same.

Alright, calm down. No need to freak out.

Stopping to resist, I raised my bound wrist and stared at the root.

“What are you doing?”

The root simply started to pry my fist open. I did not resist and watched what it was doing. So far, it had not hurt or injured me, so I simply let it do what it wanted. Obviously while keeping a watchful eye.

Once the root had uncurled my hand, it tapped onto my palm. I raised an eyebrow to its actions, but it did not stop.

What does it want from me? My hand? No… Could it be?

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My confusion was cleared when through the root, a wave on intent hit me. It was an indescribable sensation, difficult to put into words, but it was as if the root was attempting to convey a message to me. It was similar to when I first channeled mana into the tree. There was a connection forged by our energies. A mystical link that allowed us to exchange waves of purpose and emotion.

It took me some time and a lot of interpreting until I finally understood what it was trying to tell me.

“You want… my mana?”

The root stopped poking me and shivered in an elation that even I could interpret. Not only that, the veins under the trees bark pulsated quicker and stronger. It really wanted my mana. Was that the only reason it saved me?

It did not matter. The tree had saved me and if the price for my life was some of my mana, then I was more than happy to pay.

“Alright,” I sighed and grabbed the root, “but I cannot give you all of it,” the root trembled as I started to push some of my mana into it. A few seconds passed and the tree finally retracted its root from my wrist. While the root returned to the ground, I could see the black spots starting to heal and vanish. It seemed the tree needed mana just as much as I did.

After our transaction concluded, I walked over to the tree itself and putting a hand on its bark. It was the second time my life had been saved by someone else. First it was the human, Seth, now it was this tree. Seth died and I could not express my gratitude to him anymore, but the tree was still around, so I only did what felt right.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

I slouched against the tree, embracing the melancholy I was feeling and letting my thoughts fade away. Right now, I just needed a moment to let my heart settle and let everything sink in. The System, deadly trees, acid slime monsters, two close encounters with death in one, no, two days and my new life of freedom. Maybe I had made a mistake in not taking a minute to let my mind deal with all of that.

When I finally felt ready to go, I raised myself up and finally opened my status and looked at the system messages I had gotten before passing out.

You have slain [Slime Lvl. 25]. Experience will be awarded. Level difference detected. Bonus experience will be awarded.

[Species: Unregistered]: level has increased from 5 to 6!

[Species: Unregistered]: level has increased from 6 to 7!

I managed to take down a level 25 creature. Not only that, but completely on my own as well.

My previous kills were above level 30, but this one, I defeated entirely on my own and it was not even unconscious. Though I must say, it put up about as much of a fight as those two humans did. Besides its body being a bundle of ouch, the Slime was not much of a challenge, which was partially because it lacked all the basics for being a threat. Like arms, legs, a mouth or even eyes.

That’s rich coming from someone almost losing a foot from one of those slimy bastards.

No matter its capabilities to injure me, it was now dead, I persevered and had now increased my level by two. It was more than I would have expected. Two level 30’s had upped me to level 5, which would make about two and a half level per kill. But this single level 20 had given two levels by itself. If it was like that, the reduction due to assistance by others was quite significant.

Closing my status, I looked at the ground below me, as it began to pulsate. Next thing I knew, the root was back out and pointing towards a bush to its right.

“What, you want me to go there?”

It nodded. The spot it hinted at was relatively close by, so I complied.

I approached the bush. Standing before it, I looked at it expectantly, waiting for something to happen or the root showing me what it wanted me here for. The root then pointed into the bush and I sighed.

Leaning forward, I brushed aside the thin branches and peered inside.

[Slime - Lvl. 21]

It was a slime, peacefully burning away the plant from the inside.

Withdrawing my arms, I cautiously stepped back, my expression marked by a deep frown as I once again looked at the root, eagerly gesturing towards the bush.

It did not appear to stop anytime soon, so out for answers, I grabbed the root.

“What are you planning?” Following my words, I sent it a wave of suspicion.

It made no effort to resist or retaliate, instead responding with a reply that only caused me to grimace.

“You want me to kill the slime?”

It affirmed.

“Aren’t you much stronger than me? By like a hundred levels?”

The root wriggled free from my hand and pointed at the black spots that were covering it.

“Yeah, you get hurt when you touch them, I know. Done it before, don’t plan to do it again,” I spat.

Suddenly, the root shook strongly.

“Are you telling me I am wrong” I shot back, “because I am not.”

The root kept shaking from left to right.

“Why are you even arguing against that? You must have seen my foot when you saved me.”

Taking a brief pause, I mulled over the words once more. The tree did see my injuries, right? I mean, technically, a tree had no eyes, so there was a possibility that it hadn’t, but its actions until now convinced me that it had to have some kind of alternative that allowed it to see the world around it.

Probably acknowledging that we weren’t getting anywhere, the root shot forward and wrapped around my arm. I flinched a little, but knowing what it planned, I did not resist.

“What are you-“

The waves that hit me carried a lot of information. So much so that it was hard to make sense of. With time, the bits and pieces started to fall into place. What it proposed sounded very interesting, but also very risky. Essentially, he wanted me to slay the slime using my mana as a weapon. Like that, none of us would need to have to deal with its acid.

“But will it work?”

The root nodded encouragingly.

After some preparation and going over what I was planning on doing, I approached the slime-infested bush once more.

As I drew closer, I began to grasp a chunk of mana and gathered it in my palm, pushing it out of my body. I wove it together, trying to keep it compact until it formed into an orb that was about the size of my fist.

During our little argument, the slime had already removed the bush from existence, proceeding to erase the grass beneath it.

If this doesn’t work, I will fell that tree, no matter what. Losing a foot to acid once was enough, I grumbled to myself.

It was a good thing the Slime was not agile. With its ground-bound movements, it made for quite the easy target. When the slime was only a few steps away from me, I grabbed the orb of mana in my hand.

Please work, I hoped intensely as I hurled the orb at the acidic blob. Putting all of my two points of strength into that throw, the orb almost did not reach its goal, but the slime was nice enough to move forward just right for my golden orb of mana and its green body to collide.

The slime burst into a rain of acidic droplets, showering the close vicinity in an eroding rain. Reacting on time, I leaped backwards, avoiding any droplets from hitting me.

You have slain [Slime Lvl. 21]. Experience will be awarded. Level difference detected. Bonus experience will be awarded.

[Species: Unregistered]: level has increased from 7 to 8!

The feeling of success washed away my prior anxiety. To think mana could be used in such a way!

The Slime’s life had ended in an arguably brutal way. Its body blown to pieces and scattered all around. Lacking flesh, bones, organs and blood, it was less of a grisly spectacle as it was a widespread acid attack. Widespread might have been a bit aggrandizing, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be any closer to it than I was.

With that, I had taken my fourth life and reached level 8.