[Health 98/200]

Licht looked at his health gauge, satisfied with how things had turned out.

The strategies of the guard’s to torch his roots hadn’t caused him to lose any health, but had hurt a bit at first, giving him a bit of a shock. It would have been ridiculous if he lost health from singeing not even a hundred-thousandth of his total mass. No, the source of his lost health had been entirely his own fault, pushing his mental load past its limits.

Controlling his roots precisely enough to wrap around the legs of three different men was about as complicated as it sounded. Like twirling six different pens in between one’s fingers at the same time. What this meant however, was that toward the end his health had dropped much faster, and he hadn’t been sure if he would have enough to make it. But he had made it in time! Mostly thanks to the sudden reinforcements, but it was an outcome worth celebrating nonetheless.

Licht internally smiled, enjoying the view of the elves helping their wounded and hugging tearfully. He had given the elves the opportunity they needed, and with surprising precision they had made expert use of it. The woman who had thrown the dagger in particular caught Licht’s attention, who was unsure if her precise aim was practiced or just a stroke of luck.

In any event, the decision of the elves to take out the rest of the camp had come at a cost, namely the injuries of the three, but it had been ultimately fruitful for them. Now that the caravan was vacant, they would be able to settle the land without fear of the guards finding them. Licht’s focus slunk back from the myriad roots and into the tree line, which instantly stopped the mental pressure wearing down on him.

“Yep, all of the guards have been dealt with. They did good work, it seems. Quickly, too.”

Now free of the overbearing sense of responsibility he had felt, Licht’s vision flickered over multiple scenes.

His main body had held up during the battle, mostly it seemed. It turned out the damage from overexerting his “Mental Occupation” capacity was much harder to recover from than a normal wound. The use of [Nutrition Absorption] or [Biogenical Growth] did nothing to alleviate his condition. If only he had some kind of mental equivalent of the wooden healing skill. Though from this case, it was now more likely that the growth skill was less akin to a healing skill than it was closer to actually growing new material, as thought by Licht.

The difference was minute, considering how when one’s body was injured it actually would have to create new cells to fill the gaps, or at least shuttle materials there, but something in Licht’s mind gave him the feeling that he was missing the actual difference between the two.

Yet again Licht found himself cursing his past self for not paying attention in science.

“Still, it seems like I don’t really have a healing skill but a growth skill. Guess I would be too overpowered otherwise?”

Another display of his instincts, perhaps. Glossing over it, he continued to look around where he had set up his abode.

By now, Licht had long considered the twisted amalgamation of trees around the white-leafed tree to be his main body of sorts. At least one second only to his actual body, the metallic orb. Being that as it was, his main tree had certainly taken quite the beating while he had been focused on freeing the slaves.

A twisting mass of cracks and singed fibers danced all over the surface of the thick tree. They were bunched together and curving at inconsistent angles, like a heap of spaghetti. Licht would certainly say the tree stuck out more amongst its surroundings than previously, if such a thing was possible.

“It looks like I was struck by lightning?”

This wasn’t the case, clearly, as he would have felt something like that happening. Though being actually struck by lightning sounded quite frightening now that he thought about it…

Weren’t trees struck by lightning a lot?

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Maybe something to plan for in the future.”

No, instead it seemed like the white-leafed tree’s condition reflected his mental state. He had been under a lot of pressure piloting the myriad roots in order to strengthen the bonds around each of the caravaneer's ankles. It seemed from the condition of the tree that it had experienced the same pressure, and exuded it outward to the trees that wrapped around it.

How far did this phenomenon spread? Licht could wonder. It didn’t appear as though any of the surrounding forest had been affected. All of the connected trees looked and felt normal.

“It must be because of my health. Its dropping affected my main body, and I bet if I were to hit zero both my orb and the main tree would be destroyed simultaneously.”

It was proof that the system treated the tree as a parallel to his orb, though Licht had known that shortly after coming to inhabit it. Licht then used a bit of focus to mend the gaps, not having enough AF to use [Biogenical Growth] that freely. His efforts did nothing to his health pool, not to Licht’s surprise as he had already resigned himself earlier. He suspected only time would heal the wounds he inflicted upon his mind.

For now though, he would check on everyone else.

After looking at himself for a bit, he went to check on Muan. After a short burst of communication, he found the fruit bush sapling was doing well, although unhappy that the surrounding water levels were continuing to fall. He assured the bush that he wouldn’t stop feeding it water as long as he needed it, something which was wholly true.

His connected trees seemed to use less water now than before they were connected to him. He could also just choose to sustain them with the [Nutrient Absorption] skill, sending pulses of life-sustaining nutrients all around him through the vast connected underground.

Glad that Muan was safe, he turned his eyes to the only other people he had met so far.

“Though I suppose the Giving Tree counts, but as I can’t communicate with it being so far away, I’ll just have to trust that it’s doing fine.”

Licht would feel terrible to discover that it had come under attack by similar groups, but if that was the case there would be nothing he could do about it anyway. The offensive capabilities of the overhanging giant far, far exceeded his own. Partially why Licht thought of it with such a name, the titanic plant life was so far above him in the hierarchy of life that it could only give him benefits in a positive interaction.

Tin tin tin tin. Thump thump.

Licht’s focus was pulled over to the clearing, where the slaves were still going through the tents that the caravan members had so kindly vacated. Not half an hour had passed since their release, but the elf men and women were already up and about. Claiming supplies and any equipment they could reasonably carry. They had set down the three wounded inside once of the tents, caring for them with bandages and basic medicinal herbs they had managed to scour from the belongings thus far.

The eyes of everyone looked tired and drowsy. For all who were only required to move between tents and find supplies, their gaits had become slower. It was still the middle of the night, after all. Licht expected that everyone except for those who were treating the wounded were ready to go to sleep. It had been a long day.

Tin tin tin.

Licht’s gaze shifted over to a perimeter tree. One of the trees that he had moved further into the clearing so that he could bind the attacking guards. Someone was tapping on it. The fungoid-looking woman.

Licht occupied the tree with his senses, making note of the being’s appearance. The woman was clearly such, sporting tan skin the color of an orange’s flesh and a bright blue mushroom cap, flat underneath and slightly bulbous on top in place of where her hair would be. The cap’s surface was smooth and azure, without spotting.

Other than that, she looked mostly human. Clear feminine details and protrusions made everything below her mushroom cap nearly mistakable for that of a human woman. She seemed by Licht’s aesthetic senses to be fairly young, around thirty, maybe? The mushroom girl raised her head to the tree’s branches while Licht looked at the pure blue orbs planted behind her eyelids. Everything about her eyes was blue, iris, sclera, and pupils.

“Dousk fiscura bastesh-filini?”

“Ey?”

As with everything people had said thus far, it sounded like nonsense to Licht. He couldn’t even communicate with sound, let alone their proper language. It seemed pointless to bother with this woman, though she clearly wanted something from the tree. She likely knew something had helped them, and that it had to do with the forest moving.

“Well, she seems more interested in me than the rest of the elves. I wonder if that’s because she’s a fungoid-looking race?”

Perhaps most notably, the mushroom woman was the only person in the clearing who wasn’t an elf. Did that make her more sensitive to his presence? They were both plant-life, after all.

“Wait, both plant life? Am I a dumbass or something?”

Licht shook his head, internally face-palming.

[Wooden Commune]