A black cloud of storm appeared above a forest out of nowhere. The strong wind whirled around a small area swaying the trees and blowing leaves into the air.

In the middle of the storm appeared a single deer skull. Its jaw was missing, but that’s nothing worthy of note.

The strange part was that it can weirdly stay solid on the ground like the surrounding storm was mere illusion.

In front of it was a boy with white hair and pale skin. On his hand, a small woven ball containing particles of green light was afloat. At the moment, the green aura was gushing out of the boy’s hand and entering the woven ball.

It was his mana. The boy’s mana was constantly drained into the woven ball at tremendous speed. It was so condensed to the point that just the spilled bit of this green mana alone could instantly lengthen the surrounding grasses to reach his waist.

Good enough, the boy didn’t show any sign of fatigue from losing too much mana, left alone fainting. Instead, he felt curious of what happened.

What exactly is this ball, he wondered, what should I do?

However, with every moment of mana supplied to it, the green particles flowing inside the woven ball shone brighter and brighter. Then it stopped sucking the boy’s mana.

Leaving not even a moment for the boy to be surprised, the woven ball floated toward the skull on its own will. It entered the skull’s hollow eyes and enlightened the dark interior.

A moment later green particles left the skull’s eyes, but the green light still mysteriously shone from deep inside the hollow eyes.

The situation grew weirder when the skull began to shake like something was crawling underneath it.

As if they were coming out from a terror story, several long green tentacles crept out from the skull’s shadow. They grew longer and longer, thicker and thicker. Every foot along their long arms appeared a pair of green leaves.

Observing the situation closely, those tentacles were in fact only vines. Inches, feet, meters, the vines grew longer and longer. And once they grew long enough to be able to reach the top of an average tree, the vines stopped growing.

However, the mysterious phenomenon didn’t just stop at that. The vines then folded and spiraled into a big round lump.

The lump of entangling vines then changed its shape. It stretched longer horizontally, then it grew two legs on each end.

On an end with a pair of slimmer legs, another branch of entangling vines appeared stretching toward the sky and then the skull appeared on top of it.

“Ohhhhhh!,” Oscar let out his surprise cry.

If one had looked at this scene from afar, he would have recognized it as a weirdly green deer. However, it actually gave off a powerful aura.

Its antlers were large and fanned out magnificently like a coral. Its build was large and strong with muscle-like bulging on its thick limbs and neck. And it stood still, looking into the crimson twilight sky.

As if the heaven was blessing for its birth, The wind suddenly calmed down. The cloud slowly disperseed and a tiny ray of golden sunlight bathed the beast’s majestic presence.

Birds began to gather after the storm was gone. Their chirping blended into a song welcoming the birth of the beast. Rabbits, squirrels, and other wildlives came out from their hiding to witness the return of their friend.

“Mister skull! Are you still there?,” Oscar called it out.

The beast slowly turned its face toward the boy who gave its new life. In its dark and hollow eyes, green flames were flickering inside.

It didn’t return a single word back. Instead, it lifted its front hoof up and… collapse, the entangling vines scattered into four directions.

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“Eh? Wait, what happened? Are you alright, mister skull?”

“I’m sorry my lord, it seems these vines were too soft. I can’t remain my original shape just yet.”

It appeared that there was nothing dangerous happened to the skull, however controlling soft vines and turning them into a big figure was too difficult for the current him.

“It can’t be helped since they are creeping vines. Even though they are so tough and hard…”

Creeping vines was still creeping vines no matter how stronger it became. In nature, they can only creep on the ground except there was a tree nearby to work as their holding place.

“It may be possible in the future, so don’t give it up! Also, leaving that aside, do you feel weird somewhere? Do you feel the vines refusing you?”

“No, my lord. Everything is fine. I’m happy that I can move again, but it still feels a little bit weird like growing hundreds of legs.”

His vines twitched and wiggled as if saying that he was alright.

Oscar approached and touched the green skin of the vines. He didn’t feel the separate will of them which was concerning him before the rebirth process.

Back then he was not sure if the vines will grow the will of their own and refused to connect with the skull, but his nervousness was proven to be futile.

From his understandings, plants were just like animals. They gained their will after their birth. Then what will happen if he fused them with another being before their birth? The answer was, their will would be consumed by the host’s stronger soul.

That was the reason why Oscar had chosen to fuse the skull with the seeds of the moonlight vines before accelerating their growth with magic. And it was proven to be successful.

“That is good to hear… Umm, calling you mister skull is no longer good I think? Because you have more than just a skull now.”

Oscar pondered for a while.

“How about Lunus? ...Ah, I didn’t ask if you already have a name or not. I’m so rude to don’t ask you.”

“No, my lord. We beasts don’t have naming culture and it’s my honor to be bestowed with such a beautiful name from you, my lord.”

The skull gathered his vines and raised his face up from the ground. He looked at Oscar as if waiting for his reply.

“I see. Since you gained the body of moonlight vines, I think a name related to “moon” should best suit you. From now on, you are “Lunus” and your existence will be called a “forest protector.”

Lunus bowed his skull head down as if accepting a blessing.

“I, Lunus the forest protector, shall pledge my loyalty toward my lord Oscar for giving me my second life. I swear to use this new body of mine to protect this forest and smash the evils until the end of my life.”

It was a little bit embarrassing to hear someone pledge something this serious, but Oscar decided to make a poker face and just follow the flow of the event.

“I admire your determination, Lunus. Please take care of me from now on.”

He stretched his hand forward and smiled at Lunus.

In return, Lunus raised one of his vines to coil around his lord’s hand.

“Likewise, my lord. I will work hard to quickly be of use.”

Both of them shook their hands under the last light of the day.

The vowing oath was witnessed by the forest as trees and beasts were there as eyewitnesses. Birds sang and beasts cried as if applauding to the beginning of a dramatic relationship between a newborn forest god and his first loyal follower.

Quickly after, the news of the event would be transmitted throughout the forest. Birds and beasts would tell the stories to their children and the trees would transmit the story to the other ends of the jungle.

In this forest, the only ones that couldn’t glimpse the chain of events were only those who lurked inside the darkness… and the fools.

<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>

Skill encyclopedia: [Mind link]

Type: branch skill

[Mind link] is a skill derived from [Authority] set skills. It works by creating a “link” or “connection” between the skill holder and the subjects under his jurisdiction.

This connection can be used to communicate; however, it works differently from a skill called [Telepathy]. Using [Mind link], the skill holder can transmit a message between his subjects by conveying its pure meaning without using wording language. With this method, the communication became faster and can break through the barrier of language and knowledge.

Another notable difference between [Mind link] and [Telepathy] is the ability to convey emotions and sensations from one end to the other. If the skill holder connects the link to a subject who is currently angry, he would realize the degree of rage in the subject.

The only cons for [Mind link] is that the skill holder can’t connect the link if the other end is too far away. However, if he connects the link beforehand, the connection will not be broken through distance unless the skill holder wishes to.