Chapter 18: Comprehension

After twenty minutes of walking, I finally arrived at my secret garden. I didn’t like how it had taken me longer to get here than before, but what could I do? I was still healing after all. Before I walked in through the doorway, I readied my spear. The last time I had been here, I used the corpse of a plant monster to fertilize some of the plants that were here. I was smart enough to realize that my efforts might’ve created another one of those plant monsters. Therefore I was going to enter this hidden spot on guard rather than be caught by surprise.

In one fluid movement I ducked through the entryway and dodged a quick strike from my left. Hah! Did you think I would fall for such a simple attack? The moment I said this, I was forced to spit out a mouthful of blood. Shit, hopefully I hadn’t opened up any wounds. It seemed that I would be unable to move at my max speed until I was fully healed. Still I should be able to defeat a lowly Vinesta.

Vinesta - Lv.4

Hp: 20/20

Vinestari - Lv.6

Hp: 35/35

By taking a quick glance around, I was able to confirm the location of another Vinesta. Unlike the level four one, this one was level six. Not only that, but it even had a different name. From the look of it, it seemed like the evolution of the Vinesta. It was bigger and also held more fruit than its weaker counterpart. However is still wasn’t strong enough to be able to defeat me. I refused to lose to a creature as weak as this.

Directing my barat to fight the weaker Vinesta, I faced the level six Vinestari. Gritting my teeth, I slammed my hand into the ground and launched four earthen spikes. At the same time as me, Viola flew toward the level four Vinesta in a whirl of claw and teeth. Unable to dodge all of the earthen spikes, the Vinestari was forced to take dame from two of my spikes.

-6

-6

With just this one attack, I was able to reduce its health by around a third. My opponent didn’t take this lying down however. Utilizing several of its vines, it tossed  multiple fruits at me. The previous me would have been hit by these quick attacks, but I was different. This monster would not even touch me.

Since my hand was still on the ground, it was quite easy for me to erect an earthen wall. The earth wall I created jutted up quickly from the ground, blocking the fruit that were thrown at me. Because my opponent wasn’t as fast as the bat I had fought, I didn’t have to worry about it attacking me from behind. The only avenue of attack it could take was against my earthen wall.

Taking advantage of this moment, I dashed off towards the left side of my wall. And not a moment too soon. Several fruits were above the location I had been at previously. If I hadn’t moved when I did, they would have splattered on top of me. They wouldn’t do that much damage, but each of those fruits were endowed with special effects. Paralysis and poison were only a few.

Now that I was away from my earthen wall, I could see the attacks that my opponent had tried against me when I was behind the wall. Several dents decorated my wall so I could only assume that the Vinestari had tried piercing through it. However it was too weak! Hah, as if it could pierce through a wall that withstood a sinister bat’s attack.

Utilizing my new concentration skill, I charged towards my opponent. I was getting a slight headache from the skill, but I ignored it. The pain in my body was greater so the pain didn’t really concern me. With my spear in hand, I watched as several fruits were thrown at me. Raising my left hand up, I casted a wind gale and blew the fruits back towards the Vinestari. Have a taste of your own medicine.

As the fruits splattered the body of the plant monster, I thought about my actions. I could’ve killed it easily from a distance, but then I wouldn’t have gained any battle experience. I would be forced in close combat with many monsters so I needed to get used to it as soon as I could. What better way to do this than to fight a weak monster?

Wincing in pain, I formed a wind blade on the edge of my spear. It was time to show this monster who it was dealing with. With an intense glare, I jabbed my spear towards the Vinestari with all my strength. Thanks to the wind blade on my spear, it easily tore through the monster’s flesh.

-17

Powerful! With this devastating attack, I had managed to reduce my opponent’s health to a mere six points. Before I could attack anymore I was forced to dodge several vines as they came toward me. Thanks to my concentration skill, I was able to tell where most of the vines were going to attack. However there were just to many to dodge. I needed to come up with something quick or else I would suffer a hit. Although the vines wouldn’t do that much damage, I still did not want to be hit. My pride was on the line.

Shoving my left hand forward, I unleashed a wind gale which forced the multitude of vines back. However this only bought me a couple seconds at most. My wind gale was holding the vines back, but the longer I used it, the more mana that was being drained. I did not want to use up all my mana for an enemy like this. With a wind gale still coming from my left hand, I focused some mana toward my feet. It was extremely hard to do this, but it wasn’t impossible. My concentration skill helped immensely. Once my mana was in my feet, I directed it toward the ground. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, an earthen wall jutted out from the ground directly in front of me. Objective completed.

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Taking a step away from my wall, I canceled my wind gale in order to save my mana. Although my concentration skill had leveled up, I was having one hell of a headache. I guess this is what I got for trying to do two spells at once. Even my electrified wind blade couldn’t be counted as two spells since I essentially combined them into one. But this was good. If I trained myself to be able to utilize multiple spells at once, I would be unstoppable. But those were thoughts for later, I still had a battle to finish.

Placing my hands against the earthen wall, I began to infuse my mana inside of it. Once a sufficient amount of mana was inside, I began to push it away from my hands. The moment I did this, my earthen wall collapsed and flew toward my opponent. Due to the amount of pieces my earthen wall was in, the Vinestari was unable to dodge. With a sickening squelch, various pieces of earth plunged into its flesh. A few seconds later and the monster was no more.

Wiping the sweat away from my brow, I glanced towards my reanimation. With movements like the wind, Viola was dodging several of the vines that were attacking her. Try as it might, the Vinesta was unable to harm my barat. However Viola was only able to do miniscule amounts of damage to it. Leaving them at a virtual standstill. I would have to rectify this once the battle was over.

Rushing over to the Vinesta, I plunged my spear into its back. This process proved to be quite easy since it was distracted. As it recoiled in pain, Viola took the opportunity to slash it across its neck. Unable to withstand our combined attacks, the Vinesta slumped to the ground lifelessly. Flying on top of the corpse, Viola did some sort of victory pose as I shook my head.

Letting out a sigh I glanced at my experience bar. Sadly I hadn’t leveled up from the fight. It made sense since these enemies weren’t that strong. I reviewed over the battle I had just fought as I searched for loot.

When I had attacked the Vinestari with my wind enhanced spear, I had done a total of seventeen points of damage. Now normally this would be okay since my spear damage did fifteen to twenty damage. However I had enhanced my spear with the wind blade so it should’ve done way more damage. Why was this so? The only reason I could think of was the defense of the Vinestari. Because of its defense, my spear would do less damage. But thanks to my wind blade, it did more damage than it was supposed to. This made sense I guess. Basically different enemies had different defense which made my spear do different damage.

After reviewing my spear’s damage output, I moved on to the next thing I was wondering about. I had beaten this Vinestari quite easily even though it had been the same level as me. But when I had fought the bat that was only two levels higher, I had almost lost. Was there that much difference in between levels? Or was it because the Vinestari species were weaker than the bats? I had no idea what to think. I would need more information before I could answer this question.

Once I was done thinking, I glanced at the loot I received.

Leather Belt

Description: A belt made of leather that contains several pouches.

Effect: + 1 Vitality

Durability: 30/30

The loot I had received had been a leather belt. In all honesty, I was quite pleased with this loot drop. Thanks to the size of the pouches on the belt, I would be able to store a variety of items. Items such as the fruits from Vinestas. I could no longer store things in my jacket since it had vanished. I had woken up without it so I could only assume that the bats had thrown it away. I wasn’t really that made since it had probably been covered in blood anyway. Thankfully I still had my shirt  even though it had some tears in it.

Adjusting the belt so it fit, I looked at the fruit that the plant monsters had dropped. The drowsy tupa that I had before had vanished with my jacket so I didn’t have any more of those fruits left. Although I had forgotten to use it in my battle with the bat, I was glad. With how quick the bat was, there was no doubt it could’ve easily threw it back at me. And if I had gotten hit with it, that battle would have been my loss.

As I gathered up the fruits the plant monsters had, I noticed something odd. There were other fruits that I hadn’t seen before mixed in the bunch. Picking up a light red fruit, I compared it with a darker one.

Red Tupa

Description: One of the few edible fruits made by a Vinesta. This fruit contains no spores and is quite delicious.

 Effect: Restore 20 health points

Greater Red Tupa

Description: One of the few edible fruits made by a Vinestari. This fruit contains no spores and is quite delicious. 

Effect: Restore 60 health points

Unlike the fruits made by the Vinesta, the Vinestari’s fruits had a greater effect. Just look at the red tupas. The effect of the fruit had tripled in effects. As I was looking at the red tupas, an idea sprang into my mind. What would happen if I ate one while I was still injured? Would my wounds miraculously heal, or would my wounds just healed at an increased rate? There was only one way to find out. So without further ado, I took a bite out of the red tupa.