I feel like the word branch doesn’t do these justice. I´ve got room to run for at least two seconds before needing to jump again. Two seconds if I’m not going for my limit, I mean, when I say run, I mean jogging at a reasonable speed.

Just keep doing what has worked. Super charge these bad boys, aim properly and make sure I hit them where it counts. In their horrifying looking face area. I can’t get over how ugly these things are.

I have a feeling I’ve had a similar experience before. Deja vu is my everyday life now. If it wasn't for you guys I would’ve probably gone crazy.

Okay, okay. Aim. Breathe in. Full swing and fire! Breathe out. My right hand might be close to giving out, I actually felt incredible heat surge through my hand as I threw that spear.

I may have to switch to my not as efficient left hand. You know what? We could back off and come back once my hand heals, right?

Ah. The whole, being hunted thing, so that might actually not be a good idea. At least not with the grim reaper skulking around in my forest.

The middle-layer will be safe once I take control of it right? This world seems to be ruled by something and the concept of a safe space is definitely real. Safe space? It might be more like a territory or a personal domain.

Not to alarm anyone but even after the spear flew into this abomination, this excuse for a lifeform, didn’t exactly stop. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said it was almost caught up with me, those hundred little legs are working hard.

I’ll be honest, this may be the end of our journey here. Oh, but what a ride! As a last ditch effort I’m grabbing the last large spear I have on me. Let’s try some of that fabled close quarters combat.

I got a stake in my right hand, not sure what for but I’m kicking rapid hand movement into action. My eyes are getting heavy, my eyelids are giving off the illusion that they might be heavier than my spears.

Don’t turn the energy shield on Son. I’m afraid I’ll immediately faint from exhaustion if I have to defend against this thing.

Alright everyone, brace yourself. Although we have the option of trying to jump the side, I don’t believe we can instantaneously move and this thing is huge and is being rapidly propelled towards me. I've confirmed my spears can pierce this thing. Oh, I got an idea!

No time to go through this one. My left hand holding the spear appears to have doubled in length because of rapid hand movement. I dropped the stake in my right hand and I am rapidly trying to construct some sort of hybrid between Cen-edge and Cen-platform.

They are essentially the same thing anyway, I’m not even sure why there was a skill description for these things. Will I have to create all my abilities from now on? Oh right. The giant insect has made contact with my spear.

My spear’s speed doesn’t slow down as it pierces into the, what was it again? Carapace? Whatever. The spear looks fast even whilst the rest of the world feels like it has slowed to a crawl.

The clear liquid sprays out of the thing, following the spears exist. The spear has already started piercing into the carapace again before the liquid even had the chance to make its entrance.

My left hand is wrapped in a faint white-brown glow, I tried to get as much fibrous and soil energy as I could into this experiment.

It’s still mostly a blank all-purpose energy and naturai energy but according to my theory, the different affinities have different aspects to it.

I believe the fibrous energy should be the best option for the very edges of my edged platform, I’ll find a better name for it later.

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The soil, well I tried to make it so it reinforced the fibrous material from behind. I’m not sure how to explain this. This may all be pointless, we may never know.

This thing I’m creating isn’t really like a spike or a blade as much as it is a blunt weapon. Since I have to have some sort of form or image in mind when I create objects from condensed energy.

I choose the form of an octagon instead of a circle or a triangle. This feels like it would be structurally stable, and it fits into what I plan to do.

It is hard to control rapid hand movement with my right hand, even harder with my left hand. But I’ve managed to puncture this monster's outer shell in a somewhat accurate way.

My left hand is mid jab, given the position, this is my best option, a jab. The abomination I hastily created has come into existence, most likely with the help of Son, his work behind the scenes has been invaluable.

My left hand doesn't make contact but the octagon does, and the force is easily transferred back to my hand. I won’t say every bone feels like it shattering but the majority of them definitely are.

If I wasn’t ready for it, my shoulder would probably be dislocated. But we managed to do it while staying relatively unharmed.

The carapace gave off a clear popping sound. Take a deep breath, we’re going in.

Okay, I may not have thought this through. There isn’t as much room in here as I expected, actually, I’m not sure what I was expecting. The hope here, the dream, the, you know, the purpose of actually doing this was twofold.

One, we don’t get crushed or whatever that thing intended to do, probably eat me. Second, we escape from the third monstrosity.

I’ve only been here for seconds so we can’t know whether the insect we’re inside of is dead or whether or not the other one is going to go cannibalistic and dig us out.

I can feel the insect’s body landing on the branch, hopefully it will balance on top of it. The impact managed to affect me, thankfully I am covered in soft tissue, is it called tissue? It’s disgusting to say the least. Strangely the smell is rather sweet.

I’m extremely tired, I can somehow still breathe in here, but I can’t see anything, partially because my eyes are closed. Mostly because my eyes are closed. I don’t want its juices to get into my eyes. I can already get a bit in my nose and mouth. Tastes sweet, where have I tasted this before?

The corpse, I assume it is dead now, has stopped moving. It definitely didn’t fall down the tree. Let’s hold on for a bit before we do anything else.

I’m too tired to continue fighting, I think I could handle the last one but I’m going to take a breath and recover some of my energy here. After the things settled down a bit I could feel my stomach rumbling, screaming for something to eat.

Don’t judge me, I had to do this. Plus, it tasted alright. Bit too sweet but beggars can't be choosers. I’m going to meditate a bit.

Like waking up after a century of a sleep. I don’t think I´ve ever felt better. I feel light. My hands seem to have completely recovered. I wonder for how long I meditated. Son?

Hmm, where is Son? Oh. Seems he stayed fused with me the entire time. Well, it’s up to him either way. I thought he felt it was uncomfortable. Each to his own.

The smell has become a bit odd. Guessing the multi-legged based insect didn’t keep well. I’m a bit hungry but I won’t be eating this decaying thing. Time to get out of here.

Fresh air, amazing. Oh? This is strange, or rather, this is unexpected. I can instantly locate the third guardian of this Naturai tree. It has almost melded with the tree, near undetectable.

From an outside perspective that is. Hmm. I may have become closer to whatever energy these things are made of or use.

If I could look at myself I don’t doubt I’d look like a new born baby, I most likely smell like rot. When I turn my head I can see the outline of the third guardian. This is a familiar sight.

We’ve seen this before. Its energy, I actually see the energy it gives off. Hmm. I think we may have improved in some way. But what improved? Our sense?

Quick look at the skill list shows I haven’t gained anything. I’ve lost quite a bit of skill points though. Which is surprising since I usually gain a lot when I take down a guardian.

I’ve only got stakes on me at the moment. I could make my way towards the pile of spears I left on the tree platform. The stakes should do though, right? Worst case we’ll use two or three. This is a lot easier now that I can clearly see where its head is.

No reason to mess this up, breathe in. slowly make sure I channel the right amount of energy into the stake. Carefully aim. My right hand raised. Start a swing, activate rapid hand movement. Breathe out and release at the same time.

There it goes. It moved. It is slow. It is having a spasm or something, it’s shivering. I feel we may have taken out in one throw there. Hooo.

This would have been much easier had I been able to take one out at the start. Ye, they were incredibly quick but two is so much easier to deal with than three. There was a definite power creep between the Naturai guardians as I progressed.

Sometimes it feels like compatibility, like dealing with a quick enemy has been the hardest to overcome. Which may be a part of it, I wonder how someone could manufacture difficulty like this.

Ah! How could I forget? I wonder what they dropped. I’m expecting the world and more. You fucker better pay this time. Oi, you guys watching better be cheering me on.

Alright, clearly this thing hasn’t died yet. I haven't gotten any notification. Also a quick look around tells me that nothing dropped from the other two things. Or at least, not that I can see.

They are hanging from branches so we can assume things fell down. But we can also guess that drops would come from the last one standing, right?

Should we throw another stake into this thing for good measure? I feel like it deserves it. It might be a bit odd but it feels more comfortable to throw the stakes when they are covered in insect fluid.

These creatures bleed a liquid that is completely clear, sometimes the color changes a little but I think that isn’t its blood. Do insects have blood? I need to increase my biology knowledge.

I’m not taking any risks, staying alert as I make my way towards the newly assassinated insectoid. It’s still moving a bit, I’m guessing it is its death throes.

I’ve walked fairly close to it now, the clear liquid shimmers in the slight sunlight that has managed to squeeze its way through the canopy. The sweet scent is in conflict with the rotten aroma I must be exuding.

It’s almost pitiful, if it wasn’t so incredibly ugly. You know? It lacks any semblance to a person. I think that’s what makes it so hard to feel compassion for it.

Oh! Finally a notification popped up in the corner of my eyes. I better get some amazing rewards for this whole endeavor.