After the moment of happiness passed, Lucas turned his attention to the second warning and checked his Health Points; the smile disappeared from his face. There were only five of them left… His sweat turned cold, as he started to retreat faster. Maybe it wasn’t him that was allowing the other to live in the end; if the Vodyanoy was willing to do everything it could to protect its children, Lucas would be dead.

What is that consumption rate?, he thought, shocked. He knew he had taken a lot of damage during the fight, but that should only have taken a little over a hundred of his health. That meant the other hundred and something was solely due to his new technique… that was scary.

Sure, it had a powerful effect and allowed him to virtually win the battle, but it made him get really close to dying in the most stupid manner. He imagined the Vodyanoy coming at him at full speed, only for him to drop dead seconds before it reached him, with his Health Points drained to zero.

“I can’t use that power for the time being,” he muttered to himself after putting some distance between him and the frog-man. That consumption rate was just too big for someone at his level to endure. It probably wasn’t meant to be used by a level ten, he thought later.

It could drain his health in five minutes, and even if he could use to take down his foe, if there were any other enemies around, just waiting for the right moment to attack, he would be done for. Right now, he was extremely vulnerable in the middle of the woods, and it would take some time for him to recover, so he moved cautiously in the direction of the Dark Forest to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

On the way, Lucas thought about the fight. If it weren’t for his newfound confidence in his new power, he wouldn’t have gained the upper hand. His carelessness towards the end and the disregard for his own safety allowed him take control of the fight and go on the offensive.

Had he known earlier that his health was dropping fast, he wouldn’t have been so confident and probably would have had to run for his life in the end. That made him think: was he taking the wrong approach in fights this whole time? Should he take more risks during battles?

His weak body led him to be more careful during fights, dodging every time an attack came his way and choosing his attacks more carefully. He had learned to fight on his own, he had no idea if this was the right approach, but that was another thing to look into when he arrived at the city. Maybe they have something that could help me, he thought.

Lucas didn’t find Rick after passing the sign, and the fog was already gone when he arrived at the skeleton. That meant things didn’t reset when he left. He dropped to the ground near Faruk’s body.

It was good to see the familiar figure, even if this familiar figure was a thousand-year-old skeleton. He realized that being alone all the time was likely taking a toll on him. Despite not being the social type, he was used to seeing people all the time before the transition, and it felt weird going weeks without seeing anyone—well, anyone that wasn’t trying to kill him, that is.

His first encounter with people had been fine, and he had even made some friends; however, the second was pretty bad—to put it mildly—ending up with him killing someone and running for his life afterward. However, he couldn’t hide in his shell forever; he would have to come out eventually, and he felt that his time in this forest was almost over.

He took time to recover. He had made a lot of progress in the last few days, expanding the distance his aura could reach, but still came up short when it comes to reaching the orb down below. It was just too deep, and now, after his new skill popped up, he knew he couldn’t upgrade it anytime soon, and there was probably no other way through which he could further extend it; 7 feet was his limit.

Deciding there was nothing else left for him to do, he started walking towards the ancient tree after recovering some of his Health Points. There weren’t any beasts on the way to the tree the first time he went there, but he chose to be careful anyway.

“I see you are back,” the tree greeted him when he arrived. “No groping this time?”

“Shouldn’t a million-year-old tree be a little more mature?”

“And where’s the fun in that?” it replied. “So, have you figured out how to connect with the orb?”

“Partially,” Lucas explained. “I know a way that I probably could use to connect with it: my death aura.”

“Your… death aura?” The tree seemed surprise, as if it never expected this to be his answer.

“Yes, I have found this death aura on my body and learned to control it.”

“How do you know it’s a death aura?” the tree interrupted.

“Well, it feels pretty similar to the aura the fog emitted and the orb as well. Here, I’ll show you.” Lucas said, and he started emanating his death aura near the tree.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Stop!” it said urgently, and Lucas stopped. “How… It must be your constitution. I didn’t know this was possible.” The tree seemed extremely taken aback, which surprised Lucas.

“Isn’t it the same as controlling dark mana?” He had learned this term from Faruk’s journal and believed that the effects were pretty close to his usage of the aura.

“Mana and aura are different things,” the tree began to say. “The usage of dark mana is something that can be learned. There are, of course, predispositions that make it easier or harder, but the aura isn’t really something normal beings can use.”

“What do you mean?” Lucas was confused. It had been so easy for him to find the death aura inside him; could the others not do the same?

“Well, to begin with, I believe for one to possess a death aura, the being should at least be dead first.” The tree didn’t let him voice his surprise as it continued. “But I believe not only do you possess the death aura, but you should also have a life aura, like myself. That constitution of yours must be really something. How did you get it?”

“Hm… It was because of this disease I had…” Lucas didn’t really want to say anything further; he hadn’t given it too much thought, but he realized on the spot he kind of wanted to leave this whole disease thing in the past.

“Well, it probably wasn’t just that,” the tree said, realizing his reluctance to share more. “The System doesn’t give things willy-nilly like that; you must have made an impression on them. Either way, the coexistence of both auras in your body plus your special constitution is probably the reason why you can manipulate death aura.”

Lucas thought about what the tree said and came to the conclusion that it made sense. He was surprised by the rarity of his death aura, especially the part where it said only dead beings had them. Did he mean undead or other things? Despite his curiosity, he didn’t ask; he would probably find out eventually anyway. Instead, he asked the other question on his mind.

“What about the life aura? Is it rare?”

“Amongst humans, probably. But there are a lot of beings that have them; trees are one of them. But don’t fool yourself thinking that you can rely entirely on auras. They can be of great help, sure, but you’ll need more than that if you want to become strong. And if you choose to follow the path of the necromancer, you will need to learn to control dark mana.”

Lucas nodded. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to follow Faruk’s path, despite likely having an innate talent for it. He had grown out of his distaste for the profession, but he still wasn’t sure that was a path he wanted to pursue. Lucas really liked being on the frontlines fighting, and a necromancer seemed like a class who engaged in a different kind of battle. But he still chose to not rule it out; maybe he could be a fighting necromancer. There was a first for everything, wasn’t there?

“I understand. Well, anyway, I have learned to control the aura in order to get in contact with the orb, but I can only reach 7 feet with it, and the orb is buried many feet underground. So I came to ask you if you have any ideas on how I can close this gap.”

“Why don’t you just dig?” the tree said, like it was the most obvious thing.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me I could do this earlier?” Lucas replied, furious after having racked his brain for days trying to think of a solution to this problem. He had even learned how to control his aura for this sole purpose, and the tree was saying he could’ve dug this whole time?

“Forgive me for assuming you weren’t stupid,” the tree began, and continued before Lucas could curse back. “It isn’t like you can dig all the way through the orb; it would repel you. But seven feet apart should be fine.”

Lucas calmed himself. In the end, his training would be useful, but he was still a little nervous. To be killed on purpose seemed like a really dumb idea, no matter how you put it. But first…

“Hey, can’t you dig? You are a tree, after all,” Lucas said, dreading the work that would be required to dig almost all the way to the orb.

“Did trees used to dig in your planet?” it retorted.

“Huh. No, but they didn’t talk either. Don’t you have some earth-related skills or something?”

“Well… yes, I do. But I think the work might do you some good,” it said briefly.

Lucas couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Come on, don’t be an ass. Don’t forget, I still didn’t fulfill your last condition,” Lucas half-threatened it.

“You humans and your pettiness. Alright, I’ll help you out this time, but I’ll tell you this laziness might kill you some day.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve literally just stood there for the last millennia. If I’m lazy, what are you?”

“I’m a tree,” it said very truthfully. “Now, let’s get this over with already.”

Before Lucas could say anything, he felt the air around him shift. He could tell that some force was being operated, even though he couldn’t say what it was. Five minutes later, the tree talked again.

“Done.”

“That easy?” Lucas almost couldn’t believe it. It had just been five minutes; not only was the orb deep underground, but it was also several miles away.

“I told you, I have domain over this forest. Now go; I’ll meet you there tomorrow morning, after you’ve recovered.”

Lucas suspected the tree could feel that his Vitality wasn’t at its full, but he didn’t say anything. Talking to the tree was hard; he never knew what to expect. Its answers and personality seemed to shift all the time. Sometimes he felt that he was talking to a wise ancient being, and sometimes he felt like a literal clown was provoking him. He wondered if all the trees were like that. Before he left, however, he remembered another thing he wanted to ask.

“Just one more thing,” Lucas said. “When I reached level ten, an asterisk appeared next to my level. Do you, by any chance, know what this means?”

“It means you’ve reached the maximum level a human can reach without a class,” the tree answered on the spot, confirming Lucas’ fears that he had capped out on his level.

That told him even more about the System way of doing things. It wouldn’t tell you exactly what to do, but as time passed, it would become obvious to anyone who was paying attention. He needed to go to the city if he wanted to keep gaining levels, and probably everyone would reach this conclusion sooner or later. Lucas sighed, thanked the tree and left.

Lucas walked the way back, thinking of what he was about to do. All these days of hard work would come to a conclusion soon. He had met this forest by accident and had already profited plenty with the belongings of the mage and the map given to him by the NPC. However, he wouldn’t feel complete if he didn’t get the orb after all the trouble he went through to get it.

The next day would define if he had succeeded or failed.