Depthless Hunger

Chapter 9: A Different Kind of Test

Kai kept his sword sheathed as he sprinted the remaining distance. Understanding the battle could be more important than entering it, especially because he couldn't be certain the humans were his allies. Four candidates about his age, all looking local to Monskon City. No, five - another one had been smashed into the ground, unconscious or dead.

His spiritual senses were a bit overwhelmed with all the rapidly moving fighters, but he could pick up a few things. Three out of the four had awakened their Classes, probably that very morning. The fact that they were having so much trouble against this monster was a bad sign.

That monster made him pause. From a distance he'd just seen branches and vines attacking them and figured it was some sort of monster tree. Now that he got up close, he could see that the humanoid form was merged with the center of the tree. It looked like the upper half of a voluptuous woman with bark-shaded skin and green hair. He still couldn't identify her, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that she was controlling the tree, even before she waved a hand and sent out another fist of branches.

One of the candidates was running toward the trunk, shielded by some sort of shell of blue mana. Whatever the shell was, the wooden fist punched straight through and sent him flying. Since Kai still hadn't drawn his sword, he was able to catch the man before he hit the ground.

"Thanks." The other candidate wiped some blood from his face as he briefly examined Kai. "I don't know who you are, but if you help us, we'll share the reward."

"Just what is this thing?" Kai asked as he drew his sword.

"No idea, but it's guarding a chest there. Look out for the vines, and it can also make roots grow from anywhere..."

Though the other man kept talking, Kai stopped listening to him when he saw the treasure. The wooden chest by the base of the tree looked like it could have come out of a children's story book. Nobody he knew would keep anything in a chest like that... now that he looked closer, it didn't even have a lock. Most likely the leaders had placed it as a reward for overcoming the challenge, but the oddity made Kai hesitate and look at the creature more carefully with his spiritual vision.

Name: ???

Total Power: 39

Dryad Class: 10

Soul Level: 3

>

For one second he was puzzled, then the next he realized that he'd been an idiot. He looked up to try to call to the others, but the person he'd been talking to was already running in again. Vines immediately lashed out at him, but that had only been a distraction.

A young woman in red robes leapt over her ally, both her hands burning with dark mana. It looked like she'd intended to grab the humanoid in the trunk, but she didn't get close. Several of the upper boughs bent lower, sweeping her out of the air and into some of the other fighters.

Kai spotted one of the others remaining at a distance, gathering mana. It was the man who had reached the shrine before him the previous day and become a Flamecaster, and it looked like he had developed his control significantly since then. Before he could fire, Kai ran in his direction.

"Wait!" he called. "Use your spiritual sight!"

The other candidate narrowed his eyes in the direction of the tree, frowned, then pumped more mana into his fireball. "It's stronger than I thought. Distract it and I'll put everything I have into one flame."

"That's not what I-" Too late. The others listened to what the Flamecaster said and attacked from all sides.

All of them were quickly knocked away, but the next moment a torrent of flame erupted from the Flamecaster. Several boughs bent down to block it, only for the flame to burn directly through. When the column reached the humanoid in the center, she raised a wooden arm. Power swelled around her, resisting the flames, but leaves were burning all around the beam.

Kai dropped his sword and instead grabbed the other man's arms, pulling the beam upward. Immediately he felt resistance and the flames turned toward him. Before he could be incinerated, Kai slapped the Flamecaster across the face as hard as he could.

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That shock was enough to quench the flames, and the other man seemed to have exhausted most of his strength. All of his allies turned on Kai, confused but more than ready to fight. Before the situation could turn bad, Kai raised his arms and spoke to all of them.

"Have any of you used your spiritual vision on monsters? Have you ever seen one that had a name or Class? If she has both, she must not be a monster." Of course, Kai couldn't take all the credit for that observation. When he'd asked Gunjin about all the races that existed in the world, Gunjin had told him that the difference was clear in spiritual vision.

Only now did he understand how clear it was. Not every nation in the world was locked in a war with monsters, but they all saw the difference in soul as sharply as black and white.

His argument got through to them and the group hesitated. Some looked to their fallen comrade, but it seemed that he was still alive, just stunned. As they finally stood down and released their techniques, the woman in the tree let out a long yawn.

"Oh, thank goodness. This was getting very tiresome." Her voice sounded surprisingly human, and she covered her mouth while she yawned just like a human would. "At least I can go to sleep now."

"If you're not a monster, what are you doing here?" the Flamecaster asked.

"Your leaders asked me to help." The dryad, if that's what she was, lowered a branch in front of her and leaned forward onto it with her arms crossed in front of her. It made her breasts pillow in a very distracting way and Kai did his best to remain respectful. "They said they were worried that their children were too eager to fight. Seems like it."

"Then we weren't supposed to fight you for the chest?"

"Nope. Please go away now." She settled in deeper into her leaves, surprisingly laid back for a being who had minutes before been fighting all of them.

The group didn't look happy about it, but after some conversation, they picked up their injured companion and departed. A few shot him an angry glance even though it wasn't his fault. Kai just picked up his sword and waited for them to get some distance away before he approached the tree. Up close, the dryad really did look remarkably human, and her skin didn't look quite so bark-like. He found himself wondering how it would feel and shoved that thought out of his mind.

"Uh, excuse me... is it okay if we talk?"

"I would rather not." The dryad looked up from her branch as if she'd much rather be asleep. "But I suppose you passed the test. Good job. Good human. Are you happy now?"

"I've never met someone like you," Kai said, and immediately felt as awkward as a teenager. "Should we have known your, uh, people?"

"Probably not. You know what's south of Goralia?"

"I thought it was just wilderness."

"More or less, but some of us live there. I'm from far, far to the south." The dryad let out a long yawn and pushed herself up a little to look at him, which made clear that she was wearing nothing but leaves. "Humans are always running around, hacking and burning things. It's very disruptive."

Kai swallowed, unsure where to take that. Eventually he glanced down toward the chest. The treasure chest. "If we weren't supposed to fight you, then what about that treasure? Was it just bait?"

"Oh that. You only have to ask for it without attacking me. Why don't you go take a look?"

He approached the base of the tree carefully, expecting to be swatted at any moment, and knelt down next to the chest. Now that he looked up close, he saw that the wood had an almost identical appearance to the rest of the tree, but wasn't attached to the dryad. There was an ordinary enough hinge, so he opened the lid. All that it contained was a cushion with three pills atop it.

No, seeds. The pale green spheres radiated mana like strengthening potions, but he felt certain that they were alive. So there was a reward after all.

"Do I take one of these?" he asked. The dryad looked over his shoulder and blinked a few times.

"You know, I'm not sure. If you take them all, I can go to sleep, so why don't you do that?"

"Thank you." Kai took the three seeds carefully, but even up close he couldn't make anything of them, with spiritual or normal vision. "Can you tell me what these are?"

"Mana seedlings." The dryad answered as if she expected him to understand that, and when he obviously didn't, sighed and went on in a lower voice. "They will enhance your growth, but only under specific circumstances. You should eat one of them before you enter a dangerous situation. If you're having trouble developing, it could help you over the obstacle."

"Should I save them for when I get stuck, then?"

"They'll probably grow less effective the stronger you become. These are for seedlings, after all." She patted him absentmindedly on the head and then settled back onto her branch. "I guess you aren't so bad, but I'm tired of talking now."

That seemed to be the end of the conversation as far as she was concerned. Kai thanked her a few more times and backed away. The seeds burned in his palm the entire time, emitting huge amounts of mana. He'd heard of items like this, and it wasn't surprising that they'd be placed within the Hunter Trials, but he hadn't expected to find any so soon.

As he walked away, Kai considered his options. He placed two of the mana seedlings into a very secure pouch within his sack, where they'd be safest. The last he kept in his hand, both in case it was necessary and to think about it. His gut instinct was to save them, but the dryad had said they'd be less useful that way. Picking the right time to use them would be difficult.

He'd lost several hours in his early travels, but the majority of the second day still stretched before him. It probably made sense to use all three mana seedlings during the Hunter Trials, so he just needed to figure out when the most "dangerous situations" would be. The trials were intended to push them to their limits, so opportunities were sure to come up, he just didn't want to waste the seedlings on a trick like the dryad.

Less than an hour later, Kai spotted a cloud of dust on the horizon. He shielded his eyes and made out a group of the monster boars: only about half the group, and not including the largest. They weren't moving toward him, so he could simply let them run on.

Instead, Kai swallowed the first of the mana seedlings and ran into battle.

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