CHAPTER 27: TO THE FORT (3)

"So how are we supposed to manage a Gold ranked entity?" Kama helpfully points out. And she does have a point we are all only mid tier Cooper nearly 3 full tiers below this creature. It could without exaggeration look at us funny and we could die, well assuming it has eyes anyway.

"Well I can at least try to talk to it?" I hesitantly suggest. To which Kana glares at me.

"You are not about to just walk up to a man eating monster plant to have a chat, that is not happening." She firmly shoots down that as an option.

"Well I don’t see any other options here do you?" I rebuff. "I even have that title now that makes all nature aligned flora and fauna view me favourably." I point out.

"Yeah it could also just view you so favourably that it decides it wants to keep you and just grabs you and drags you into its lair and doesn’t let you go." Kana states.

I squint back at her. "Now that’s an exaggeration. Besides it’s not like I’m going to try this by just walking into the middle of the valley and trying this I’ll do it right at the edge and out of range of its vines. If it gets aggressive then I have my speed boosting artifact to get away." At this i cross my arms and match the glare she is giving me .

At this Kana just sighs. "Why are you so determined to rush headlong into danger Lilly?" This time her voice cracks towards the end and I can tell that in reality she is just scared for me and doesn’t want me to get hurt or possibly killed.

Seeing this I take a deep breath to cool off and give it a solid think. Whilst yes I have been a bit gun-ho about diving into dangerous situations ever since arriving into this world I also just find myself enjoying that sense of danger. Not enough that I want to die or anything but I cannt lie and say that the danger can be quite exciting.

I also try to look objectively at this particular situation. Here is a giant Gold ranked entity that could easily kill me. And the pressure it naturally exudes is honestly quite terrifying. But at the same time I feel no hostility from it at all. If anything it feels almost... soothing? Peaceful? It’s hard to pin the exact feeling down but I can feel it in my gut that this entity means me no harm.

So I look up at Kana after processing this and explain. "I’m sorry if I am worrying you but I enjoy a little danger. But in this particular instance I feel no animosity towards me from the Living Vine. Yes I feel the pressure it exudes but to me it just feel benevolent but powerful."

This time both women look at me in slight confusion, and it is Amanda that speak up first. "What do you mean it doesn’t feel hostile? For me it feels like if I were to take a single step closer I will die. The only reason I haven’t stepped back by now is that you don’t seem to want to move away." At this Kana also nods in agreement.

"Hu." I eloquently state. "I gues it must like me after all then. Because as I said to me it really does feel quite nice, terrifying in its power but not hostile in any way." This gets the girls thinking.

"It seems that your mix of affinities and titles really are helping you out here!" Amanda states with a small smile. "Knew you were the right one for the job."

Kama meanwhile still looks somewhat pensive about the whole situation so I try to ease her somewhat. "Think anout it Kana, I am quite literally the only person other than another gold ranker that has any chance to go in there and return unharmed. Think of all the potential riches I could snap up eh?" I give her a playful wink at that. "I’ll make sure that I pick you up something pretty, maybe I’ll get lucky and find something in leather for you?" I lean forwards and whisper the last part into her ear causing a vissable shivver to travel up her spine and a flush to cover her face.

After a moment she manages to force a pout onto her face and mumbles. "No fair that’s cheating!" I cannt help myself and pull her down for a kiss that lasts a bit longer than I initially planned as she gladly accepts my tongue and we swap saliva. We only separate when a embarrassed cough comes from our side.

This time I flus a bit and laugh awkwardly. "Sorry Amanda got a touch carried away there." I say feeling a touch bad.

"Humf." She does a little playful stomp. "You could kiss me to make up for it then." I pause splinting at her to see the blush that covered her face, giving a quick glance at Kana I see her give me a small nod of approval. So shrugging I decide to do exactly as she asked off me. I walk up to her side and gently cup her chin directing her to look at me, once our eyes look I get up on my tip toes and pull her head down to mine as I pull her in for our first kiss.

I start gently just with a simple pres of my lips to hers, I feel her stiffen up at the sudden move but she quickly relaxes into my arms and reciprocates the kiss. I deepen it by adding a touch of tongue but nothing too dramatic as I get the feeling that she is quite new to anything like this. After a couple of minutes I slowly pull back and watch as she opens her eyes to show me her changed eyes, they are no longer her usual brown but have changed into a deep crimson that seems to glow in the low light.

"Wow your eyes are beautiful." I cannt help but say. This seems to snap her out of whatever mood she was in as she shakes her head and blinks, when she opens her eyes once more they are back to her usual brown. "Hu you eyes just changed back!? How did you manage that?"

She seems a touch embarrassed but answers non the less. "When my mind is either well fed on blood or in heightened emotional states our eyes change colour."

"That is pretty cool not going to lie." She seems a touch bashful at that compliment.

"Alright but enough distractions. I need to go investigate this place and I want to get it done tonight before it gets dark." With the mood sufficiently dampened I give them both a smile. "Look I’ll try to be back in a couple hours so head back a bit and set up a camp. Worse case scenario I stay the night down that and I’ll be back in the morning but I will be back. No little vine can keep me away from you both." I smile as I say this eager to dispel their worries.

Huffing in reluctant agreement Kana gives me a quick hug and wishes me good luck whilst Amanda nods silently at me. I do dump out the tent and some food stuff so they can eat and be undercover while I’m gone though.

With that sorted I begin my walk into the valley. I try to spread my senses out and see if I can interact with this Living Vine

in any meaningful way but so far it just feels like it is in a dormant but defensive mode and thanks to my nature I am viewed as an exception to its defences. I reach the entrance to the valley which is around 50m in width the valley then defends down a slight slope for a short distance before it levels out and opens up into a quite spacious and secluded area. On all sides bar the entrance high cliff walls create a impassable terrain and leave a mostly circular area of around 1km in diameter. The Fort is located in the back half of this area with crumbling walls encircling it. As for the Living vine itself, well it is everywhere.

The vines cover nearly every surface in a tangled web and even reach most of the way up the cliff walls the farthest vine is no no more than a dozen meters in front of me but based on its winding path to get here it could easily shoot forward by double its current length. The vines all seem to originate from within the Fort itself almost like a nexus where it all began.

Stedying my nerves I slowly walk forwards towards the nearest vine and carefully crouch down and extent my hand. I gently touch the vine and send a small pulse of Natures Touch into it and try to send across the idea that I come in peace and do not want to cause it any harm. I also try to impress the thought that I would love to convers with it, although I feel like that one may be a bit of a long shot.

After waiting a minute with no response a try again but this time holding my spell for a solid minute thinking. That it maybe couldn’t feel such a short burst of healing. This time there is a reaction.

The vine slowly wiggles? It moves gently back and forth in a seemingly happy motion and even goes so far as to gently wrap around my wrist for a moment before it falls back to the ground. It almost seems like it is exhausted and that is all the energy it can spare.

I’m not quite sure how I know this but I can feel something deep in my soul similar to how I reacted with the owl the other day. I somehow know that whilst yes this vine is powerful, it is also extremely weak for its rank and is barely holding on. I feel a profound sense of saddness over this realisation as if it is not right that such an entity should suffer and if my first thoughts are right then it has been suffering for a very long time.

Squaring my shoulders I shift my dress to its battle form to maximise my mana regen and I work on some new magic. Similar to how Natures Touch speeds up the natural healing of an organism by using the mana I provide as the fuel I want to do something similar but in a grander scale. I mix concepts from Nature moulding into the idea of healing instead of controlling and try to spread my man out around me in a perpetual dome of life where within its radius all life will be renewed.

Suddenly I feel something click into place and my mana surges out of my body in an explosion of life reaching up to 10 meters from my body, the mana drain is prodigious but thanks to my stacking mana recovery boons and items I am able to stay net neutral as I am pumping my entire regen into this effect.

[Congratulations you have unlocked the Innate Skill - Aura of Life

Aura of Life - around you death is but an illusion. Continually stimulate life, healing and growth for all friendly flora and fauna within your area of influence. Adversely this effect can be inverted to any hosties that enter your domain. Radius is determined by mana provided.]

Feeling a smile grace my lips I slowly make my way into the valley, where I walk new grass grows and the vines in front of me slowly move out of my way as if welcoming my into its domain.

———-

Once again guys thanks for reading so far! This is my first story that iv actually published so it’s quite surreal to know that over 10,000 people have read it so far!

Please do let me know your thoughts always happy to revive any feedback and comments!