When the fire finally stopped burning, Landor said, "It's not over yet."
"What do you mean? Didn't we already destroy the grove?" Daren Asked. Landor shook his head and said, "We did destroy the grove. But the main tree still remains. It is the heart and soul of the grove. With the clones gone, it is now vulnerable, yes.
But I'm sure that given time, it can regrow the grove much faster. A millennium's worth of concentrated Life and Wood attributed essence isn't destroyed so easily."
Daren asked, "So what do we do now?"
"Not 'we'. You. You must kill the main tree. Only then will you be able to claim the Origin Bead," Landor replied. He led Daren to the main tree through the ashen remains. It had changed greatly.
Gone was the smooth and pale trunk. Gone was the mystical glow. The crown had also burned completely. Only a charred massive trunk remained, its roots twitching slightly.
Landor observed, "It seems the tree concentrated all of its remaining vitality in the trunk and roots. Here, this should help."
Landor gave one of his axes to Daren. Daren was able to pick it up due to his body tempering, but the size was too awkward. He thought, 'How fitting. Using an axe to cut down a tree. But doesn't Uncle Landor also have a Plant Anima? Why did he choose axes as his weapons?'
He took a deep breath and swung the axe towards the tree. And again. And again. Even after multiple attempts, he wasn't seeing any progress. It wasn't his fault. His swings were awkward at best. The concentrated vitality also made it much harder to 'kill' the tree.
The awkward size didn't help either. Landor wanted to intervene but stopped himself. Daren needed to be the one to do this. Daren stopped for a moment. He thought, 'I can't go on like this. The trunk is extremely tough and the vitality… Wait. Maybe there is hope yet.'
He handed the axe back to Landor and summoned his Anima. He could feel his Anima's greed. It wanted to drain the trunk. He smiled and let it do as it wanted. The hanging roots remained still for once. The main roots moved and connected to the Aspen's roots. He could feel them trying to drain the Aspen.
But it wasn't easy. It was fighting back. This was a new feeling for Daren as he had never drained a living being. He felt trickles of vitality entering his body. He could feel his Copper Skin and Jade Muscles absorbing the vitality. All was going well. Unfortunately, things changed faster than Daren could react.
He felt a sudden surge of vitality. It was as if a peaceful lake had been suddenly transformed into a rushing river. It was more vitality than his body could withstand. The flower buds on the roots bloomed and fell repeatedly, but it still wasn't enough. He felt his body quickly reaching its limits.
Landor, who was observing Daren carefully, understood what was going on. The Aspen had launched a last-ditch attack. It knew it was going to die. So it was going to take its killer down with it. It had flooded Daren's body with all the essence it had stored.
Landor was sweating with worry, but he still couldn't interfere. It wasn't even about the Origin Bead anymore. There was literally nothing that he could do. Daren, on the other hand, was feeling quite the opposite. He could feel his death approaching. He had felt this feeling once before. The first time he tried cultivation.
His mind went into overdrive. He could literally feel his brain overheating. He had to do something. Or else, his body would be destroyed… Maybe that was it. He suddenly had an idea. If his body was being destroyed, he would just heal it. He was a healer, after all. And he already had an overwhelming amount of Life attributed essence. He would survive.
Under Landor's surprised gaze, Daren actually smiled. But it wasn't his usual kind and childish smile. No, it hid something that Landor couldn't quite decipher. The hanging roots suddenly twisted and wrapped themselves around Daren. Landor thought, 'Daren's a smart kid. Surely–'
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of muffled screams. He looked at the cocoon of roots intently. It looked beautiful. The roots had woven themselves into a tight cocoon, and flowers were in full bloom.
But that beauty still couldn't stop the anguish that Landor felt every time he heard those screams. Landor had begun thinking of Daren as his own son. And no deserving father could bear their child's pain. But what worried him even more was that the screams had stopped. Was Daren… Dead?
Inside the cocoon, Daren was experiencing hell. His body was being destroyed and healed repeatedly by the same vitality. His nerves, stressed out from the extreme pain, actually began absorbing essence, and their colour began changing.
He held on as much as he could, but he was just a kid. There was a limit to his willpower. He became unconscious due to the pain, a self-preservation method by his brain, no doubt. Thankfully, though, the cycle of destruction and healing continued. But now that he was no longer conscious, something unpredictable happened.
An hour passed, and Landor was going almost mad from waiting. If he didn't have his patience from years of hunting, he didn't know what he would have done. He had only calmed himself down when he realised that Daren's Anima hadn't disappeared. Which could only mean one thing. He was still alive. But even that hope was dashed when he saw the Anima shimmer out of existence.
Daren's body dropped to the ground, on a bed of the previously fallen flowers. Landor rushed toward him and sighed in relief when he saw that the boy was breathing. He finally calmed down. Calm enough to notice that Daren had changed completely. His skin had gained a bright copper sheen. He could also see faint green and silver lights coming through.
Green meant Jade Muscles. But silver… That could only mean one thing. The vitality had allowed him to achieve the third stage of body tempering. Silver Nerves. These glows only appear when the Anima User achieves a new stage of body tempering, but the vitality had probably supercharged them, so they had all appeared again.
But that wasn't the change that Landor had noticed the most. He stared at the boy, torn between pride and disbelief. The copper sheen of tempered skin, the silver shimmer of newly-forged nerves — and beneath it all, a body swollen with condensed essence, soft yet unyielding. It wasn't normal fat. It was a burden born of power. A burden that was his to bear.