Landor continued, "Talking about roots, check your Anima. As I have mentioned before, the first Origin Bead results in the most obvious changes."
Daren nodded and summoned his tree Anima. The Banyan Tree appeared behind him. Daren and Landor both began walking around it, assessing the changes that had taken place. There were some changes that were physically apparent. First, the tree had grown taller, its crown had become lusher, and the roots, both hanging and main, had grown quite a bit in terms of thickness and length.
The second major change they noticed was the flowers. The violet flowers had become larger, and they could see small wine colored fruits that resembled lemons. Landor commented, "That's new."
Daren nodded and replied, "I can feel that they aren't ripe yet."
"And their effects?" asked Landor. Daren closed his eyes for a few minutes and replied, "Same as the flowers. But a lot more… concentrated? I'm not sure if that is the right word."
Landor chuckled and replied, "The word you're looking for is potent. Hmmm… It's not what I expected, that's for sure."
Daren asked, "What did you expect?"
Landor replied, "While aspen trees do bear fruit, they are not edible. Their sole purpose is to spread seeds. I had expected the berries to do the same. Something like trees growing wherever the seeds land, I guess."
Daren looked at Landor curiously as he asked, "Uncle Landor, you know a lot about plants, don't you?"
Landor scratched his nose as he replied, "Well, I spent a good chunk of my childhood in the Free Territories. And you tend to pick things up in that place."
Daren was surprised. He hadn't known that. Well, now that Daren realised it, even though they had been living together for the past year, he didn't know much about Landor. He looked up and said, "You must tell me about the Free territories sometime, Uncle Landor."
Landor ruffled his hair and replied, "I will, once we get back. Right now, you should focus on further experiencing the changes that your Anima went through. This will also manifest your first Anima Skill."
Daren asked doubtfully, "Manifest? Haven't I already absorbed the Origin Bead?"
Landor replied, "You have. You already have everything. You just need to push that door open."
Daren was a bit confused, but he still hummed in reply and sat down. He closed his eyes and began sensing his Anima. He could feel it. The main roots, how they could spread far and wide underground. The trunk and the durability that it provided. He felt everything. He could move the hanging roots much more easily now. Maybe it was due to the Silver Nerves, but it wasn't nearly as taxing to multiple roots at the same time now. He tried sensing even further within.
And finally, he could sense it. The doors that Landor spoke about. He finally understood what he had meant. Daren pushed the metaphorical gate open, and he felt the world respond in reply. It was extremely brief, but he had seen the Aspen again.
Before he could make sense of what was going on, his back began stinging, freeing him from the trance. His eyes opened suddenly and widened as he felt the burning sensation. It wasn't just physical. It went deeper than that.
Landor looked at all this calmly. After all, he had gone through something similar both times he had absorbed his Origin Beads. He walked around Daren curiously to see where the Anima Tattoo, a physical manifestation of the Anima Skill, would appear on Daren's body. He stopped when he saw Daren's back.
A glowing dot had appeared in the centre of Daren's back. It began expanding outwards, and Landor soon smiled. Although there wasn't any actual evidence to prove this, the tribal villages of Reed Plains believed that the size of the Anima Tattoo was directly proportional to the compatibility of the Anima User and the Animakin.
And from what he was seeing, their choice of the Hundred Roots Aspen had been perfect. Because the expanding dot had soon covered Daren's entire back. When the glow dimmed, Landor could see an extremely realistic Hundred Roots Aspen in its place.
Landor heard a faint murmur, "It doesn't even help in fights. Its just…Its just planting trees!!"
Before Landor could ask what had happened, Daren suddenly exclaimed sadly, "Why!!"
Landor asked hurriedly, "What happened?"
Daren replied, "My Anima Skill is useless. It doesn't attack, it doesn't heal, and I can't use it while hunting."
Landor came in front of him as he replied, "That doesn't make sense. With a compatibility this high, you should have a pretty powerful skill."
Daren pouted, "It isn't. It's a stupid skill. I hate it."
Landor began worrying. He asked, "Daren, what's the skill?"
Daren replied, his dissatisfaction extremely apparent in his voice, "Its name is Evergrove Seed. To use it, I first need to spend a lot of essence to condense an Evergrove Seed. Then I can plant that seed, and a tree similar to the Aspen's main tree will grow from it. Then, as time passes, its roots will expand and a grove of clone trees will grow around it, just like the Hundred Roots Aspen's grove. And I can only use it once every ten levels."
Although Daren couldn't see it, Landor was getting more and more shocked as he continued speaking.
He continued, "Right now, I'm Level 11, so I can only condense one Evergrove Seed. As if that wasn't enough, if the main tree dies, the entire grove dies. And it's gone forever. I can't just condense another seed. Oh, I can't even transplant the main tree. Once I choose the location, it's permanent. Why do things like these happen to me?"
Daren looked at Landor, hoping that he would console him. But he got confused instead. Landor's eyes and mouth were wide open, and he was clenching his fists. Daren muttered, "Uncle Landor is probably shocked by how utterly useless the skill is as well."
These words seemed to pull Landor from the shock. He coughed and said solemnly, "Daren. This… isn't a useless skill. Do you understand what a skill like this means?"