Assimilate All Talents-Chapter 393 - 392: Essence of the Yggtree

Two days of traveling later, Sol, Thorwyn, and Amber had drawn much closer to the Yggtree. If they thought it was massive from a distance, now they couldn't even take in its full height without tilting their heads all the way up and down.

But the sense of awe it inspired didn't come just from its size.

Sol paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and let the ambient energy surrounding them flow into his body.

[Absorbed faint essence of the Yggtree! Gained 10 Exp.]

"To think there's another way to gain experience besides killing. And I doubt that's even its main effect."

The closer they got to the Yggtree, the more abundant the mysterious energy became. It wasn't like mana, or psychic energy, or anything else he recognized. Mana could control elements, psychic energy bent the world through willpower, but this was something different. This was pure, endless vitality.

The system had called it the essence of the Yggtree, confirming his suspicion that it originated from the massive tree.

After absorbing it, he felt his stamina, mana, and even psychic energy recover more quickly.

Absorbing the essence of the Yggtree speeds up my recovery by about 20%, and a small portion of it becomes experience... though the amount is pitiful. I'd need to stay here absorbing it for years to level up once. But... this is from far away. What if I got closer to the tree itself?

He was tempted to try, but he knew that would be suicidal. The elves were already hunting him, and heading toward their capital, Yggmasera, would only make things worse.

"At least this answers a few of my questions." Sol gave a quiet nod to himself.

"Hyuu? (What questions?)" Thorwyn asked, tilting his head. Sol hadn't mentioned any of this until now.

"Well, look around. We're under the shade of the Yggtree, and barely any sunlight reaches the forest floor. So how are there so many trees? And why do they get bigger and healthier the closer we get to it?"

While some sunlight did manage to filter through the Yggtree's massive branches, it wasn't much. Normally, it would be impossible for so much vegetation to thrive in this kind of shade, but here, it was the opposite. The trees weren't feeding on sunlight. They were feeding on the essence of the Yggtree, which was far more potent than what sunlight could offer.

"On top of that, animals here—"

Sol stopped mid-sentence. A flicker of alarm passed through him as [Seeker's Map] lit up. But unlike before, this time he immediately recognized the feeling.

"Amber—!" he shouted, turning in her direction, only to see she had already vanished. Realizing she didn't need any warning, he faced Thorwyn instead.

"Get ready. They found us."

Startled, the Raijin glanced around but didn't see anything unusual. "Awroo?! (Where are they?!)"

"All around us."

As the words left his mouth, several gates shimmered into existence around them, and from each, elves stepped out.

In an instant, Sol and Thorwyn were surrounded by eight elves of various subraces. Two of them, Sol recognized from the previous encounter, Jendar and Simina. Brandle, the sun elf, wasn't among them, he was still recovering from his spell's backlash.

Sol scanned the group before locking eyes with Jendar and Simina.

"I seriously don't think eight A-Rankers are warranted. What if we took a step—"

"Keep your eyes open. The Speaker said there were three." Jendar cut him off, warning the others. Then, with a sharp command, he shouted, "Attack!"

As the command left Jendar's mouth, the clearing exploded into motion.

The eight A-Rank elves moved with seamless coordination, swift and lethal. Arrows, spells, and weapons rained down, but Sol and Thorwyn were already gone from where they stood.

Thorwyn activated [Descent of White Lightning], boosting his speed and reflexes, and leapt high into the sky while Sol used [Ethereal Traversal] to dive underground just as a barrage of attacks struck their previous location.

Seeing Sol slip beneath the earth, Jendar barked, "Urthl! Talma!"

Urthl, an earth elf, nodded as he raised his abnormally large hammer. "On it! [Mountain Splitter]!"

Talma, a sky elf, spun her staff as well and chanted, "[Wind Grasp]!"

Urthl slammed his hammer into the ground, sending shockwaves deep into the earth. At the same time, Talma directed the winds into a swirling dome above, trapping Thorwyn mid-air.

Thorwyn raised his lightning coated claws and slashed through the wind barrier, managing to cut it apart, but not fast enough as another finished his preparations.

The wood elf, Kinrel, struck while he was momentarily detained. Without a word, he placed both hands on the ground and channeled his Law Technique, [Vine Master]. Over a hundred vines erupted from the ground, thick and fast, and began coiling around Thorwyn and tying him down.

Thorwyn roared, tearing at the vines, but for every one he destroyed, two more took its place. He tried to burn them with lightning, but the vines were replaced faster than he could burn.

"Thorwyn! Don't worry, I'm coming!" Sol called out as he emerged from the broken earth.

"Worry about yourself!" Jendar snapped, releasing a volley of magic arrows.

Minfessel, the sea elf, and Figmar, the snow elf, joined him in the attack, launching torrents of water and ice spears in a deadly combination.

Sol didn't flinch. Activating the [Short Warp] skill from the Singularity Band, he vanished from the ravine and reappeared high above the battlefield, right next to Thorwyn, who was now almost fully engulfed in the vines.

He used [Telekinesis] to create an invisible platform beneath his feet. The moment he stabilized himself, he locked eyes on Kinrel and used [Lesser Channel Control] to grab hold of his law technique and sealed it.

With Kinrel's law technique sealed, he found himself unable to summon or control vines. "He sealed my law technique!"

Sol drew his Lipon, which flared into a blazing sword, and slashed through the vines encasing Thorwyn in one swift motion.

Freed, Thorwyn began to fall, until Sol expanded the telekinetic platform to support him as well.

"Awroo! (Thanks!)" Thorwyn growled with gratitude, releasing a burst of lightning that scorched away the last of the vines.

Sol smiled. "No problem. But we're not out of it yet, buddy—watch out!"