Chapter 1: Lavender the Dryad
It was just another peaceful morning out in the forest; birds were happily chirping while flying through the canopy of trees, nocturnal beasts were heading to rest while every other beast was beginning to awaken from their slumber. Deep in the forest, where the more powerful beasts resided, there was a heavily injured and disheveled human woman lying on the ground with ragged breaths; she also seemed to be holding something close to her body tightly in a protective manner.
A few minutes go by with the woman just lying there while the sun's light slips through the thick canopy of trees and illuminates her body as if a beacon; however, all of a sudden, a hand starts erupting from the trunk of a nearby tree, which goes unnoticed by the injured women. Along with the hand comes an arm, and then quickly, the tree managed to form an entire body in a matter of seconds; once the womanly body has been completely formed, it, or I should say she, separates her body from the tree and gracefully lands on the ground below before eyeing the injured human before her.
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'The plants were not lying; there really is a human here. Weird, this forest is quite deserted, not a single village, settlement, or town within a two-hundred-kilometer range, so why is there a human woman here?' Lavender thought in confusion as she approached the injured woman.
"Analyze." Said Lavender quietly as she used her ability to check the women's status.
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Name: Silo Augustus
Species: High-Human
Age: 87.8 years
Tier: 1
Level: 53
Experience :[56%]
Class: Villager(Common)
Sub-Class:
Title(s):
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Lifeforce: 2%↓
Mana: 0/ 3,678
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Condition: Severe bleeding, Severe mana exhaustion, Severe weakness, Severe exhaustion, Poisoned.
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What I found surprised me; it's believed High-Humans have long since gone extinct after the great war between the Humans, Elves, and Demons that took place thousands of years ago, yet before my very eyes was a High-Human; granted, it didn't look like she would live for much longer.
Still, what confused me about her was how did she even arrive here? The injuries she sustained are, without a doubt, from a sword or a bladed weapon, meaning none of the beasts in this forest have harmed her, and she has the class of a villager, meaning while it is possible, it is doubtful that she happened to be near this forest when she was assaulted.
"Meaning the most likely case was that she fled from her attackers and ran over two-hundred kilometers non-stop with those injuries. No, that can't be it; if she had a combat-oriented class and some skills, I'd believe it; however, she is merely a level 50 villager with no combat-related skills." Muttered Lavender in confusion as she bent down and gently rolled the woman onto her back, only for the confusion she felt to be cleared up.
"I see; that makes much more sense. When a child's life is in danger, a mother can do things previously thought impossible." Said lavender with a small smile of sadness and respect as she looked at the newborn wrapped in a blanket, tightly held by the women.
As much as I wished to help the mother, I wasn't in the best condition to do so, not to mention I didn't have any healing skills potent enough, nor did I have a Class specifically related to health, vitality, and or vigor.
'If she had at least 10% of her life force, I could've possibly prolonged her life by an hour or two.' Thought Lavender in sadness as she reached down and attempted to grab the baby, though the women's grip tightened when she did.
Looking at her eyes, I could tell she was only acting on her subconscious; even now, she probably couldn't comprehend her situation, and the only thing keeping her alive was her adrenaline and the will to keep her child safe.
"There is no need to worry any longer, child; I don't know what you've gone through in the past few days for you to end up like this, but just know you've accomplished your mission. You've reached safety. Your child is safe." Stated Lavender with a small smile as she gently placed her hand atop the lady's face, not even knowing if the woman was conscious enough to hear or understand her words.
"A-Alexander." Said the woman quietly as all strength swiftly receded from her body.
With a sad sigh, I unhooked the child from the woman's clutches while tightly bringing the child close to my body to protect them from the elements of nature. Commanding one of the nearby trees, I had them lift the woman's body with their roots before gently placing her in a prebuilt grave I had them construct after I checked her status.
"You may have left the realm of living too soon, but just know, you will always be with your child, Alexander." Said Lavender as she tightly wrapped the bloody blanket around the sleeping child.
With a bow of respect to the mother, I quickly left the area as I was sure the blood would attract nearby beasts who were searching for a morning snack, and while I could deal with all the beasts in this forest, I didn't wish to put a child in harm's way.
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"My home is not equipped for a child; however, I suppose I'll have to make do." Announced Lavender as she stepped into her treehouse filled with various small flowers.
Stepping into my bedroom, I quickly created a crib using the excess wood I had lying around; luckily, I was a dryad; otherwise, this could've taken hours to complete. Filling the crib with various leaves and fibers so the baby wouldn't need to lay on the hardwood surface, I gently placed the baby inside the crib before removing the blanket covered in blood and replacing it with a blanket made with leaves.
Setting the bloodied blanket on a nearby desk, I stared at the sleeping Alexander, wondering what to do with him.
'Haa, I can't care for a human child; I'm a Dryad; our biology is too different. I don't know what I'm even going to feed him; he can't be breastfed; Dryads don't produce milk from their breasts when pregnant; we get most of our energy from the sun and the soil, not to mention I'm not even pregnant.' Thought Lavender in annoyance while sighing once again.
Unluckily, I wasn't given much time to think about the situation I put myself into, as I noticed Alexander stir awake.
"Hello, little Alexander." Said Lavender with a kind smile as she peeked at Alexander from atop the crib, though her reaction wasn't what she had hoped.
"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Cried Alexander loudly as he started thrashing around, almost causing the crib to knock over; luckily, Lavender stabilized it.
"What's wrong, little Alexander? Are you cold? Hungry?" Asked Lavender as she gently reached down and grabbed Alexander, though his thrashing only got more violent when she did so.
"Why are you thrashing so violently? I'm not going to harm you, see? I'm a nice Dryad." Said Lavender sweetly as she tightly held Alexander so he wouldn't escape while gently rocking him back and forth, hoping to calm him down.
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"Haa, finally, Alexander, you stopped crying. I know children are supposed to be hard to raise, but you're quite the handful; if it were any normal person in my position, you'd have already injured them, you know that?" Stated Lavender, full of irritation after attempting to soothe Alexander for over an hour.
"Haa, you're lucky you're too cute to stay annoyed at." Lavender said with a defeated sigh as she eyed those beautiful purple crystal-like eyes full of curiosity and wonder.
'Now that you've finally calmed down let's take a look at your status, as I'm pretty sure a Human newborn shouldn't be this strong, even if you're a High-human.' Thought Lavender with slight anticipation as she used her [Analyze] skill on Alexander.
After using the skill, I waited for Alexanders' status to show up; however, even after a minute, nothing happened.
'Hmm, that's weird; why isn't it working?' Lavender thought as she attempted to use the skill again, but just like previously, nothing happened.
'Hmm, for my Analyze skill not to work on my target, there are a few possible reasons. One, the target is of a much higher level or tier than me, which isn't possible for Alexander. Two, they have a passive skill that blocks any attempts at someone spying on them, which is possible; however, even so, it shouldn't be powerful enough to stop me. Third, they have a higher tier class than me, which, once again, while possible, still wouldn't be enough to stop me. Last, but not least, they're the apostle of a god; however, that also isn't the case, as I would be able to distinguish if Alexander was an apostle of a god or not.' Pondered Lavender in confusion as she eyed Alexander, her curiosity only growing.
"Given my condition, I know I shouldn't do this; however, I can't help it." Muttered Lavender as she eyed her status screen.
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Name: Lavender Vestalis
Species: Dryad
Age: 2367.2 years
Tier: 3 (7)↓
Level: 379 (4876)↓
Experience: [32%]
Class: Grand-Warlock (Legendary)
Sub-Class: Botanist (Rare)[Endurance / Intelligence]
Sub-Class: Potion Alchemist (Uncommon)[Intelligence]
Title(s): Grand-Archmage (Legendary), Daughter of Yggdrasil(Legendary), Leader of the Gypsies(Epic), SS Class Adventure(Epic), Princess of the Dryads(Rare).
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Lifeforce: 43%↓
Mana: 143,345/143,345 (1,922,440/1,922,440)↓
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Vigor: 776 (7,436)
Endurance: 2,402 (32,613)
Agility: 1,934 (15,895)
Dexterity: 2,163 (22,587)
Intelligence: 14,345 (192,244)
Perception: 3,387 (35,256)
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Condition: Weakening, poisoned
Etc.
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Seeing my dwindling status, I sighed deeply before shaking my head and focusing on Alexander, channeling all of my available strength into restoring my skill [Analyze].
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Skill: Analyze-lvl5 (Uncommon) → Analyze-lvl5 (Rare) → Analyze-lvl5 (Epic)
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Once my skill was properly restored, I quickly used the skill on Alexander without wasting any time, as I didn't wish to worsen the already bad damage I would sustain from using this skill.
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Name: Alexander
Species: High-Human
Age: 2 Days
Tier: 0
Level: 0
Experience :[00%]
Class: Hero
Sub-Class:
Sub-Class:
Sub-Class:
Title(s): True Hero, Reincarnator
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Lifeforce: 100%
Mana: 620/620
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Vigor: 8
Endurance: 9
Agility: 1
Dexterity: 2
Intelligence: 56(62)
Perception: 12(15)
Traits: Heroes Aura, Heroes Will, Heroes Physique, Heart of a Hero, Enhanced Perception, Enhanced Intelligence.
Skills: ??????, Heroes gaze–lvl1, Omnilingual–lvl1, Rebirth–lvl1
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Condition: Hungry
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Reading Alexander's status nearly gave me a heart attack; throughout my life, I've seen many crazy things; however, for a newborn child to have such crazy high stats along with so many skills, traits, and titles was something I never thought possible.
"Though while I've heard the term Hero before, it is only as a title, not a class. Also, why does he have three different Subclass slots? To my knowledge, two is the most one can ever get; not even a Mythical class is exempt from this rule-Ughh." Said Lavender in confusion as she closed her eyes in pain, feeling her body weaken even more.
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Name: Lavender Vestalis
Species: Dryad
Age: 2367.2 years
Tier: 3 → 2 (7)↓
Level: 279 → 124 (4876)↓
Experience: [32%]
Class: Grand-Warlock (Legendary)
Sub-Class: Botanist (Rare)[Endurance / Intelligence]
Sub-Class: Potion Alchemist (Uncommon)[Intelligence]
Title(s): Grand-Archmage(Legendary), Daughter of Yggdrasil(Epic), Leader of the Gypsies(Epic), SS Rank Adventurer(Epic), Princess of the Dryads(Rare).
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Lifeforce: 43% → 29%↓
Mana: 143,345/143,345 → 93,670/93,670 (1,922,440/1,922,440)↓
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Vigor: 876 → 553 (7,436)
Endurance: 2,402 → 982 (32,613)
Agility: 1,934 → 1,234 (15,895)
Dexterity: 2,563 → 1,876 (22,587)
Intelligence: 14,345 → 9,367 (192,244)
Perception: 3,987 → 2,825 (35,256)
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Etc.
Condition: Severe Weakening, poisoned
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"Great, I've just lost so many years off of my life; me and my foolish curiosity. Haa." Whispered Lavender, berating herself for her rash actions as she felt her already frail body weaken even more before looking at Alexander.
"Now then, it's time to get you some food, little Alexander." Said Lavender with a smile as she looked down at the adorable baby boy.