She also told them they could get a chance to enter the party next time for the 5th Floor’s Heroic Challenge as they would have more leverage by then, giving them hope, though not a guaranteed one.
After discussing briefly, the remaining super rookies decided to move on as they entered the 5th Floor.
Lily then collected Epic-rank items from Natalia, Maya, and Marcus.
“You three, tell them about our experience with the previous two Heroic Floor Bosses and also teach them about our style of combat during the fights. That will be our foundational strategy, revolving around Almond’s final attacks and creating opportunities.”
“Gotcha.”
“Hehe, I can’t wait to see the result of boss Almond’s cooking session,” Marcus grinned from ear to ear as he knew some cool items were on their way to come into existence.
“Ahem, by the way, we actually entered a universal leaderboard,” Maya said with a brief excitement in her eyes as she mentioned it.
“Universal? Woah!” Kira’s eyes shone. “That sounds like-“
“Crap, don’t tell me it is what I think it is?” Amir’s jaw dropped.
“I think it is what you think it is,” Kira grinned. “So, there are more worlds out there, and they have a similar situation as us.”
“Can you show us that leaderboard?” Talia asked as her eyes sparkled. “I knew there had to be more worlds out there.”
“Here,” Marcus said as he shared the second floor’s leaderboard first.
“Just so you know, our party is a pretty high-ranking one,” Natalia said with a high nose, looking fully prideful. She quickly glanced at Marcus and added, “Of course, it’s mostly because of Almond, I know.”
As the super rookies looked at the leaderboard and talked about the Heroic Challenge experience, Jemma, Kayla, Noah, and even Xavier also had a shift in their state of mind, mostly filled with anticipation and excitement of the unknown challenge and rewards that would come with it.
…
On the other hand, Sylvia had called for some backup twenty minutes ago as she had found that hidden area under the ground, ventured inside alone, and encountered a boss.
She couldn’t defeat the boss alone, so she called for backup by sending her thoughts to other Spirits since all spirits shared a mysterious connection with each other.
Benedict, Nyssara, Starlight Beast, and Crystalist went to help her, while Galvaren and Ashkar stayed as they continued to spar with the super rookies.
Sylvia and others defeated the boss and ventured further into a cave entrance that the boss was blocking.
Entering inside, Sylvia finally found the source of nature’s power she was sensing.
The cavern was small, entirely barren, except for a small patch of greenery in the center.
On that greenery was a small tree, barely 3 meters tall. Its leaves were light green with mysterious dark green patterns, and its branches were hazy brown with golden patterns.
Sylvia’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Although they were spirit wraiths, they were intelligent and a new kind of lifeform in a way, with their own souls birthed by Almond’s Spirit Dealer class’s source power.
They could see the tree’s detail in a window like other things when they briefly watched it.
[Tree of Verdant Path]
-Rank: Special.
-Effects:
—> Training under the tree will calm the mind, allowing it to enter a deep focus state and clearing distracting and negative thoughts.
—> The tree bears the pure essence of nature. It could awaken Flora Elemental Mastery and increase comprehension of Flora Element for those who have already awakened it.
[A/N: Wood/Nature canceled. From now on, it’s called Flora element as it is perfectly suitable.]
“Let’s call Master,” Benedict said as he contacted Almond through the spirit link.
…
Almond had finished sacrificing 5 Epic items and unlocked his option. He was just designing his new armor set’s first item—the sword when he received Benedict’s message.
“It seems Sylvia found something good,” Almond turned to Lily. “Let’s go check it out.”
“Alright.”
They emerged from the tent and saw the super rookies training.
“We’ll be back soon. You all continue.”
Lily and Almond sped up as they dashed into the woods. Almond knew the general direction of this summons, so the duo soon arrived at the underground passage’s entrance, where Benedict was waiting for them.
They soon arrived at the tree and were shocked upon reading its description.
“So there was this treasure here all along, and nobody found it?” Lily wryly smiled.
Almond’s eyes glinted. ‘Someone must have found it in my previous life but kept it private.’
He had a feeling that it was that one guild in the top 10 specializing in Flora element, as many members of that guild had Flora elemental mastery.
“Umm, Master…” Sylvia rubbed her fingers as she looked at Almond hesitantly.
“Yes?” Almond turned to Sylvia. Seeing her body language, he added with a smile. “Say what’s on your mind.”
“I…want to eat this tree.”
“Eat?”
Lily and Almond looked at each other before turning to the tree and Sylvia.
“Mhmm,” Sylvia nodded. “I feel like if I absorb this tree, I will get more powerful. But of course, the tree’s effects are very good and it can benefit many peop-“
“Absorb it,” Almond grinned. “You absorbing this tree will bring more benefit to us I believe. Who knows, you might be able to have similar effects as this tree?”
Sylvia became uber excited as her face flushed, “Thank you so much, Master!”
“You got lucky, lass,” Benedict laughed. “I feel you will benefit greatly by absorbing this tree.”
Lily nodded and was also curious about the result, “That said, how long will it take you to absorb this tree, Sylvia?”
“That…I can’t estimate properly,” Sylvia shook her head after a short pause.
“No worries. Just start now and then give us a rough estimate. We are still here for roughly an hour because I need to craft my items.”
“Okie!” Sylvia nodded with determination and sat down beneath the tree. In the next second, mysterious vines emerged from the ground around her as her roots connected with the tree’s roots while the vines encompassed the tree, weaving like braids and ultimately turning into a sphere with Sylvia inside it.
It pulsed with a hazy green hue every second.
Almond shortly got a message from Sylvia who was inside the sphere of vines she weaved, telling him that she would be done within an hour or around an hour.
Everyone left the cavern after that. Almond also completely closed the hidden path that led to this area just to be safe. He didn’t want anyone stumbling here by luck and ruining it for Sylvia since there were still many people on this 4th floor and who knows if someone entered this central island with their party since one day had passed by already.
After returning, Lily, Benedict, and others joined in the training and sparring while Almond went inside the Magic Tent to continue with his Epic-rank set cooking session.
He first selected the four slabs and designed their parts.
A sword.
A full body armor.
A helmet.
A pair of boots.
Once he finished the design, Almond took out the boss spirits in his arsenal.
‘Now, how should I cook this?’ Almond looked at the spirits, his eyes gleaming as he began brainstorming to put the best combination of spirits.