“Water Thread.”
Qimeng hooked her delicate finger.
A deep blue Water Thread shot through the air, wrapping around half of the wing of the Poison-Scale Butterfly on the left.
She exerted force with her arm, slamming the giant butterfly against a tree trunk.
A Wood Spike followed immediately like a shadow, piercing straight through its head.
Dark green fluid erupted. The first one was instantly killed.
The remaining two butterflies closed in furiously, scattering a large cloud of purple paralyzing poison powder.
“Oh my, that's a bit dirty.”
Water vapor billowed from beneath Qimeng's feet as she activated 【Liquefaction】.
Her body turned illusory, and the poison powder passed right through her, hitting nothing.
In the brief moment the giant butterflies dithered, her form solidified. Two Water Threads shot toward their abdomens and yanked inward with a violent snap.
Thwack.
Their wings shattered, and the two giant butterflies crashed to the ground, twitching.
Several Demon Beetles brandished their mandibles, viciously lunging to bite her calves.
Without even sparing them a glance, Qimeng sidestepped while immediately coating her hands in tough-hide wooden armor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A few heavy, charged punches smashed straight through those hard-shell beetles, sending fragments of their shells flying.
In the blink of an eye, only the last of the seven monsters remained—the Mid-tier Novice butterfly leader.
It charged straight at the dazed Xiaomi, whipping up a violent gust of wind.
“Hey, Captain Xiaomi, where are you looking?”
The butterfly leader's half-meter-long, steel-needle-like proboscis loomed right before her eyes.
In a panic, Xiaomi raised her short spear horizontally in front of her chest.
Clang!
The violent impact numbed Xiaomi's hands, forcing her back several staggered steps.
Xiaomi cried out, her voice trembling.
“I can't do it! This guy is a Mid-tier Novice! There's no way I can beat it...”
“If you can't, I'll just bury you under the tree as fertilizer in a bit.”
Qimeng happily watched the drama unfold as a bystander.
Seeing the giant butterfly swoop down again, Xiaomi gritted her teeth. Her wings buzzed at a high frequency, forcing her body upward to narrowly dodge the attack.
“Don't just run away! The more scared you are, the harder it'll hunt you down!”
Hearing Qimeng's scolding, the hellish special training of the past few days flashed through Xiaomi's mind—being poked by Wood Spikes, yanked by Water Threads, and flying under the heavy burden of large stones.
In her moments of agony, she had constantly cursed this black-hearted woman in her mind. But at this moment, she seemed to understand.
She had been waiting for this very moment of real combat.
“I don't want to be a useless crybaby who can only hold her head and weep anymore!”
With that thought, Xiaomi's gaze sharpened. Leveraging her exceptional aerial mobility, she slipped into the butterfly leader's blind spot and thrust her short spear forward with all her might.
With a wet squelch, the spear pierced right into the base of the butterfly's wing.
Screech!
Heavily wounded, the giant butterfly thrashed wildly, scattering a flurry of purple poison scale powder.
Caught off guard, Xiaomi inhaled a small amount. Instantly, her throat burned, her vision blurred, and her body listed as she fell from the air.
Hovering in midair, the butterfly leader stared down with its six compound eyes, seemingly enjoying its prey's death throes.
Kneeling on one knee, Xiaomi propped herself up against a tree trunk with her short spear, gasping for breath.
Yet, under the adrenaline of a life-or-death moment, the mana within her body began to churn violently, like boiling water.
A rush of crisp, cool energy surged straight to her head, and her wings suddenly felt incredibly light.
In her vision, the swooping motion of the giant butterfly actually seemed to slow down by half a beat.
A breakthrough—Mid-tier Novice!
“Take this! The fruit of that bad woman's special training—Bee Needle Barrage!”
Xiaomi's arms blurred as over a dozen translucent long needles shot out, shattering the joints of the butterfly leader's other wing.
As the giant butterfly's massive body crashed down, Xiaomi dove. Her short spear transformed into a streak of fierce light, piercing straight through the butterfly leader's head with a wet crunch.
The battle was over.
Xiaomi collapsed beside the butterfly's carcass, her hands still trembling.
Though blood stained the corner of her mouth and her wings were covered in cracks, a newfound confidence gleamed in her eyes.
Qimeng walked over to her with leisurely steps.
“You did even better than I expected. You didn't run, and you even took down a mid-tier monster all by yourself. Not bad, Captain Xiaomi.”
Xiaomi pouted, whimpering pitifully.
“I was up there in the sky, and I was honestly so close to crying.”
“But you held it in, didn't you?”
Qimeng gently patted her messy blonde hair.
“You passed. From now on, you're a Mid-tier Novice monster too.”
Looking at Qimeng's smiling eyes filled with approval, Xiaomi sniffled, a warm feeling blossoming in a corner of her heart.
“Alright, now that the punishment game is over, next up...”
Qimeng pointed at the insect carcasses littering the ground.
“You're in charge of dragging all of these back to the Tree Court to use as fertilizer.”
“Huh?! You want me to drag all of them by myself?!”
Xiaomi's warm emotions instantly vanished into thin air.
“Of course. After all, we did agree on a double punishment.”
Qimeng, the black-hearted capitalist, chuckled. Humming a little tune, she strode back with her long legs.
Left with no choice, Xiaomi blinked back tears, grabbed the heavy wing of a giant butterfly, and trudged after her, huffing and puffing.
Because the wing was too heavy, she couldn't fly and could only drag it slowly along the ground.
Yet, watching the black-haired girl ahead who occasionally looked back to make sure she wasn't slacking off, Xiaomi felt a warm, full sensation swell in her chest.
Oh well. Staying with this person doesn't seem too bad after all.
Just like that, life in the territory began to settle into a comfortable routine.
Gathering pollen in the morning, heating bathwater for Qimeng in the evening, and sneaking into her nest late at night to eat her hidden honey balls.
Of course, her clumsy attempts at hiding the honey couldn't escape Qimeng's root perception, but Qimeng chose to turn a blind eye.
One afternoon.
Qimeng sat cross-legged beneath the great tree, holding a wooden skewer and chewing on roasted beast meat.
This was none other than the choice meat of the giant butterfly from before. It was roasted to a sizzling, oily perfection. Xiaomi had even painfully contributed a bit of honey to brush over the surface, making it crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a sweet, caramelized aroma.
“Mmm, this honey-glazed roasted meat is absolutely divine. It's decided—this will be my staple food from now on.”
“But if we do that, won't you be exploiting my private honey stash every single day?”
“Since there isn't enough, why don't you just gather two more rounds of pollen every day?”
“Ah, oh, that actually makes sense?”
The silly bee girl actually began to ponder the suggestion seriously.
“Then how about I change my working hours to gather pollen once in the morning and once in the evening?”
“No problem. I love the initiative. I've got high hopes for you.”
Qimeng spared a sympathetic glance for her foolish vassal.
The company is always in need of excellent employees who voluntarily ask for overtime like you.
Sated and content, Qimeng began using her root network to expand the territory's facilities.
First, she excavated a cellar beneath her main body.
Using hardened tree roots as walls, she used it to store spare wood, pelts, and materials harvested from monsters.
Next, she drove wooden stakes into the ground beside the training ground to build a drying rack, hanging up dried insect meat and medicinal herbs.
Seeing this, Xiaomi also hung up a few strings of dried flower petals she had made.
Watching her territory gradually fill up, Qimeng felt a rare sense of satisfaction.
“Though it's simple, it's starting to look like the beginnings of a Demon Tree Stronghold.”
And on the very night the expansion was completed, the countless flower buds on her towering Demon Tree main body ushered in an even grander second wave of full blooming.
Pale yellow and light green petals burst open, and the scent of pure mana spread outward exponentially.
But the price of this beauty was also clear.
For the next three whole days, the territory was reduced to a battlefield.
Day one.
Eight iron-fanged boars and a flock of grey-feathered vultures attacked.
Having undergone her breakthrough, Xiaomi performed brilliantly, holding off the flock of vultures all by herself.
Qimeng unilaterally pounded the boars into flat pancakes.
After devouring them all, she obtained a monster skill:
【Iron Bones】: Bone density surges for a short period, allowing the user to take a mid-tier blow head-on.
As for the 【Dive Acceleration】 dropped by the vultures, it was completely useless to the wingless Qimeng, so she could only set it aside for now.
Day two.
Lured by the fragrance, over a dozen Poison-Scale Butterflies and a large swarm of Demon Earth Centipedes arrived.
The sky full of poison scale powder almost turned half the territory into a dead zone. Qimeng was forced to liquefy her body several times before finally ending the battle with a torrential downpour of Wood Spikes.
After clearing the battlefield, she successfully acquired a monster skill:
【Scale Powder Burst】: Scatters a large cloud of mana-blocking scale powder, inflicting blindness, confusion, and magic disruption. A must-have for catching enemies off guard!
The centipedes were stuffed underground to serve as flower fertilizer.
Day three, late at night.
The frenzied insect riot finally drew to a close.
Just as Qimeng, exhausted from a long day of fighting, was planning to soak in her hot spring, a sudden ripple of shadows emanated from the Nightglow Mushroom field in the Firefly Garden.
“An intruder!”
Xiaomi displayed astonishing alertness. Shooting forward like an arrow, she chased the dark shadow in a mad dash around the territory for three full laps.
With the help of Qimeng's root barrier network, Xiaomi cornered the shadow in a dead end.
“Oh? It actually lured in a rare species.”
Qimeng squatted down curiously.
It was a rare wild Night Shadow Cat, a Low-tier Novice. It was a full size smaller than a regular house cat, barely reaching Qimeng's calf.
Its frame was delicate, and it was currently arching its back, letting out a low, threatening growl.
Although its face looked rather smug, its sleek, pure black fur was incredibly beautiful.
Having lived three lives without ever raising a cat, the young tree girl's heart softened.
“Xiaomi, how about we keep it as a pet?”
However, before her words could fully leave her mouth...
Slash!
A fierce light flashed in the Night Shadow Cat's eyes, and it blurred into a black afterimage.
Its claw, covered in sharp barbs, scratched across her fair wrist.
The next second, a furious, borderline-crazed roar from the black-haired girl erupted through the silent Tree Court.
“You ungrateful little brat of a cat!”
“Yowl!”
“@#$%&!!!”
Rate on N.U.
