The water's surface returned to calm.
The moonlight shone cold, as if nothing had happened at all.
Qimeng stood in the water, looking down in confusion.
She repeatedly examined her flawless collarbones and chest.
“Taking a bath can trigger an elemental spirit's blessing? Is this some kind of hidden plotline?”
In her past life, among the towering piles of ancient texts in the Knight Order,
she had read records concerning Elemental Spirits.
The number of humans in history who had received such a blessing could be counted on one hand, and every single one of them had become a legendary human-shaped natural disaster.
“Just like that? No divine light descending, and no background sound effects?”
She blinked and shrugged, her expression completely nonchalant.
“A selfish monster like me, who only cares about developing, gets chosen by the Water Spirit? If word of this got out, those glorious royal historians would probably cough up blood in sheer anger.”
She shrugged, not intending to take such a monumental achievement to heart at all.
With a simple thought,
a cool sensation washed over her entire body, granting her a fully automatic internal circulation system.
Information immediately surfaced:
【Water Core】
Source: Water Spirit's Blessing.
Effect: Mana capacity is significantly increased, water-attribute affinity is perfectly enhanced, and movement in water is unimpeded.
Not only that,
but she could also feel a crystalline water-attribute core inside her, nourishing her mana pathways.
“Oh, so it works like this.”
She curiousy tried burying her face in the water.
She discovered that not only was there no sense of suffocation, but she could breathe and act as naturally as if she were in the air.
“Not bad. I won't even need to hold my breath while bathing anymore. Now this is quality of life.”
She wore a look of natural satisfaction.
Qimeng suddenly recalled an even more obscure record from those ancient texts.
If all Six Elemental Spirits were gathered, they could condense an Elemental King.
That was an independent source of mana that transcended environment and physical flesh; even if one's body were sealed, it could continuously output infinite mana.
“Which means...”
She stood up from the water. Droplets slid down her exquisite curves, refracting an alluring luster under the moonlight.
“If I really gather them all, would I be able to break free from the limitations of this tree body and achieve true freedom?”
She subconsciously looked toward the depths of the forest, then toward the distant kingdom at the edge of the sky.
The past betrayal, the coldness of the Knight Order, and those hypocritical human faces...
Thinking of them now, they actually seemed distant and utterly boring.
“Whatever.”
She casually tossed her wet, long hair,
instantly snuffing out this grandiose idea.
“Elemental Spirits are basically low-probability gacha drops. Getting the Water Spirit was pure luck. Where would I even find the rest? And even if I did, they might not be willing to bless me.”
“Besides, even if I actually gathered them all, so what?”
She retied her leaf-woven dress with effortless grace.
“What would I even go out for? To replay that miserable script from before my Reincarnation?”
“I just want to sunbathe in the forest, eat delicious food, and live a leisurely life.
“Increasing my strength is purely to ensure that no one can disturb my retirement. That's all.”
The water pit returned to silence.
Qimeng left her bath and returned to her tree form.
The night was perfect.
She began to take stock of the drops from the magical beasts she had devoured along the way tonight.
Moonlight Cat: granted 【Night Vision】, making the darkness as bright as day.
Shadow Bat: granted 【Echo Perception】, providing all-around positioning with zero blind spots.
Fluorescent Butterfly: granted 【Shimmer Secretion】, turning her fingertips into portable lightbulbs.
Crypt Scorpion: granted 【Poison Resistance】, increasing her resistance to toxins.
Shadow Snake: granted 【Thermal Masking】, completely erasing any biological heat signature.
“On their own, these skills are just basic survival utility. But when combined...”
“A complete night survival set, fully loaded.”
She clenched her small fist in satisfaction.
This feeling of configuring gear like in a video game was truly addictive.
Right then,
her root network suddenly captured a glaring mana reaction a hundred meters to the north.
Its density far surpassed that of the Bone Wolf, and it carried an uncomfortable, repulsive aura.
“Oh? A fellow plant? Or some kind of botanical anomaly?”
Qimeng's eyes lit up slightly as the thrill of the hunt returned.
“Perfect. I'll use you to test my newly acquired Water Spirit's blessing.”
She slipped through the dense jungle.
Relying on her 【Night Vision】, she quickly locked onto a target in an open clearing.
It was a massive vine standing over five meters tall.
Its branches wrapped around the surrounding trees, and its bark was covered in sickening, blood-red patterns.
At the very top, a massive corolla bloomed greedily, emitting waves of a cloyingly sweet, dizzying fragrance.
“An enhanced variant of a Blood-Sucking Vine? To occupy a place like this, it must at least have the foundation of a mid-tier magical beast.”
Qimeng watched the writhing mass of vines with an air of complete nonchalance.
“But then again, a magical beast's rank limits are hard-locked.”
“If the species rank isn't high enough, no amount of mutation will make it anything more than an imitation.”
“Unfortunately, you probably don't have the good luck to evolve. As long as you haven't reached the mid-tier, no matter how many of you come, you're just delivering yourself on a silver platter.”
But to the Blood-Sucking Vine, the young girl before it was the sweet little treat delivered right to its doorstep.
Suddenly, it lashed out. Several blood-red vines, like thorny steel whips, whipped forward with a sharp, air-rending crack.
Qimeng had absolutely no intention of backing away.
She didn't even plan to use a single shred of her stored mana, choosing instead to channel solely through her newly acquired 【Water Core】.
She couldn't help but complain in her mind.
If this were one of those chuunibyou scripts, would she have to yell out something like, “O Water Spirit born from the bathhouse, answer my call”?
“Never mind, that's way too embarrassing.”
She casually raised her hand and uttered a single word:
“Water.”
The moment the word left her lips, the Water Core inside her vibrated slightly.
The trace amounts of moisture drifting in the surrounding air gathered together.
A thin, translucent film of water unfolded in front of her.
The vines slammed into it, but like a pulley sliding along a surface, they glided harmlessly away.
They couldn't pierce her defense at all.
“Oh? It's not just a defense, but a slick, cushioning effect? Interesting.”
The Blood-Sucking Vine was clearly enraged. More vines surged forward like a rising tide.
Qimeng raised her hand and tapped the air gently. The surrounding water vapor began to gather in her palm.
Her body grew moist and blurry along with it.
When the vines pierced through her once more, the sensation was like stabbing empty air, kicking up nothing but a splash of water.
“Liquefaction? This skill is way more advanced than that Tough Hide stuff.”
She took half a step back, her body solidifying again as she smiled brilliantly.
“Don't you love sucking blood? Well, reciprocity is a virtue. I'll let you suck on something special.”
As the vines pierced her body once more,
Qimeng didn't dodge. Instead, she seized the opportunity to turn liquid, tightly enveloping the bloody vines.
“Water, corrode.”
A stream of freezing, mana-infused water rushed down the surface of the vines, pouring downward like a violent drill.
It charged straight toward the plant monster's core root system.
Rate on N.U.
