Becoming a Monster

Chapter 227: Chapter 227: From Desperation to Desire

Sensing the destructive nature of the attack, the tree wasn’t sure how many roots it would have to sacrifice to endure it. What was worse was the instinctual fear of sacrificing more of its roots just for Noah to conjure another one soon after like he did just now. Even with its plethora of roots, how many roots would it have left in the end by the time Noah was unable to generate more attacks of the same destructive capacity? Even if it were able to persist till the end, the amount of damage caused to its roots would be devastating for its future growth.

The realization of its peril drove the tree into a state of panic. The tree desperately tried to show Noah that it no longer intended to oppose him. But without the ability to ”speak”, the tree was only left with being able to send out its intention. Its feelings were one of intense fear and desperation. To it, the message was clear, it didn’t wish to fight anymore.

And yet, despite its efforts to show Noah that it no longer had the intentions of continuing its aggressive stance, the concentration of mana continued to build within Noah’s hand, his expression, impassive. His actions seemed to show that he was unable to understand what the tree was trying to convey. Or worse...he understood its intentions perfectly, but its persistent defiance made him no longer consider gaining it as an ally.

In its panic, the tree resorted to a drastic measure. The roots, which had been hovering mid-air in hesitation, suddenly lost all tension and momentum. Gravity claimed them, sending each and every root crashing to the ground without resistance. The tree’s defiance had completely melted away, leaving it in a state of utter submission. Even as its survival instincts screamed at it to fight back, the tree had reached its limit. It could only hope that Noah would understand its intention and grant it mercy.

”About time,” Noah coldly stated, his voice devoid of any sympathy. The intense mana buildup with his hand began to gradually lessen. His aura receded with each moment that the sphere began to lose its threatening energy before it eventually dissipated. Normally, Noah wouldn’t be able to cancel his ability, especially one that was already in the process of forming the sphere. But that was the benefit of having high spirit when trying to perform actions with abilities not given by the system. The amount of effort to create, control, and adapt new spells were much easier the higher one’s spirit was, and it was one of the most crucial aspects for Noah’s determination to change his path to start diverting away from the system’s limitations.

Without hesitation, Noah began to walk forward with even strides. His body seemingly vulnerable to attack as he openly walked amongst the tree’s countless roots. However, the tree had no open thoughts to do such a thing. It couldn’t understand how, but now it knew that any attacks sent towards Noah would only be repelled.

”You’re getting worked up for no reason...” Noah felt helpless as he sensed the tree’s despair growing stronger and stronger the closer, he advanced.

Now standing directly before the tree, his head naturally curved up to see the tree in its entirety. It was still very small for a tree, it was barely over 15 feet high, and yet the extensions of its roots betrayed its young appearance.

Now that he was directly facing it, he could feel the heat emitting from the veins of intense energy. The lava-like veins not only glowed but also shifted through the tree’s body as if it was a liquid, more so than ”pure” energy. Curiosity besieged Noah’s body, and his hand reached out as he placed it over the lava-like substance. Unlike the searing heat he was prepared to be subjected to, Noah was surprised to feel the purity of the tree’s energy. It wasn’t an energy he could describe. For such a tree that radiated ’death’, the energy made his body feel at peace, as if he was being attuned to nature itself. It was an otherworldly paradox that he couldn’t necessarily describe, however, the interaction confirmed his thoughts on the tree’s identity even more.

’It’s too weak to be something similar to a world tree. That could only leave it to be a dryad...’ Noah’s thoughts raced as he continued to allow himself to bask in the trees’ natural energy.

”It seemed you finally calmed down,” Noah came back to his thoughts when he noticed the intense feelings that were being directed to him moments prior were now gone. Instead, he found the tree viewing him with both curiosity and confusion. It viewed Noah as a danger to its existence, yet the moment Noah made contact with it, the danger within his threatening energy was no longer as threatening as it was before. In fact, the energy was unlike anything it had experienced before. It was a yearning feeling. The essence of both plant and animal life that it was used to absorbing was nowhere as close as tantalizing as the energy it could feel through Noah.

It wanted nothing more than to forge a bond with him, but it didn’t know how it was going to get Noah to eat its fruit, nor did it understand why it couldn’t sense the value in Noah’s energy before. If it had known, then it wouldn’t have sought to oppose him. Its emotions surged as the realization dawned upon it. All of its roots that now laid in tatters were wasted. But now, the sacrifice seemed trivial in comparison to the possibility of forming a connection to the person before it, as long as that connection allowed it to grow.

Unaware of the tree’s thoughts, Noah found the drastic change welcoming. He didn’t want to put off taming it any longer. The process of taming it will be much easier if the tree was accepting of the bond. It was this very reason why he hesitated to forcedly tame it as he had done with the others. He prided himself on his astronomically high spirit, but ever since the time Fenrir had once tried to reverse the process during their spiritual standoff, Noah didn’t want to take that risk with the tree when there was a chance that the tree’s identity was one that could prove threatening to him during the process of taming it.

Although the tree proved comparatively weaker than himself, there was always the possibility lurking that the tree was perhaps something akin to a world tree. Even if the possibility was low, there was the other possibility that with the tree’s connection to the forest, the tree’s spiritual core would be stronger than his own.

”Don’t resist what I’m about to do,” Noah warned with a low voice. He wasn’t sure how the tree would react despite its current yielding stance, but he needed its cooperation to proceed without any hitches.

With his palm already on the tree’s surface, his eyes closed, instantly drawing both his and the tree’s conscience to their inner world. Noah instantly noted its spiritual appearance. Its core was almost predominantly black, but streaked with deep, almost glowing crimson veins that twisted and branched like the roots of the physical tree. And just like his core emitted a translucent violet aura around his core, the tree’s core was a dark earthy green, a direct opposite to its corrupted nature.

But Noah was unable to clearly think about the tree’s green aura, his sight was set on the robust amount of red that was contained in the tree’s core, changing what he believed red had signified all together. He had believed red signified bloodlust, or the inclination to violence. But the tree’s behavior indicated otherwise, and the amount of red within its core was much more than his own.

”If it’s not bloodlust,” Noah mused inwardly, ”then what does it signify? Is it something else entirely? Desire? Passion? Or it has a connection with its appearance...”

The realization unsettled him, especially after remembering that his own core began to harbor the color red around the time, he had first begun to grow his zombie traits, forcing him to raise questions he could no longer ignore.

’Something tells me that I need to uncover what these colors mean...especially if my own core is constantly changing.’

The tree’s spirit stirred as it felt Noah’s ”gaze”, however its curiosity to the world it found itself in left it oblivious to Noah’s turmoil. Especially so when it took sight of Noah’s core; a core of energy so potent that it might as well be considered an elixir of evolution. It found itself moving closer to Noah instinctually, wanting to connect to Noah’s core before Noah changed his mind. But then it abruptly stopped. Its instincts flared in warning as it noticed the presence looming far above Noah.

Noah quickly noticed the change, instantly understanding the reason for the tree’s distress.