Mash arrived at the ceiling of his world and was amazed to see that it was made of leaves. Each leaf was easily twice as big as he was and was painted a dark shade of green. As if to match the dark almost black wood of the tree, the leaves were a shade darker than one would expect. They were bunched so closely together that they almost looked like scales. Red was beside him and reached one of her hands toward the leaves. She probably meant to push them, but it barely budged from her light push.

  “These are hard. It's like stone or maybe closer to your scales.”

  Hearing her words, Mash brushed his own hands against the leaves. They had a slight bend to them that stone wouldn’t have. She was right, they were a lot more like his scales. He wondered what that said about the tree itself. The world was his, but was it made for him, or did his skill choose one that was appropriate? Both situations had their troubling implications. If the world was made for him, where was it? If it was a pre-existing world, then what happened to life on it? Well, life other than the plants.

  “Red, do you think my skill made the world for me? And can you not cut my tree?”

  Red turned away from the leaves, and Mash saw that one of her floating blades was dangerously close to the leave. It seemed like she had planned to cut her way through. He didn’t know exactly why, but he still felt like it was a bad idea. It felt like he strangely knew what the tree wanted. What a weird situation.

  “If you’re asking if your skill killed everyone in this world, I doubt it. There has never been a case where gaining a class or skill killed someone. For all of the firsts you're managing, I don’t think this is one of those situations. But why don’t you want me to cut the leaves?”

  Mash sighed after hearing her words, and he debated whether or not he should explain. The situation would only make him seem insane, but he decided that was the point of asking them to watch out for him.

  “Uh, I can understand the tree…”

  His world dragged on as he felt some heat rise to his face. With all of his body’s improvements, was blushing something that needed to stick around. Red wasn’t looking at him though, instead, she had turned to face the tree in response. One of her hands pressed against the black wood. The fact that she hadn’t dismissed him was a pretty good sign. He slowly drifted closer and heard her apologizing to the tree. She had whispered the words, and he only heard the final words.

  “Please, forgive me.”

  Her words bothered him a little, and he couldn’t contain his surprise.

  “Wait, what are you doing?”

  Red turned to him. Something about her had changed a little, but he didn’t quite understand the difference. It was like she looked more elvish somehow. Normally, there was no way to know that she was a half-elf, since she lacked the signature ears of the race, and while she was beautiful, it wasn’t anything unnatural like the elves. However, the look she gave him seemed to change her entire face. Her eyes narrowed as she seemed to look past him. It had only been there for a moment, but he had been locked by the changes. Her face had grown sharper, all of its features becoming more perfect. He shook his head to dispel the image. The next time he looked she was back to her old self; it was like it had just been his imagination.

  “Certain trees will have spirits within them. It will affect what grows from them. To elves, those beings are gods, or at least their children. I have been given many lessons about them. I wouldn’t be surprised if a tree like this had one of those spirits. And you might be connected to it, considering what your situation is.”

  She believed what she was saying that much was obvious by the look she gave the enormous tree. However, the question bothered Mash a little.

  “Wait, why haven’t I ever heard of it? I've read some books on the other races.”

  Red smiled at Mash’s response, and he felt like he had been baited.

  “I bet you only read about classes and skills. Tell me, did you actually learn anything else about them. I don’t really see you as someone who would read of another’s culture.”

  Her tone made him feel like a child. Yup, he had been baited. The way she said it, painted him to be kind of stupid. He couldn’t really disagree with her either. As a kid, all he did was read about the classes and skills that were exclusive to the various races.

  Elves were the only race that could get true spirit classes. It was said that many elves didn’t die but took a class that turned them into a spirit. Mash had never understood what it meant by spirit exactly, but now he had an idea for it. Beastmen obviously had classes directly related to the soul. There was only one other race on his home continent. Dwarves were all reclusive though, and little was known about them. All he had read about their classes was speculation. It was a commonly held belief that they had access to some special blacksmith class. In fact, all of the legendary weapons were said to have been forged by the dwarves. Mash would believe it when he saw it, which was something he hoped to do eventually.

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  “Let’s just fly around.”

  Mash was about to start, but Red stopped him with a hand. She looked at him incredulously, and he turned back innocently.

  “Just look. That would take a while. Let’s just push through the leaves. You should be strong enough, and I can squeeze through the gaps.”

  He acknowledged her words and nodded as he didn’t feel any protests from the tree. It seemed like it was okay with them forcing their way through so long as they didn’t actually damage anything. Mash moved both hands to the edges of one of the leaves. Only to stop when he felt that there was a small opening within his domain. It was a bit to the right, but close enough that he drifted toward it. It was a tree, and the leaves didn’t coat every inch of the branches. The branches were thicker than houses and longer than mountains were tall, but the leaves did a good job at hiding them. The tree really did have an abundance of leaves. Finding the gap was lucky, and when he investigated it, he saw several more. It seemed like the tree had plenty of empty space within its brush, he just hadn’t been able to see it easily. There was a path here, though it looked like he would still need to push past some leaves.

  Mash started floating up into the leaves slowly, but Red blurred past her whole-body dissolving into a thin stream of blood. Whereas he needed to slow down and push through leaves, she was able to move unbothered. She quickly left the range of his domain, and he sped up to try and catch up with her. The leaves were hard to push against without any transformations, but he felt like any of his forms would be overkill. So, he settled into the labor and worked to push past the leaves. They did bend like normal leaves once he started getting them to open. It made his trip like a workout, although he wasn’t about to start sweating from the exertion.

  As Red got further away, he focused on his own journey. The Tree bent and twisted a lot, the opening seemed to make a path designed to confuse him. Seeing that the leaves worked like normal, he wondered if the branches would be able to bend in the same way. They were too large for him to test the theory, and he couldn’t really picture such a large thing bending. He stopped caring about the effort once he saw a larger opening in his domain. It was probably the exit, and he started working faster. As he neared the opening, he realized that he didn’t sense Red anywhere. It wasn’t unexpected considering how much he had moved around. As soon as he reached the final leaf, he practically shoved it out of the way as he leaped onto the treetop. He didn’t bother flying anymore, as the leaves would certainly be able to handle his weight.

  The sky was wide, and the sun bore on him unblocked by the clouds. It didn’t make the air hot though, and he knew that it was cold enough to be dangerous to normal people. He noticed Red in the distance. She had stopped atop one of the leaves too. Her head was turned back. She was staring up into the air, and Mash turned to look upwards too. His mouth fell open as he realized what she saw. This tree wasn’t really a tree at all.

  Above him, he saw a flower. It was enormous as if it was attempting to swallow the very sun. He realized then that it did resemble a sunflower, but it had some differences. Instead of many leaves, it only had five extremely large ones. The leaves themselves were long and narrow, and he could vaguely make out a bulge at the center, which he could recognize as the tree’s tip. It was more curved than he expected, and it resembled the seed core of a sunflower. His mind couldn’t settle the two conflicting images. What kind of tree was this? Or was it a flower? It looked like it could be either, at this point.

  Red looked like she was entranced by the flower, and she barely moved. He wasn’t much better and had stared for several minutes. However, he wanted a better look and took to the skies again. He moved toward the center and made sure to pass over Red. She could join him if she wanted, but she seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the sight. As he approached the center, he took note of how delicate the yellow leaves were. They appeared delicate as the wind was enough to make them shift slightly.

  He stared down at the tree, and a name popped into his mind. He didn’t know if he had the right to name it, but the image was perfect. The flower looked to have sprouted from the bed of leaves. It seemed more like a flower that had grown on top of a bush than a tree. However, the way the branch seemed to have replaced the center of the flower, he couldn’t help but call it Irgibril.

  Irgibrill was a lie. It was a story told to children, to give hope to those unable to change themselves. It was something that kids would hear when they got a class they didn’t want. Or a supposedly cowardly class. His mother had told him the story once, and he remembered spending several nights staring into the sky.

  The story told of a flower bud that bloomed into a beautiful yellow flower. It had so many petals that none could see what was within. The strange flower had no seeds, so none had been able to plant another. However, the flower was not a simple plant, and it would never produce another seed. In fact, it was a seed itself. It had grown even after blooming, and before long had grown too large for the world. As it grew, it went beyond their world and drifted into the void above them. It grew ever larger as it drifted into the void, and eventually, it changed. It bloomed again, turning into a star that would serve as a guide for the people of the world. The star rarely appeared in the sky, but when it did a child would be able to make a wish. The flower would grant the wish, as it remembered when the hands which had first planted it. The young child who had taken a chance with a mysterious seed.

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  Name: Mash Stellumbra           Class: Chimeric Vagabond

  Level: 102

  Health: 3000 / 3000

  Energy: 4070/ 4070

  Fortitude: 300

  Endurance: 186

  Strength: 250

  Agility: 252

  Intelligence: 221

  Wisdom: 110

  Charisma: 100

  Free Stats: 20

  Skills: Hunt, Thunder-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Chimeric Transformation, Thunder-wood Imitation, Chimeric Reconstruction, Vagabond’s Path, Chimeric Domain, Adaptable Monster Core, Chimera’s Constitution, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, A Touch of Nothingness, Golden Body

  Hunt: You have gone beyond your limits when fighting enemies and devouring their power. Go beyond your limits. Continue current fight even after depleting energy. Stats improve while at 0 stamina. Continues until either you or your enemies are dead.

  Current Bonus: +100% stats

  Inhuman Hibernation: You have stolen the techniques of mages and monks to form an artificial technique, your inhuman body morphing it to fit your corrupted nature. Hibernating will increase the rate at which your body recovers, healing most wounds.

  Current Rate: +200% recovery

  Thunder-wood Creation: You know how deadly sticks can be. Forge your mana into wooden creations. Lightning has tempered your wood, and it thrums with the power of thunder.

  Chimeric Transformation: Transform your body taking on aspects of those which you have consumed. Control which aspects to take and combine them to create the perfect form. Greatly increased energy consumption when combining forms.

  Thunder-wood Imitation: Form imitations of creatures you have consumed, imitating some of their bodily functions through your wood.

  Chimeric Reconstruction: Consume what you kill for more than just stats. Steal their flesh to repair your own. Their blood becomes yours. Your enemies are nothing more than your medicine.

  Vagabond’s Path (unique): Having chosen the path of the vagabond, you have freed yourself from your own world. An explorer at heart, you laugh as you leap between worlds. Open portals to worlds you have already been. Once per cycle of the moon create a portal to a random world. Create a world of your own, portal to personal world granted.

  Chimeric Domain (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you. Connect to the mana and life in your space and inherently understand the nature of the mana and life. Your presence suffuses the space, weakens the magic and strength of enemies beneath you. They cower beneath your might.

  Current Range: 53 feet

  Reconstructed Adaptable Monster Core (Passive): An unnatural mana core has fundamentally altered your body, fusion with a monster has given you access to its potential. Stamina and Mana combine to become energy. Your monstrous body is better able to handle the changes to your core. You have progressed your core further, by forcing it to adapt. Now, you may only further your core by repeating the process.

  Current Bonus: +80% efficiency

  Wooden Body (Passive): You can connect with the wood that you are touching. By expending your energy, you bring your creations to life as another one of your limbs.

  Chimera’s Constitution (Passive): Giving up your humanity has improved your body, improving your physical control, natural defenses, animalistic intuition, and mana control. No longer a human in any sense, you are no longer bound by that which limits them. You have created your own race, improving your rate of growth.

  Mimic’s Avarice (Passive): Devour your enemy in battle to temporarily raise your stats. The fresher the victim the stronger the bonus. Gain full benefits even when consuming through your magic. Absorbs some properties of those you devour alive. Removes the negative effects of things you consume.

  A Touch of Nothingness (Passive): Belonging to no race or group, you have embraced the nothingness that is a part of everything. You are free, and automatically resist others' attempts to bind you. Constantly emit the aura of nothingness within your domain. Your allies will gain some of the freedom you possess. Enemies weaker than yourself will slowly lose that which makes them whole.

  Golden Body (Passive): Having stolen the techniques of another world, your body evolves beyond its old limitations. However, even this transformation is incomplete. Seek out the next Step and truly make this power your own.

  Trial of the True Body: 8 / 100

  Mash Stellumbra

  Age: 18 (15)

  Ki-Realm: Third Monstrous Realm

  Body-Realm: Golden Chimeric Body

  Path: Path of the Blood Bond

  Vitality: 300

  Strength: 250

  Dexterity: 252

  Mind: 221

  Ki: 4070