The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 176: The Lock in the Pupil Lv.64

Vol 2 Chapter 176 The Lock in the Pupil Lv.64

Passing through the strange forest of blood-limbed trees, Sylutia finally saw the lone scarlet fruit hanging from a tall central branch. It pulsed as if with a heartbeat, emitting an eerie glow that lured creatures from afar.

Her gaze traced from the fruit to the adjacent blood-colored limb. It looked like a great tree formed from many desiccated arms fused together. One was especially huge, its fingers branching into twigs that stretched into the air. One of those branches drooped down, bearing the blood-red fruit.

[Blood Fruit] (Third Tier · Rare); a fruit imbued with special life force that many monsters can absorb to grow stronger. However, it also contains the Distortion aspect of the Twilight Sea. If normal life eats it, unpredictable mutations may occur.

A naturally produced Rare-grade fruit—no wonder so many monsters swarmed toward it. Sylutia looked at the fruit in the distance and made some mental calculations.

If one of the Third Tier monsters present ate it, many would gain a major boost. Two strong monsters with the Bloodline aspect eating it could even cross the threshold and advance to the Fourth Tier right then.

At this moment, six different Third Tier monsters were circling under the tree. They all wanted the fruit, but they were also wary of and obstructed by other nearby monsters.

Looks like there’s going to be a fight, Sylutia thought to herself.

To her, the fruit was rare but not indispensable. Coming here was more important for testing her various abilities.

Right now many of her skills were stuck at Lv.5. It was inconvenient to find people to spar with in town, and she was afraid of accidentally hurting other apprentices, so many skills she’d learned had rarely been used.Under those circumstances, even if her talent was high, abilities that hadn’t been tested in practice were hard to improve further.

The Threefold Law’s balance affected everything in this world.

Running into so many peers here gave Sylutia plenty of chances to practice.

This time she wouldn’t use Evil Eye Shot. That kind of ability, if focused fire was applied, would probably end things quickly and leave no chance to practice. Better to take it slow and use a variety of abilities against them.

Having decided, Sylutia selected the monster closest to her.

[Formless Child] (Third Tier · Distortion)

“An entity like murky sludge that can twist and change its body at will. Slashing and piercing attacks are ineffective against it.”

After a quick look, Sylutia found that this monster resembled the slimes she remembered—basically a kind of ooze. Physical means would barely hurt it. It would be especially strong against aspects like Beast Fang, Bloodline, and Castle, because those rely on physical attacks while it had no blood; many Bloodline abilities couldn’t be used on it.

But it wasn’t without flaws. Because its body was like soft mud, it moved slowly and had almost no brain—acting only on low-level instinct.

For such a creature to reach Third Tier, it must be due to favorable natural conditions. It would be hard for it to advance further because its foundation was too weak; its life force couldn’t support higher ascension.

Sylutia summoned a spiraling long spear that flashed with electric light and hurled it, impaling the beast. Soon the Formless Child shifted its attention to her and began to rush her.

Sylutia then used Astral Float to hover, lifting her body off the ground so the opponent could not reach her.

Seeing this, the Formless Child could only spit out globules of black mud that solidified into bullets toward the airborne Sylutia.

The girl did not rush to counterattack. Instead she concentrated on using Astral Float to keep moving and dodging.

(Astral Float proficiency +11)

(Astral Float proficiency +9)

......

(Astral Float proficiency +15)

The Astral Float ability lets the caster float in the air. It differs from flying—far less fast and agile—but it can, like a helicopter, remain suspended in one spot for a long time. In the true Astral Plane, this ability’s effect is amplified nearly a hundredfold, granting extremely high speed.

At first Sylutia found dodging awkward—after all, she was unskilled with this ability. As she kept using it and her proficiency rose, she slowly adapted, discovered many little tricks, and her movements became smooth and agile.

(Astral Float proficiency +10, progress 302/300, trial conditions satisfied)