"Avahni!", Jon shouted at the top of his lungs. While he was unsure if the lutin stayed away for the entirety of his Mana Core integration, Jon had not seen any traces of her after waking up.

While Jon felt confident enough to wander throughout the small realm alone with his new abilities, having an additional person with him would further increase the chances of him surviving. Even if Avahni did not possess any offensive abilities, there was always the possibility of using her as a distraction in order to land a fatal blow against a target.

Not to mention the fact that Jon needed to learn another language in order to complete the ninth mandatory System task. While Jon was somewhat unsure why the System would require such a task of them, with the abilities manifested by his Knowledge Mana Core, memorization and pronunciation was relatively easy, leaving mostly grammar and punctuation for Jon to memorize.

Both [Monstrous Instinct] and [Mine Is The Sea Of Knowledge] increased Jon's memory retention, so information was retained in his mind for longer, and within arm's reach thanks to his Sea Of Knowledge.

While Jon had yet to test the limits of that ability either, it was not the time for experimentation. Jon wanted to find Avahni and attempt to communicate with her further, perhaps building some degree of rapport or camaraderie with the lutin.

Perhaps Jon did not realize it, but meeting someone after being stranded in the wilderness all by himself, he didn't quite want to be alone anymore.

That lone thought dripped down into his Sea Of Knowledge, burying itself deep within Jon's subconscious. While it may have left the forefront of Jon's mind, it would never be forgotten, not truly at least.

"Avahni! Avahni!... Avahni!", Jon continued to shout, this time moving further away from the riverbank and closer towards the tree line. The eighteen-year-old cupped either side of his mouth, trying to project his voice further but to no avail.

Adjusting his glasses, Jon noticed a faint smudge in the corner of one of his lenses, before wiping it away with the corner of his shirt. Despite the freeing sensation of not wearing clothes, his increased flexibility and dexterity did not quite correlate with an increased resistance towards heat and cold.

Jon did not understand how such a thing was possible in the small realm, but the angle of the shadows around him had lowered, as if the sun was slowly starting to dip towards the horizon. While it would not be night for at least another few hours, Jon needed to forage for some more dead twigs and dried grass before the small realm entered its unnatural night cycle.

'Perhaps she will be back in an hour or two. Avahni's hair did possess some sort of mutation so there is a chance that she might be experimenting with her ability or integrating a new fragment into her Fire Mana Core…', Jon just shook his head, picking up a pile of leaves.

The young human male barely had any time to react, before turning around and seeing the smiling figure of a certain lutin behind him. The beautiful elvish humanoid showed a characteristically wide smile before waving at Jon.

"Jon!", Avahni said, a sense of cheerfulness evident within her voice. Glancing around, Jon wondered if [Monstrous Instinct] only detected malicious intent, feeling no response from the ability even after Avahni somehow managed to silently approach him.

'She must have some sort of Fragment Of Silence, or a Fragment Of Sound integrated into her Mana Core. Her movements are way to quiet, unnaturally so'.

Jon did not voice his thoughts, hearing Avahni mutter a few things about the clothes he was wearing, nodding slightly in approval at the design and colours he was wearing. There were a few other words that Jon did not quite understand, but he returned the gesture, waving back at her, nonetheless.

The lutin gave Jon a thumbs up, which cracked a smile on Jon's usual calm and collected demeanour. Jon similarly returned the gesture, before picking up another pile of twigs and leaves pointing in the direction back towards his campsite.

He noticed Avahni blink at him, before picking up her own pile of dried leaves walking beside him, just out of arms reach. He watched as the lutin gestured towards one of the leaves in her hand, before speaking a single word with one too many syllables for Jon's liking.

The eighteen-year-old repeated the word a couple times, earning a small clap from Avahni. Repeating the process, Jon lifted his own leaf towards her, his voice clear and unmoved from pain or the world around him.

"Leaf", he said, watching as Avahni attempted to mimic his pronunciation.

The pair continued gesturing and pointing towards certain facets of the forest, repeating the words to each other before eventually arriving back at Jon's campsite. He almost didn't notice the paling expression on Avahni's face as she gazed towards his belongings, unconsciously dropping the patches of dried grasses and leaves in her hands, letting them fall to the ground.

The smile on his face vanished and his brows furrowed when he discovered a large, pale-crimson coloured beast, sniffing around through his backpack and duffel bag.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Jon was somewhat surprised that he didn't notice the presence of the beast until he broke through the tree line. From a distance, the shape and texture of the beast's hide appeared remarkably like that of a tree root.

Despite Jon's interest in the type of fragments this creature had managed to obtain, the young man immediately dropped the stash of leaves and twigs in his arms.

Picking up his spear, Jon felt the happiness in his mind slowly slip away, clenching his free hand and muttering the beginnings of his Spell. His reserve of wood natured mana had yet to fully regenerate itself, leaving Jon no choice but to use the abilities he was familiar with to defeat this beast.

He would resolve to end this in just a few moments. One clean blow was all he needed. He didn't notice the fearful expression on Avahni's face, as he gaze constantly moved between Jon and the pale-crimson creature sniffing away at Jon's bags.

"Clad in robes crimson, harkening thou pitiful extinction. Sing thou of the coming of blood and- ", Jon felt his chant being interrupted, as Avahni stepped out in front of him. Her arms were wide open and her expression unexpectedly serious as she met Jon's gaze.

The human and lutin stared at each other for a few moments, before Avahni slowly lowered her arms, giving Jon a wry smile and thumbs up. It gave Jon the feeling as though he was a parent that had just caught his child sneaking a pet into the house.

Jon took a half-step back before lowering his spear, placing it at his side. He could literally see the relief on Avahni's face before the lutin pointed towards the creature behind her, before interlocking her fingers with one another, as if to represent herself and the pale-crimson beast.

Even if most of the meaning was lost on Jon, he could make out the gesture representing a fragment, which Avahni subsequently pushed towards her chest. Jon nodded his head a little bit, understanding what the relationship between Avahni and this strange tree root shaped beast was doing.

'Ah? This weird creature is Avahni's summon perhaps? I have a summoning ability myself, so I am somewhat surprised that she managed to obtain all the materials for the summoning ritual so quickly. At least… that's what I think she is trying to say?' Jon couldn't be completely certain but was relatively sure that was what she was trying to communicate.

Avahni swiftly moved to pick up the large, bulbous-looking creature rustling about his belongings. Lifting the capybara-sized beast, Avahni smiled before pushing it towards Jon, letting him get a better look at the creature causing him to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

It was definitely root-like, perhaps even more so than what Jon originally thought it was. It had four limbs, but none of them ended in fingers or talons. Rather, possessing dozens of thick, entwined strands of roots, each flopping around lazily in Avahni's embrace.

It didn't have much of a face, being concealed with layers upon layers of fat across its face and torso. Thicker, strands of roots grew off the main body, mostly in patches or clusters, causing Jon to tilt his head to the side in confusion.

It really did look like a big fat tree root.

In fact, it really looked too much like a big fat tree root.

Jon was beginning to suspect that this pale-crimson beast was in fact and pale-crimson plant.

Avahi held up her summoned creature, pointing towards the forest that Jon and herself had emerged from. Yelling the word for tree while gesturing towards the fat tree root in her hands.

'No that isn't quite right. The word for tree in Avahni's language has a much more pronounced "cha" sound. The word that she is using for the… thing in her arms is a "chai" sound… If I am not mistaken that word was… "root" in English?" Jon said the word out loud, causing Avahni to clap repeatedly, and with an overexaggerated excitement in her actions.

Jon watched as Avahni swung the root creature in her arms. While it neither possessed a face, nor vocal cords, Jon was sure that the strange looking summon didn't appreciate being swung around so crazily. It didn't make any effort to push Avahni away, so Jon just let the lutin be, wishing he possessed some sort of analytical ability, or some sort of scanning type ability.

Despite the fact that Jon knew that he could choose such a thing from his task reward, and have it integrated into his Knowledge Mana Core in a matter of moments. However, he still decided to keep the task reward in reserve, in the event that he required a specific ability that his current ones were not suitable for.

Jon was quite pleased with all of his abilities, with the exception of [Ashvattha Rana; Earthen Treasury Womb]. Even though he had yet to use the ability, he was still unsure of whether the effects of this ability would stack over the effects of [Green Is The Flesh, As Red Is The Blood].

While the majority of Jon's abilities possessed effects that solely benefitted himself, [Ashvattha Rana; Earthen Treasury Womb], possessed the greatest strength while Jon fought alongside allies or comrades.

Jon was not completely comfortable giving up an ability which granted a greater personal strength in favour of a wide-range supportive ability which benefited numerous targets. If he possessed numerous summoning abilities, then he could see the benefits, but even then, Jon was not sure if these summoned creatures were innately loyal to Jon, or if their trust had to be cultivated over time.

'Even if I want to summon it, how the hell am I supposed to obtain another Fragment Of Tree in order to perform the summoning ritual?' Jon felt his shoulders sag at the thought.

Jon did want to know what this strange root creature could do, but merely shrugged, moving towards his bags, checking that it didn't damage his lunchbox container. After counting his remaining fragments, Jon let out a small sigh of relief, seeing that it didn't take anything.

Jon noticed a shadow leaning over his shoulder, before lifting his head and noticing Avahni peering at him.

More specifically, the assortment of fragments sitting idly in his empty lunchbox container.

The human blinked, causing the lutin to blink alongside him. Glancing down towards the seven fragments at the bottom of his bag, Jon reached towards the first one he ever obtained, his Fragment Of Mouth, and handed it towards Avahni.

It was perhaps his least valuable fragment at the moment. Or, at the very least, the one he felt was least compatible with himself. Even if Jon possessed a different pair of Mana Cores, he still felt as though he wouldn't be compatible with this Fragment Of Mouth.

Even with a Dragon Mana Core, or a Shark Mana Core, Jon still felt that the Fragment Of Mouth wouldn't suit him.

Hand extended outwards, with his palm facing up, Jon watched as Avahni merely stared at the Fragment Of Mouth in his hands. The lutin seemed dumbfounded before eventually pointing to herself, muttering a single word in a tone that suggested it was more a question and less of a statement.

"Avahni?".

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.