EU: Chapter 030 | World Tree Fruit TAX

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After returning from the office, Pinaka ran about within the prison, jumping the floors as he exercised and accustomed his body to his parkour skills from Earth. At evening, Pinaka changed his appearance to one of the Elves from Hexagon 21, and lingered about within the fields, using the crops to hide his being.

He had done this when the Elves returned to the prison. Casually, he began to train in his Spells. The reason he was casual was for one reason—he knew the shift schedule of the soldiers now.

The day shift soldiers on the walls were leaving, and the night shift soldiers arrived one after another. Security was the laxest at lunch and twilight, which became the best time to do something without worrying about being seen.

Pinaka created a copy of his head, “Yo!”

“…Yaaaw…” Came the response as Pinaka disassembled and reassembled the head, repeating the process for a while. With every iteration, the quality increased, and the brain’s capability to function improved.

Soon, it was nighttime, as Pinaka tiptoed towards the office. The door was locked. There was no keyhole, since it was foolish.

An Elf, with a piece of wood, could use the keyhole to mould a key. To escape in this fashion was too easy. After the first attempt by an Elf to break free, they changed the lock.

Now, it was just a heavy metal latch, one that was welded shut. With their Authority over fire, the Humans could easily unseal it by cranking up the heat to melting points. Rachad was the one who did that every morning.

There was a thin gap between the door and the latch. Pinaka could grow a tree within the gap, and use its expansion strength to break it. However, not only would this damage the door and latch, the sound would also be too loud, ‘It will alert them of my existence.’

The second floor was the canteen for the soldiers. Pinaka could hear their murmurs and the clattering of cutlery. ‘It seems I cannot break in without causing a commotion.’

‘I wanted to surf through the documents freely during the night.’ Pinaka let out a sigh. He then retreated into Hexagon 21, which technically didn’t have a door. All entrances to the farmlands were open, which worked to his favour.

‘They kept it open on purpose.’ A caged bird would never attempt to fly if its wings were pricked by a heated needle every time it unfurled its wings. Even if the cage’s door was left ajar, it would never attempt to go out and fly.

That was no longer an option to it even from a subconscious level. ‘The Elves are in that state. Even the younger ones don’t dare, since they cannot avoid punishment.’

Pinaka only dared because he now had the means to hold his ground in any situation. Whether to disguise himself, his athleticism or his Creation Factor, Pinaka had many methods to rely on to safely move about. And most of all, he was a ghost in human records.

Technically, he was supposed to be dead. As such, no human knew to look out and keep a watch for him.

Once their dinner concluded, the Humans headed to the fourth floor, to retire for the night. The flight of stairs to the upper floors was within the ground floor, the entrance to which was sealed shut by the welded metal latch.

There was a sudden dimness of the place as one after another, the Humans switched off their illumination. Pinaka returned to train, mostly focused on getting the head to talk so that he could figure out if clones could wield his Authority.

Time passed in such a fashion, and soon, Pinaka became alert upon hearing the metal latch open. He gently peeked in from the entrance of Hexagon 21 and noticed a soldier—holding a small Sun Stone—walk out of the office, in tow with an Elf.

The Elf pushed forth a cart that contained the Elves’ dinner. ‘Oh, I understand now!’

‘That’s the missing Elf!’ Pinaka understood what was happening now. 216 Elves worked on the farm, six per Hexagon. One was the potion factory, and the last was the cook for the Humans.

This Elf created a variety of food items for the consumption of the Humans, involved in cooking alongside a Human. As a cook, the Elf avoided lashes and most forms of abuse suffered by the rest of his kind.

Once Dinner was done, the Elf spent the rest of the time cleaning dishes. And when it was time for the Elves’ dinner, he accompanied the human soldier.

“There are three groups of concern,” The Elf said as he pushed the cart, “Since Raepekka committed suicide, his group lost all motivation to escape.”

“Keep an eye on them.” The soldier commented sternly, “If they show any signs of resuming their escape attempt, tell me immediately.”

“Yes,” The Elf nodded. Judging by the way he spoke casually, it was apparent that he was treated well by the Humans. And to ensure his comfortable status in this messed up world, the Elf happily betrayed his kind and continued to do so.

‘Of course!’ Pinaka felt an urge to roll his eyes as he listened attentively. Soon, he was unable to hear their conversation once they had walked far away. ‘For anyone wise, it’s foolish to stage an escape.’

Even if they succeeded, they would have to spend the rest of their life in hiding, constantly avoiding Human pursuit. Instead of going through all that trouble, it was better to be a defector, a valued one at that.

‘He’s part of the first generation.’ Pinaka judged, as the Elf in question seemed a tad older, by marginal amounts.

‘Also, the soldier that distributes dinner isn’t at Level 2. It’s well hidden, but he’s relying on a Sun Stone.’ It was valuable information, for it meant only Rachad was at Level 2. ‘As long as I target him first, it’ll be my victory.’

Level 1 Humans, without fire, were nothing but victims before him. Sun Stones were amazing, but their reserves were limited. The larger its reserve, the larger the Sun Stone.

Therefore, smaller ones like in the soldier’s possession shouldn’t have much of a reserve. Pinaka could tank it, ‘And if I spam enough tender wood, there will only be smoke instead of fire.’

There were ten claps from the soldier as the Elves promptly rushed to the ground floor. Once the dinner concluded, the soldier and the older Elf returned to the office, sealed shut the office entrance, and retired for the night.

‘HAHA!’ Pinaka made a mental note of the situation, ‘The office door is unlocked for the duration of the Elves’ dinner.’

Lunchtime for the Humans and dinnertime for the Elves; in these two situations, the office was accessible to Pinaka. ‘It’s not too long, but it’s not too short either.’

As for being able to read the paper in the dark, Pinaka had no issues. It was paper, so through his Authority, he could spot the faint texture difference at the spot with the ink. Thanks to it, a mental image of the paper, along with the texture change would appear in his mind the moment he touches it.

Albeit a bit less convenient than reading a paper in the presence of light, he could still manage.

There was silence in the prison as Pinaka returned to the pillar, climbed it up, and rolled up the clone into a sphere. He safely stored it in his butt and then took his spot as the potion factory, ‘Ouch!’

He pricked a few pain receptors during the process and controlled his urge to scream. Once he had affixed himself, the Root Gloves slithered across his body under his control, flattened themselves, and took up spot under his stomach skin.

Whether it be flesh or skin, they behaved like butter under his will, easily allowing him to place or take out something from his body. That’s how he could gently insert the fang in his chest. He needed the Root Gloves to climb up and down the pillar. So, after use, he stored them in his stomach.

The potion factory clone was no different from an inflated balloon. It allowed Pinaka to roam around the place for most of the day. As long as he arrived at this point in the night, he was safe, for this was the only time anyone bothered to care about the potion factory.

The deflated clone rested firmly in his bum, hidden from the view of others as it pressed itself against the wall. This way, no one noticed that his bum’s ‘definition’ was significantly higher than what Prichka had.

‘Ah, they are here!’ Pinaka felt his heart rate accelerate as he noticed six humans strut in. They entered from the tunnel that passed under the wall between Hexagons 5 and 6.

Pinaka was aware of their entry point, but didn’t know anything beyond that, ‘Tonight, I’m tailing them!’

‘Argh!’ Once the humans finished their preparations, the grey-robed human stood at the top of the ladder. He took out the World Tree Fruit and placed it within Pinaka’s mouth, after using the apparatus to open the latter’s mouth.

‘You’re being TAXED!’ Pinaka roared mentally. As the World Tree Fruit fell into his stomach, a pair of canines appeared and carved out a tenth of the fruit. It was then quickly sealed up within a small container of food as the stomach began to digest the rest.

‘It…HURTS!’ He felt his consciousness go in and out of sync every time the fang stabbed into his heart. For a moment, he was technically dead, if not for the healing effects of the World Tree Fruit. ‘As expected of a Relic. Its powers are unmatched!’

And that was an Elf’s power at Level 3—regeneration. When Pinaka’s soul was brought to Gangnea, he witnessed the Elf King regenerating nonstop while he was being burnt by a sea of flames.

‘I’m pretty sure I’ll unlock a new Factor at Level 3.’ Pinaka could say with confidence, ‘It’ll be called the Regeneration Factor. And the higher this stat is, the stronger my regeneration becomes.’

He wanted to reach that point, which wasn’t impossible. If an Elf consumes enough World Tree fruit and they weren’t a phenomenal retard, they had a chance of reaching Level 3. As his consciousness flickered, Pinaka’s desires spiked.

His highest chance of reaching Level 3 was while in the Elven Prison, since he could consume a World Tree Fruit daily. ‘But let’s focus on the task at hand!’

As the fang absorbed the blood in his heart, Pinaka used his Creation Factor of Lifeform on flesh and created blood in the heart. This was just normal blood. And he was mixing a steady sum of it in the blood rich with the healing properties of the World Tree Fruit.

In terms of volume, a tenth of the extracted blood was normal blood. He was evenly mixing it, ensuring all containers would have an even mixture. ‘The healing effects would be the same.’

A Level 2 Elf could digest a World Tree Fruit better. As a result, the healing properties in their blood was stronger. That was why Pinaka took up spot as the potion factory. The overall result would be the same as in the past. However, every day, Pinaka was accumulating a tenth of the World Tree Fruit.

‘That means, every ten days, I am obtaining a whole fruit!’ Even through the pain, Pinaka was bursting with excitement. Had the apparatus not kept his mouth agape, the grey-robed human would have become terrified to see Pinaka’s smile.

If there was an expression resembling a devil’s smile, then it was his at the moment.

“22 litres, sweet!” The leader of the team commented as they began to pack up. Four of them went away first, while two humans stayed behind to clean the pillar and the floor of any spilled blood.

As they too left, Pinaka released himself from the pillar, placed the clone in his place and landed on the ground. Padding his feet to move in stealth, Pinaka tailed the group. ‘It’s this group that’s in charge of the World Tree Fruits. No wonder I found no information about it in Rachad’s cabin.’

Authors Notes: Gangnea Daily Article 30: When an Elf reaches level 3, they become capable of healing from any and all injuries. Therefore, they no longer feel the need to train, and hence, their stats stagnate from this point onward.

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