There was a bit of hesitation for Leon as he stared at the [Celestial Hand]’s panel before him.
He had obviously not forgotten about the skill, but the fact it activated on the boss was indeed interesting.
He carefully looked over the four options displayed in front of him.
However, if he was being honest with himself... He already had a rough idea of which item he wanted.
Even so, Leon didn’t imdiately choose.
Instead, he reopened the description of the final item.
[Plant King Flower (Legendary): 1,000 Agility, 1,500 Constitution, 1,300 Strength. Equipping this item will prevent the vines of the "Will of Nature" from attacking you. Requirent: Defeat the "Wild Plant King".]
Leon read the description slowly. The stats were definitely solid.
A boost to three attributes at once was never bad, especially when the numbers were this high.
But the stats themselves weren’t what truly caught his attention.
What interested Leon far more was the line ntioning the "Will of Nature."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Ever since arriving in the [Vine Plains], Leon had noticed the countless vines covering the ground and surrounding the area.
Yet strangely enough, none of them had attacked players so far.
The only vines that had shown aggression were the ones controlled by monsters.
Which ant sothing important.
The vines scattered across the plains were probably part of a larger system.
And this item clearly interacted with it. Leon turned toward Celeste.
"Do you know anything about this?" he asked while sending the item panel to her.
Celeste accepted the panel and began reading it carefully.
"Hm..."
She looked thoughtful. After a few seconds, she slowly shook her head.
"Not really," she admitted. "But I did hear so players talking about sothing earlier."
"Oh?" Leon said.
"They ntioned that so aggressive vines were blocking sothing," she continued. "But no one seed to know exactly what."
Leon’s eyes glead slightly when he heard that. That was enough information for him.
If this item ca from the boss of the [Vine Plains], then it was almost certainly connected to so hidden chanic in the area.
Leon smiled faintly. And then he made his choice.
Ding!
He selected [Plant King Flower] from the panel.
The mont he did—
Celestial Hand!
A massive transparent hand suddenly burst out from Leon’s chest.
It shot forward like a streak of light and rushed toward the charred remains of the Wild Plant King.
Even though Pyra’s flas had reduced the boss to nothing more than ash, the skill still seed to recognize the corpse.
The giant hand reached the pile of ashes and began searching through it.
Celeste watched the scene with wide eyes.
After a few seconds—
Fwoosh!
The hand suddenly grabbed sothing and returned to Leon.
When it opened its fingers, a new item appeared. Another [Plant King Flower].
It was completely identical to the one Leon had already obtained.
Celeste’s eyes widened even further.
"W-Wow?!" She stared at the glowing flower in Leon’s hand, "What the hell was that?!"
Leon couldn’t help but grin.
"A skill of mine," he said casually, then he tossed one of the flowers toward her, "Here, I feel like we’ll probably need it."
Celeste caught the item instinctively, "Thanks," she said with a smile.
But then she paused. A confused expression appeared on her face.
"Wait..." she said slowly. "How did you get so many items?"
Leon chuckled slightly.
He almost wanted to play the "guess the talent" ga like he did with Emilia.
But in the end, he decided against it.
"My talent lets obtain every drop a monster has," Leon explained while sending his panel to her. "No matter what."
Celeste blinked.
"That ans if I have extra equipnt or resources, you won’t have to worry about anything."
Celeste finished reading the panel. Then she froze. Her mouth slowly fell open.
"H-Holy hell..." She looked back at Leon with disbelief, "I... I didn’t expect that..."
Her voice was almost a whisper.
"That’s even stronger than my own talent..."
Leon shrugged slightly.
"I think yours will be more focused on combat once you get other [Embers]," he replied. "Mine is more practical."
He crossed his arms, "So it’s hard to compare them."
Then his expression beca slightly thoughtful.
"Still... we’ll definitely need to figure out how to unlock more of your Ember types."
Celeste nodded slowly. Right now, she only possessed one type of Ember.
And surprisingly, that Ember didn’t directly improve her combat abilities.
Instead, it provided attribute increases whenever she killed enemies with her flas.
Even so, the effect was already quite strong. Which made Leon wonder.
If this single Ember was so powerful... Just how strong would the others be?
"Kyu?"
At that mont, Pyra suddenly tilted her tiny head.
The small phoenix sensed that Celeste was about to equip sothing.
With a cheerful flap of her wings, she flew off Celeste’s head.
Then, before anyone could react, the little phoenix vanished in a flash of light.
She had returned to Celeste’s [Pet Space].
Celeste laughed softly.
"Well," she said. "Who knows when she’ll co out again."
Then she placed the [Plant King Flower] on her head. The flower rested there like a crown.
Leon did the sa.
He removed his [Wild Forest Crown 2] and replaced it with the new item.
The mont he equipped it, he felt a faint connection to the surrounding vines.
Then Leon glanced at Celeste again.
More specifically... At the spear she was holding.
An idea suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Hold on a second," he said.
Leon opened his [Storage Space] and began searching through it.
Several seconds passed. Then his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Haha," he said excitedly. "I knew I still had it!"
He pulled out a weapon. A long spear with a faint mist surrounding its blade.
[Mist Spear 2 (Legendary): 3,000 Attack, 1,700 Strength, 1,000 Agility. Allows user to cast "Spear Throw".]
Celeste stared at it in shock.
"Wow..." Her voice was filled with amazent, "Your talent really isn’t a joke..."
She looked at the spear in awe.
"This is way better than my current weapon." Then she added with a playful smile, "I feel like Emilia got really lucky~"
"It’s fine," Leon said while handing the spear to her. "You can use this one."
Celeste accepted the weapon carefully.
Leon knew he would eventually need to find her better armor and equipnt as well.
But for now, upgrading her weapon was already a huge improvent.
"Hold on," Celeste said suddenly. "I need to use my [Ember]."
She turned toward the battlefield where the corpses of the monsters still remained.
Then—
Fwoosh!
A powerful wave of flas erupted from her body.
The fire rushed across the ground and engulfed the remains of every monster she had killed.
Even the ashes were consud.
Monts later, the flas returned to Celeste’s body.
Ding!
[Your "Phoenix Ember" has consud several enemies.]
[ 17 Strength, 19 Constitution, 14 Agility.]
Leon watched the notification with interest. And he understood just how powerful this single [Ember]was.
The ability wasn’t as strong as consuming monster essences.
But it had one major advantage: it worked on every enemy Celeste killed.
Which ant the bonuses would slowly accumulate over ti.
Leon nodded to himself. No wonder it’s an SS-Rank talent.
And if Celeste eventually unlocked more Ember types... The results could beco terrifying.
In fact, Leon was already thinking about the future.
If her growth continued like this, she might eventually reach the level required to fight the servants of the gods. Or maybe even stronger enemies.
At that mont, Leon completely confird sothing: Celeste had enormous potential.
As long as he helped guide that potential properly, just like he planned to do with Emilia and the others, she could beco an incredible ally.
’Good,’ Leon smiled slightly.
Once they finished handling their items, Leon checked the ti again.
"We still have around an hour before the event starts," he said.
Celeste nodded, "What should we do?"
Leon looked around the endless plains.
"For now, we’ll keep leveling here," he said. "There’s no reason to move to another zone yet."
"Alright."
With that decided, the two of them continued moving deeper into the V[ine Plains].
The battles resud almost imdiately.
Slash!
Leon eliminated approaching monsters with ease.
Sotis he used his sword. Other tis he launched spells with his staff.
anwhile, Celeste relied entirely on her spearmanship.
Her movents were smooth and precise. Each thrust of her spear struck vital points.
Monsters fell one after another. Ti passed quickly.
After around forty minutes of constant fighting, Leon finally paused to check his rewards.
But just as he opened his panel—
Ding!
A sudden warning appeared.
[Warning: You are about to enter the "Will of Nature’s" attack zone. Please step back.]
"Huh?"
Leon stopped walking. Celeste also halted beside him.
They both looked at the notification in confusion.
"I think this is the place," Celeste said quietly. "The one I ntioned earlier."
Leon looked ahead. And then he saw it: a faint transparent veil stretched across the plains.
It almost looked like an invisible wall. Anyone could easily walk through it.
But sothing told Leon that doing so without preparation would be a very bad idea.
Beyond the veil... The ground was completely covered in massive vines.
Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. They twisted and moved slightly like living creatures.
But the most surprising thing was located at the center of that dangerous area: an enormous ancient gate.
It stood tall among the vines. Covered with strange symbols.
Leon stared at it with narrowed eyes, "The vines are protecting that gate."
The realization sent a spark of excitent through his mind.
If the vines were guarding sothing... Then that gate definitely led sowhere important.
And Leon had never been the type of person to ignore opportunities like that.
...
A/N
I really hope I did a good enough job introducing Celeste as a character.
Much like Emilia, she will have her own growth, and I find her talent to be the most interesting one yet (beside Leon’s).
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