Silence filled the deserted place.
No sound. No movement. Nothing at all.
Time passed without meaning. Hours turned into days. Days into weeks. Weeks into months. Months into years. Nothing happened, at least, nothing that could be seen. Yet beneath the stillness, something was changing. Slowly, endlessly, the presence rooted itself deeper and deeper into the land.
Energy seeped upward from the ground. Faint at first, then stronger. The tree absorbed it patiently, without haste. Along with that energy came fragments, dispersed souls buried beneath layers of earth, remnants of lives long forgotten. Their essence drifted upward, gathering little by little, until awareness began to form.
Consciousness was born.
The Vice Captain was trapped within this cycle, forced to observe it from beginning to end. He realized that this was how the tree spirit grew stronger, not through movement, not through battle, but through stillness. By absorbing energy from the land itself. From the dead. From lingering emotions and fractured souls that could no longer resist.
And it was lucky.
It had not been destroyed during its growth. It had remained standing for tens, no, hundreds of years. A method of training no human could ever conceive, limited as they were by their short lifespans. Something entirely foreign. Something that expanded his understanding of the world.
He thought of the two known paths.
The first: absorbing energy from living beings, seeking vital force and refining one's own body.
The second: cultivating powers directly tied to the soul.
But there were other truths in this world.
Some races were born with special abilities unique to their kind. Very rarely, some individuals gained unique abilities even within their race, gifts that could not be replicated or taught.
The spirit possessed such a gift.
Even if it was not particularly useful for the spirit itself, it had proven invaluable to the Vice Captain.
At first, he thought the technique lacked practicality. A method too slow. Too passive. Unsuitable for someone bound by time.
Then he sensed it.
Darkness.
It crept toward him without warning. Tornadoes formed nearby, twisting violently as the environment began to collapse. The world around the tree dimmed, fading piece by piece. The land vanished. The sky darkened. Everything began dissolving into shadow.
The Vice Captain smiled.
He recognized it instantly.
"Or maybe I'm wrong," he thought.
The darkness surged into him.
But the moment it entered his body, something answered.
A voice erupted from deep within the Vice Captain, loud, overwhelming, absolute. The sound carried power. Light burst outward, purifying everything it touched. The darkness was erased completely, scattered like dust before a storm.
The Vice Captain woke up.
The tree shattered as he emerged, splintering apart under the force of his awakening. He stepped out, immediately sensing changes within himself, changes in how he perceived the world, how energy moved, how his awareness stretched beyond his body.
He was impressed.
No one stood beside him.
That realization lasted only a moment.
A powerful, shrill scream pierced the air.
The soul of the tree lay on the ground, writhing violently. Its form twisted unnaturally as a white substance, something not quite blood, leaked from its pores. The spirit trembled, helpless and broken.
"Why?" it screamed. "Why would you do that? Why?"
The Vice Captain smiled calmly, turned to the others, and said, "I think this is our first time seeing a spirit plead. What do you guys think?"
Teddy stepped closer. "That's very interesting."
He lifted his leg and brought it down hard.
Once.
Twice.
But his foot passed straight through the spirit's body.
Blondie smiled. "If you want to kill a spirit, you need spirit attacks, not raw strength. Or at least be at the core manifestation stage."
The troll looked confused, then glanced around, then turned to the rogue. "Why are we killing it? Aren't we here to experience what it's like to be a tree? I mean, I'm fine if we do it after. Vice Captain, did it try to do something?"
The spirit screamed, voice breaking. It claimed that this was simply the simulation ending. That it had not tried to do anything. It screamed in agony as it spoke.
The Vice Captain responded calmly. "Well, whatever you say. But before the simulation, did you see a human head lying on the ground? I instructed one of my friends to throw a head there, just to see how you'd react."
He continued, his tone unwavering. "At first, it was just for fun. But you tried to hide it. You claimed you had no emotions, yet here you are, screaming, begging, acting pathetic."
He looked down at the spirit. "You lied."
"During war," he continued, "especially during an invasion, lying to an executive unit of knights has only one price. Death. You tried to hide something from us. You lied. Then you attempted to invade my body."
"As punishment, I will kill you. And I will have this entire forest burned."
The spirit screamed desperately. "Please! Please! There are spirits still in creation, beings that haven't even begun their lives yet! Please don't burn the forest! I'll do anything!"
"You will still die," the Vice Captain said flatly. "No matter what you say."
"Then please," the spirit begged, "don't burn the forest. I'll tell you anything you want."
The Vice Captain looked down. "Who sent you here to kill me?"
"The Beast Kingdom," the spirit cried. "That's all I know!"
It could barely speak anymore. Its form resembled a dying rat, shrieking in agony.
The Vice Captain turned away. "Look at you. This is what happens when a low spirit tries to invade the body of a knight. Stay here and die slowly. Alone."
The troll hesitated. "What if it survives?"
The Vice Captain replied, "Its spirit is leaking. That means it's already collapsing. It'll take a few hours, but it will die, slowly and painfully."
"Come on," he added. "Let's head back and see what happens next."
As they left the forest and approached the town, Blondie finally spoke. "That spirit was tricky."
Teddy looked at him. "Why do you say that?"
Blondie answered, "Because destroying a tree spirit's soul isn't enough. To truly kill it, you have to burn its birthplace."