A frown immediately crept onto Tyr’s face.
The Ash Bark clearly wasn’t tasty.
Chewing slowly, Tyr’s expression twisted further in displeasure.
After a few seconds, he stopped, looked around, and picked up the sealed pouch of Spirit-Fused Mycelium. Without hesitation, he tore it open and sprinkled the contents over the bark in his hand.
Then he ate again.
This time, he managed.
The bitterness from the bark was still there, but the soft earthy sweetness of the mycelium made it bearable. Still, the flame bark’s origin showed its nature. It dried his throat every few seconds.
So, between bites, Tyr reached for the silver vial filled with Pure Lakewater from a Mana Convergence Spring. He sipped from it regularly, using the liquid to soothe the dryness in his mouth and throat.
Once he finished both the bark and mycelium, he patted his stomach.
Then, his eyes landed on the Bloodfruit Core.
It pulsed faintly, the light under its skin growing stronger with each second.
He hesitated.
His face said he doubted something that moved like that was fit to be eaten.
Isaac noticed.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s safe to eat.”
Tyr nodded, though his face was still tense. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and bit into it in one quick motion.
He froze.
Then his eyes widened as the taste spread through his mouth. Sweet, rich, deep.
The flavor exploded, and he started chewing rapidly, enjoying it more than anything else so far. Once it was all gone, he licked his fingers and gave a satisfied sigh.
A low hiss came from Tyr’s body.
Steam, then flame, erupted along his arms and back. His form trembled, his limbs glowing with burning runes. The flames grew larger, completely engulfing him.
Isaac’s eyes widened.
“Calm down. It’s the evolution process for him,” Professor Catherine told him.
The flames burned everything.
From the ashes, a smaller, humanoid tree figure slowly stood up.
He looked like a child, slender and short, about the height of Isaac’s waist. His bark was a smooth iron-gray, with streaks of green light gently pulsing across his body. Eyes glowing softly, he looked up at Isaac.
“Did you get the notification for your evolution?” Isaac asked.
Tyr nodded.
“Congrats,” Isaac grinned. “You did it.”
The little tree child smiled wide and started bouncing up and down, clearly thrilled.
“Alright, show me your new status.”
Tyr happily turned his arm into a writing stick and began scratching on the dirt again.
Tyr
Title: None
Species: Ironwood Sentinel of Life
Rank: Adept, Level 11
Stats:
Strength: 40 → 60
Agility: 29 → 35
Constitution: 49 → 63
Spirit Power: 32 → 39
Mana: 33 → 40
“That’s a massive boost.” Isaac stared at the numbers.
Normally, a human gained only a single stat per evolution step.
Isaac did not know about monsters, but he doubted they gained as much as Tyr. He had gained over five points on average. It was incredible.
Tyr continued writing.
He first wrote the previous skills, then the new ones.
Skills:
Feral Bloom (S Rank) – Enters a berserk state that increases all physical stats drastically for a short time.
Lifegrove Aura (S Rank) – Strengthens all nearby plants, increasing their growth rate and defense.
Flamewreath (S Rank) – Allows partial control over flame. Can imbue attacks or wooden weapons with fire.
All skills were S ranks!
With this status, Tyr could fight Elite rank human awakeners easily. Even Master rank human awakeners could be brought to a stalemate!
“Good job on completing the evolution successfully.” Isaac smiled and patted his head.
Tyr glowed with joy.
Then, without a word, he walked off, returned to his full eight-foot battle form, and started patrolling the fields.
Watching him go, Isaac suddenly realized something.
Tyr’s small form was his real body. The large one was a transformation, created using the skill Adaptive Form (S rank), and it’s job was probably to intimidate others.
When he was first born, he must’ve been terrified and instinctively shifted into his large form to defend himself.
He might’ve attacked others too if he did not sense his Beast Bond with Isaac and calmed down.
Isaac watched him for a few seconds longer, then turned and went to find Emily.
They spent some quiet time together. She clung to him for a bit, laughing at the events he recounted from his academy life.
Later in the afternoon, Isaac went to the field to begin the harvest.
He worked across all nine hectares, moving carefully but quickly.
600 Tier 1 Vitality Grain Crops harvested. Mana +300. Constitution +300.
You have obtained 3000 Tier 1 Vitality Grains.
2400 Tier 0 Vitality Grain Crops harvested. Mana +216. Constitution +216.
You have obtained 12,000 Tier 0 Vitality Grains.
Constitution: 100 [1000 → 1000]
Mana: 100 [1000 → 1000]
Once that was done, he walked to Professor Catherine and told her, “I want to buy more land.”
She raised an eyebrow. “How much?”
“Five hectares.”
She stared for a moment, then sighed. “You’re not going to stop until you collapse, are you?”
He grinned.
Without arguing, she brought out the pre-signed papers and filled in the numbers. Isaac signed.
Now with fourteen hectares under him, Isaac got to work.
He poured fifty mana potions onto the new land, leveled out the nutrients and mana distribution with Sovereign of Land, and burned the old stalks to use them as fertilizer.
Then, finally, he began planting.
He took several breaks to restore his mana. His Spirit stat helped with recovery, but even then, handling fourteen hectares in one go was exhausting.
While planting the seeds, Isaac thought to himself, ’I shouldn’t buy more land until I break the stat limit.’
’Otherwise, I’ll end up unable to farm it properly.’
His mind went to Alice.
’I should talk to her.’
Isaac entered the house, and stopped in front of Alice’s room. He raised his hand and knocked twice.
The door opened a few seconds later.
Alice stood there, her neutral expression from the academy days back, though there was a flicker of something else in her eyes. Tiredness, maybe. Or anticipation.
“Can I come in?” Isaac asked.
Alice stared at him for a moment, then stepped aside.
“Yes,” she said. “I was just about to call you.”
He thought she’d ask why he was here. But instead, she turned and walked back to her desk. Her laptop was open, and papers were spread across the bed.
“We’re reaching market cap,” she said.
Isaac blinked. “Market cap?”
She nodded. “Almost all the students have already bought the grains. Tier 1 grain effects last three days. So until that time is up, those students won’t buy again.”
Isaac took a seat across from her. “But Tier 0s will still sell, right?”
“They will,” Alice confirmed. “But not at a high rate. The students have stocked up. And even if your grains taste great, eating the same thing three times a day gets tiring. Eventually, they’ll slow down.”
“So what should we do?” he asked, knowing she must have a plan already.
Alice pulled another paper from the stack and tapped her pen against it.
“First, we keep the shop open all the time. That way we can sell to whoever passes by, no matter when they come.”
Isaac nodded. “Makes sense.”
“Second,” she continued, “we help the other shopkeepers.”
“Help them?”
“With construction,” Alice said. “Shops are appearing fast, but builders are few. They’ll cause delays. But we have Tyr. We can have him build for them. It’ll give us extra money, build good relations, and support the overall goal.”
“Supporting others will increase our own sales,” Isaac muttered. “Because a stronger market brings more customers.”
“Exactly.”