Chapter 224: Training Montage [III]
She did this for one very practical reason: Eluned absolutely hated it when anyone violently ripped apart or sliced her living roots.
If Morwenna destroyed the plants, the nature Goddess would go feral and they would end up in a magic duel that would ruin the rest of Silas’s afternoon.
"Fine! Take him!" Morwenna grumbled, successfully untangling herself from the last root and stepping back, wringing the water out of her hair. "But don’t break him with your weird flower chants, weed! He’s a swordsman!"
Eluned completely ignored the pirate’s heckling.
She stepped directly up to Silas with her emerald eyes softening into pools of liquid warmth as she looked up at his sweating bare-chested frame.
She reached out, gently smoothing down the waistband of his sweatpants and placing her palm tenderly against his beating heart.
"My Love," Eluned spoke softly. "You are officially going to be learning Nature magic today... Because your Gold Core is so incredibly pure, and because you possess such a deep protective instinct over your territory, you possess an astronomical potential for it."
She paused, biting her lower lip slightly with a sudden uncharacteristic shyness flickering across her usually arrogant features.
Her cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink.
"However..." Eluned murmured, looking down at his chest for a second before meeting his golden eyes again. "...I actually possess a way for you to reach a high point of mastery at using Nature magic as soon as humanly possible. A shortcut that would bypass months of basic meditation."
Silas raised an eyebrow, his Warlord efficiency instincts instantly piqued.
A shortcut to master one of his eight required elemental affinities? That was exactly what he needed...
"What way?" Silas asked curiously, leaning in slightly.
Eluned’s blush deepened until her ears turned completely red. She stammered with her regal composure faltering under his intense gaze.
"D-Dual Cultivation," Eluned stuttered out, the words barely louder than a whisper.
Silas blinked, caught entirely off guard.
"Dual Cultivation?" Silas repeated.
"Y-Yes," Eluned explained hurriedly, her hands fidgeting against his chest. "I... I have obviously never done it before in my entire immortal existence, my Lord. My core has remained entirely untouched but... if you and I were to intimately intertwine our physical bodies and merge our bodies together in synchronization... the exchange of pure elemental energy would deeply enrich your mana core! Your foundational understanding and mastery over the natural realm would increase exponentially overnight!"
Before Silas could even process the very tempting implications of dual cultivating with an SSS-Rank nature goddess to level up his core, a loud obnoxious bark of laughter echoed across the arena.
"HA!" Morwenna yelled from ten yards away, pointing a mocking finger directly at the blushing nature Goddess. "Dual cultivation?! Are you kidding me right now?! That is literally just sex, you hypocrite! Stop trying to dress it up in fancy academic terminology! You are literally just horny and want to jump the Captain’s bones!"
Silas looked down at Eluned, fully expecting the arrogant nature goddess to fiercely deny the accusation or threaten to bury the pirate in a forest of thorns but she didn’t.
Eluned didn’t deny it even a single fraction of a percent.
Instead, she simply lifted her chin with her face burning crimson, and cleared her throat loudly with a dignified ahem, entirely refusing to look Morwenna in the eye.
"Just... keep it in your thoughts for later tonight, my Love," Eluned told Silas softly, giving his chest a possessive little pat before taking a step back to create a teaching perimeter. "Let us focus strictly on your foundational elemental magic for now."
Silas let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding with a wry smirk crossing his face.
’This territory is going to be the death of me,’ he thought, shaking his head as he focused his golden eyes on her hands.
"Alright," Silas said, setting his stance. "What is the first step?"
"The first foundational spell I will be teaching you today is Nature Transformation," Eluned lectured him, her posture straightening as she slipped seamlessly into her role as a divine mentor. "You must understand something vital, Silas. For Nature magic... unlike Pyromancy, Electromancy, or all other standard forms of destructive, mathematical magic... you absolutely do not really need to rely on rigid, phonetic incantations or complex runic chants."
She spread her pale arms wide with her palms facing the stone floor of the vault.
"Nature is not a weapon you force into submission through calculations," Eluned explained, her voice echoing softly off the self-healing masonry. "It is a living, breathing resonance. As long as you possess a completely pure heart, an unwavering protective intent, and a genuine love for the natural world and those who embody it... it will—"
The moment the words left her lips, Eluned’s SSS-Rank nature aura gently, breathtakingly bloomed outward from her bare feet.
It didn’t explode with power like Morwenna’s water or Thor’s lightning. It pulsed with a warm, brilliant, golden-green light that silently washed over the entire two-hundred-yard vault.
Where the light touched, miracles occurred.
The cold hard interlocking runic stone tiles of the floor were instantly, seamlessly covered in a thick and lush soft blanket of emerald-green grass. The grass spread at terrifying speed, climbing up the bases of the reinforced masonry pillars and scaling the self-healing walls.
Within seconds, thousands of vibrant, breathtaking wildflowers... crimson roses, deep blue orchids, golden lilies, and glowing white star-blossoms sprouted aggressively from the newly formed turf.
The chilled air of the underground training ground was instantly transformed, filled with the intoxicating fragrant aroma of fresh soil, morning dew, and blooming summer flowers.
In less than three heartbeats, the brutal training vault had been entirely, miraculously transformed into a breathtaking paradisiacal green garden that looked like a slice of heaven carved out of the underworld.
Even Morwenna stopped her pacing with her feral gray eyes wide with quiet awe as she looked down at the soft green grass and wildflowers tickling the tops of her leather combat boots.
In the center of the miraculous garden, surrounded by glowing motes of floating pollen and soft golden light, Eluned gracefully dropped to one knee.
She reached down into the lush turf and gently, reverently picked a single, perfectly formed, luminescent white flower by its stem.
She stood back up with her emerald eyes locked entirely onto Silas’s golden-ringed pupils with an expression of pure devotion.
"I love that look on your face..."
She took a slow step forward, stopping mere inches from his bare chest. Eluned then lifted the luminescent white flower directly to her lips.
With a gentle, tender breath, Eluned blew across the blossom.
The glowing white petals detached from the stem, scattering into the air and floating softly, beautifully directly across Silas’s sharp face, brushing against his cheeks and leaving a tingling trail of pure, life-giving nature mana that instantly sank into his Gold Core, causing his internal circuits to hum with vibrant new warmth.
Looking up into his eyes through the scattering shower of glowing white petals, Eluned smiled... a soft breathtaking expression that completely stripped away every ounce of her usual arrogance that she kept for Morwenna, leaving only the goddess who had loved her Lord.
"–Be alright, so as long as you love me my Lord, you will be able to perform Nature Magic as much as you can."
"As much as I love you?" Silas asked with his voice steady against the cool quiet stone of the underground training hall.
Eluned nodded without a single instant of hesitation.
Her emerald eyes shone like polished jewels in the soft ambient light of the room.
"The foundational principle of Nature Transformation was created in the dawn of the realms to spread life, warmth, and joy wherever its roots touched," Eluned explained softly, her voice carrying a sweet melodious tone that resonated with the environment. "In that golden era, when the first green shoot pushed through the barren stone of creation, it was meant to nurture every living soul without condition and regardless of what mortals, beasts, or other civilizations have done to the earth over the centuries... the fires they set, the forests they cleared, the iron they drove deep into the soil... Nature itself never holds hatred for them. It does not harbor spite. It simply continues to give, enduring all wounds to offer sustenance again and again."
During her inspirational explanation, Eluned raised her pale left hand.
A slender, emerald-green vine coiled gracefully around her wrist like a living bracelet, sprouting two vibrant leaves.
From those leaves, two round, bright red apples materialized, swelling to their full, plump maturity in a matter of seconds.
It was a charming technique she had picked up from the Earth Gardening guidebook Silas had bought for her back at the time he went back to Valoria.
She snapped the stems with a soft click and handed one apple to Silas and the other to Morwenna.
Morwenna raised a skeptical eyebrow, examining the smooth, polished skin of the fruit before taking a large unceremonious bite.
A crisp crunch echoed across the stone floor as sweet juice dripped down her chin.
"Damn~" the pirate queen muttered, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve and staring at the fruit with new respect. "That’s surprisingly sweet. It’s far better than the salted rations we used to keep in the ship’s hold."
Silas took a bite of his own apple, savoring the rich, refreshing flavor that burst across his tongue.
"Really sweet. Good job, Elu. You’ve been reading that book."
Eluned beamed at his praise, lifting her chin proudly before continuing her lesson.
"Now, for the fundamental basics of the magic itself. Nature magic responds directly to visualization and emotional intent... You must not try to force your mana through the ground like a battering ram or calculate it like an alchemical formula."
With a delicate sweep of her fingers, Eluned retracted the flower field she had demonstrated earlier.
The lush green grass and vibrant blossoms dissolved into motes of sparkling emerald dust, leaving the cold dark runic stone floor bare once again.
She stepped back, gesturing with an open palm for Silas to take her position in the center of the vault.
"Before your hand touches the ground, you must first gather the nature energy," Eluned educated him firmly, her green eyes locked onto his face. "Feel the wild, untamed life force drifting in the air around us. Do not rush. Draw it steadily into your core, let it merge completely with your own aura, and then release it into the stone all at once. And remember, my Love... because I created Nature Transformation myself, as long as you love me, the magic will answer your call without restriction."
Silas took three slow measured breaths to center his mind.
He closed his eyes, shutting out the distractions of the room and focusing on his internal circulation.
He could feel the atmospheric energy drifting through the subterranean vault... it was cool and rich with unrefined natural power brought down by the circulation vents from the land above.
He opened his golden-ringed eyes and began drawing that green energy drifting through the room directly into his chest.
He pulled it inward, condensing the atmospheric power inside his Gold Core alongside his own aura, building the internal pressure until his veins thrummed with a warm vibrant feeling.
’I need to do this... I love Elu... It shouldn’t be that hard to be honest.’
He crouched low, moving his right hand toward the cold floor tiles.
Eluned watched his posture attentively with her hands clasped tightly against her chest.
’I already know my Love loves me...’ She thought, a gentle warmth blooming throughout her spirit. ’I can feel his sincere devotion every single time his eyes meet mine but when that bond is converted directly into nature energy, how vast will his output be?’
Silas placed his calloused palm flat onto the stone floor, releasing the gathered energy all at once.
"Nature Transformation!"
A blinding wave of emerald-and-gold light erupted from beneath his palm!
It was not a small patch of grass and it was not a modest garden...
The spell exploded outward in a sweeping, unstoppable tide of life that covered the entire two-hundred-yard vault in a heartbeat!
Thick, impossibly soft green turf blanketed every inch of the stone floor.
Towering ancient trees, thick as siege columns, burst upward through the bedrock with a deafening rumble.
Their trunks expanded rapidly, their bark thickening as their branches spread wide, reaching fifty feet into the air to brush against the ceiling.
Vines surged up the support pillars, climbing all the way to the roof and weaving together to form a dense canopy brimming with glowing moss, hanging orchids, and pale white star-blossoms.
The woodland Silas created was easily twice as large and dense as the garden Eluned had demonstrated just moments prior.
It transformed the austere underground training bunker into a primeval forest that reached all the way to the vaulted stone roof!
Eluned let out a delighted gasp. She began hopping up and down on her bare feet, her hands clapping together in pure joy.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Eluned cheered, her face glowing with immense pride as she twirled among the wildflowers. "My Lord simply loves me too much! Look at how vast this forest is! The canopy is breathtaking!"