Chapter 224 Ivy Song [5] - Punishment
Silas heard the words of the contract and slowly nodded his head.
When Ivy finally finished reciting the words, she sighed and asked, "Can you let go of me now? This is quite uncomforable."
She slowly looked down at the foot that was pressing on her chest. There was a pained expression on her face, but that was it.
Yet, she knew anyone else in her place would have been screaming painfully.
Due to her biology as a dryad, her body was not made out of the same soft tissue as that of humans. Instead, not only was she closer to a plant since she was quite literally birthed out of their almighty tree the same way all the other dryads with royal genes did.
Her mother wasn't actually her mother. In human terms, she was closer to a sister. However, within their society, the queen of the dryad was her mother for a very particular reason.
When Ivy and her sister were born, Queen Rose, their mother, had already spiritually connected with the almighty tree. Due to that, they are considered her children despite all of them coming from the same source.
Normal dryads would have been birthed from magical plants that evolved or something similar to that process. The one connected to the almighty tree can order some of the plants within the vicinity to create treefolk similar to dryads. Yet, since they are just extensions of the almighty tree itself, they are considered nothing more than that.
The dryads, on the other hand, like Ivy, her sister, and even her mother, are considered entities of their own and don't possess the characteristics of a treefolk, such as green skin or a bark-like body.
Yet, they had certain similarities since it was still part of their bloodline. They could transform their limbs into that of a plant, and even live off the process of photosynthesis.
'I wonder if they have cultivation techniques based on their ability to absorb minerals out of water? Maybe even one based on carbon dioxide and sunlight...' Silas mused for a moment before a serious expression fell on his face.
'W-Wait... What if they have a cultivation technique like that from birth? Air, water, and even the minerals within the water have magical properties. Wouldn't that mean that they can evolve and grow stronger through photosynthesis alone? Sure, the photosynthesis might be a little scuffed due to the magical properties, but what if that is the reason for her strength despite being so young? Though, I wonder if consuming sunlight would give you any magical properties.' Silas thought with seriousness before looking the woman below him in the eyes and asking the question on his mind.
"Do you use a cultivation technique based on photosynthesis?" Silas finally asked.
"Photosynthesis?" Ivy raised a brow, clearly indicating that the word did not translate as Silas had hoped.
Taking his foot off her chest, Silas grabbed her arm and picked her up with a single pull while thinking about how to explain the process to her.
"It is when a plant absorbs sunlight, oxygen... I mean air, and water out of the ground at the same time. I assume you have such a technique to get stronger." Silas asked while tilting his head to the right with narrowed eyes.
"H-How..." Ivy's eyes widened in shock before beginning to shine with a white light.
At the same time, Ivy could feel the hairs at the back of her neck stand up as one of the many well-kept secrets of the dryad's cultivation techniques was exposed instantly.
'Gilea. How does he know about that!?' Ivy inwardly shouted while taking a step back.
Terror could be seen on her face. If word got out that someone she knew found out about their cultivation technique, not only would she be executed on the spot by her mother for treason, but there was a chance that their entire civilization might be under threat.
The two kingdoms and even the elven society have been trying to find a reason to demolish them for centuries now. Still, due to her mother's ascension to the ruby core, they could not do anything to them for now.
Sure, their society could easily be crushed through the sheer manpower of the kingdoms. Xylem has several ruby cores, mostly from the royal family. Delaer also has close to a dozen ruby cores within their empire, but they don't attack because of the sheer casualties of such a battle.
severely dwindle too.
Knowing the dryads' cultivation technique, these enemy forces If one party were to attack, say Xylem, for example, if they were to lose one of their ruby cores, several cities, and hundreds of thousands of lives in the battles, not only would they look vulnerable due to the power vacuum, but their people's trust would severely dwindle too.
Knowing the dryads' cultivation technique, these enemy forces would easily allow them to cripple the society's progression. That way, when the dryad society eventually does attack in retaliation to this suppression, they kingdoms can make it seem like they were not at fault for fighting back.
This would remove one of the two larger problems of dealing with the society.
*"I'm afraid I do not know that answer."* Gilea spoke into Ivy's ears, yet those words did not bring calmness or even relief. It only amplified the terror the woman before Silas was feeling.
Gilea not knowing something was nearly as terrifying as her nigh-omniscience.
*"However, I can hypothesize that it has something to do with his previous planet."* Gilea spoke again, making Ivy frown.
'You can't see into his world?' Ivy asked.
*"No. It is too far away."* Gilea spoke again, her ethereal voice trickling down Ivy's ears like warm oil.
"Yes? No?" Silas raised a brow when he saw Ivy's expression. He was waiting for a response, but it seemed like she had begun to talk to Gilea again.
"Sigh... Ugh, this is annoying." Silas sneered and scratched the back of his head.
'Did I uncover some weird secret her race were holding hostage or something?' Silas thought to himself before turning around when he felt a few presences looking at him.
"What do you want?" Silas asked with a slightly curious tone.
Three of the four individuals could not help but twitch their eyes in slight annoyance. The man with long, pointy ears and silverish-diamond-like eyes was the only one who didn't twitch his eyes.
Landing a few meters in front of Silas, the headmaster wore a long robe that looked slightly tattered, as if it had been used in many wars before being dawned that day.
The beer-bellied man, Mr. Faldro, wore a suit of armor that somehow covered his large bulging belly.
Aka also stood there with Alex at his side, floating beside him as if he had the power of slight as well.
Of course, everyone knew that wasn't the case.
"Mr. Evergreen. We have to treat you like any other student here. That was the clause in our agreement when you joined and it will remain that way until you leave." The headmaster spoke with closed eyes before opening them to look around.
Destruction littered the fields of grass that had either been bombarded by varying spells, or scorched beyond recognition.
"A battle of this magnitude and destruction... I can't say that the punishment will be easy." The headmaster spoke with a slightly grave voice.
"What kind of punishment are we talking?" Silas crossed his arms nonchalantly, as if everything that the man before him said didn't mean a single thing to him.
"Well, first, you'll have to pay for the damage... Then we'll probably have to restrict you from leaving the academy's premises. We'll downgrade your housing down to a private room, and you'll have to stay after class to help out with the teachers." The headmaster explained.
"Alright." Silas shrugged.
"We are aware of how strong you are, but I promise you, we have ways to enforce those rules." The headmaster stressed.
"I understand." Silas nodded without much thought.
It didn't really matter to him. He was just wasting time until the tournament anyway, so to him, this punishment not only allowed him to gather favor among students and teachers alike, but it also allowed him to learn more while he was at the academy.
'Since I can stay away for several months without a problem, I should be able to learn 24/7 without having to take any breaks. I'll spend most of my time in the library trying to take in as much knowledge as I can before I have to leave. Though, I'll probably have to create an algorithm to see which books I should read first and which- Oh... Already done. Well, I think I'm good to go now.' Silas inwardly thought while a smile tugged at his lips.
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