Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Mana Crystals Grade [1] Tier [C]:- a crystal condensed with the purest energy of the mystical veins for a long period of time. When absorbed, it can generate an extreme amount of mystical energy and can help one quickly increase their level.

Simon was amazed the moment he read the description of the Trees of mana crystals and the crystals they produce. At a glance, he could see hundreds of mana crystals hanging on the branches of twenty or so trees.

Ignoring the incredible uses these trees have, they were so beautiful and the light they released were extremely pleasing to look at. Just like a tree made out of diamonds.

Simon was gobsmacked at the scene that lay in front of him. What did Cecilia do to trigger such a splendid change? Each of these trees were just any ordinary trees of mana that any [D] rank dungeon could purchase from the shop.

But now thanks to Cecilia, they have undergone a marvellous change to become incredibly precious Trees of Mana Crystals.

He immediately opened the [Shop] and browsed through the item before finding the option of Trees of mana crystals (saplings) being listed for 15,000,000 DP there.

According to the [Shop], he could only purchase them after his dungeon reaches the rank [B]. Not to mention purchasing each of these took a fortune. Compared to the trees of mana that were listed for 500,000 DP each, the Trees of Mana Crystals were much more valuable and precious.

The Mana Crystals they produce were also something Simon needed desperately to increase his level. Compared to the easily available Trees of mana in the [Shop], the Trees of mana crystals were much more valuable since he couldn't even purchase them at this point in time.

His [D] rank dungeon able to exploit the benefits of the mana crystal so early was a blessing through and through.

Simon silently approached the downtrodden figure of the little girl who seemed to be anxious about him becoming mad due to the changes she had triggered.

Seeing that her big brother had a serious expression as he came near, Cecilia thought that Simon was incredibly mad for ruining his trees. However, when she felt his rough hand lovingly caress her hair, she couldn't help but look up at his face.

At this moment, his face seemed to beam with joy as he looked at her, there was no disappointment nor any ounce of anger on his person.

Tilting her head, she asked "Are you not mad big brother?".

"Haha, what is this silly girl saying… why will I be mad at you? On the contrary, I feel quite grateful to you. Do you even know how much of an edge you have provided to the dungeon by transforming these trees? Truly, if anything I should be thankful to you" Simon stated dissolving the concerns of his little sister.

"Hehe… really?" Cecilia rubbed her nose in delight when she was being praised by her brother who she looks up to so much.

"See I told you he wouldn't be mad" Irene commented. When she first saw these changes happening, even she was surprised somewhat. Her abilities were that heaven defying after all. <br/><script>ChapterMid();</script>

"How did you do this Cecilia?" Simon asked looking at the little girl in front of him. He wanted to know whether she was able to now control her powers to some degree.

Putting her finger on her head, she pondered intensely before replying "It was when I was sitting here at the edge of the lake. All of a sudden I felt like somebody was calling me, the feeling was like they wanted to talk with me. Sensing this feeling, I approached the trees and found out that it was them who wanted to converse with me. When I started talking to them, I could clearly feel their thoughts and emotions mysteriously conveyed to me".

Simon frowned at those words 'The trees talking? It wasn't like they were treants!' if it was someone else saying those words, he wouldn't have believed them. But Cecilia was different, she was the Forest Spring Royal Spirit and also a reincarnation of one of the Eight Emissaries according to Aldebaran.

"They were trying to convey their appreciation for me and at the same time their disappointment for not being able to give anything in return. I felt their pain and prayed for their wishes to be fulfilled and disappointments to scatter when suddenly these trees started glowing with beautiful lights and before you know it they had become something like this".

Cecilia pointed trying very hard to explain everything that had happened

Simon was stunned, the reason for that was not because Cecilia could hear the voice of the trees but because her abilities were starting to manifest more and become active.

Although from her words it was hard to tell whether she had any control over her powers, one thing he notice was that all these changes occurred because she wished for it.

Cecilia did not have any control over her powers nonetheless, there was no dangers of her powers going out of control.

Simon carefully observed her and saw that she was the same little girl he had taken in as his little sister and felt relieved. Next he went near one of the Trees of mana crystal and carefully inspected all of the crystals growing in it.

According to Analysis all of them were Grade [1] [C] rank, the lowest tier of mana crystals. There were other grades but since the Trees of Mana crystal were only in their sapling stage, Grade [1] was the best he could ask from these trees for now.

Ordinarily, if he bought these trees of mana crystal from the [Shop], he would have to grow them from seeds which would have taken months of time to grow into saplings even with the help of the altered pond of serenity.

The fact that he did not have to take that long for them to grow was a godsend. However, it wasn't without any issues, now that the trees of mana have transformed into trees of mana crystal, he had to plant the Trees of mana from the seed once again.

Each of these trees had a different function and couldn't replace the other.

Thinking of peculiarities, Simon wondered about the Obsidian Energy Exuder, those [A] rank constructs that had been altered from the Obsidian plates that he placed on the Forest Spring Spirit Floor.

There was also the seeds of the Trees of mana that Simon had given to Forest Spring Spirits to plant. He made a mental note to visit the floor and observe any changes that had occurred in the near future.

For now, Simon paid all of his attention to the mana crystals that were in front of him. Now when he hunted monsters on the northern and outer region of the western part of the forest, the experience he got even with the buff provided by his pride fragment, was so less that it can even be considered negligible.

He needed to at least delve a little bit deeper and find strong monsters to increase the pace of his levelling. However, it was not like strong monsters were easy to hunt. Many a times, they move in group which makes them increasingly harder to deal with and the higher their level were the more sentient the monster.

Hunting strong monsters in groups was incredibly risky and more so when Simon was in their territory where it would not be surprising for him to find their numbers increasing and him slowly becoming the prey instead.

The altered pond of serenity was another option that could increase his strength but the power within the pond was so profound and vast that his body wouldn't even be able to immerse in it for a minute.

The last time he had dived inside, he was only able to endure inside it for half a minute which made the pond a less feasible option for grinding levels.

Now though, other than the pond, there was another source which could help him increase his level, namely the mana crystals.

Bending his body, Simon picked up one of the mana crystals that had fallen onto the ground. The crystal resembled a little bit like the shape rhombus and shined with multi-coloured lights due to the condensed mystical energy within it.

The mana crystal wasn't that big and could be easily grasped within his palm. As he was feeling the mana crystal, a peculiar sensation passed through his body before he felt a vast amount of pure and unpolluted mystical energy flow within his body through the crystals.

Simon immediately used his [Mana Lines] to circulate the mystical energy throughout his body and kept on repeating the process for a whole five minutes or until he felt that the energy pouring out of the crystal had somewhat slowed down before stopping altogether.

Crack… the mana crystal in his hand became transparent after the mystical energy within it was absorbed and shattered into tiny fragments.

Simon licked his lips feeling a little discontent at the unexpected end of the mystical energy. It had only been a few minutes since he started absorbing the mana crystal and he had already gone through one so fast.

He felt like he was enjoying a fine meal only to be forced to stop midway, it left a bad aftertaste in his mouth.

Sighing internally, Simon inspected the changes within his body after absorbing the mana crystal and vaguely felt that his mana pool and power had increased. The changes were so slight that the status failed to display it nonetheless; the changes did occur.