Chapter 301. Two Weeks In Prarya City. [AotSC] (Patreon)

Their stay in Prarya City was relatively uneventful. Though people were eyeing Flor, the city security kept their promise and guarded her surroundings against people trying to kidnap her. Not to mention, those who managed to sneak in were not nearly strong enough to face Flor and the others. 

Within the first week, Flor had earned a few thousand Experience Points, killing a few Level 30s and below. Flor pondered, standing on the chest of one of her victims. “This is not that bad, right? It’s just annoying that my sleeping time gets interrupted. If that were not the case, I would be earning quite a nice chunk of Experience Points by just staying here.” 

Behind her, Cinderielle chuckled and spoke. “Don’t be so relaxed, Flor. These people were not strong enough, but what if someone like Verdantia’s mom gets tempted by the rewards? You’d be in trouble, don’t you think?”

Flor tilted her head. “Most likely… But I am confused. Why are they so strong? I mean, Level 40 is not a significant milestone like Level 10, 25, or Level 50.”

Verena walked into the room at this moment and saw the mess, making her raise an eyebrow. “They are quite eager, eh? What is it now, the eighth attack?”

Cinderielle smiled and waved her hand. “Aunty Verena. How is everything going on your side?”

“Better than here.” Verena chuckled and looked around. The room’s furniture was trashed entirely, not to mention that even the walls had some holes. “Ah… Such a shame. This room had such a nice vibe to it, but now everything is ruined.” 

Flor looked at Verena and decided to ask her directly. “We were discussing why there is such a big gap between your strength and ours. There is only one sub-Energy-Cycle between us, which doesn’t add enough stats to make such a difference at these levels.” 

Verena smiled and asked. “What’s your Aether Resonance percentage, Flor?”

Flor hummed and looked at her System page. She was about to answer when Verena raised her hand. “Oh, wait. Almost forgot.”

The people in the room saw Verena spread a strange powder around them and then take out a small tool. The tool shone with orange lights before calming down. Verena smiled. “Great, now we can talk without Prarya listening. Go on.”

Tempestria was surprised. “Is there that kind of technology readily available?”

Verena nodded and smiled. “While expensive, you can even create something for armies. The effectiveness is limited with large numbers, but it is great for ambushes and other types of similar activities. Some of these assassins have arrived here with such items. If not, Prarya would’ve spotted them early…” Verena paused and smiled wryly. “Come to think of it, she probably has, but she just doesn’t bother much—like all… well, most World Trees.”

Verdantia smiled proudly. “Liu Shu doesn’t keep her branches still when there are bad people around.”

Verena chuckled and decided to focus on the matter at hand. If not, she feared that the Sylvans would start a neverending praising barrage toward their adored World Tree. “Anyway, what’s your percentage, Flor?”

Flor crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “That’s quite a personal question.”

“So?” Verena scoffed, her tone confident. “We are basically in-laws. What’s there to hide?”

Verdantia blushed at her mother’s direct words. Flor chuckled as well, but she asked with a smirk. “Well, I can tell you. But it is only polite to go first, right?”

Verena clicked her tongue. Still, she answered. “My current highest percentage is 75 percent Anima Affinity.” 

Flor was surprised. “That’s lower than I expected it to be.”

“Huh?” Verena blinked twice, confused. “Is it. What’s your biggest one?”

Flor hummed and commented. “My current highest percentage is 64 percent Aether Resonance.”

Verena was honestly surprised. She couldn’t help but ask more about it. “It is really high! Why is it that high? You are only around D Tier, right?”

Flor crossed her arms. “Okay, you say ‘only,’ so you must be much higher, no? Are you C Tier?” 

Verena grinned. “That’s a bit too personal~.” 

“Oh.” Flor deadpanned. 

Verdantia tilted her head. “Mine is 71 percent, Mom.”

Verena's grin cracked, and she looked at her daughter with a baffled face. “S-Seventy?” Her mind spun, and she quickly linked the dots since she was an intelligent woman. “Hm. Did Liu Shu create another powerful berry that increases those stats?” 

Tempestria exclaimed. “Woah there. That was a quick guess!” 

Verena snorted. “As if you children had an encounter with anything else more impressive than Liu Shu. So, why have I not heard about this, and why has my daughter not picked a few of them for her mommy!”

Feeling the intense gaze of her mother, Verdantia coughed and muttered. “It’s not that I didn’t want to give you any. There are just not that many yet! Liu Shu has been occupied with Leveling Up and such, so the time she spent accelerating the gestation of her fruits is very short.” Verdantia continued eloquently. “Moreover! Only a few core people in our city have received the newest fruits!”

Verena clicked her tongue. “Excuses.” Then, she sighed dramatically. “I have a daughter, and only for her to climb another tree’s branches the second that I let her go.”

Verdantia’s face blushed red. “W-Who is climbing branches!? Can you not be so vulgar!? My love for Liu Shu is pure!”

“Right.” Verena deadpanned. “It’s so pure that you even asked me for information about World Tree relocation.”

The rest of the people in the room felt their eyebrows twitching and looked at the green-haired Sylvan. Her face was red enough that some of them became slightly concerned. 

Flor coughed. “Anyway, you still have not told us why there is such a big difference.”

Verena muttered. “Well, I was going to say that the Affinity Percentages are much more influential than you expect and that because mine are much higher, there is a big gap in strength. However…”

Flor smiled and completed her sentence. “That’s not why ours is not low, right?”

Verena nodded and touched her chin. Then, she blinked and asked. “What are your skill tiers? And I mean the offensive ones.”

Flor and the others became pensive, and the Flower Fairy started. “Mine are around D- and E+. At least the offensive ones.”

“Ah.” Verena made a strange sound and looked at the others. They all confirmed to be at around those stages.

Verena’s face was twitching. ‘How in the tall branches name did they beat the Baron’s army?’

Flor coughed. “Is it really that bad?”

Verena laughed awkwardly. “My attack skills are at the D+ and C- Rank. A whole tier above that. What do you think? You have practically been fighting with sticks and stones against people armed with iron weapons… and somehow winning.” 

There was a strange silence in the room when Verena said that. The way Verena put it was quite an image, making them wonder if they’ve failed to give priority to higher-tier skills for too long. 

Eila, who was in the corner, asked with a baffled tone. “Wait, you are all serious?”

Flor looked at Eila and asked, sighing. “Don’t tell me that you didn’t know. What are yours at?”

Eila pointed at Verena. “Similar to Lady Verena, but slightly weaker. My main attacking skill, <Fluminant Strike>, is at C- Rank. However, the rest are between D and D+ Ranks.”

Tempestria muttered. “No wonder that attack feels like a bomb each time it goes off…” 

Verena slapped the back of her head. “You stupid children! Why didn’t you say anything about it!? A Level 30 using D- and E+ Rank skills!? What a shame! Don’t tell me that your equipment is still at the Basic Rank!”

Flor shook her head. “Our equipment is actually quite nice. Our most elite army is entirely equipped with Low-Rank, Flawed-Level weapons and armor, while we have Complete-Level ones. 

Verena blurted, her tone more confused as she continued listening. “How in The Branches Above’s name do you have an entire army clad in that level of equipment!? What is wrong with you people!?”

While it sounded quite weak, most armor for armies at these levels was at the Basic-Rank Flawless-Level. Only generals and other high-ranking people had Low-Rank or above armor, with some barons having impressively strong Mid-Rank items.

Eila laughed mirthlessly. “No wonder they weren’t affected that much by their shitty skill ranks. They were all clad in treasures.” 

Verena looked behind her at a woman who had walked in with her and asked, her tone still carrying traces of shock. “How did nobody tell me about this? Didn’t I tell you to keep track of the Golden Sap City as best as they could!?” 

The person behind coughed and spoke. “Lady Verena. All wars in Golden Sap City have ended in the enemies being annihilated. Not one survivor was left. Hence, we couldn’t recollect much data about the army details or combatants.”

Verena couldn’t deny that it was a very reasonable excuse. Usually, information gathered about armies came from the war participants. If those who participated on the other side of the conflict died, collecting information about the enemies was basically impossible. Of course, they could risk asking the soldiers. However, soldiers had strong minds and discipline, so the risk of getting discovered was too high for most spies.

Those who tried were discovered by either Wisdom or Liu Shu and became fertilizer. 

Verena absorbed all the information that she gained and rubbed her forehead. “High stats… shitty skills… powerful equipment… relatively shallow knowledge… What a fiasco.” 

Flor listened to her and commented, her tone intrigued. “You are speaking about it as if gaining new high-level skills is an easy task. Don’t you need to train them and make them reach high levels with constant work?”

Verena stared at Flor for a good while. “...What level did your skills start at?”

Flor answered calmly. “F and F- Rank.”

Verena looked at the ceiling and muttered. “Woah. I should’ve given them a bit more information, right? I completely overlooked this area, thinking it was common sense…” Verena blinked and looked at Eila. “Hey, you. Weren’t you my daughter’s teacher? How come you haven’t taught them any of this?”

Eila defended herself. “Lady Verena, your daughter was plotting to bring down Fortuna. You can’t honestly expect me to teach her everything.”

Verdantia asked, flabbergasted. “You knew?”

Eila deadpanned. “Who carries the branch of another World Tree to a World Tree City and expects not to be discovered?”

A bunch of revelations left everyone feeling as if they had been overreading the entire situation. Verena sighed and looked at the woman behind her. “Send a letter to the <Ceperet World Skill Association> and register the Golden Sap City in their path.” 

“Understood, Madam. They should arrive in half a year at the latest.”

Verena nodded. “Good enough.” 

Verdantia blinked and tilted her head. “Who are those people, Mom?”

“A global and very powerful organization that has been cataloging and copying skills since even before the written history started. Once registered, a merchant will pass those areas with skills every half a month, and people in the city can buy them at a relatively fair price. You just need to learn the technique later.”

Flor and the others were stunned. ‘This organization’s power must be tremendous.’