A second later, Abium reappeared in the northern magic tower and hurriedly returned to Baron's mansion.
Afterward, he went to his room and took out the green leaf from his spatial ring.
He sat on the wooden chair and placed the green leaf on his palm.
The heart-shaped green leaf was laid on his palm, brimming with full of vitality, and appeared more beautiful.
'What to do with this leaf? It does have the ability to make one druid, right?' He asked Azolla. What was this so-called Nature leaf? He had never heard much about it in the past and only knew some basic information.
'It's a leaf of the World Tree, lad. These leaves will allow the user to draw the nature power from the environment and help them in many ways.' Azolla said.
'Nature power? But Nature means everything, right?' Abium got confused by the term 'nature' and furrowed his brows.
'If you put it that way, fire, earth, and all other elemental powers are Nature itself. So, the answer is no. It's more like life-related power.' Azolla got surprised by his question and answered him calmly.
Nodding, Abium stared deeply at the leaf and asked.
'So, do I have to eat this leaf or what? How can I use it?'
Meanwhile, Azolla chuckled inside his mind and spoke.
'No. You don't even have an Average Affinity for the Nature element, lad. So, this leaf won't be useful for you.' Abium narrowed his eyes at her reply.
'Then, why did you even say it would be useful to me?' At that moment, Helena's face flashed in his mind.
'Yes, your friend has the Nature affinity. You want Helena and that lad named 'Nicolaus' to grow stronger, right?' Hearing her words, a flash of surprise appeared on Abium's face.
'Druid path!'
'Yes, she has average nature affinity and has a chance to walk on the path of druids.' Azolla paused as she thought of something and asked.
'Kid, have you ever seen a Druid in your life?' This question caught him off guard.
'Well, I had seen them once from afar when the Elven emissaries paid a visit to our kingdom in the past. But I never had a chance to talk with them.' Abium replied with an awkward smile.
'Oh? That means the World Tree is still in their hands, huh?' Azolla's following words made Abium widen a little.
'Wait! Our world also has a Tree similar to the Bone Tree I saw in the Undead Plane?' He was startled inside.
Abium had never heard of any world tree that existed in this Easica world in the past and felt puzzled inside.
No, he never even heard of the term 'World Tree.'
'Of course, the World Trees exist in every plane, lad. Don't you know that the world would meet its doom without the presence of the World Tree without the World Tree?' Azolla asked.
'Why is that?' Abium couldn't help but get more interested in this topic.
'It's a long story. And, knowing more about the World Tree will do no good for you.' Unfortunately, Azolla wasn't willing to say much about it.
Abium nodded with a deep sigh, thought of the leaf's origin, and asked doubtfully.
"But this Nature's leaf might not be from our world, right? How would this leaf help her?" He asked in mutters.
'It won't work like that, lad. All these world trees are somewhat interlinked like one large tree. For example, the world tree in this plane and the world tree in the undead plane have some connections. So, you don't have to worry about this problem. Moreover, this leaf might be from our world's World Tree.' Azolla said.
'Although I don't understand much about what you say, let's see if it can increase Helena's strength.'
Saying so, he stood up from his seat and walked out of his room.
Then, he moved towards the nearby room, raised his right hand, and knocked on it twice.
"Who is it?" A young woman's voice came from the other side.
"It's me," Abium responded to her question and waited.
Meanwhile, he heard running footsteps from inside, and soon the wooden door opened with a click.
"Abium, what happened?" Helena opened the door wide open and looked at him in puzzlement.
"I want to give you something. Let's talk inside." Abium said.
Although Helena was puzzled by his words, she didn't say a word and quietly invited him in.
"Okay. Please come in."
As Abium stepped into the room, he looked around and observed the room quietly.
It was a 16x16ft room with a double bed at the center, one wooden table on the left, a wardrobe, and even a balcony.
After a swift glance, he noticed that Camilla was sleeping on the nearby table and sighed deeply.
Afterward, he turned his gaze towards Helena, took the Nature Leaf from his space ring, and placed it on his palm. Meanwhile, Helena took a step forward and looked at the strange leaf in curiosity.
"Isn't this the same leaf Lily stole from the demon?" She instantly identified the Nature leaf and asked in surprise.
"Yes." Abium nodded, raised his palm, and placed the Nature Leaf on Helena's forehead. Before she could ask a question, he took a deep breath and chanted a unique incantation.
Meanwhile, the Nature Leaf turned illusionary, directly went inside her head, and disappeared from Abium's eyes.
Helena raised her eyebrows as she noticed something enter her head and touched her forehead to check. But to her surprise, there was no leaf.
"Huh? What happened? Where did that leaf go?" Helena showed a tensed look and asked in anxiety.
Meanwhile, Abium gave a flick on her forehead and said with a smile.
"Calm down. I implanted the Nature Leaf deep in your mind. With its help, you can form a link with the World Tree and cast nature magic spells from now on."
"Nature Magic Spell? Druid?" Helena instantly realized what he was talking about and showed a shocked look.
"Yes. Nature magic is like borrowing Nature or life energy from the World Tree and using it to manipulate plants and trees." Abium conveyed what Azolla had said in his mind.
In the meantime, Helena closed her eyes and soon felt a minute amount of foreign power entering her mind from somewhere.
It was so thin, making it hard for her to perceive.
"In short, it's almost similar to divine spells, right?" Helena observed the strange power and asked with a frown.
Abium nodded in agreement.
He also thought the same at first. Still, there was a big difference between the Nature Magic and Divine Magic Spells.
For example, one needed to be a firm follower of any God or Goddess to cast a divine spell. But to cast a nature spell, Helena doesn't have to be a believer in anything. As long as she forms a connection with the World Tree, she can cast nature spells without any problem.
In the future, she might even be able to communicate with all the animals and even the Magical Beasts.
As he was checking her body, Helena quietly looked at Abium for the next few seconds and soon uttered a single word.
"Why?"
Noticing the puzzled look on his face, she took a deep breath and asked.
"Why are you helping me? I don't even know how to repay you for everything you have done for me, Abium." Helena felt troubled to accept his kindness.
'It always comes to this.' Abium shook his head and waved his hand before speaking.
"Don't worry about these small things. If you want to repay me, grow stronger and help me when I'm in need." He paused for a moment and then added.
"Also, you will be the manager of Alastall Woodland territory. With your current strength, you can't even protect yourself. If so, how will you maintain the stability of my territory and protect the people? What I'm doing now is an investment."
While speaking, he continued to scan her body and soon frowned.
'Azolla, why didn't I sense any difference in her body?'
'Wait for a while, lad.'
Just as Azolla spoke in his mind, Helena suddenly widened her eyes.
At that moment, some mysterious force entered her mind in large amounts and engraved some weird characters in her Sea of Consciousness.
She stood there with a vacant expression for a whole minute and blinked her eyes. A green cloud-like ball appeared before her eyes a second later and radiated an emerald green light.
With a surprised look, she quickly walked toward the balcony and focused her concentration on the ornamental plants hanging outside.
"I can see the Nature Leaf. It is glowing inside my mind." She said excitedly and quietly touched the ornamental plant before going silent.
Meanwhile, Abium furrowed his brows at her strange behavior and quickly asked Azolla.
'What is she doing now? Is she also has to learn the rune language?' He didn't know how a druid would build the spell models in his mind and asked in confusion.
'No. The rule is different for casting Nature magic spells. She will form a deep connection with this plane's World Tree and Rank up as she tries to understand that nature leaf regularly. The more she deepens her connection with the World Tree, the more powerful she will become.' Azolla replied solemnly.
'Oh.'
Abium nodded his head in understanding and told Helena to deepen her connection with the World Tree.
Afterward, he left her alone on the balcony and returned to his room.
Although he was eager to research the other materials, he had more things to do.
'I should go to the Merchants Borough and get the ordered weapons and armors from the blacksmith shops.' He muttered.
...