When Quinn had defeated the Demon tier beast, he had not only received the crystal from the beast but also other rewards alongside it. One of them had been a little seed. Unfortunately, the system hadn't told him what the seed was, or what it could be used for.
Due to the lack of that knowledge, Quinn had been cautious about the seed. His first association had been that it was very likely a seed of the tree itself, hence why he had refrained from planting it where there were plenty of people such as on the Cursed ship.
'Calm down, even if that really is a sapling of that damn tree, that's a good thing, right?' Quinn tried to stay positive, just like the last time. 'Although I'd rather not have to go through such a tough fight again, I have become stronger since then, so I should be able to defeat it. With another Demon tier crystal we'll be able to make another Demon tier item.'
However, looking at the Dragon that was snoring not too far from the tree, a horrid thought entered Quinn's mind. What if the tree was already marking Beasts around the island? The parent tree had the ability to further enhance the power of those Marked. What if it could manage to mark the Dragon? The Demon tier was already strong and with the power of another Demon tier, it would practically be unstoppable!
'Come to think of it, could that really happen? I'm sure the Dragon's power is far stronger than the tree and if it tries to take over, wouldn't the Dragon just destroy it?' Quinn wondered.
Regardless, at the end of the day, Quinn had planted the seed on the island and whatever was to come would be his fault. The tree itself was currently around the same height as two humans stacked on top of each other. It was nowhere near as grand as the original, so Quinn was confident of being able to get rid of it, in case it showed any signs of making trouble, before it would fully grow.
And there was one more concerning thing, the amulet around his neck. Moving forward, Quinn walked out towards it, and just like Layla's sword that would rattle now his amulet was shaking as well.
'Before I get any closer I should do that.'
[Inspect]
[An incomplete Roseus tree]
[No other information found]
Other than the name of the tree, it looked like the system wasn't going to help him out now, but he had learned one thing, that it was incomplete.
'Why does the system classify it as 'incomplete'? It can't just be because it isn't fully grown. It has to be missing something… has it yet to grow a crystal perhaps? Wait… could it be that it's somehow unable to?'
Having warned Layla to stay back for now, Quinn handed her the sword back, while he himself inspected the tree from top to bottom. Unable to find anything, he went forward, but since nothing happened, Quinn eventually placed his hand on the tree.
At that moment, the amulet was no longer shaking, rather it lit up. Using his Qi energy, Quinn tried to sense its energy. Unsurprisingly it had the energy of a beast running through it. It was clear this was a beast like the last one, yet he could sense no beast crystal inside.
'The amulet is reacting to it pretty crazy, but maybe it's just because they both came from the same source.' Quinn contemplated, yet there was another thought in his head. 'Shouldn't this be a reward for killing the Demon tier beast? This tree came from the seed I planted, and up until now the system has never given me something that could harm me directly.'
Thinking things through, Quinn used his Inspect skill again, only this time he did so on the Demon tier Amulet. It gave him the same information about the skills and its uses as before but there was one additional line that hadn't been there previously.
[The Demon tier Amulet can also be used as a key]
It had only come up now after discovering the tree, putting this and the fact that the seed was meant to be a reward, Quinn took off the amulet and was ready to press it against the tree. When it was a few inches away his hand stopped.
'What if I can't get the key back after putting it in the tree? What will happen to the Dalki in my Shadow lock? Will I no longer be able to use its abilities?'
Considering that scenario, Quinn also thought about the five spiked Dalki that had defeated him. Even if he were to suck all the Marked Dalki dry, the power boost alone would not help him defeat that one. As impressive as Eno appeared in his Blood Armour, Quinn doubted that teaming up with him was enough, either.
With these thoughts he pushed the amulet in, and soon he could feel the amulet being sucked out of his hand, and burning into the tree.
Letting go, the amulet started twisting and turning and lighting up with the tree, and the leaves on the very top started to sprout even more. In front of Quinn's and Layla's very eyes the tree was growing wildly, the ground cracked underneath as its roots were digging in, but the amulet could still be seen.
'Damn it, I seem to have made a mistake!' Quinn bit his bottom lip, but finally the growth spurt stopped. The tree had doubled in size to what it was before, yet it was still inferior to the original.
Turning around, he was worried about the Dragon's reaction. It had apparently woken up, but for now, he just curiously looked over the tree.
'The Dragon, I woke up the Dragon! Do I have to deal with that as well now?'
After its curiosity was sated, it laid back down and started snoring once more.
'Is that all that thing does?' Quinn thought. Thankfully the tree had stopped growing and the Dragon was no longer interested in it.
[Inspect]
[Complete Rosesus tree]
[Linking with Amulet is now complete, amulet may be removed]
Seeing the last message, Quinn felt relieved. Jumping up, he reached halfway to the tree, and grabbed onto it with one hand, before pulling out the amulet with the other, and jumping back down to the ground.
With the Demon tier Amulet back in his possession, he noticed that it was radiating with even more energy than before and a system notification on the screen had popped up.
[The Demon tier amulet has successfully been linked with the Rosesus tree]
[The Rosesus tree has become a permanent Marked]
'Permanent Marked? Does it mean it's different from the Marked Dalki?'
Straight away, Quinn activated the powers of the amulet and he could feel it, just like with the Dalki Quinn could take full control of the tree in front of him. In doing so, he was witnessing a view he had never seen before.
The tree itself had roots that had been implanted not just in the ground beneath them, but the roots spread through the entire island. Using the power of the amulet Quinn could feel what the tree could do, he could control these roots so they would sprout up on the island.
Controlling those roots, Quinn made one of them sprout somewhere in the jungle. He had chosen a thin one which sprouted from the ground in what appeared to be a Basic tier beast's burrow. Slowly creeping up to the bunny like creature, the root quickly wrapped around the beast.
This was a completely different feeling from controlling the Dalki, as they had at least been humanoid, yet for some reason it felt easier to Quinn. However, controlling several at the same time proved to be a completely different story. The vision of the tree itself was as wide as its roots would go, but to focus on small details was a headache, as he had to try and ignore the rest of his vision which wasn't something easy to do.
With the roots wrapped around the bunny, Quinn was about to let the beast go, until he could feel something else, that it wasn't the only thing the tree could do.
'No this feels the same… it feels just like when I mark the Dalki with the Amulet!'
Putting it to the test, Quinn attempted to mark it, and a surge of energy went though the bunny. A few seconds later the same marking appeared on the rabbit's underbelly. Through the tree, Quinn could control the Marked just how he would when he was using the amulet.
In a way it was like having a second amulet, only better, for there was no need to store energy, it was using the energy of the tree itself.
After a few more tests with the tree Quinn realised something else. The tree could do essentially everything that the Demon tier beast had been able to. Mark beasts, send energy from them and take energy away. The beasts wouldn't die either when energy was taken away.
Still, he had quickly noticed that with every marked beast, the energy of the tree would lessen a little. The way this worked, it would have never been able to take over the Dragon, not that Quinn would ever dare to do so, afraid of its retaliation.
Eventually, Quinn returned to himself, having discovered that the tree worked pretty much the same way as all his other Marked. The only downside he had found was that he couldn't use the amulet to directly control those that the tree had Marked. However, he could still give the bunny basic instructions like he did with the Dalki. For now, he just gave the tree the command to try and take over as many strong beats as it could on Blade Island.
'Whoever comes here, will now be in for a huge surprise.' Quinn grinned, as he imagined the invaders having to face an army of wild beasts!
******
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