[Your body has developed hundreds of Physique Runes.]

[Your body has evolved its own Physique: the [Spirit Tree Maiden] Physique.]

[Your body Physical Strength, Physical Defense, Agility, Dexterity, and Reflexes have increased greatly.]

[You’ve become much stronger.]

[Your Physique Runes have transformed and created new Techniques: [Spirit Fist], [Piercing Tree Kick], [Yggdrasil’s Endurance], and [Rapid Self-Regeneration]]

The voice once more echoed within my mind as I was “reborn”. And upon breaking out of my tree cocoon, I was naked. I was a bit terrified, but I had prepared well enough and quickly wore some new clothes, which I had stored in my Inventory just in case.

And the results of the Physique? Amazing. I felt much stronger. In fact, I never thought I would feel this strong before in my entire life. And my body really showed it! My belly was slightly harder now, and there were clear muscles there!

My legs were also strong and slightly muscular, and my arms didn’t felt so thin anymore. The best part? I was able to exert my Mana into my body and strengthen my muscles even more, similar to the Wood Muscles Spell, but innately and much better and stronger.

“Hah!” I punched the air, as a powerful shockwave suddenly emerged out of my fist.

TRUUUUMMM…!

The entire house trembled for a bit.

“W-Woah…” I was surprised with myself. “I’m super strong! Almost feels like I am Planta IRL now…”

“Well you are…” Said Rita while sighing . “Anyways, would you look at these!” She looked at my belly. “A six pack! Holy shit.”

Mark stood there glancing at my six pack as he dropped his jaw, blushing a bit.

“A-Ah, is it disgusting?” I wondered.

“What? No! It’s… super-hot actually.” Mark honestly said.

“D-Do you have to be so honest?!” I asked in embarrassment.

“Ahahaha! You two are cute together!” Laughed the Great Spirit. “Now, I think we are done here soooo… let me drink some more tea, also these cookies are to die for!”

“Amazing! With this much strength we’ve gained, I am itching to go hunt monsters now…” Said Lily.

“Lily you’re surprisingly adaptive to these things.” I said. “Rita was freaking out a lot at the beginning.”

“E-Eh? Really?” Lily wondered. “I… Well, when I was younger I loved reading fantasy books, especially those of female protagonists that were magicians, or heroines… I always wished to be strong like them… So this is like a dream come true!”

She was surprisingly childish sometimes, despite her age. That was super cute, actually. Lily is too cute for this world.

“Hahah, is that so?” I giggled, giving her a head pat.

“Yeah! Let’s go hunt some monsters already!” She said like a little girl.

“Ahem! Well, until some sort of Gate shows up, the only thing we could hunt for now are Hollows, but I guess that could suffice. They come to us rather commonly, if it wasn’t for the charms protecting us.” Said Mark.

“Then how about we hunt some in the backyard of your house, Lily? It is all covered by walls so nobody is going to find out.” I said with a smile.

“H-Hollows, huh? Alright!” She nodded.

Like that, we moved to her backyard and I activated a special Charm that was named “Monster Attractor” which attracts Hollows and other Monsters.

FLAAASH!

The power spread around our surroundings, and it wasn’t even a minute when…

“OOOOHHHH!”

“MANA… MANAAAAA…!”

“DELICIOUS MANAAAA…!”

Dozens of Hollows showed up, crawling through the backyard’s walls and jumping to the other side easily, they were of all shapes and sizes, formless masses of black mud with red eyes, sometimes human-like faces that were like white masks stuck to their bodies.

“Oooh, would you look at this! We’ve got tons today!” The Great Spirit said. “Alright! How about we clean up this city of these pests for a bit? Let’s do some community work, heh. Most of them are F Rank! Some are E Rank, and one… two are D Rank! Make sure to finish them quickly.”

Hollows came pouring into Lily’s large backyard like a sea of black mud. Some had the shapes of giant centipedes covered on skull-like masks, Swarm-type Hollows. Others resembled chimeras of cats and dogs with multiple heads, Beast-type Hollows. And a few of them were humanoid giants, with large masks with horns, and even holding weapons made out of their own crystalized black mud, Ogre-type Hollows.

“SHAAAAAAHHH!!!” The giant D Rank Centipede Hollow roared furiously, moving its many legs rapidly and rushing towards us.

Lily stepped forward, imbuing her Mana and Spiritual Energy into her muscles and her pickaxe. All her equipment glowed at once, stacking all their buffs and potential abilities, enhancing her strength even further.

“[Earth Shattering Strike]!”

CLAAAAASSSH!!!

An enormous strike that made the ground around us tremble emerged, hitting the giant centipede hollow on its head, as giant spikes made of rock emerged one after the other, piercing through its giant body.

Hollows might be the most common monster, but they were surprisingly frail, even D Rank Hollows, mostly because they lacked flesh, muscles, and bones to make their bodies harder.

BAAAAAM!

The giant centipede hollow fell into the floor, suddenly beginning to bleed out its black mud everywhere, and then…

POOOF!

It exploded into black smoke, leaving behind some black mud, white masks, and a giant hollow crystal.

“Wooow! That was so cool! Uwaah! I feel a bit dizzy but I think I can keep going!” Lily ended being a surprisingly competent fighter. She smashed F Rank Hollows with a single hit of her powerful pickaxe, and anything else struggled to keep up against her, especially with our support.

I tried out my Physique Techniques as well, fighting against three Ogre-type Hollows at once, each one being as tall as four meters and holding giant axes made of crystalized black mud, their blows were strong, shaking the ground, but I evaded them swiftly, my senses even allowed me to slightly predict the trajectory of their this.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“HYAAA!”

I jumped in midair, kicking one of them in the face, as my leg transformed into a sharp wooden spear, piercing trough the hollow’s mask, and shattering it.

CLAAAASH!

“GRUOOOHHHH…!”

POOOF!

The rest of the hollow exploded into black smoke, dying on the spot.