Elara’s POV

I completely ignored that useless robot. Extending my hand, I let secondary vines shoot out from my fingertips, threading through the meal slot and reaching toward Silas. My green tendrils wrapped around his wild red spiritual energy...

The energy bar went absolutely nuts. I made a soft clicking sound with my tongue. Pretty twisted when you think about it—getting stronger from someone else’s pain. Talk about ironic...

Level three.

In just a short time, I’d rocketed up multiple full levels.

Level three wood power packed serious punch. Under my boosted healing energy, those nasty wounds all over Silas’s body started sealing up...

Silas’s eyelids cracked open, weak and unfocused. He stared at me through his unfocused eyes, likely mistaking me for a medical bot he wanted to rip to shreds!!!

Ever seen a rabbit grin?

The kind flashing razor-sharp fangs with blood coating its face? Well, I just got a front-row seat. This wasn’t anything like that sweet, gentle bunny boy I’d seen before. This one... was one twisted lop-eared rabbit.

The second I caught signs of him waking up, I cranked the healing into overdrive. What do you call this? Taking from one to feed another.

Or you could say it was—using what you have to create what you need.

Before that robot’s kill request could even get the green light, Silas, now strong enough to get up, dragged himself to his feet and smashed that bot to bits.

I jerked back and quickly retreated!

"Bang." Silas slammed into the door again, and the protective barrier exploded instantly!!!

The barriers in every other room immediately locked back into place. Alistair watched me just standing there, frozen in place, and practically lost it. In moments like this, everyone else would be sprinting as far away as they could, but I wasn’t budging.

Hold on... did I actually have a thing for that rabbit or something?

Silas kept pounding the door. After I’d double-checked that all the other wards were locked down behind their barriers again, I grinned. Staying right where I was, I glanced up at that surveillance camera above, slipped into its blind spot, and sent a vine crawling up to knock the thing down.

Next target—Silas.

The meal slot wasn’t massive, but I could work with it.

I moved closer to Silas. Honestly? I kind of dug that rabbit’s chiseled features. Plus, out of all the guys, he was the only one still rocking his human shape. Would be a real waste if he croaked.

"Guess you’ll be my guinea pig."

Unlike before, I stretched out both hands this time. Thick vines exploded outward, covering the entire ward in seconds. Silas let out a sharp, wild laugh, slashing like crazy with his claws while gripping a massive syringe in his other hand.

Oh? A natural ability?

Now it was my turn to feel that dark rush. I caught myself thinking that rabbit would look damn good in uniform.

Right in the middle of such an intense moment, my mind just... drifted. One second I was thinking about that gentle bunny boy, the next I was mentally scrolling through options—fried rabbit, rabbit stew, maybe some rabbit sliders...

Okay, focus. I’d work out dinner later. Right now, I had one evil lop-eared rabbit to handle.

Silas lunged forward and bit down hard on one of my vines. The instant his teeth sank in, the vine turned into green smoke that flowed into his nose and mouth. His body locked up, shuddered once, then he collapsed, totally out cold. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

I wrapped another vine around his front paw. That way, the moment his spiritual power spiked again, I’d feel it—and he’d get automatic healing.

But honestly? I’d seriously lowballed myself.

My wood power was way stronger than whatever spiritual energy other females had.

Using my vines, I guided Silas into a treatment pod. I didn’t really have options—my abilities were just that overpowered.

Once everything was sorted, I popped my earbuds back in. Level three. And that evil lop-eared rabbit alone had bumped me up a full level. What a champ.

Once the wild spiritual power had been completely drained, the cleaning bots and medical bots shuffled into the room.

The cleaning bots were simple—room was destroyed so they scanned, got their orders, and jumped right in. But the medical bot? It looked completely confused...

Where was the patient?

Whatever. Next thing anyone knew, that medical bot had taken apart the cleaning bot and rebuilt it!

I hadn’t even cleared the ward yet when a cold robotic voice rang through the entire facility.

"Chamber Seven, Silas: Spirit collapse level dropping. Down by three points... five points... Current spirit collapse level: 82. Vital signs: stable."

All the treatment pods in the wards were connected to the same network. So the moment someone got loaded into one, their status and vitals got announced to everyone.

Eight points?!

Everyone was shocked. Wait... did that illegal drug Silas injected actually work?

Kaelen and the others felt a spark of hope. If Silas’s stuff was effective, then maybe they—hell, maybe all male beastmen in the Valerion Empire—could be saved.

I only knew my vines could heal. I had zero clue they could also drop spirit collapse levels. So I didn’t link this announcement to myself at all.

Back when I’d had aqua power, I’d used it for purification.

But my vines? Whether they choked or healed depended totally on what I wanted them to do.

Thinking about my old aqua power, I scowled without realizing it. So wood power leveled up by soaking up wild spiritual power. But what about aqua power?

So damn frustrating.

Maybe killing some fish would help me cool off.

Back in the ward area, the barriers had activated and I’d already split. Chamber Seven was silent now. But then—

"Chamber One, Kaelen: Spirit collapse level decreased by one point. Current spirit collapse level: 79..."

——

Julian’s head snapped up, startled. "General Kaelen, does having just half your body in the treatment pod actually count?"

Kaelen’s POV

I really didn’t have a clue. I’d just seen that tiny spark of hope and figured I’d give climbing into the pod a shot. I never actually expected my number to drop by a point.

I’d been trapped here for quite some time. Was it finally... going down?

——

Julian frowned, his eyes drifting unconsciously to the vine loop wrapped around Kaelen’s paw—the one Elara had given him. She’d been here just moments ago...

Even though the protective barrier had activated, he’d still caught a strong whiff of that green, plant-like smell.

According to the files, when wood power was triggered, it released a rich scent of vegetation.

Connecting the dots, he asked, "Did any of you smell plants or trees just now?"

"Yeah, I did," Kaelen said.

Barrett nodded. "Me too."

"It was strongest near me!" That was Alistair. His ward was closest to Chamber Seven.

Hearing that, Julian put it together instantly. If he wasn’t mistaken... Elara had wood power.

The realization hit him hard, and even he was stunned. A female... awakening wood power? Was that even possible?

But if it wasn’t her, how else could they explain the scent of vegetation in the ward?

She’d come running earlier in such a panic. Had she sensed Silas losing control and rushed over because of that?

Silas—an SSS-class rabbit beastman, ridiculously attractive, once a major player in the Valerion Empire. And on top of that, out of all of them, he was the only one still maintaining his human form.

Thinking about Silas, Julian glanced back at Kaelen and smirked. He had a pretty solid idea now why Kaelen had been getting all that special attention...