From what Reigns understood, he could gain bonuses in strength, stamina, and mana. And so, he decided to stack up his perception since it was his weakest stat.

After that, he increased his mana, followed by agility and strength.

********

Name: Reigns De Luther

Class: Plant Sovereign

Tier: Tier 1 Lv 10

Subclass: [Farming] [Plant Summoner] [Plant Tamer]

Lifespan: 70

Tradable Lifespan: 3,1950

Strength: 21 >> 22

Agility: 23 >> 24

Stamina: 20

Perception: 17 >> 22

Mana: 20 >> 23

Free Attribute:

Talent: Infinite Evolution

Skills:

Phantom Steps Tier 1

Berserker Tier 1

Insight Tier 1

Lightning Steps Tier 1

Arcane Blast Tier 1

[Farming]

Bronze Hand Tier 1

Earthly Plough Tier 1

Soul Scythe Tier 1

Splash Shooter Farming Tier 0 [18/25]

[Plant Summoner]

Plant Summon Tier 0

Splash Shooter Tier 0 [9/12]

Healing Sprout Tier 1 [1/1]

Dryad Tier 1 [1/1]

[Plant Tamer]

None

******

After that, he looked down at his other skills.

The Plant Summoner subclass gave him a pleasant surprise.

With Healing Sprout, he could recover from injuries and fight for a much longer period.

And the Dryad...

It looked like an absolute menace.

Thick, bulging arms and thighs made of brownish roots gave it a terrifying appearance. Its greatest advantage was that it could move and walk around on its own.

Reigns’ breathing quickened for a moment as he stared at it. This would surely boost his confidence when dealing with the hidden danger inside the tree.

Unable to control his excitement, he wanted to check them out immediately, but it seemed he could only summon them once. If he tried again, his mind would be struck by a powerful soul attack.

The crux of breaking the status quo was making Nyxara snap out of it. He could do that easily, but getting Gunther to tag along would be far more difficult.

Ever since they came here, Gunther had done nothing but help them. If possible, Reigns didn’t want to stand against him.

He gave the huge labyrinth one last look and wondered just what kind of place this really was.

Only time would tell.

When he woke up, he saw Nyxara sleeping calmly beside him, and that made it even harder for him to wake her up and break her sleep.

********

"Huh!"

"We need to attack that thing inside the hole."

Nyxara tilted her head with a confused look and blinked several times, unable to understand what he was talking about.

"Darling, why?"

"Why do you want to attack the thing that has been the source of life?"

"That’s not the source of life. It’s the source of disaster. Nyxara, snap out of it."

"But..."

Seeing her hesitate, Reigns decided to pull out his trump card.

"Nyx, do you love me?"

Nyxara’s whole body froze for a moment.

"..."

"Love... Love..."

"Of course I love you, darling... How can you ask me that?"

"Then do you want to see me die... get killed by that nefarious thing?"

Her eyes widened in horror, and her face immediately turned pale.

"Die... Kill... Darling dying... How dare it?"

"Which bastard dared to harm my darling? I will kill it... kill... kill."

Nyxara suddenly started screaming like a broken tape recorder, her breathing turning ragged.

"Nyx, calm down... I am fine for now, but I won’t be for long if we don’t get rid of that thing."

********

Nyx was quite easy to deal with.

The next problem was Gunther, and it was giving him an absolute headache.

"Hell nooooo!" Gunther screamed as he shot up from the wooden chair, panic written all over his face.

He pointed at Reigns with trembling hands.

"Crazy... You’ve gone crazy... How can you even think about attacking that sacred thing?"

"It’s blasphemy... absolute blasphemy."

Reigns swallowed hard before slowly stepping forward.

"Hey Gunther, at least listen to me first."

"Listen to what? Your bullshit..."

"Bullshit conspiracy theories about the Great Shattered Canopy. Insane... You have completely lost your mind, Reigns..." Gunther shouted and violently shook his head.

"I am not insane. If the world system said there’s a boss monster here, then it wouldn’t be lying. Think about it carefully, Gunther, think..."

"You all have been stuck searching for the boss monster this whole time but couldn’t find it. You searched every nook and cranny except the inside of the hollow Shattered Canopy."

Gunther’s lips trembled, and his jaw slowly dropped open. A sudden realization pierced through the haze in his eyes.

"Boss monster... hidden inside the Shattered Canopy... Thiss..." he muttered, but before he could continue, his body suddenly twitched violently, and he clutched his head.

Veins bulged across his forehead as he glared ahead hatefully.

"Get out..."

"Get out of my place, you damned sinner."

"Gunther..."

"OUUTTT!"

BANG!

Nyxara and Reigns were thrown out of Gunther’s cottage.

Reigns stood there silently for a moment, staring at the tightly shut door before letting out a tired sigh.

’Since it has come to this... it seems fate simply wants us to become enemies.’

The daylight slowly faded, giving way to evening.

It was the time when the sacrifice ritual usually took place.

Soon, the corpses of the hunted monsters were brought out one after another and offered to the hollow trunk while the villagers stood around silently with solemn expressions.

The flickering bonfire flames illuminated the dark surroundings, and the sound of chanting slowly echoed across the area.

Amidst all this, the Chief of the Shattered Canopy suddenly received an unusual request.

"What did you say?"

The tall Chieftain narrowed his eyes and leaned slightly forward, as though he thought he had heard something wrong.

"Can you repeat that again?"

Reigns took a deep breath while looking at the menacing figure covered in beastial tattoos. Even standing before him felt suffocating because of the pressure the man gave off.

Still, Reigns forced himself to stay calm and muttered.

"I said I want to till the land around this place."

The Chieftain stared at Reigns for a long moment without speaking. His sharp gaze felt as though it could see straight through a person’s thoughts.

"Why?"

"Give me a good reason!"

Reigns swallowed lightly before answering in a steady voice.

"I am a farmer by origin. I have ways to improve natural growth and harvesting. I want to till the land here to show my gratitude to the Shattered Canopy for keeping us alive... and to see if my skills will level up."

The Chieftain froze for a brief moment upon hearing those words. His eyes narrowed further as he gave Reigns a piercing stare, as if carefully judging whether he was lying or not.

The atmosphere around them turned heavy and silent for a few seconds.

Finally, the Chieftain spoke.

"Fine. You can do that, but my men will be keeping an eye on you."

"You can..."