SSS Ranked Talent: I Can Upgrade My Skills Infinitely-Chapter 164: The Wood Shard, The Forest Queen

After ten minutes of travel, he found her.

She was in a clearing formed by the roots of a massive, heart-shaped tree. But she wasn’t alone. She was fighting a swarm of [Vine Stalkers]—humanoid plants wielding thorns like whips.

Seraphina moved like a blur, her daggers flashing. She severed a vine, decapitated a Stalker, and kicked another away. But for every one she killed, two more grew from the ground. The roots of the massive tree pulsed, birthing new enemies instantly.

She looked exhausted. Her movements were ragged. Her eyes were wide, vacant, locked in a thousand-yard stare.

"Cut... slash... step... repeat..." Seraphina muttered, her voice a broken loop. "Must... clear... wave..."

"She’s caught in a logic loop," Alvian realized. "The shard is feeding her a scenario she can’t win."

This was a training simulation gone wrong. A "Horde Mode" with no end condition. The System had discarded this shard because the difficulty scaling was broken.

Alvian dropped into the clearing.

"BOOM!"

He landed between Seraphina and the horde. The impact knocked back the encroaching vines.

"Seraphina," Alvian said. "Status."

She didn’t look at him. She stared at the vines. "Wave 405... incoming... need to... maintain DPS..."

She raised her dagger to strike him, not recognizing friend from foe.

Alvian caught her wrist. His grip was gentle but immovable.

"Stop," Alvian ordered.

"Can’t stop," Seraphina whispered, tears leaking from her mechanical eye. "If I stop... they overrun... the city falls..."

"The city isn’t here," Alvian said, his voice cutting through her delusion. "This is a cage. And you are running on a hamster wheel."

He looked at the tree. The [Heart Root]. It pulsed with a rhythmic, green light. Every time it pulsed, the enemies respawned.

"System. Analyze spawn mechanic."

[Analysis: The Heart Root responds to aggression. Violence feeds the cycle. Damage dealt converts to growth energy.]

"Fighting makes them stronger," Alvian realized. "Inefficient design. But exploitable."

He looked at the swarm of Vine Stalkers. They were hesitating, confused by Alvian’s lack of aggression.

"Seraphina," Alvian said, pulling her close. "Close your eyes. Stop fighting."

"They’ll kill us!"

"They won’t," Alvian said. "They only attack threats. You are a threat because you are fighting."

He wrapped his arms around her, shielding her with his [Vestments]. He activated [Void Shell], extending the protective aura around both of them. He stood perfectly still. He retracted his killing intent. He lowered his mana output to zero, masking his presence entirely.

The Vine Stalkers hissed. They crept closer. They sniffed the air. They poked Alvian’s armor with their thorns.

He did nothing. He was a rock. A void.

The Heart Root pulsed. But there was no aggression to feed on. No damage to convert. The pulse faltered. The green light dimmed. The Vine Stalkers, lacking a combat directive, began to wither. Their forms lost cohesion, turning back into piles of leaves and mulch.

The clearing went silent.

Seraphina trembled in his arms. "They... they stopped?"

"You were feeding the loop," Alvian said, releasing her. "You tried to solve a puzzle with a knife. Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play."

Seraphina slumped to her knees, gasping for air. The madness faded from her eyes, replaced by exhaustion.

"I thought... I thought I was back in the Silverwood raid," she whispered. "I thought I was alone."

"You aren’t alone," Alvian said. He offered her a hand. "You have a party. And we have a boss to kill."

He looked past the withering vines. A path had opened up, leading deeper into the root system. A path that had been hidden by the constant combat.

"The blind spot," Alvian noted. "The code only renders the path when the combat script ends."

He pulled Seraphina to her feet.

"Can you move?"

"I can move," Seraphina said, gripping her daggers, though her hands shook. "But I’m running on fumes. My mana is gone."

"Take this," Alvian handed her a [Mana Crystal]. "And stay behind me. I’m going to have a word with the gardener."

They walked into the tunnel of roots. The air grew hotter. The smell of rot grew stronger.

"This Shard isn’t just broken," Alvian said, his eyes glowing. "It’s ruled. Someone is keeping this loop active."

"Who?" Seraphina asked.

"An Echo," Alvian replied. "A memory of a failure. And I hate failure."

The heart of the Wood Shard was a throne room grown from living amber and petrified wood. In the center, fused into a massive, blossoming flower, was the ruler of this broken realm.

It was Echo Jiaojiao.

She looked like the Wood Spirit City Lord from the game lore, but twisted. Her skin was bark, peeling away to reveal raw, green mana beneath. Her hair was a tangle of thorns. Her eyes were empty sockets weeping sap. She wasn’t alive; she was a glitch given form, a programmed memory of a woman who had refused to let her people die, even after the servers shut down.

[Target Identified: Echo Jiaojiao (The Eternal Gardener)]

[Level: 55]

[Status: Corrupted / Denial]

"Welcome to Paradise," Jiaojiao’s voice rustled like dry leaves. She didn’t move her mouth; the sound came from the trees around them. "You are safe here. The fire cannot reach you here. The System cannot delete you here."

"This isn’t safety," Alvian said, stepping into the room. "This is stagnation. You are trapping souls in a loop of suffering."

"Suffering is better than oblivion!" Jiaojiao shrieked. The flower throne opened, revealing rows of sharp, wooden teeth. "Out there is the Void! Out there is the End! I keep them safe! I keep them growing!"

Vines shot out from the walls. Not the weak ones from the forest. These were [Iron-Wood Roots], thick as pillars and hard as steel. They slammed down, aiming to crush Alvian and Seraphina.

"Dodge," Alvian ordered.

Seraphina rolled, her agility returning as the adrenaline hit. Alvian didn’t roll. He used [Void Step] to blink onto the root itself.

"You fear the fire?" Alvian asked, running up the massive vine toward the throne. "You fear the end?"

"I AM LIFE!" Jiaojiao roared. The entire room came alive. The floor turned into a mouth. The ceiling rained acid spores. Pollen clouds filled the air, inducing [Sleep] and [Paralysis].

Alvian checked his stats. The [Sleep] status bounced off his [Void Monarch] immunity.

"Inefficient biology," Alvian muttered. "Plants burn."

He activated [Klaus’s Upgrade].

[Ding! Blessing Active.]

"System. Maximize [Solar Cycle]. Divert all mana to Thermal Output."

He didn’t cast a fireball. He didn’t use a flamethrower. He turned his own body into a heat source. He reversed the [Frost Heart] polarity, channeling the [Essence of the Molten Star] woven into his [Vestments].

"Supernova Aura."

"BOOM!"

Alvian ignited. A sphere of blinding, white-hot plasma exploded from his body. The temperature in the room went from humid to incinerating in a microsecond.

The acid spores vaporized. The pollen ignited, creating a fuel-air explosion that rocked the entire tree. The Iron-Wood roots caught fire, the flames turning blue as they consumed the high-density mana within the wood.

"SCREEEEEE!" Jiaojiao screamed. "THE FIRE! THE FIRE IS HERE!"

"The fire is cleansing," Alvian stated, walking through the inferno. The flames licked at his armor, but he was the source. He was the sun.

The plants recoiled. The room withered. The illusion of paradise burned away, revealing the rotting, grey code beneath.

Jiaojiao tried to retreat into her flower, but Alvian was already there. He jumped, landing on the petals. The heat from his boots burned through the plant matter.

"You are broken," Alvian said, looking down at the weeping, bark-skinned woman. "You are a script that forgot how to end."

He drew [Voidpiercer].

"No! Please! I don’t want to go!" Jiaojiao begged, her hands reaching out, turning to ash as they touched his aura.

"You aren’t going anywhere," Alvian said. "I’m not deleting you. I’m archiving you."

He reached into his inventory with his off-hand. He pulled out an empty [Soul Vessel]. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"System. [Voidpiercer]: Link Sever."

He stabbed the dagger into the base of the flower, severing Jiaojiao’s connection to the Shard.

"SNIP."

The flow of mana stopped. The forest outside stopped screaming. The green light in Jiaojiao’s eyes faded. Her form destabilized, turning into a cloud of green data particles.

"Vacuum Mode."

Alvian opened the Soul Vessel. The particles were sucked in. The essence of the Forest Queen, the power of the Wood Shard, was trapped in the box.

[Item Acquired: Essence of the Eternal Garden.]

[Shard Conquered: Wood.]

[Reality Anchor: 1/5 Acquired.]

The fire died down. Alvian stood on the charred remains of the throne. He looked at Seraphina, who was staring at him with wide eyes, soot smudging her face.

"You burned down a dimension," Seraphina said.

"I pruned a garden," Alvian corrected, stowing the Soul Vessel. "It was overgrown."

He looked at the [Reality Anchor] in his hand. It was a jagged piece of green crystal, humming with the stability of the wood element.

"One down," Alvian said. "Four to go."

He looked up. The sky of the Wood Shard was cracking, revealing the grey void of the Dimensional Gap.

"Let’s go," Alvian said. "Valeria is waiting in the Golden Shard. And I hate to keep a tank waiting."