Chapter 455 Erika's New Powers And A Plan To Heal The Forest

-----

The next day. After Erika's father body was cremated, we decided to bury his ashes not in the cemetery, but behind Erika's house. Her house was also rather far away from the main village square, and there were no houses around in a long vicinity. It was the ideal place to put his ashes. Erika wanted something aside from that, of course.

"Can't I grow a tree here where papa was buried?" She wondered.

"A tree? I guess you could, what sort of tree do you have in mind?" I wondered.

"The big one that Eric got!" Erika said happily.

"EEH?!"

Eric was surprised, and so was our entire group of friends.

"Wait a second Erika, that big tree… If we make another one the chief's going to get furious!" Said Elizabeth.

"W-We barely got into her good side. But I don't think he'll allow another big tree." Said Eric. "It kind of scares people off."

"Why would a big tree scare people?" Sighed Erika. "It is so beautiful and majestic… And it is so friendly and cute too, can't you tell?"

"Huh? It is certainly beautiful but friendly?" Wondered Chris while raising an eyebrow.

"Y-You can't tell?" Asked Erika while tilting her head in confusion.

"I can kind of "feel" that the tree is somewhat warmth, but I cannot really tell everything in detail. I need to develop my nature magic more for that…" Said Eric. "But you can hear the voice of the trees?"

"Y-Yeah… I think so…" Erika quickly realized she gained a new ability after being reborn.

"Is it because you are now like half-dryad?!" Erdrich asked excitedly. "That's so cool! I can also listen to the language of the demons- Ah I guess that's not really… as good."

"It is good, it is!" Said Elizabeth. "Everyone's talents are good."

Elizabeth managed to stop Erdrich from feeling bad out of the blue, but Erika grew constantly confused.

"I guess I can now kind of feel it…" She sighed.

"So that tree is friendly?" I asked.

"Yeah! It is very happy to be alive." She said. "It seems that it was dead long ago, but somehow it sprung back to life through magic. He's saying he'll grow even bigger in the future and protect everyone in this village as thanks for bringing him back to life!"

"He did said that?!" Eric wondered.

"Wait, even bigger?" Elizabeth wondered.

"If that's true then it's going to get cut off by the chief at some point…" Sighed Chris.

"Who knows? It if grows slowly, people might get used to it." I said.

"It would be sad if it got cut off but I guess I can tell people's going to get scared… How about a smaller one?" Wondered Erika.

"How small would it be for stupid people to not get scared?" I wondered.

"I don't know… Perhaps at most ten meters?" Eric wondered.

"Alright… then another tree… Another… Ah, like this?" She wondered, as Erika got her hands together and began to concentrate energy and mana into them, slowly yet steadily forming something… and materializing it.

FLASH!

And when she opened the palm of her hands, she showed us a beautiful green seed emanating a strong aura of spiritual essence and mana.

Everyone was left shocked, me included. I cannot really see her Status, so I am left hopeless as to know all the abilities she acquired.

She can talk with trees and feel their emotions and desires, she also has a greater feeling of senses, and now, she can create seeds? Just by spending Mana, apparently.

"D-Did you just made a seed?!" Asked Elizabeth.

"Woah… that's new, alright." Eric said.

"Not even Eric can make one, can't he?" Asked Chris.

"N-No, I can't…" Eric sighed.

"Amazing…!" Erdrich said. "And it is no ordinary seed isn't it?!"

"It certainly looks to not be ordinary…" Chris said.

Maybe I can Appraise the Seed at the very least?

I took a good look at it as Erika felt just as confused.

-----

[Dryad's Seed (Mythic Grade)]

A Special Tree Seed created by a Dryad, it possess incredible Spiritual and Natural Energies within it, and can be born as a variety of different types of trees, or as a hybrid, giving out tasty and healthy fruit and infusing spiritual essence into the soil below. It can grow very quickly once planted and will remain strong with little requirements for water.

-----

"It is a tree seed…" I said, quickly giving everyone the description.

"So she can really make trees now." Erdrich said. "That's pretty amazing, alright."

"Maybe you could fill the forest with trees where many were lost?" Wondered Elizabeth.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, but wouldn't this get her tired?" Wondered Eric.

"Amazing…!" Said Erika. "So I can make trees now?! Let's try again!"

Erika quickly tried making new seeds. Using the same method as before, she closed her eyes and began gritting her teeth while groaning.

Slowly, she managed to make a second seed, a third, and a fourth, and when she made a fifth. She was too tired to make more, saying that this was her limit of the day.

"I-I think this is my limit, I can make five seeds…" She sighed in relief.

"Amazing, all of these are all Mythic Grade too." I said.

"Mythic Grade Seeds?!" Asked Erdrich.

"And they're packed with magic power and spiritual power…" Eric added.

"Perhaps we could use them to protect the village somehow? Erika said that the Yggdrasil Tree protects the village with some aura thing right?" Elizabeth wondered.

"Yeah! It generates an invisible Spiritual Barrier. The more trees with spiritual energy around, the stronger the barrier can be… Ah, maybe this is my destiny too!" Erika suddenly realized this was her calling. "I can do this… Maybe this is what papa and the Dryad wanted me to do, right?"

"You want to?" I asked.

"I do, I really do!" Erika was decided.

"Alright then, let's go plant trees if you want. I believe they'll be good for the entire forest. I have a few more ideas as well." I said with a smile.

-----