Awakened: Evolving to Godhood

[You've equipped yourself with the artifacts, Sword of Life & Gauntlet of Wind]

[You've gained a massive boost in your attributes, stamina+20, strength +10, agility +30, spiritual energy capacity +500]

[You've gained the ability to shoot out wind blast as well as heal and grow life]

The moment he wore the recently gained artifacts, he felt an electric current surging throughout his body. It was mystical, painful, but at the same time, full of pleasure, giving him a familiar but distant feel. His muscles squealed in joy like a group of girls cheering for their crush as he felt every fiber of his being tingling in excitement.

"Let's test how much I've improved." Elliot clenched his hands into fists, feeling the extremely fast flow of his blood with the tips of his finger.

"Swoosh!"

He suddenly moved his body, sprinting across the field, throwing out some jabs and kicks.

The movements of his limbs were sublime, full of power, and as quick as flashes. His jabs cut through the air and generated whistling noises, but his kicks produced shockwaves and thudding rumbles, ones that sounded closer to thunder.

The Horrifying Mandrake watched what was happening in awe and bewilderment. How did he become so powerful? Didn't my spiritual senses tell me that his physical capabilities were lower than even mine? Why have they suddenly became better?

At first, the horrifying mandrake wasn't able to understand the reason behind his sudden improvement. However, after thinking for a while and realizing that the artifacts that he got from the treasure chest must contain unique properties that help the wearer increase their physical body, clarity filled its eyes. And it wasn't wrong.

"Hahahaha!"

With a leap, Elliot reached hundreds of meters high in the air, and laugher came out of his mouth as the wind brushed against his hair, causing them to flutter wildly.

He closed his eyes, a pleasant smile stretching across his face as he thought that defeating a grandmaster of magic shouldn't be a problem, even if he only uses raw strength and God's right hand.

Then, with a plunge, he descended right next to his slave, craters formed where he landed.

"I've been living in this forest for more than a thousand years, but no matter how hard I tried, I've never managed to get even one artifact of the spirit race."

Out of its 1400 years of life, it had used a thousand years to form a soul and the next two hundred years, hunting the weak and avoiding the strong. Even after advancing to Elite Evil Spirit, it didn't change its way and continued to bow down to those stronger than itself. All in all, this monster was pathetic, prideful, arrogant, but useful!

Useful for Elliot, that's the reason why it was still alive.

"Yet, you got two. Master, your luck is far better than mine." The Horrifying Mandrake completed what it wanted to say while feeling very envious of Elliot.

It truly had the right to feel envious.

After all, the artifacts created by the smiths of the spirit race were the reason behind 1-3rd of Elliot's physical strength and 1-3rd of his maximum energy capacity!

Creation of the spirit race, a wonder of heaven, Truly Marvelous!

"It's because you lacked the strength to overturn the land and the courage to fight a being stronger than you. Hunting the weak all the time caused you to remain weak, not in the aspect of evolution but the similarly important ones." Elliot said, his words sounding mean and hurtful but true nonetheless.

It had come across many treasures, yet there always had been a being more powerful than itself standing guard nearby, so it had no way of obtaining them. What could it even do except lower its head in disappointment, turn tails and go away?

That thought had just entered its mind when Its eyes opened wide like saucers with bewilderment and shock written all over its face. It was sure that it hadn't said a word about its past to him so how was he able to determine it so perfectly?

"…H-how do you know?"

"Slaves shouldn't question their masters; that's the basics of being a slave. Know this, I won't remind you about this using words." Elliot said in a dark tone that a person would use to threaten another, "Next time, something terrifying will happen."

It gulped and then nodded its head.

Curiosity killed the cat; it found out from the memories of the girl it devoured. And it sure as hell held no intention of being one such cat.

"I'm planning to go for a treasure hunt, and I need you to tell me the locations of the treasure chest and the power level of the monsters guarding them," Elliot said with a demanding look in his eyes.

The horrifying Mandrake happily answered him, telling him just about everything it knew about this forest.

It didn't hold back a single piece of news.

Honestly, it wanted Elliot to pick a fight with one of them.

If he dies, then It would once again become a free tree.

If he wins and slays the monster, well, it would still get to enjoy another's misery.

"Out of all the evil spirits, I recommend fighting the Devil Bull. Its main strength lies in its speed and the ability to breathe fire. Though, with your speed and strength, defeating it would be a piece of cake." It finished telling him about the location of the treasure chests and the monster guarding them with a wide smile, one filled with sleazy intent.

"What level is that Evil Spirit beast?" Elliot asked.

"Tenth level of the Elite Spirit Stage." The Horrifying Nightmare replied.

"So, it's four times more powerful than you."

"It's dangerous, I know. But it's also guarding a Heart-Shaped Spiritual Fruit for the past 299 years, not eating it and waiting for it to mature. Devil Bull doesn't deserve to have something like that. Only you, my master, deserve to have a go at it." It said cheekily.

What It heard in response came as a shock to it.

"What are spiritual fruits? Is it something like magic fruits?" Elliot asked.

Yes, it was only now that it realized that all along, it has been singing praises of spiritual fruit to someone who doesn't even know about it.

"Spiritual Fruits are different from Magic Fruits. They are natural treasures that soak in spiritual energy every day and night to nourish themselves. Unlike magic herbs that might contain impurities, causing a person taking them continuously to accumulate poisonous impurities within their body, the medicinal essence of spiritual fruits are pure, so consuming them has no side effects." It explained to him.

So to say, it's something like the fruit he won from becoming the champion of the tournament back in the academy. He had gained 30 units of God's breath of growth from consuming it! So this spiritual fruit might also be a great treasure!

"Tell me about the Heart-Shaped Spiritual Fruit," Elliot said while looking at it, serenity and calmness vivid on his face.

"It's a Spiritual Fruit that not only improves the constitution of a being that consumes it, causing their energy capacity to increase by a wide margin, but it also benefits them in many other ways. It will mature in the upcoming days!" It said, trying its best to excite him to go and challenge the Devil Bull.

"Guide me towards the Devil Bull," Elliot said, not giving two cents about what it was cooking in its head.

"It's in the central forest, the forest of eternal snow." The horrifying Mandrake said, taking a step back to express that it had no intention of going along with him.

However, how could a master go on with his adventure without his slave?

"You're coming with me."

"Don't I get a say in this, master!"

"Nope!"

While saying that word, Elliot grabbed it and put it on his shoulder.

"Master, I suffer from motion sickness! I don't think it's a good idea to bring me along. I might end up puking all over you and ruin your graceful image." It cried out, faking a disability to get what it wants.

"Puke on me once, and I will throw you in the depths of the most putrid of excrements," Elliot warned with a severe look on his face.

"Master!"

"Hold on to me tightly."

That's what it heard before Elliot suddenly squatted and then leaped, giving it no time to protest any further. He sprang forward, just like an arrow shot from a bow, and moved across several dozen trees, which it easily counted as a distance of several hundred meters. It held on to him tightly as it didn't want to fall off his shoulder.

However, the wind brushing against it proved to be enough to keep it quiet as well as force it to use every bit of its strength to keep hanging on to him.

[You've used Stealing From Heaven to absorb the spiritual energy present in the surroundings.]

[Spiritual Energy: 1390 units]

[You've activated your magic matrix more than a hundred times and thus created 110 units of God's Qi.]

[God's Qi: 110/110 units]

[Total Energy Capacity: Reached]

He multitasked while charging towards the center of the forest for the sake of restocking the energy in his celestial energy channel and magic matrix.

While charging forward through the thickness of the night, he stomped his foot on the top of a tree with enough force to take to the skies. At this moment, he took a look at his stats.

[Champion: Elliot Vincent]

[Race: Demi-Human & Semi-God]

[Evolutionary Stage: Celestial Channel Creation Stage]

[Level 11: 0/10000 essence of life]

[Essence of life: 5780 units]

[Maximum Energy Capacity; 1600 units] [Magic energy: 0 units] [Spiritual Energy: 1390 units] [God's Qi Magic Matrix: 110/110 units]

[HP: 100/100]

[Strength: 33]

[Stamina: 44]

[Agility: 87]

Skills & Ability: [Wing Spirit] [Godly Creation Matrix] [God's Right Eye of Wisdom] [Stab of Growth] [Healing Slash] [Wind Blast] [Super God Mode] [Spiritual Energy Nuke] [Energy Discharge]

He smiled pleasantly.. He had grown so much in less than half a year that it was almost unbelievable! Just a little bit more, and he might end up fulfilling his dreams of traveling to other worlds.