Arthur wasn’t in a position to think. He imdiately raised a massive barrier to shield himself and everything behind him. Layer upon layer, the barrier grew in thickness and solidity until it resembled a gigantic shield, ten ters tall and fifteen ters wide.
Sweat stread uncontrollably from every part of his body, and a trickle of blood ran from his nose. Still, he didn’t stop, adding more roots while his anxious eyes remained fixed on the barrier.
Then suddenly, the tree exploded with terrifying force.
All the thorns embedded in it transford into projectiles, shooting out at insane speeds and piercing through everything in their path. Dozens of thorns slamd into the barrier, easily breaching several of its layers before finally, and fortunately, coming to a halt.
The barrage was utterly chaotic. So projectiles flew into the sky, while others embedded themselves into the ground over a hundred ters away.
"Hoof..."
After several tense minutes, the situation cald. Arthur stared at the thorn tips that had pierced through the edge of the barrier, stunned. If he hadn’t reacted so quickly, he and all his soldiers would’ve been torn to shreds.
The rest of the soldiers lay sprawled on the ground in awkward positions. Earlier, he had thrown them backward in haste, causing them to crash down randomly. But thanks to their enhanced bodies, they only suffered a few bruises. Despite the mild pain they all felt, their eyes remained fixed on the barely-standing barrier. Their faces were pale. So of them instinctively checked themselves to make sure they hadn’t been pierced.
They didn’t understand what had just happened, but they all agreed on one thing:
Arthur had saved their lives.
After several monts of silence, Otieno finally asked, "What just happened?"
No one answered him—they didn’t know themselves. As for Chadwick, the mont he regained his composure, he approached Arthur with a worried expression and asked, "My lord, are you alright? You weren’t injured, were you?"
[Knight Chadwick is afraid of you.]
Arthur glanced at the system notification for a brief mont. It had been a while since he’d seen an alert regarding soone’s emotional state. Still, he didn’t care—his mood was foul. He’d been blown up twice in the span of two weeks. That wasn’t sothing to take lightly.
He slowly raised his hand and said, "I’m fine. Make sure the others are too."
"Understood." Chadwick imdiately moved to obey. Along the way, he kept stealing glances at Arthur. He was now certain Arthur was the one who had saved them from the Mountain Bear before... and maybe even the one who caused the Beast Tide in the first place—to eliminate the elite troops. The very thought terrified him. He tried to hide his fear, but his twitchy movents betrayed him.
As Chadwick checked on the others, Arthur gathered his strength and dispelled the barrier, causing the thorns lodged in it to fall to the ground.
First, he examined the location where the tree had stood. Now it was a flattened clearing with a small do of roots at its center. Then, slowly, he picked up one of the massive thorns before him—nearly two ters long.
[Sharp Magical Thorn: As solid as tal, as sharp as a spearhead. Can be used in weapon crafting.]
Arthur studied the thorn for a mont before letting out a sigh.
’Negligent again,’ he thought with regret. ’The tree was just a decoy. Why didn’t I consider that? Damn, I’m still inexperienced... I’ve started to get cocky.’
Though rare, so magical beasts and plants possessed deadly defensive chanisms, sacrificing a non-critical part of their body to protect the core. That’s why the system had initially identified the tree as a re "Mutated Tree"—because it *was* just that: an outer shell ant for camouflage and last-resort defense. The true magical tree was underground, composed of dozens of thick roots tied to a magical core.
When they began extracting the roots, the tree identified them as a genuine threat. It first tried defending itself with its roots—but that failed. As a last resort, it pumped the surface with a massive surge of mana, causing the explosion. Unfortunately for it, Arthur had reacted fast enough.
This near-death experience made him reflect and reconsider his next move more carefully.
’I think the tree is at its weakest right now.’
Cautiously, he approached the do. That’s when he noticed more roots sprouting from the ground, wrapping around what appeared to be the magical core.
He bolted forward, yelling to his troops, "Move it, you trash! Rip those roots apart!"
He was the first to draw his sword and start slashing. He realized that if he didn’t act quickly, the core might retreat deeper underground, making extraction far more difficult.
After a brief mont of hesitation, the soldiers joined in to help. Despite their lingering fear, they didn’t disobey and gave it their all.
Minutes of relentless cutting passed. Most of the roots were gone, and then, a glimr of smooth green appeared.
Arthur’s eyes widened.
’It really is a Wooden Mana Core.’
[Wooden Mana Core – Grade C]
"Stop."
At his firm command, all the soldiers imdiately stepped back.
Slowly, Arthur removed the last remaining roots around the core—without touching it. The core was a highly sensitive component that had to be handled with care.
Once all obstructions were cleared, the core revealed itself: a beautifully round object slightly larger than a tennis ball.
Every soldier stared at it with wide eyes filled with awe—and even a bit of greed. They knew what they were looking at was no ordinary item.
Arthur calmly picked it up and placed it in his pocket as if it were nothing more than a pebble. But inside, his heart was leaping with joy.
"What are you staring at? Get back to harvesting the roots like I told you earlier."
"Yes, my lord!"
All the soldiers moved at once, grabbing lumbering tools and returning to work.
"Otieno, gather all the large thorns. Don’t leave a single one—even if you have to search the entire forest."
"Yes, my lord."
Otieno dashed off, hunting down every thorn launched from the explosion.
’I can use the thorns to make weapons. I really need a large supply to arm the townsfolk.’
The barony’s iron reserves were extrely low, and he didn’t have the budget to import more. His original plan had been to hunt beasts and forge weapons from their bones—but this large supply of magical thorns had drastically reduced the materials he needed.
After several hours of hard labor, the soldiers finished gathering the important resources. Otieno had recovered a good number of thorns. The amount of materials collected was far too large for their small group to transport.
But Arthur didn’t consider that a real problem. He had his priorities straight.
He simply ordered them to carry only the roots filled with Diluted Mana Liquid. The rest was stashed in a safe location to be retrieved later.
Even though he returned to the castle late at night, Arthur didn’t sleep imdiately. Instead, he began extracting the mana liquid and storing it properly to preserve its potency. Not having glass containers was a real issue, clay pots absorbed moisture, which was very problematic.
Because of this, he decided to expedite his plans to produce glass.
But for now—it was just an idea. He had neither the funds nor the workers to start a new project.
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