"Wooow! Lady Planta is the strongest ever!" Acorn celebrated.
"This was the expected outcome." Nieve smiled.
"Johanna did pack a punch though, that magic she used… I've never seen something like that before. It is different from Titan." Brisingra said.
"That is indeed different, while I channel Beast Spirit Totems and combine them into my body or can summon them, they're always in the form of flames or wood." Titan explained. "Sometimes other elements… But she can quite literally grow the organic parts of beast spirits into her very body. Those tattoos are most likely Totem Tattoos, she has permanently fused with the spirits to gain this power."
"I guessed the same…" I nodded. "Hey Rita, calm down a bit…"
"You didn't hit her enough! I would have smashed her damn skull! Why do you always go easy on bullies?!" Rita got really pissed off.
I suppose she had always been like this. When I used to get bullied at school for not being able to talk English too well yet due to having been raised by mostly Spanish-speaking parents, she always stood there for me and beat them up.
I guess her old habit resurfaced when she saw Johanna being a very big asshole against me for no reason…
"But Grandma! I-I didn't lose, I have yet to show her off all I've got!" Johanna said angrily.
"Enough!" Austucia cried. "Johanna, I didn't raise you to become like this! You've lost based in the rules I set, so apologize."
"But…!"
"Apologize now! Or I will never talk to you again for being such a disrespectful niece! You're supposed to be the pride of the Druids of the Society of Verdant Green, yet you act like a spoiled teenager! Did I raise you badly?! Not only you're humiliating yourself by acting unreasonably, but you're humiliating me and the rest of our family!"
"Grandma…"
Johanna suddenly changed her expression, looking very sad. Austucia seemed like such a carefree granny, but she had a strict side to her.
"It's fine, she doesn't need to apologize." I said, stopping the two. "She was very strong herself! I am sure she will continue growing stronger and also growing as a person as she matures and gains experience."
"Y-You…!" Johanna felt embarrassed when I said those words.
"Are you sure, Planta?" Sighed Austucia. "You are way too gentlehearted… Are you a mother too?"
"Yeah, I am my own daughter. Johanna's attitude slightly reminded me of her. Although my daughter never went so far, she also had her times when she became rude and a bit bratty." I giggled. "Reprimanding them is good but doing it too harshly to the point you make them feel unloved is not good either. She learned her lesson after tasting defeat, right?"
I glanced the young druid's eyes. Her own emerald eyes widened as she noticed my intentions.
"Yeah…" She said. "I-I… No, still. I have to apologize. Grandma is right, I was being ridiculous. I… I got a bit carried away. No matter what I try, all the spirits consider you their friends. I was foolish to doubt their words."
The, she walked to my side and lowered her head.
"I'm sorry for being like this… I didn't know who you were and… I guess there's no excuse." She apologized. "I'll take any punishment for my errors, grandma."
She was more like apologizing to her own grandmother than to me, I felt it. She was really trying to make her happier.
"Hmph, okay… If you learned your lesson then!" Her grandmother sighed. "Look, I know you're skeptical about what's happening here. How about this? Planta, can you bring her along to your little adventures to show her the dangers you're facing?"
"Oh? Is that okay?" I wondered, feeling slightly surprised.
"Huh?! Why do I have to go with her?!" Suddenly, Johanna reverted to her bratty attitude.
Yep, this confirms it, she only felt sorry to her grandma…
"It will be a nice exercise for you. You've come back from your journey to grow stronger. Now that you're already over Level 200, I think you're at least ready for some more serious things." Her grandmother smiled. "Now, into more important matters, we should help Planta quickly enter the Verdant Green Domain, or her Magic will remain mostly sealed."
"Wait, her magic's sealed?!" Johanna reacted in surprise.
"It is?!" I asked.
"Something like that. When you evolved your Green Magic, you should have been able to gain more power through a connection with the Domain, but you had yet to make one." She sighed. "So, you have yet to reach the full potential of it!"
"I-I see… So how do I get there?" I asked.
"It is very easy, let me bring you along." She smiled, taking out a green-colored medallion.
Johanna also took out her own, and the two raised it into the air and started chanting something.
"Mother Nature, open the path to bring us to your Divine Domain!"
FLAAASH! FLAAASH!
Both medallions, which had the shape of a tree on them, released beams of emerald light that connected into a green portal.
Ding!
[The Portal to the [Divine Verdant Green Spirit Realm Domain] has been opened.]
[You and your allies have permission to enter.]
"A green portal!" Acorn analyzed it. "I wonder where- Uwaah!"
And then we were sucked inside after getting too close…
"Acorn!" Nieve panicked slightly.
"Don't worry and get in." Laughed the grandma. "This is a portal to the Domain. It seems that our Lady has accepted you inside right away! How joyful."
"By Lady, do you mean Gaia?" I asked her.
"Gaia?" Austucia wondered, rising an eyebrow. "Although you seem to have a connection with her, that is one of the Goddess of Creation! She usually has no connection with us Druids. I am talking about Mother Nature."
"Mother… Nature?" Asked Mark. "Wait, so it is apart from Gaia?"
"There are rumors that say that Gaia has died long ago, and that the one we know is merely a leftover Will." Said Johanna. "Mother Nature never dies, she is the representation of all Life and Nature, she is often called Lady Verdant."
"She is the Nature Soul of this Continent." Said Austucia.
"I see, the Nature Soul of… Wait, what?" I felt flabbergasted yet again.
