"Must be my wakeup package."

  Growing alongside the weeds and shrubbery were rare herbs extremely useful for people like him. These herbs were ingredients that could be used in combination with other materials in alchemy — a rare profession that required years of specialised studies.

  Aurel was more than just a king. He was an artificer, an engineer, a scholar, and an alchemist. Just one of these professions could set anyone up for life, and yet, he was all of those and more.

  Barely suppressing the grin that threatened to crack his nonchalant attitude, Aurel wasted no time identifying and carefully harvesting the herbs. These rare herbs required stringent growing conditions, including little to no sunlight.

  Some of the herbs had conspicuous petals and were luminescent. Others appeared ordinary to the eye, but were ingredients for some of the most powerful products in his library. Others had poisonous properties when taken alone and could cripple one's cultivation without mercy.

  Reaching this point, Aurel wondered why those intruders left these precious herbs behind. Sure, there were poisonous ones if one didn't know how to handle them. But when did that stop anyone?

  Despite the glitching of the system, Aurel tossed his harvested herbs into storage. Moreover, his dimensional storage was a unique space that halted an object's progression of time, effectively preserving anything for as long as needed.

  Before Aurel knew it, he had ventured farther away from the tyre tracks he was following. And with the sun barely casting its light through the thick foliage, his sense of direction.

  Even so, Aurel was not too worried. His level might have regressed, but he was still strong enough to handle most things. He had access to things most people could only dream of.

  Ever since he built his kingdom, Aurel had learned to suppress his facial expressions under the guise of indifference to project strength and authority. Moments where he wore his feelings on his face were few and far between.

  This moment, however, was one of the rare moments when he could not control his excitement. A few meters away from where he crouched was the massive stem of a tree with vines growing along its length.

  But the tree was not what caught his attention. It was the vines that were growing around it. Among the vines was one particular vine that had a very useful property for a few alchemic products he planned to concoct.

  "Landheart Vine!"

  Aurel almost dropped the herbs he was gathering when he noticed it. He did not bother suppressing his expression as he made his way towards the massive tree root. He leaned forward to take a closer look, grinning as he confirmed his find.

  The Landheart Vine only grew in places saturated with essence, particularly the cold kind. However, the kind of cold required had nothing to do with temperature and everything to do with spectral essence.

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  It was an incredibly rare vine to find. Who would have thought he would stumble on it? And from the looks of it, it was appropriately aged, more so than the one he had harvested before.

  The vine climbed the massive stem towards the tree's crown, spreading to the surrounding trees. The lower part of the vine was buried in the soil, looking just like a part of the root system.

  Thick enough to rival his arms, Aurel had enough for himself and retainers. As a high-grade ingredient, it had many applications even among the lower-grade alchemical products!

  As excited as he was, Aurel quickly came to his senses and stood up. How was he to harvest the Landheart Vine when he had no tools on his person? Suddenly, he regretted not keeping the blades and sleek sword on his person.

  Naturally, he had an alternative with his vast arsenal of spells. But not long ago, he could move the elements and resonate with the world's fundamental aspects with just a thought.

  Slightly lifting both arms, Aurel formulated the spell matrix in his mind while simultaneously channelling his essence as needed — an impossible feat to replicate without a level approaching the World Master realm.

  Twin spiralling air blades silently manifested slightly above his palms. Aurel's expression turned serious as he prepared to harvest the vine. With a burst of speed, both hands flashed.

  Two distinct sharp sounds rang out as Aurel sliced through two points on the massive vine, the air blades spinning faster in his hands. Without pausing to see the cut vine fall, he swiftly scaled the tree in a spiral, slicing through the vine with apparent ease.

  When he got close to the crown of the massive tree where the Landheart Vine had thinned out, Aurel leapt off the stem in a wild arc. Before he could dissolve the air blades, however, he caught something in the corner of his eye.

  From below, two massive Landheart Vines violently erupted from the ground and shot towards Aurel with vengeance. Cursing under his breath, Aurel managed to somersault at the last second, his air blades slashing through the thick vines.

  But that was just the beginning. More vines shot erupted from different locations around the massive tree, all closing in on Aurel's descending form. He had severely miscalculated.

  'The hell?!'

  A sliver of dread went down his spine as he bore witness to the unusual phenomenon. The Landheart Vine he was harvesting was nothing like the one he had harvested before. Moreover, he had never imagined the vines could come alive and retaliate!

  Before he could further react, one of the vines coming from his blind spot whipped across his back, the chilling sound echoing through the silent jungle. He let out a muffled groan, the pain blinding.

  Aurel momentarily saw black. But that, too, escaped him when another jolt of pain shot through his legs. An agonising roar filled with unwillingness devoured the silence of the shaded jungle.

  Then, a final strike of the vines sent Aurel into the ground with a violent thud, darkening his vision. The force of the hit had barely dissipated when more vines materialised from the ground and wrapped around his body.

  Aurel groaned when the vines tightened around his body, burning his flesh and suffocating him. The vicious vines wanted to take his life! A wave of anger shot through his body. Since when did trees dare claim a life?!

  He was a sovereign for crying out loud!

  Aurel's expression suddenly darkened when he felt a foreign energy invade his body, disrupting the flow of his essence. The vines were making sure he could not resist while he was being crushed and pulled under!

  'Wakeup package, my sovereign ass!'