The Extra's Transcension

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Lyrium stood frozen in place, staring at the massive pine tree before him, his eyes wide in disbelief.

He had just encountered something he never could have expected.

The faint, rhythmic sound of a heartbeat echoed through the air, reverberating from the tree itself.

It was an unsettling noise, the kind of sound one would expect from a living, breathing creature, not an inanimate object.

"What the hell?!" Lyrium muttered under his breath, his voice laced with disbelief. "It's... breathing?!"

His heart pounded in his chest as he took a step back, trying to process what he was witnessing.

The pine tree that stood before him was no ordinary tree. It was something far more sinister, and far more alive, than anything he had ever encountered.

There was a strange mana signature emanating from it, pulsing like a heartbeat, resonating deep within the core of the tree.

Lyrium furrowed his brow in confusion.

His knowledge of elemental magic, drawn from countless hours spent reading The Path of the Elemental Sage, told him that elemental trees were not sentient beings.

They were merely vessels of mana, sources of power that one could draw from. But now, this tree—this Elemental Tree—was far more than that.

"Wait a second..." Lyrium muttered, stepping forward again, unable to tear his eyes away from the tree's odd, throbbing presence. "This isn't right... What's going on here?"

His mind raced, searching for an explanation. There was nothing in the novel that described such an occurrence.

The Elemental Tree, as portrayed in The Path of the Elemental Sage, was merely a powerful entity, a key component of the magical world, but it was never said to be alive in the way that this tree appeared to be.

"Heh... this is really amusing," Lyrium muttered bitterly to himself, shaking his head. "The one who read The Path of the Elemental Sage like it was my personal bible, and I didn't even know this information? Or... did the author just not include it in the book?"

Lyrium massaged his forehead, trying to clear his thoughts.

A deep sigh escaped his lips as he exhaled slowly, trying to calm his nerves.

His mind was in turmoil, unable to make sense of what was happening before him.

The tree was massive now, the trunk stretching high above, its roots visibly pulsating with energy, the mana signature growing ever stronger.

There was no doubt in Lyrium's mind anymore: this tree was not just some manifestation of nature's magic. It was something entirely different.

And that realization made his heart race faster, the sound of his pulse almost in sync with the thumping heartbeat of the tree.

"Haa... this is going to get really confusing," he murmured under his breath.

But confusion didn't stop Lyrium from taking the next step. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself as he walked forward again.

With every step, the air around him seemed to distort, the very fabric of space bending in response to his proximity to the tree.

It felt as if the world itself was warping, the atmosphere thickening as if under immense pressure.

Lyrium frowned, his eyes darting around as he felt the magical pressure building. It was as though the tree itself was pulling him in, like a magnet drawing in a piece of metal.

The distortion in the air continued to grow more intense as Lyrium neared the massive trunk.

What had been a normal-sized tree just moments ago was now stretching impossibly tall, its bark gleaming under the dull light, its branches spreading wide enough to obscure the sky above.

The trunk seemed to be expanding in real-time, growing larger and more immense as Lyrium took a step closer. The size of the tree was mind-boggling—its uppermost branches appeared to pierce the very clouds themselves.

Lyrium had read about the size of the Elemental Tree in The Path of the Elemental Sage, but seeing it in person—experiencing it firsthand—was an entirely different matter.

The scale of the tree was beyond comprehension.

It had grown so large that its towering presence was now completely shrouded in a thick, swirling fog, the gray mist twisting and curling around the tree like a living thing.

"Damn..." Lyrium breathed, squinting as he tilted his head back to try and gauge just how far the tree had grown. "It really is as big as the narrator described in the book."

He blinked in disbelief, stepping forward once more, determined to understand the nature of this tree that defied all logic and reason.

With every inch closer he got, the heartbeats grew louder. The sound was unnervingly clear now, like the pulse of some massive, ancient being.

His ears began to ring with the rhythmic thrum, each beat more pronounced than the last.

'Ba-dump...! Ba-dump...!'

The sound echoed in his mind, sending a shiver down his spine.

It felt like it was coming from deep within the earth itself, resonating with something primal and ancient.

Lyrium could almost feel the vibrations in his bones, his own heart matching the pulse as his mana reacted to the tree's presence.

'The sound of a heartbeat... It's freaking creepy,' Lyrium thought, his muscles tensing. Something about it felt wrong—unnatural. There was no way a tree, no matter how powerful, could have a heartbeat.

It simply didn't make sense. He had to know what was going on.

Lyrium stopped just short of the tree's towering roots, his eyes now fully locked onto the thick, gnarled bark that stood before him.

Without hesitating, he closed his eyes and reached deep within himself, drawing upon his vast reserves of mana.

Slowly, deliberately, he began to channel his energy, pouring it into the massive tree. His mana felt like a steady stream of power, flowing from his body and into the tree's inner system.

The pulse of the heartbeat seemed to respond to his presence, as if recognizing the intrusion of another powerful force.

With his mana now flowing through the tree, Lyrium could feel the internal structure of the tree beneath its bark.

The roots, the branches, the leaves—they all thrummed with energy. But it wasn't just elemental mana he was sensing.

There was something else.

A deeper, more primal force was hidden within the tree, something far older than the elemental energies that normally suffused such trees.

It was as if the tree itself was alive, not just as an organism, but as a being with consciousness, will, and purpose.

The heartbeat, now louder than ever, began to quicken. Lyrium's eyes snapped open, his pulse racing in response.

The tree's mana signature, which had once been erratic and chaotic, began to stabilize, but it still felt unfamiliar, foreign. It was as though the tree was awakening to his presence, reacting to his interference.

Lyrium frowned, his mind racing for answers. He had never encountered anything like this before in his studies or in the pages of the novel.

What the hell was this tree?

"Is this... some kind of soul? The tree is alive, but it isn't just alive in the way a plant is. No, this tree had the energy of a soul within it. A being of pure mana that had somehow taken form as a tree, its consciousness bound within the bark and roots."

He hesitated, unsure of what to do next. This discovery was far beyond his expectations. There was no way he could fully comprehend what this meant. The Elemental Tree was not just a source of power—it was a sentient being, a living, breathing entity that could think and feel.

And it was now fully aware of Lyrium's presence.

A sudden, unsettling thought struck Lyrium. Was the tree trying to communicate with him?

The pulsing mana seemed to be reaching out, an unspoken invitation, perhaps.

Could the tree be seeking his help? Or was it warning him to stay away?

Lyrium couldn't say for sure, but one thing was clear: he had to tread carefully.

The more he interacted with this ancient being, the more uncertain his future became.

"Maaaann..... Things will get really confusing for real..!"

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A/N: My dear readerrrrrssss...!Sorry for the late chapters and all, but it's not like I am wasting my time these past 3 days, I was actually immersed in advance vocabulary words, trying to find fancy english words. And I was advancing my grammar level also....btw...thank you for reading:]

And would you guys like to directly skip and start the main plot after this element arc?

Or would you like to experience how our spineless MC planned the things out for future and his stats and ranks before the main arc?

Btw, I got contract invitatio....:)

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