Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

"Wow… I'm really here."

Cinderielle stood before a pair of massive wooden white gates with her mouth agape. She still could remember the invitation and how stupidly she reacted, making her face blush. 'Ahh! Why did I answer stupidly like that? I could see her lips arching up in amusement! That stoic woman laughing is like a hereditary humiliation!'

Cinderielle internally shed tears, but she quickly recovered. 'Whatever. Now, I'm part of the Fortuna First School, so I must put in effort to become someone powerful in the future.'

Cinderielle's mind flashed back to the past, and her eyes became void of any of her usual playfulness. 'I must be strong enough to roam the world and find the owner of that leaf…'

With that in mind, she confidently stepped forward and approached the gates.

A man with an indifferent expression welcomed Cinderielle. "Welcome to the Fortuna First School. Please show your Identification Slab."

Cinderielle reached into her bag, which was made out of perfectly sewn blue leaves, and picked a white and black wooden plaque. The texture was a bit different from usual wood, as it was smooth and soft. The size was about a palm's width, with her information written on it, together with a small nail-sized orb.

This orb had Cinderielle's Aether Mana, which could be used to verify the identity with almost no possibility of being able to fake it. Security measures were significantly developed because of the almost endless variety of skills that existed. There were people with transformation skills, impersonating skills, etc.

There was a saying that said, "There are no two identical system pages." This saying was often used to warn young people about each individual's uniqueness while raising awareness of the dangers some skills could pose.

After going through the identification procedures, the guard allowed Cinderielle in.

'Okay, let's do this… Woah…'

Cinderielle's eyes opened wide as the massive structure entered her eyes. As Fortuna City's most renowned school, it was naturally built very close to the World Tree. Its size was about 15 meters tall, with five floors of pure wood crafting marvel.

Just after crossing the tall frontal gates, the humbling sight of the beautiful school was enough to instill reverence in the students, and yet, that was not the most impressive sight.

Behind the large building, a colossal World Tree towered far up to the sky, making even the school building look insignificant. The figure of the giant tree resembling a woman's body and holding a sky-shrouding canopy was nothing but startlingly awe-inspiring.

Usually, between beings, trying to look at another's system stats was considered a bit rude. After all, it was a small invasion of privacy. There were devices to prevent analyzing.

However, that was not the case with World Trees. Using analytical abilities in World Trees was, more often than not, a waste of time. As long as they had matured even slightly, all World Trees had natural anti-inspecting defenses.

So, out of curiosity, Cinderielle tried opening the System page of Fortuna City's World Tree. In her mind, she remembered that this World tree was a <Seedling World Tree Of Fortune>. The one that gave her that Destiny boost when she was little.

That day burned in Cinderielle's mind; after all, her strong emotions from that day were still vividly remembered.

While Cinderielle expected to see nothing, something appeared in her retina.

***

Race: Seedling World Tree of Fortune.

Level: 26

Aether Mana Shards: ??????/??????

Phoer Body Shards: ??????/??????

Anima Energy Shards: ??????/??????

***

Cinderielle blinked a few times, incredulous. 'Huh? I can see her level and race. There are also a certain number of question marks for each essence…' Cinderielle counted them, and her lips twitched. '… She has six digits?'

Looking at her own pitiful 2-digit essences, her mind ached. 'Lady World Tree is four orders of magnitude higher than me.'

In a world where even a 5% difference in stats could make a difference in a life-and-death situation, this kind of difference in strength was like looking up to a god-like being.

Cinderielle wanted to look at the sky, but after lifting her head, the tree's giant canopy prevented her from doing so, making her eyelid twitch. 'More than 100,000 in each of the ternary essences? That's… stupid. When will I be able to reach those heights?'

With a sigh of awe, she walked forward and finally entered the school.

She finally arrived at her class after walking through an orderly set of hallways.

The classroom was composed of a stand where the teacher would give the class and a semi-circle of wooden tables.

The class was half-filled when she arrived, with some people having already become a group.

Cinderielle observed her surroundings, but between all of the people here, her eyes couldn't help but lock on a green-haired woman in the corner.

The aura around her was soft and gentle, remarkably resembling nature. Her face had a mature beauty that a 16-year-old usually didn't have, and when Cinderielle's eyes moved downward, her lips twitched. '…Big.'

She looked at herself, and while she wasn't small, she didn't have a prominent bosom. She stopped comparing and pondered. 'From her aura… is she a Sylvan with nature affinity?'

While all Sylvans have some nature-related affinity as descendants of World Trees and other powerful flora, having purely nature affinity was not common.

Meanwhile, the woman felt someone's gaze and lifted her eyes, meeting a pair of curious and large orange-colored eyes. She couldn't help but pause.

When their sights collided, they both felt strange for a few seconds.

"Hello, are you Cinderielle?"

However, someone approached and broke their trance. Cinderielle blinked and looked sideways at a tall, handsome, and muscular youth. As a Sylvan who didn't see male humans as potential mates, Cinderielle felt nothing other than what an average human would for looking at a pretty flower.

Therefore, Cinderielle smirked and nodded without showing a flustered expression. "Yes! Who might you be?"

The man paused, looking at Cinderielle strangely for a fraction of a second. However, he didn't show much, as he smiled brightly and showed a charming smile. "I'm Theodore, one of the top-ranked humans in this year's admission test."

Cinderielle nodded. "I see. How did you do?"

Theodore smiled. "I've qualified as a D- Rank."

Cinderielle smiled. "That's not bad at all!"

When Theodore saw the lack of surprise in Cinderielle's eyes, he couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed. 'Why is she not reacting? All the other girls I've spoken to have shown interest.' 

Cinderielle tilted her head, confused. "Is there anything wrong?"

Theodore grinned, this time, a bit stiffly. "No. Nothing wrong."

"So… Where are you sitting?"

'Since he has come to speak to me and seems quite nice and forward, I should make friends with him.' Looking behind him stealthily, she muttered to herself. "He seems to know quite a few people."

Theodore was about to answer when he heard a small voice, and he asked. "Did you say something?"

Cinderielle smiled. "Not at all." Then, she dragged her voice. "So…?"

Theodore laughed. "Right, I sit there. I actually have a free spot by my side. Do you want to sit with me there?"

Cinderielle nodded. "Sure." Then she said frankly with a grin. "I don't know anybody, so please present a few people to me."

Theodore patted his chest and grinned back. "Leave that to me."

After walking toward the seat beside Theodore, Cinderielle felt a few prickly gazes directed at her back, making her frown and turn around. 'Huh? What are those human girls looking at?'

One of them sneered with clear resentment. "Is the plant girl so eager to taste human? I hope you are not a carnivorous variant."

Cinderielle's puzzled face cracked. She had never been a person with a good temper, so she went right back at her. With a mocking smile, she laughed. "Hey, do you know how your great-grandchildren will look if you have any? Probably not, right? You will probably rot away because of age by then. Don't worry, though. I'll make sure to take a photo of when they marry and leave it in your tomb. If you apologize right now, I might even bother using a bit of my time to bury them by your side when they, too, die of old age."

That girl's face turned red with anger, and she slammed the desk as she stood up. "WHAT DID YOU SAY, BITCH!?"

Cinderielle laughed. "Not only do you expire quickly, but you also came defectuous and with hearing problems. Girl, you didn't have quite good luck, did you?"

The girl was about to rush forward, but the entire room was suddenly enveloped in powerful pressure, which made everyone's face change to one of horror. The pressure was powerful enough to make most people's legs bend a notch.

"Silence. This school is not a street inn where you can fight at will."

Every person in the room looked toward the entrance and saw an elegant woman wearing black hair slowly walking in, wearing high heels and a black dress.

The natural white accents in her hair and stoic and indifferent face made it clear who she was.

All of them stood up hastily and welcomed her. "Welcome, Teacher Eila!"

With a neutral voice, she ordered. "Sit down. If you haven't chosen any seats yet, choose one randomly and sit down."

They all moved, and Cinderielle finally reached her seat by Theodore's side. Once everyone sat down, Eila began speaking at a clear cadence.

"Let's start by explaining the most important question, or at least trying to shed some light on it. The system."

Eila ordered. "Everyone, open your system pages."

Cinderielle did so and gave it a read.

***

Name: Cinderielle.

Titles:

<Aether Flame Bearer>: A Sylvan born with the ability to manipulate fire, an exceedingly rare case.

<Nature's Friend>: As a Sylvan, you have an innate affinity with plant beings. However, this title will disappear the moment you harm non-hostile plants with malicious intentions.

Hidden Titles: [2]

Race: Pyroaether Emberites

Energy Method: Ember Source Devouring. You can either consume a material rich in Fire Aether Mana properties or absorb the Aether Mana in an environment full of Fire Aether. Gain 1 Experience point per 1 unit of Fire Aether Mana. Max Experience Points gain per day is equal to Level.)

Level: 1 [0/140]

Aether Mana Shards: 96/96 (+0.7/Hour)

Phoer Body Shards: 46/46 (+0.34/Hour)

Anima Energy Shards: 58/58 (+0.42/Hour)

Attributes: Aether 8 (6+2), Physique 4 (3+1), Anima 5 (4+1), Willpower 5 (5), Destiny 12 (12)

Affinity Percentage: Aether Resonance (20), Physique Refinement (15), Anima Affinity (15)

Resistance Percentage: Aether Resistance (19), Physique Resistance (13), Spiritual Resistance (14), Mental Resistance (14)

Talents:

<Aether Flame Manipulation (E Rank Level 1 [0/9300])>: As a Sylvan born with the ability to control fire, you can innately manipulate Fire Aether Mana. You can use Aether Mana to summon flames around you at will. You need to use Anima Energy and Aether Mana to control the flames.

Passive Skills:

<Heart Of Fire (Dormant) (D Rank Level 1 [0/49400])>: You have been born with an incredible affinity toward fire-type Aether Mana. Moreover, your flames will only burn what you desire. You can avoid hurting anything with them at will. However, what you are using now is nothing but a shadow of how bright you can burn. Fire-type Aether Mana Affinity +50%.

<Love of the Forest (D Rank Level 1 [0/49400])>: You have a higher chance of giving a first good impression to all plant life.

Accumulated Experience: 0

***
Once Cinderielle checked her system page, she nodded and looked up, eager to listen to the explanations.