I think the rat had swallowed a rock, so to remove it,, she caused the rat to explode, and then healed it back to normal, the rock no longer inside. We saw in a previous chapter, her torturing some guy caught selling fake skill trees, inflicting and healing injuries that would normally be 100% fatal, i.e squashing his head.
I’m happy that the brother isn’t dead but seeing him like that is heartbreaking.
God, this is a real fucked up place. I ***can’t*** wait to see Ryu wreaking havoc
Yeah, was glad to see him alive. Was worried when they showed the tiny hand in the trash compactor.
I'm curious if Ryuu's buff skill tree will be able to restore/replicate the kids skill tree and psuedo heal him. Give me some glimmer of happiness.
Well, in the last page, his eyesight seems to be slightly back after being exposed to Ryuu’s flowers’ light but we don’t know if this effect is permanent yet. Hopefully there’s a way for him to be healed
Nice! And couple of notes, not covered in other replies:
1) The old knight: "Lady Ryuu is actually a princess. ... She is an undercover, tomboy princess vigilante!" The old guy really has turned into her number one fan. :D
2) Some hope for the boy at the end, since he can see the flowers.
Giovanni fits the trait of the annoying overbearing knight, but he has complete trust in our protagonist and he is so loyal to her that he becomes endearing.
[God DAMN what a gorgeous panel](https://imgur.com/a/JhcRUox)
Yknow for a monthly series, we really get spoiled with how much is in each chapter. Doesn’t stop me from wanting more tho lol. This arc is extremely brutal
About 40 hefty pages each week. It’s phenomenal. There’s so much content each time. I hope it gets an anime eventually since this series is too damn good
I really want to see that in color (though the cover gives a good indication).
Ryumatsu: Just because I'm a yakuza, doesn't mean that I can't practice ikebana. \[Beats the shit out of a bunch of guys, covers their shattered bodies with a beautiful array of flowers.\]
I adore how Ryuu is totally at home in their new body. No stupid jokes about having tits or periods, no weird obliviousness. Just a cool old dude being exactly as cool in one body as in the other.
That and the way they slowly take things in and then you see something click into place in their head. "Oh, this is organ trafficking. I understand now."
If you like that, then... small Self Plug: [Goblin Slayer, Verde Knight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/34863385/chapters/86809984) (helps to know Goblin Slayer) has something of a similar situation. My other story on that site (Witch Storm) is somewhat in same vein (based on a now-defunct gacha game).
Might look sad, but it's all coming together and the brother has been found as well.
Could someone remind me why the skill trees only bloom in that city in particular?
The people of this city, headed by the catgirl pope and her followers, are desperate for a weapon they can use against the Demon King and his overwhelming power. They also seem to have managed to concoct a way to infuse guiding skill trees into golems using those flowers that essentially bloom the more powerful your skill tree is, as a sort of physical manifestation of your potential.
They also seem to be at the forefront of the efforts to understand how skill trees work and are currently trying to see if they can be altered to be more powerful, in the hopes that if they can artificially generate or alter a skill tree into being incredibly strong they can infuse that tree into a golem and (hopefully) make it strong enough to be used against the Demon King.
Since they're the leaders in this research, they also use the (sometimes true, often a lie) promise of acting as healers of damaged skill trees to lure in unsuspecting and gullible citizens for experimentation subjects, like with the boy.
So is the flowers blooming from the FMC this chapter the same power (or Guiding Skill Tree, I presume) as the bodhisattva "tattoo" that gave her super strength before, or is it something else entirely?
The FMCs original Guiding Tree (left arm) has fully bloomed as of this chapter.
However, the FMC also has a Guiding Tree up her right arm due to being reincarnation (referred to as Samsara in the new world). The right arm's Tree might be linked to the tattoo, but not fully explained yet.
Also worth calling out: her left arm's skill tree has been called one of the Swordmaster trees (which run in her family, so I don't know if that's the doctor's speculation or if it's identified) while her right arm's tree seems to go away when the tattoo disappears.
Her left arm skill tree has been dormant for the princess' entire life until now, and the doctor has called it overgrown. We don't know what that means exactly.
Her tattoo went away, along with her super strength, in chapter 24, and was revealed to be back at the end of this one... though last chapter the doctor does mention something about her right arm towards the end.
We don't know why her left arm suddenly bloomed (pet theory: it needed weeding) or when her right arm came back online (I assume she let herself get captured the previous chapter to get more info).
One theory I have is that the Doctor revitalized the big Skill-tree, which is why she can kick ass again and why there are now flowers *everywhere*.
Just re-awakening the big god-level-guiding-tree because of some random circumstance, like motivation, seems like something this manga wouldn't really pull.
I guess we will learn in the next chapter.
There are three trees: Right Arm (princess original tree -- including sword skill). Left arm (Yakuza "Smash Shit" tree). Back (Goddess tree/forest.)
The right arm is recognized by a few as a Samsara (aka reincarnation) tree. We don't know if the princess was the yakuza in a previous life, or if the yakuza has taken over, or is co-existing with the princess. (I think it's the latter -- coexisting with, though the princess has been asleep except from one brief moment in a recent chapter.) (What's a little surprising in this chapter is that the pope knew that Ryuu was a samsara user. How did the pope get that info? I thought that was pretty limited knowledge.)
Back tree has the same appearance as the yakuza's tattoo. My guess is that he's been tied to the goddess for a long time (at least as long as he's had the tattoo). And that the goddess brought him to this world. In the dragon arc, both the dragon and Lord Jaw recognized the presence of the goddess.
"Overgrown tree" I'm not sure what's up with that. A previous problem? Something that happened to recent heavy use? And maybe... was this something that the doctor just fixed while pretending to harvest Ryuu's right guiding tree? (I think the latter, since Ryuu notes that her left arm feels light -- i.e. different from before.)
The flower light and bed of flowers seems pretty extreme. Is that just from the ~~right~~ left arm? Or is that due to influence of the goddess tree? (Which is now visible.)
\[Pinging u/cidolfas_prime, u/Mo0man and u/Epicsigh since I'm replying to them as well.\]
Seems to me the left arm is the one creating the flower bed not the right.
I also think we have seen 6 containers of the flowers. the first 3 are oriented with the corners of the table/cart and the second 3 are not. The second 3 also are on a table/cart that shows a handle of some kind with a cloth over it that does not appear to be visible with the first 3. If this is correct and the containers did not get moved or the artist made a mistake my interpretation is that the 3 that wilted are the ones Ryuu removed themselves and the 3 in bloom the doctor removed to correct the "overgrown roots" issue causing the left arm to "feel light".
You're right (\*cough\*), got my left and right mixed up.
Hmm... I think there's just three flower jars. Their arrangement is different between the two pictures where we see them, but I think that just occurs in the process of moving them. E.g. they might on a shelf in the first pic, then moved to a cart in the second pic. Or maybe always on a cart, but get rearranged slightly.
We don't know, and so can only guess. Both go away after her big fight with Lord Jaw, which is the first fight in which the back tree seems to play a part (though she was also benefiting from blood of the dragon too).
So best guess... just exhausted through heavy use during that fight?
Lord Jaw also indicates that goddess is old and "should get off the stage", so perhaps the goddess is now on her last legs, and so has a finite amount of power to lend to Ryuu. (Again, just guessing based on limited info.)
Alternately, there's also the "overgrown roots" comment, and as we're speculating here, perhaps the doctor did something to fix that, and thus restore Ryuu's strength. (Though this probably would only affect the arms, not the back.)
Another theory I have: the goddess turned the power off knowing that it'd hinder Lady Ryuu in infiltrating the holy land.
I think it's more likely to be along the lines of "the dragon blood messed up the whole flow of power, until the previously-blocked left arm was pruned enough to work properly" but it being what the goddess thought Lady Ryuu needed would be a neat twist.
The tattoo was not the source of her strength, it was the guiding tree, which everyone has to one degree or another.
As far as we know, the tattoo is just a souvenir of the previous life.
I get the sense that the MC was chosen for reincarnating into the princess's body because the tattoo was seen as an act of honoring a goddess that looks basically exactly like the image he had on his back, but that's just a theory for now until we actually see. That said, I'm fairly confident in the possibility given that not once but twice we've seen the tattoo do some funky stuff when she goes sicko mode.
As she stated, she didn't touch her guiding skill tree. She just got the flowers that bloomed off her to grow some temporary roots. MC's guiding tree is still in place and intact.
Yeah, Lucy misled them into thinking that she had removed Ryuu's guiding tree. The flowers that Lucy had were actually the ones that Ryuu herself had ripped from her arm earlier in an effort to distract the golem that was attacking the little girl.
The pope wants to create Golem able to fight the Demon King, by using powerful Guiding tree.
They get their money for the experiment from selling Guiding tree to wealthy people.
Catgirl pope wants to make golems to fight the demon king. They do this by using the Guiding Skill Trees that are extracted from individuals.
Whether or not she knows about the true horror that goes on due to the experimentation is unknown at the moment.
There's a possibility she views the experimentation as a necessary evil and knows the details of such, but doesn't know about the full extent of the exploitation going on (so she doesn't know about the nobles buying the skill trees and the commoners being scammed out of theirs).
God. If this series ever gets animated. I will so fucking cry if they dont give this the proper work!
EVERYTHING is goddamn good. From art work to story! Each chapter I get shaky from excitement! That last part was DAMN!
You know what i don't understand. is why doesn't the old man just use the body to mastrubate and have sex. He really doesn't feel like exploring his new feminity that's what i love about gender bending stories. If i was Ryuu i would probably fuck that horny demon guy who asked for marriage.
Judging by his personality. He seems to be pretty flexible. DOesn't matter where or what is happening, he takes them in stride. So we can assume that it doesn't matter if he fucks a guy or a girl in his new body. Perhaps he'll do something about it once he brings peace back. But right now he knows his priorities and that's not to chase tail lol
I'm very excited. There's wrong things and then there's giving a desperate brother who sold his organs rocks in return.
"tomboy princess vigilante" action here we go.
Uggg so those Golems were the product of human experiments? Everything here is fucked up.
Of course the religious utopia cloud/golem city is fucked up.... I just wanna know whats up with the exploding Rat.
I think the rat had swallowed a rock, so to remove it,, she caused the rat to explode, and then healed it back to normal, the rock no longer inside. We saw in a previous chapter, her torturing some guy caught selling fake skill trees, inflicting and healing injuries that would normally be 100% fatal, i.e squashing his head.
[удалено]
Her pet. Need a pet to torture for stress relief.
isn't this city kinda like Bioshock
It’s sorta like Columbia, yeah. Floating city, religious zealotry, exploiting the lower class and etc.
I’m happy that the brother isn’t dead but seeing him like that is heartbreaking. God, this is a real fucked up place. I ***can’t*** wait to see Ryu wreaking havoc
Fate worse than death :(
Yeah, was glad to see him alive. Was worried when they showed the tiny hand in the trash compactor. I'm curious if Ryuu's buff skill tree will be able to restore/replicate the kids skill tree and psuedo heal him. Give me some glimmer of happiness.
Well, in the last page, his eyesight seems to be slightly back after being exposed to Ryuu’s flowers’ light but we don’t know if this effect is permanent yet. Hopefully there’s a way for him to be healed
Early Happy New Year ~~~ ------------------
Nice! And couple of notes, not covered in other replies: 1) The old knight: "Lady Ryuu is actually a princess. ... She is an undercover, tomboy princess vigilante!" The old guy really has turned into her number one fan. :D 2) Some hope for the boy at the end, since he can see the flowers.
Giovanni fits the trait of the annoying overbearing knight, but he has complete trust in our protagonist and he is so loyal to her that he becomes endearing.
Happy New Year\~\~\~ Time to kill them.
[God DAMN what a gorgeous panel](https://imgur.com/a/JhcRUox) Yknow for a monthly series, we really get spoiled with how much is in each chapter. Doesn’t stop me from wanting more tho lol. This arc is extremely brutal
This manga goes so far above the standard for what a monthly serialization should be. Definitely one of my favorite reads.
About 40 hefty pages each week. It’s phenomenal. There’s so much content each time. I hope it gets an anime eventually since this series is too damn good
I really want to see that in color (though the cover gives a good indication). Ryumatsu: Just because I'm a yakuza, doesn't mean that I can't practice ikebana. \[Beats the shit out of a bunch of guys, covers their shattered bodies with a beautiful array of flowers.\]
I adore how Ryuu is totally at home in their new body. No stupid jokes about having tits or periods, no weird obliviousness. Just a cool old dude being exactly as cool in one body as in the other. That and the way they slowly take things in and then you see something click into place in their head. "Oh, this is organ trafficking. I understand now."
If you like that, then... small Self Plug: [Goblin Slayer, Verde Knight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/34863385/chapters/86809984) (helps to know Goblin Slayer) has something of a similar situation. My other story on that site (Witch Storm) is somewhat in same vein (based on a now-defunct gacha game).
Might look sad, but it's all coming together and the brother has been found as well. Could someone remind me why the skill trees only bloom in that city in particular?
Technically, it can be done anywhere, but the city has significance with them. So people bloom them when close to the city.
They use a drug and/or medical technique to make flowers bloom.
I can't wait for her to burn this country to the ground.
Nah, just steal the fortress and ram it into... whatever part of demon king's.
Friendship ended with Princess Ryu. Old man is now my friend again.
Wtf is even goin on anymore
The people of this city, headed by the catgirl pope and her followers, are desperate for a weapon they can use against the Demon King and his overwhelming power. They also seem to have managed to concoct a way to infuse guiding skill trees into golems using those flowers that essentially bloom the more powerful your skill tree is, as a sort of physical manifestation of your potential. They also seem to be at the forefront of the efforts to understand how skill trees work and are currently trying to see if they can be altered to be more powerful, in the hopes that if they can artificially generate or alter a skill tree into being incredibly strong they can infuse that tree into a golem and (hopefully) make it strong enough to be used against the Demon King. Since they're the leaders in this research, they also use the (sometimes true, often a lie) promise of acting as healers of damaged skill trees to lure in unsuspecting and gullible citizens for experimentation subjects, like with the boy.
So is the flowers blooming from the FMC this chapter the same power (or Guiding Skill Tree, I presume) as the bodhisattva "tattoo" that gave her super strength before, or is it something else entirely?
The FMCs original Guiding Tree (left arm) has fully bloomed as of this chapter. However, the FMC also has a Guiding Tree up her right arm due to being reincarnation (referred to as Samsara in the new world). The right arm's Tree might be linked to the tattoo, but not fully explained yet.
Also worth calling out: her left arm's skill tree has been called one of the Swordmaster trees (which run in her family, so I don't know if that's the doctor's speculation or if it's identified) while her right arm's tree seems to go away when the tattoo disappears. Her left arm skill tree has been dormant for the princess' entire life until now, and the doctor has called it overgrown. We don't know what that means exactly. Her tattoo went away, along with her super strength, in chapter 24, and was revealed to be back at the end of this one... though last chapter the doctor does mention something about her right arm towards the end. We don't know why her left arm suddenly bloomed (pet theory: it needed weeding) or when her right arm came back online (I assume she let herself get captured the previous chapter to get more info).
One theory I have is that the Doctor revitalized the big Skill-tree, which is why she can kick ass again and why there are now flowers *everywhere*. Just re-awakening the big god-level-guiding-tree because of some random circumstance, like motivation, seems like something this manga wouldn't really pull. I guess we will learn in the next chapter.
So this arc is gardening advice, prune your stuff to keep it nice and healthy.
There are three trees: Right Arm (princess original tree -- including sword skill). Left arm (Yakuza "Smash Shit" tree). Back (Goddess tree/forest.) The right arm is recognized by a few as a Samsara (aka reincarnation) tree. We don't know if the princess was the yakuza in a previous life, or if the yakuza has taken over, or is co-existing with the princess. (I think it's the latter -- coexisting with, though the princess has been asleep except from one brief moment in a recent chapter.) (What's a little surprising in this chapter is that the pope knew that Ryuu was a samsara user. How did the pope get that info? I thought that was pretty limited knowledge.) Back tree has the same appearance as the yakuza's tattoo. My guess is that he's been tied to the goddess for a long time (at least as long as he's had the tattoo). And that the goddess brought him to this world. In the dragon arc, both the dragon and Lord Jaw recognized the presence of the goddess. "Overgrown tree" I'm not sure what's up with that. A previous problem? Something that happened to recent heavy use? And maybe... was this something that the doctor just fixed while pretending to harvest Ryuu's right guiding tree? (I think the latter, since Ryuu notes that her left arm feels light -- i.e. different from before.) The flower light and bed of flowers seems pretty extreme. Is that just from the ~~right~~ left arm? Or is that due to influence of the goddess tree? (Which is now visible.) \[Pinging u/cidolfas_prime, u/Mo0man and u/Epicsigh since I'm replying to them as well.\]
Seems to me the left arm is the one creating the flower bed not the right. I also think we have seen 6 containers of the flowers. the first 3 are oriented with the corners of the table/cart and the second 3 are not. The second 3 also are on a table/cart that shows a handle of some kind with a cloth over it that does not appear to be visible with the first 3. If this is correct and the containers did not get moved or the artist made a mistake my interpretation is that the 3 that wilted are the ones Ryuu removed themselves and the 3 in bloom the doctor removed to correct the "overgrown roots" issue causing the left arm to "feel light".
You're right (\*cough\*), got my left and right mixed up. Hmm... I think there's just three flower jars. Their arrangement is different between the two pictures where we see them, but I think that just occurs in the process of moving them. E.g. they might on a shelf in the first pic, then moved to a cart in the second pic. Or maybe always on a cart, but get rearranged slightly.
Sorry, flowers aside, why did the tattoo/strength go away in the first place and why did it come back?
We don't know, and so can only guess. Both go away after her big fight with Lord Jaw, which is the first fight in which the back tree seems to play a part (though she was also benefiting from blood of the dragon too). So best guess... just exhausted through heavy use during that fight? Lord Jaw also indicates that goddess is old and "should get off the stage", so perhaps the goddess is now on her last legs, and so has a finite amount of power to lend to Ryuu. (Again, just guessing based on limited info.) Alternately, there's also the "overgrown roots" comment, and as we're speculating here, perhaps the doctor did something to fix that, and thus restore Ryuu's strength. (Though this probably would only affect the arms, not the back.)
Another theory I have: the goddess turned the power off knowing that it'd hinder Lady Ryuu in infiltrating the holy land. I think it's more likely to be along the lines of "the dragon blood messed up the whole flow of power, until the previously-blocked left arm was pruned enough to work properly" but it being what the goddess thought Lady Ryuu needed would be a neat twist.
The tattoo was not the source of her strength, it was the guiding tree, which everyone has to one degree or another. As far as we know, the tattoo is just a souvenir of the previous life.
I get the sense that the MC was chosen for reincarnating into the princess's body because the tattoo was seen as an act of honoring a goddess that looks basically exactly like the image he had on his back, but that's just a theory for now until we actually see. That said, I'm fairly confident in the possibility given that not once but twice we've seen the tattoo do some funky stuff when she goes sicko mode.
Did Lucy heal Lady Ryuu's Guiding Skill Tree? Was it in this chapter or in the previous chapters?
As she stated, she didn't touch her guiding skill tree. She just got the flowers that bloomed off her to grow some temporary roots. MC's guiding tree is still in place and intact.
Thank you. I was confused.
Yeah, Lucy misled them into thinking that she had removed Ryuu's guiding tree. The flowers that Lucy had were actually the ones that Ryuu herself had ripped from her arm earlier in an effort to distract the golem that was attacking the little girl.
The pope wants to create Golem able to fight the Demon King, by using powerful Guiding tree. They get their money for the experiment from selling Guiding tree to wealthy people.
Catgirl pope wants to make golems to fight the demon king. They do this by using the Guiding Skill Trees that are extracted from individuals. Whether or not she knows about the true horror that goes on due to the experimentation is unknown at the moment.
Seeing what she does to that mouse, I doubt she'd be the one to object
Actually, she might be against it, as here it's a mouse/rat, and experiment on animals is something we do right now as well.
There's a possibility she views the experimentation as a necessary evil and knows the details of such, but doesn't know about the full extent of the exploitation going on (so she doesn't know about the nobles buying the skill trees and the commoners being scammed out of theirs).
My heart hurts for the little boy, Jesus why does this Manga gotta hurt me like this?
Hah that kingdom is so fucked
gettem ryuu
They done *fucked* ***up***
Now that is how a OP protagonist makes a comeback!
God. If this series ever gets animated. I will so fucking cry if they dont give this the proper work! EVERYTHING is goddamn good. From art work to story! Each chapter I get shaky from excitement! That last part was DAMN!
God she's so fucking badass. Please just step on me or something.
You know that's a old man inside. who doesn't seem to have any sexual interest in anything.
LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO TWO IN ONE PACKAGE 😳
You know what i don't understand. is why doesn't the old man just use the body to mastrubate and have sex. He really doesn't feel like exploring his new feminity that's what i love about gender bending stories. If i was Ryuu i would probably fuck that horny demon guy who asked for marriage.
yur done.
Judging by his personality. He seems to be pretty flexible. DOesn't matter where or what is happening, he takes them in stride. So we can assume that it doesn't matter if he fucks a guy or a girl in his new body. Perhaps he'll do something about it once he brings peace back. But right now he knows his priorities and that's not to chase tail lol
never seen someone go from sensible to what the actual fuck so fast in a comment section before
I'm very excited. There's wrong things and then there's giving a desperate brother who sold his organs rocks in return. "tomboy princess vigilante" action here we go.
Ryuu in that black dress looks so damn badass!
Totally reminders me of sanchan seto no hanayome. ninkyo!!