World Keeper

Chapter 597: Stretched Thin

I furrowed my brows as I watched the scene of the ‘ritual’ in Fyor. In truth, I had only been idly scrolling through to check for any anomalies that could upset the balance of the world. The town was far away from either of the gates, and only on the thirteenth layer. As such, the threats that could spawn there weren’t anything too terrifying. The worst that could happen would be something like the previous Sea King that had the ability to endlessly strengthen itself by absorbing energy.

So when I saw three horses run into the forest, each with a slowly declining health bar, I was faintly curious about what was happening. Then, I saw three leaves fall from the nearby trees, drifting through the air to land accurately on the heads of those horses.

After that, the leaves on the ground around them kicked up as if with a great wind, wrapping around their bodies. When the leaves settled, the horses were nowhere to be found. At least, on the surface. With my view, I could see the three of them appearing underground near where they had vanished.

Their bodies were trapped within the ground, forcing them to suffocate as long roots wrapped around them. Nearby, I could see the remains of other animals, and even several humanoid skeletons.

Looking at the source of the problem, I investigated the trees that were ‘consuming’ the horses. Unsurprisingly, each of them were monsters at level two hundred and fifty, the limit that layer would spawn. Their names were Hungry Trees, and I could just imagine what their traits were from that title, as well as what I had personally seen.

Shaking my head, I decided not to get directly involved in that matter. Any mid-level adventurer would be able to handle a forest like that, so there was no need for me to intervene myself. Besides, even if nobody did show up due to the distance between the town and the gates, the town itself had a way to deal with the problem.

Instead, my eyes turned towards what I had seen of Lorek. While I had asked Terra to make sure that the tree didn’t leave the time dilation field, I was still surprised to find that it had directly appeared on Lorek. Part of me wondered if that was Terra’s doing, or if it was truly random chance that caused it to appear there.

Narissa led the group of ursa towards the center of the forest. While they could see the thick roots digging out of the ground from the central tree, that was not their destination. Instead, Narissa took them to a nearby tree. One that was only twenty meters thick. Along the way, they saw numerous green, red, and blue women. Each of them wore ‘clothing’ made of leaves and looked at the ursa curiously.

The red sylvans marched along in groups of ten, following a standard patrol pattern. Although their weapons and armor were only made of wood, the ursa could feel a powerful ki reinforcing their equipment. Each of them was clearly a cultivator of the Ancient rank, just from the power they were giving off.

The blue sylvans, meanwhile, sat atop the roots with their eyes closed until the group walked by. Only then did they send a look towards the ursa. It was impossible to tell exactly what it was they were doing from a glance, but there was a sort of serenity to their appearance, like monks watching the world from above.

Finally, the green sylvans were the true caretakers of the forest. They nourished the flowers and trees, nurturing life with elegant dances. Their movements were captivating, forming a stark contrast from the militant red or serene blue sylvans. Yet, the harmony of all three created the wondrous landscape around them.

When Narissa reached her target tree, she stroked a finger slowly along its bark. With a ripple, the tree opened up to reveal a large interior. “This is where we keep the artifacts from the ruins.” She said as she stepped inside, though there did not appear to be anything within the dark exterior of the tree that they could immediately see.

With their cultivation, seeing in the dark was a simple matter. As such, the leader of the group immediately became cautious, before the wooden floor beneath him began to shift and rise. Carrying the nine ursa up higher and higher, Narissa watched as a number of shelves were passed.

Many of these shelves contained monster remains or strange minerals. It was only after the fifth layer of shelves that the floor ceased its growth, and stretched out to connect with the shelves. There, they were able to see a number of old artifacts. Unlike what had been seen previously, these were all clearly manmade.

There were a number of books, and ruined remains of golems laid about on the shelves. Aside from that, there was a cracked hammer, a chipped sword, and a dented shield. “I apologize for the damaged state of the items, but this is the manner that we found them in. Aside from the stone men, that is… they fought against the forest, so we had no choice but to overcome them.”

“That’s… that’s perfectly fine.” In fact, he couldn’t care less about the state of the golems. What they were after were the books which contained the ancient legacies. Although cultivators had made great strides over the centuries in finding new paths to pursue, there would always be a difference between a path one created themselves and one already paved.

With that in mind, he didn’t look at the sword, hammer, or shield. Instead, he directly walked over towards the books, sweeping his eyes across their titles. Thanks to the efforts of their civilization, they had managed to decode the language that the ancients used, and could now read them even without the spiritual imprints.

“The path of Ghosts, Wood, Fire, Restraint, Solitude, and Valor.” Of these six paths, four of them were actually new, causing the ursa’s eyes to light up with hope. Opening the other two, the paths of Wood and Fire, he checked their initial requirements to see if they were more advanced versions of the paths he had learned of.

While the path of Fire turned out to be one that followed only natural energy and ki, he was shocked to see that the path of Wood covered all four basic energies. In the eyes of Lorek’s cultivation circle, that made this a top-notch path.

“You said… the path of Wood?” Narissa spoke up from the side with interest, her eyes looking towards the book that the man was looking at with a heated gaze. Naturally, such a path would be of great interest to the sylvans, as they spent their entire lives in the forest.

However, her curious gaze was met with caution. “I’m sorry, but we can’t give this manual to you. It’s an extremely important document for our people.”

“That’s fine.” Narissa kept the same motherly smile she had had from the start. “We don’t require the entire thing. As long as you are able to transcribe the entry stage for us, we can handle the rest ourselves.”

The entry stage was the most basic starting point of any cultivation path. It was also what determined the quality of the path itself. However, there was far more to cultivation than merely the first steps.

Thinking about how Narissa was allowing them to take away these manuals, and had preserved them herself, he decided to comply with her request. He had the faint impression that failing to comply would turn the entire forest against them. After all, it was really a simple request, so being obstinate about it just so that he could take the only copy of the document back would be… unwise for many reasons.

That night, the ursa group was allowed to stay within the forest while the leader translated the necessary text. He didn’t know how the sylvans planned to use only the entry level information to pursue this path, but they seemed confident in their abilities.

Once he had finished his work, the group of ursa left, carrying with them the relics that they had come for. Thankfully, they were not a settler caravan, or else they would have had to give up on their mission. While the sylvans did not seem inhospitable, living in an area with no direct access to the sky created problems for cultivators.

Watching them leave, Narissa held the papers in her hand. It was fortunate that the ursa was able to use Desbar’s language, or she would have had to seek other methods of learning this information. As her eyes scanned over it, there was a hint of pleasant surprise on her features.

Children, I have a new project for you. She thought while touching the tree next to her. Focusing, she sent the information on the papers through the tree network, and to the blue sylvans.

When they heard that they had a new project, the blue sylvans felt a sense of joy. While the greens cared for the forest, and the reds protected it, it was the blues that handled intellectual matters. And sadly… there had been little intellectual work that required their attention since their birth. They had spent their days refining the cultivation method passed down from Gracia of Protection.

Now, Narissa was sending them a new cultivation pattern. One far more advanced than what they knew. Almost eight hundred thousand minds began to work in tandem to analyze the details of the path, using the basic foundation and extrapolating further levels by referencing what they already knew.

Philia sat atop the highest branch of the ancestor tree, her eyes gazing at the suns hanging in the sky. Her skin absorbed the extreme heat, pulling the energy radiated from the celestial bodies to help fuel her cultivation.

Philia was unique among the sylvans in many ways, even when considering her golden sisters. First was her passion for cultivation, which allowed her to endure terrifying conditions that pushed the limits of her body. However, that paled in comparison to what truly made her unique. Unlike the other golden sylvans, she was the only one who kept secrets.

Am I close? She asked internally, careful not to transfer her thoughts to the tree beneath her. From the moment she was born, she had been speaking with a hidden friend, one that fueled her desire to cultivate, and helped her walk along the path. This friend taught her how to use her power, how to pull on the strength of the entire forest and wield it as easily as her own limbs.

Under the guidance of this hidden friend, Philia had reorganized the forest to become far more efficient, with wide paths formed along the branches. These paths were shielded from the extreme heat by a number of leaves arranged to stimulate a cooling breeze.

By now, the forest had extended as far as they were able to take it, covering nearly half of the planet. Any further, and they felt that they would be weakening the ancestor tree’s energy. Through this, they learned how large of a forest a single ancestor tree could sustain.

Furthermore, there weren’t enough sylvans to manage the forest if it were to grow any further than it had already. Counting all three of the sylvan types together, this forest held less than fifty million people. Fifty million spread out across such a massive planet, they had to construct gateways to travel between different work districts in order to handle the territory that they already covered.

Philia already thought that they were stretching themselves too thin, given their numbers. In order to tend to their grove effectively, she felt that they only needed a fraction of their territory. However, her hidden friend assured her that it would be alright, as long as she followed the advice that she had been given.

And now, that friend was telling her how to surpass the limits of her race. How to remove the shackles of her instincts that insisted for her to create her own grove. She had learned that she could be an existence even greater than the ancestor tree, if she only pursued her path of cultivation to the very end.

You’re very close now. The feminine voice spoke back to her in a comforting tone. Just one more push, and you should find your way. It won’t be long now.

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