"Alright, I'll be there soon."
The place I was flying towards happened to be near my family ho.
I ended the call and looked down at the ground.
Busan’s Seo-gu.
The landscape of Nam-bumin-dong, viewed from the sky, had changed a lot compared to a year ago.
The biggest difference was, of course, the existence of the World Tree.
The World Tree, which had been rooted and growing at our house, had now grown taller than the Lotte Tower in Jamsil.
Its thickness was so massive that, from the sky, no matter where you were in Busan, the World Tree was visible.
From the top of the World Tree, you could clearly see all of Seo-gu and Jung-gu, including Yeongdo, Nampo-dong, Bosu-dong, and Daesin-dong.
However, that view was very different from what it used to be.
The Jagalchi Market and freezing factories, located next to the Joint Fish Market.
Houses built tightly together halfway up the mountain.
The apartnts in Daesin-dong and the many comrcial buildings in Nampo-dong.
All the concrete buildings had disappeared, replaced by a forest.
It wasn’t as tall as the World Tree, but trees that had grown to several dozen ters in height filled the area densely, and the asphalt ground was covered with various grasses, while the concrete buildings were overtaken by moss and vines.
It was a scene that seed impossible to have occurred in just one year.
‘This is also the influence of the World Tree.’
For plants to grow like this through normal processes, it would have taken at least several hundred years.
Every ti the World Tree grew, the forest’s area expanded, and the gradually increasing area had now reached even Busan Station.
In effect, Seo-gu, Yeongdo-gu, and Saha-gu had beco dense forests, not a city anymore.
The life force of the World Tree, which perated throughout the forest, was the reason for this unimaginable result.
‘Now that I think about it…’
The life force of the World Tree.
It was also the power of divinity.
‘It must have naturally seeped in at so point.’
I could use the life force of the World Tree ever since my grandfather’s trust level reached 100.
At that ti, I didn’t fully understand divinity, and I hadn’t absorbed any divine beings yet, so I didn’t pay attention to the existence of the World Tree.
But.
‘Actually, it was a bit different.’
My mory.
More specifically, the mories from another tiline.
In those mories, before I had the ability of the Absolute, I had only the basic power of consumption.
In that tiline, the World Tree wasn’t my grandfather’s ability.
The mories passed to from my future self were mostly hazy, but I could vividly rember what the World Tree was.
It was a divine being that had consud all of Busan and had extrely hostile feelings toward humans.
Honestly, ever since I inherited that mory, my feelings toward the World Tree weren’t great.
‘The World Tree was the one that killed my family in that tiline.’
Grandmother, grandfather, mom, dad.
They all t tragic deaths within the World Tree’s domain, and I witnessed their corpses with my own eyes in that tiline.
The shock from that was so intense that my mory of the World Tree still vividly lingers in my mind, as clear as if it had just happened.
"…Tsk."
That was why I didn’t exactly feel happy seeing such a massive World Tree rooted in the place that had once been our family’s ho.
It was a place I had lived in for over 20 years before moving to the apartnt in Seomyeon.
Seeing it transford into a forest left with complicated feelings.
-Beeep!
Kami, who had been flying around aimlessly under the sunlight, perched on top of my head.
Then, using her tiny wings, she gently patted my head.
As if she had read my mood.
Incredibly, receiving such a simple act of affection made feel a bit better.
‘…Co to think of it, why did my future self give the World Tree’s power to my grandfather?’
If you think about it, Kami was in a similar position to the World Tree.
In the previous tiline, Kami was eaten after fighting against .
And then, she was perfectly integrated into the system, appearing as a familiar beast.
She was in the sa position as Lilith, who had been eaten and turned into a familiar.
Her previous personality had completely disappeared, and she had been reborn as a pure soul, fitting her cute and charming appearance.
But unlike Kami, the World Tree had grown in the sa place as the previous tiline.
‘There are familiars among the summoned beasts, but...’
I could easily guess the origin of a fairy.
‘It seems to have been the elf tribe’s chief, the guardian of the World Tree.’
Like Kami and Lilith, the World Tree’s form had beco smaller and cuter, but its characteristic prickly expression was still there, making it recognizable.
‘Why is it that only the World Tree’s main body wasn’t integrated as a familiar?’
Was it sothing my future self intended?
I thought there might be so hidden intention behind it.
My grandfather, who beca the protector instead of the fairy, had survived based on his overwhelming power and had taken care of my grandmother, who fell into slumber.
Later, I could go to Lilith’s domain to wake up my grandmother.
‘In the end, everything worked out fine.’
But still, sothing felt off.
The World Tree was the only divine being that hadn’t been perfectly integrated into the system.
Whether it was a familiar, an item in the store, or a summoning skill usable for a certain amount of ti.
Unlike other divine beings, which were completely bound to the system, the World Tree seed to have been given a small amount of freedom, and that didn’t sit well with .
‘Hey. Why did you do that? You probably hated the World Tree much more than I did.’
I asked in my mind, but there was no response.
‘Are you listening?’
Since the mont I was pulled into the normal world after defeating Yamata-no-Orochi, my future self hadn’t contacted even once.
I didn’t know whether it was pretending not to hear or if it simply didn’t have the strength to speak.
Since I couldn’t keep talking to soone who wouldn’t answer, I decided to get to work.
“Silphid.”
“Yeah~?”
“Let’s go to the root of the World Tree.”
“Got it~”
With the wind gently blowing, we flew towards the root of the World Tree, where my family ho was.
***
The living room, where the family had gathered.
A white snake with scales so bright they almost glowed occupied the room. Its body was about 50 cm long, which would usually make it seem like a repulsive snake, but its thickness was far greater than that of an average adult male's arm, making it surprisingly cute.
Could it be called a chubby snake?
It looked quite sluggish, and in fact, it was in such a state that it could hardly manage its own body, making it impossible to feel threatened.
It was more like a moving snake doll than an actual snake.
Beep?
Kami, who was a bit bigger than a chick, tilted her head as she stood in front of the white snake.
Purr?
The white snake followed suit and tilted its head.
The scene felt like watching a puppet show, and it made smile faintly.
“Aren’t you going to eat it?”
While it seed cute to , since the little bird was standing in front of the snake, my mom seed worried.
“Don’t worry.”
Even if the snake tried to eat Kami, it wouldn’t happen.
After all, Kami's level was a massive 33.
That was her level without releasing her power.
And then…
「White Dragon (Lv. 10)」
For a newly born hatchling, it was a high level, but it was still no match.
“Ughhh.”
Mom trembled as she looked at the White Dragon.
“Ugh, so gross.”
The White Dragon’s appearance was close enough to a snake that she didn’t seem to like it much.
‘It just looks cute though.’
As Mom scowled while looking at the White Dragon, she spoke up.
“…So how do we feed it? Should we catch a rat or sothing?”
Even though she was grimacing in disgust, she still seed concerned.
“We probably don’t need to feed it separately. It seems to be feeding off the energy flowing from the World Tree nearby.”
The life force of the World Tree was still abundant in this area.
So of it was entering the White Dragon’s body in real-ti.
“It will take care of its food itself. Don’t worry, just leave it alone.”
“Hmmm. Then I guess we need to give it a na.”
“A na?”
“It’s still a baby, so we can’t just let it out. If we’re keeping it at ho, it needs a na.”
After thinking for a while, Mom said:
“Do you have any ideas?”
Dad, who had taken over the baton, suggested an idea.
“Since it’s white, how about Whitey?”
“Hmmm. That’s fine, but doesn’t ‘Ha-yan’ sound prettier?”
Thus, the baby White Dragon was nad Ha-yan.
Mom carefully approached the White Dragon, bent down on one knee, and spoke to it.
“From now on, your na is Kim Ha-yan. Got it?”
Hearing Mom’s naming sense reminded of a puppy we had when I was little.
The first dog we raised, a Cocker Spaniel, was nad ‘Kim Da-jeong.’
Adding a family na ant that, in Mom’s own way, she was accepting it as part of the family.
Purr!
As if it understood Mom’s words, the White Dragon tried to approach her.
Mom hesitated for a mont, but gently extended her hand and stroked the White Dragon.
“Y-yes. Good boy.”
Ha-yan closed its eyes tightly and let its body relax in Mom’s touch.
Seeing the faint smile on Mom’s face, it seed like she was already growing fond of it.
‘I might have to say goodbye sooner than I think.’
In fact, Ha-yan had only been temporarily entrusted here to hatch.
‘To hatch the White Dragon, the power of the World Tree was probably necessary.’
In exchange, Ha-yan had left a tattoo on Grandpa’s hand, telling him to call on it when danger ca.
‘It was essentially unnecessary, though.’
The White Dragon’s level was 63.
At that ti, it was overwhelmingly powerful, but now, things were different.
I could summon an Immortal Specter with a level of 81 right now, and with Lee Joon-hyuk, who had successfully broken through his limits, his level was the sa as the White Dragon’s.
Considering the various buffs and enhancents my retainers gained through their growth, I could easily overpower a White Dragon, especially in its ho turf, the sea.
“Grandpa.”
“Huh?”
“The contract with the White Dragon. Could you use it now?”
“This?”
Nodding as I looked at the tattoo on Grandpa’s right hand, I spoke again.
“Yeah, that one. Could you use it now?”
“Alright.”
A while ago, the White Dragon had co and warned us.
Not to covet the power of the World Tree.
And through that, we had been able to learn about Grandma’s slumber, which allowed us to enter Lilith’s ntal world.
At that ti, the domain that had been declared in the house wasn’t very wide, but now it had expanded to Japan.
The sea where the White Dragon once stayed had already been fully integrated into our domain.
But the White Dragon’s whereabouts were unknown.
During the ti when the domain was explosively expanding, it had already disappeared from the southern seas.
‘I haven’t seen it since then.’
It might know that its child is about to hatch now.
‘I rember clearly, it said to , “Transcend, don’t covet the power of the World Tree.”’
It sounded odd.
How could it say that unless it knew the true nature of my power—consumption?
Even beings with divinity couldn’t absorb the power of other divinities.
That was sothing only I could do.
‘When I et it again, I’m going to make it spit out all the information it has.’
A while later.
[An unauthorized entity is attempting to enter.]
A hint of disturbance ca.
Reviews
All reviews (0)