Advent of the Three Chapter 188 Veil of Deception [1]

Chapter 188 Veil of Deception [1]

????The world turned bright once more.

Scratch~ Scratch~

Hearing the familiar scratching sound, I looked toward the figure that sat on the wooden desk with their backs turned toward . Just like before, he was seemingly busy writing sothing.

But compared to that ti, the atmosphere wasn't so gloomy.

There was no longer an air of desperation.

But that wasn't what I was focused on.

No.

My attention was focused on the single page before him.

'Finally.'

The page that would lead to

finding the tree's weakness.

At long last, I was going to be free from this nightmare.

Tak--

I took a step forward to get a better look at the page, but just as I took the step, the scribbling sound stopped.

Turning around, two red eyes stared back at .

"...."

I stopped and looked back at them.

I stood in silence for a short mont before he opened his mouth and broke the silence.

".....My life was no different after all."

From the way he was talking, he seed to rember everything that had happened between us in the world where the roots had completely taken over.

"I wake up every morning, make breakfast, go to work, co back, make dinner, and go to sleep. It's really not that different."

I frowned listening to his words.

He looked happy to . A stark contrast to how he was back in the previous illusion.

And yet,

There was sothing about his words and tone that didn't quite sit well with .

Why was that...?

"Strangely, I don't hate it."

So he said it.

".....There's nothing wrong with the mundane life that I live with. I would argue there's a beauty to it. Every day may be the sa, but there's sothing about the simplicity that feels strangely peaceful. I--"

That was when I realized, and cut him off.

"You can stop."

I took a step back while gravely staring at the man who stood before .

"What's wrong?"

He appeared confused by my sudden stance.

"Is there sothing that I said that you disagree with?"

"....."

I licked my lips.

They were incredibly dry.

No, it wasn't just my lips.

My mouth was also dry.

At the sa ti, I felt my hands tingle as I tried to keep myself calm and collected.

"There's no need to pretend. You're not him."

"Uh?"

He tilted his head.

He seed even more confused.

But I knew,

I knew that the man who stood before

wasn't Karl.

Typically, when using the second leaf, I'd be able to feel the emotions of those that I was subjecting my skill.

But at this very mont,

The man that stood before .

He felt nothing.

He had no emotions.

He was just an empty shell that was pretending to smile right before my very eyes.

Karl...

The man who stood before

wasn't him.

"You're the tree, aren't you?"

The one I was currently speaking to was the tree.

Karl.

He was already dead.

The tree had already taken over him.

"....."

The smile on Karl's face gradually faded, and his red eyes flickered with a certain coldness that sent chills down the back of my spine.

I swallowed my saliva.

"....How could you tell?"

Even his tone changed, suddenly sounding a lot more gravelly. Like a broom scraping broken glass.

"You shouldn't be able to tell. How can you tell?"

I looked around in search of the roots, but nothing appeared.

In fact, 'Karl' didn't seem to make any attempts at attacking

at all.

In fact, it seed genuinely curious about .

The way it was looking at

suggested so.

".....You're a peculiar human. From the start, your ntal resilience was far greater than those of your age."

As its voice reached my ears, its piercing red eyes continued to stare at . Feeling its gaze, it felt as though it was looking at the deepest parts of my soul.

I felt naked.

....It was at this mont that I truly felt the massive disparity in our strengths.

And yet, I didn't necessarily feel in any danger.

"It's much easier to turn those that have low ntal resilience. You, who is weak, have such high ntal resilience. It's intriguing."

"....."

"I knew it from the start. You are the most fearso. To , strength is aningless. I can kill the strongest if they have weak minds."

It pointed at its head.

"....See?"

Pressing its finger against its tempt.

"Strong, but weak."

Then, pointing at , it said,

"Weak but strong."

I stood quietly while listening to everything that it was saying.

The tree didn't seem to be capable of fully articulating itself.

I had to wrack my brain to properly understand what it was trying to say.

'My ntal resilience is what he fears.'

That much I already knew.

Given how Leon had fallen so easily, ntal resilience was important. It determined how easily the tree could absorb soone.

The higher the ntal resistance, the harder it was for it to reign its influence.

Perhaps, the reason why I could see the roots and others couldn't was because of my high ntal resilience.

Then again, Leon also saw a root from what I rembered, so not so sure it was valid.

".....What exactly is your goal? Are you trying to absorb everyone here to grow stronger?"

Such were the words that ca out of my mouth when I spoke.

I was rely trying to buy ti at this point.

.....I needed to figure sothing out.

For so reason, the tree wasn't attacking , but I wasn't sure for how long that'd be true.

At least, such were my thoughts before the tree spoke again.

"You're partially right. I want to grow stronger. Observe humans."

"Hm…?"

Observe humans?

The tree looked at .

"I have observed so many humans. I learned to speak your language after observing for such a long ti. You're very peculiar. You all react differently to the sa stimulus."

"Like the illusion you showed ?"

The one I had experienced just a few monts prior regarding Karl and his despair.

"Ah, yes, yes."

The tree nodded.

"Isn't it peculiar how certain humans can be so depressed when facing monotonicity while others are happy? Why is it that you're so different despite being the sa race? We aren't like that. We are all the sa. We want to grow."

By 'we', it was probably talking about the other monsters.

I think I was slowly starting to get a better idea of what was going on.

"…..Are you trying to beco human?"

"Trying to beco human?"

The tree cocked its head.

Then, after a certain while, it shook its head.

"No, you humans are too complicated to understand. I don't want to be human."

"Then...?"

"...."

The tree didn't answer.

Lowering its head, it stared at its hand.

".....I want to learn what it ans to think for oneself. Learn for what reason certain stimuli arouse different reactions and for strength. To transcend, I must learn to separate myself from the others."

It raised its head to look at .

"Such is my reason."

"....."

I stood by the side without saying a word.

'I've read many books, but none of them ntion how monsters evolve to the next rank. This is either new information that isn't yet known, or most likely isn't in my current cirriculum.'

This was as far as I could assu.

From my assumption, it seed like a monster needed to be able to think for itself and develop a consciousness to reach the next rank.

The Destroyer rank.

.....It was for that reason that the tree was absorbing people and casting them in an illusion.

It wasn't just to weaken them so that it could directly swallow their consciousness with ti.

No, it was observing them.

Learning from them.

By putting them into different stimuli, the tree was developing its very own consciousness.

"Is that the reason that you've disguised yourself as him?"

I pointed at his face and appearance.

".....So that you could be closer to everyone to understand their thought process?"

"That's correct."

The tree nodded its head.

But as it did, its gaze lowered.

"But it's not enough."

It raised its head.

"I can't understand."

Suddenly, the tree smiled.

"I am happy."

Then, it frowned.

"I am angry."

Then, it cried.

"I am sad."

Then, it winced.

"I am disgusted."

With Karl's face, the tree began to show

all sorts of emotions. It was almost as if it was asking

to judge it.

"....."

The tree's actions were weird.

And yet, I couldn't take my eyes away from it.

His expressions...

They were impeccable.

From where I stood, I could see exactly what he was feeling.

But there was sothing about it that was missing.

Eventually, it stopped and looked at .

"I have observed humans very carefully. I can mimic their every action, and think like them. When humans are happy, the muscles on their cheeks tense, and their lips move up. Their eyes squint, and dopamine rushes into the brain. I do exactly that, and yet—"

"You can't feel it."

I cut the tree directly.

Blinking its eyes, it cocked its head.

"Yes. I don't understand. Why...?"

"Emotions."

One word.

One troubleso word.

"....They are not easy to understand. I myself struggle to understand them."

Despite having experienced so much, I had yet to fully understand them.

They were extrely troubleso.

Could it be that in order for monsters to evolve into the next rank, they had to learn about emotions?

If so,

"Ha."

I laughed a little.

As if that was easy.

"Yes...?"

"You're going to be stuck where you're at for a very long ti."

Again, the tree blinked.

"Why?"

".....Because emotions aren't things that you can just mimic through what you see. You need to directly experience them in order to get a better understanding of them."

Perhaps, the tree only needed a rudintary understanding of emotions to reach the next level.

But that 'rudintary' understanding was probably not sothing that the tree could understand through observation.

It needed to feel them in order to learn about them properly.

"Experience...? How?"

I could tell from its gaze that it was genuinely curious.

I was just about to answer when I stopped.

"...."

I pursed my lips and looked at the tree in front of . Its gaze was intense, and I could feel my throat clamp up under its gaze.

And yet, despite such pressure, I didn't feel scared.

Rather,

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

I felt excited.

Licking my lips, I opened my mouth to speak.

"....I can show you."

I held out my hand.

"I wouldn't mind showing you if you joined ."