194-202

Chapter 194 - Introduction To Runes

The old library was one of the few buildings that were just partially buried. It was fairly wide and had three floors. Leon had managed to enter through the entrance on the first floor without a problem, but the inclination of the floor slightly impeded his movements to explore the building freely.

Every step Leon took on an upward trend would cause him to slide back to his starting point due to a lack of grip in his shoes, caused by the dusty surface of the floor. However, this issue was easily resolved by channeling energy to the soles of his feet and coating his shoes with it.

[Art of Water Striding] was the name of the spirit art. As the name suggests, it allows him to tread upon the surface of water, but its application isn't limited to just that. It could be applied to any surface, allowing him to walk up walls and steep cliffs like he was walking on flat ground.

All the books in the building had fallen off their shelves and piled in one corner of the building like a small mountain. While Leon was pocketing all these books, he was wondering how could a leaning building that wasn't buried, able to remain leaning without the earth holding it in place.

Leon made his way up to clean out the subsequent floors, before deciding to investigate the cause later. On the second and third floors, he found more empty shelves and scattered piles of books, some crystals, and sunstones.

Leon tossed them all into the Worldspace without further thoughts. There were also some strange tablet devices on each floor, but they couldn't be removed from the stands. He could only sweep it with his Divine Sense and imprint it into his memory.

Returning to the first floor, Leon illuminated the higher end on the other side of the inclined building with his flame. The other end was infested with plant-like roots that managed to penetrate through the building's foundation.

Leon began to scrutinize the roots with caution. Base on the vitality he was sensing from the roots, the plant wasn't dead. What kind of plant was this? It was able to survive in a world without sunlight and water, but that wasn't important.

What was important was the power behind its roots. It could penetrate the incredibly tough building!

Leon scrunched his brows together in deeper thoughts.

Maybe the building was already punctured after the fall and the plant found its way inside afterward? Regardless of the case, he found it worrisome that he could not find its main body even after tracing its roots into the underground. The roots were too long for his senses to reach the main body. With such long roots, the main body could be expected to be even large.

Without seeing the main body, he couldn't tell what kind of plant it was. At first glance, it looked like tree roots. But upon further glances, it seemed slightly different from tree roots.

"Let's hope there aren't any man-eating plants in the underground world. But then again, it wouldn't be surprising if there were any considering any living thing found in the underground threatened human existence." Leon quietly mused.

He had at least figured out why the air was rich and plentiful on the second floor. There were plants on the second floor. Leon hadn't seen it for himself, but there must be a lot of plants somewhere. Perhaps these plants weren't exactly devoid of sunlight and water. There may be a water source somewhere deeper.

Leon pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind and entered the Worldspace. With possibly danger lurking in every corner, he had to be more prepared, especially since the danger level of the second floor should be greater than the spiders of the first floor.

The herbal garden had been growing well. It only took one month to grow a Tier-3 Spirit Herb, but to grow a Tier-4 Spirit Herb, Leon wasn't too sure. He assumed it would take around a year or longer. As for Tier-5… he should just forget about it.

"Hm? All the remaining energy of heaven and earth I previously absorbed into the Worldspace seemed to have disappeared. Huh? The blob of earth energy is gone too." Leon was dumbfounded. "Ugh… never mind. I'll figure it out later."

Leon grabbed quite a few spirit herbs, ranging from Tier 1 to Tier 3 and planted new seeds in its place, before making proceeding over to the pill cauldron and whipping up a fire. He spent the next half an hour refining Fasting Pills, Iron Stomach Pills and Poison Cleansing Pills.

He wasn't sure if he would need Tier-3 Poison Cleansing Pills, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Considering the presence of plants in the underground, he had to anticipate that there weren't just medicinal herbs but also poisonous herbs.

After completing his refinement, he stored them into pill bottles and set his eyes on the mountain of books in one corner. After emptying out the library, there were thousands of books in his Worldspace.

Unfortunately, only a small portion of the books would contain information on runic technology and its application. The rest covered miscellaneous topics ranging from cooking to science, with a greater part being a collection of fictional stories.

"It would be great if I could Arden's research room instead. It's almost time to meet back at the gathering point. There isn't enough time to sort out these books. It would take me forever to sort out the runic inscription-related books from the miscellaneous ones…"

"It would be great if I could use the Whitespace to sort them out for me…"

Leon suddenly froze, before his eyes slowly widened. Once the idea came to mind, it was impossible to erase.

The Worldspace was a physical landscape he could enter with his physical body, but the Whitespace was more illusory like a dreamscape. He wasn't sure if he could move the books over, but it was worth a shot.

Returning to the outside world, Leon materialized the [Divine Book of Life]. His consciousness dived into the Whitespace, while he held tightly onto a random book he selected from the mountain of books. The familiar white world soon entered his sight, but…

"No good, huh? I guess this was to be expected…" Leon said disappointedly.

"Just scan them, Idiot." A soft child-like voice said abruptly.

"Who!?" Leon's expression changed with alarm. There shouldn't be anyone here, except him! "Who are you? Show yourself! And what do you mean?"

Leon scrutinized the surrounding, but he couldn't find the owner of the voice. It seemed to have come from the whitespace world itself, but at the same time, it entered straight into his own mind.

Was he being delusional…? Did he go crazy!?

"Who I am isn't important." The childlike voice said nonchalantly, before continuing, "What is important is you don't know how to use the [Divine Book of Life] at all! Any item in the Sacred Garden can be recorded and stored into the Archive with a simple scan."

"Look here, Idiot."

Here? Where is here?

Leon's doubts were answered in a moment. A projection of the Worldspace known referred to as the 'Sacred Garden' soon appeared in front of him.

"You can see the Sacred Garden anytime from the Archive…hm?" The childlike voice froze amidst her explanation. The silence only lasted a few moments, before she continued.

"What the heck are all these trash? Books? Understandable. Clothes? Projectile weapons? Bricks!? Eeek! What have you done to my Sacred Garden!? Treating it as your own personal storage, huh!?"

The childlike voiced screamed into his mind directly with shrill cries like a five-year-old child with OCD throwing a tantrum after someone messed up her tidy bedroom.

Trashes? Projectile weapons? Bricks? Projectile weapons, he can understand, but what about bricks? Leon was confused. Was the child referring to the stainless-steel ingot he never ended up using?

"You know, you have such a sweet voice, but you say some pretty savage things." Leon rolled his eyes. He already had a faint guess as to the owner of the voice, but with such a childlike voice, he couldn't take the person seriously.

In any case, the [Divine Book of Life] was fused to his soul core, making the master. So, what if he uses it as his own personal storage space?

"Yawn*** Never mind… I need to go back to sleep. Remember to gather more energy." The childlike voice yawned, before fading into silence.

"Wait! You haven't explained the scan!" Leon quickly said, but even after waiting a short while, he did not receive any further response.

Glancing at the 'Sacred Garden' projection in front of him, Leon thought, "Guess I will have to figure it out myself."

Leon hadn't forgotten the feeling of omnipotence in the 'Archive' where things moved according to his will.

"It shouldn't be difficult, right?"

Leon stared at the mountain of books in the projection and made a mental will for all the information to be recorded into the Archive.

"Scan."

He could see a line sweeping across the mountain of books on the projection screen before new empty bookshelves began to rise in the Archive. At the same, new books began to fill the empty bookshelves very quickly.

"How fascinating!"

Leon never knew about these functions. If only he could have realized them sooner. He began injecting a string of keywords with his will.

"Organize. Basic. Runic Inscription."

The bookshelves disappeared into the floor and rearranged their contents before a new bookshelf rose with all the runic inscription-related books at the introductory level. Leon casually grabbed at one of the books and it dissipated into particles of energy before all the knowledge on basic runic symbols and their effect flowed into his mind.

"Haiz…" Leon sighed at the name of the book he casually picked.

[Introduction to Runes for Dummies]

"Oh no, I spent too much time in here. The others should be waiting for me!"

Leon quickly returned his consciousness to the outside world, but then he almost got scared to death by what he saw!

Lilith's black, round and pretty eyes stared directly into his own up close. He was immediately attracted and felt like his own soul was going to be drawn into the dark abyss.

"Woah! What the hell! You scared me!" Leon backed off.

"Teehee.." Lilith made a cute expression, before saying, "It's your fault for not responding to my calls."

Chapter 195 - Where Are The Power Sources?

When Leon heard Lilith's words, he awkwardly asked. "Ahem… How long have I been standing irresponsive?"

"About five minutes?" Lilith answered with her head leaning sideways, before asking, "What happened to you? Why didn't you respond to me? It was like you were frozen in shock or something…"

Lilith casually swept the first floor with a glance. As Leon was standing near the entrance like a block of wood, she all her attention had been on getting Leon's response. Now that she was studying the building, she quickly became shocked.

"Holy Cow! What happened to the library!? It looks like it's been ransacked!" Lilith exclaimed. However, she quickly felt awkward right after. There was a venerable beast worshipped in the Wildlands as the Holy Cow for divine healing powers. If the Holy Cow knew she used its title was used as a figure of speech, it might curse her in the moo language.

"It was like this when I got here…" Leon said impassively without guilt. Nothing could be derived from his expression.

Lilith glanced at him suspiciously. "Really?"

"Yeah…"

Leon began rubbing his chin as he looked back at Lilith in thought.

Lilith did not carry any bag on her and didn't loot anything from her building. She was looking for something else. She spent the entire time practicing the [Hundred Beast Transformation Art] when she couldn't what she was looking for.

Thinking Leon had finally taken notice, she began puffing out her chest and feeling smug.

"Go on. Praise me."

Contrary to her expectation, Leon was thinking about an entirely different matter.

Due to the difference between their races, their culture would undoubtedly be different. The Nova Empire was a human civilization with similar building aesthetics to the Crawford Kingdom, or rather the Crawford Kingdom got their building aesthetics from studying the ancient ruins of the Nova Empire. As such Leon could recognize the library briefly, but how was Lilith able to do the same?

"How did you know this is the library?" Leon asked curiously.

"Oh that… I calculated with my fingers." Lilith said.

Leon froze. "…"

Lilith: "…"

There was a brief silence between them.

Leon lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he was suffering from emotional distress. After he recovered, he said, "Let me rephrase. How did you recognize this building as the library?"

Lilith smiled coyly and playfully said, "I calculated with my—"

A bright ball of flames lit up on Leon's palm as he wore a slightly annoyed expression. Once was enough. Daring to use his own excuse against him twice. The audacity.

"Okay, Okay. Let's not resort to violence. There are so many shelves in here. Only a pharmacy, supermarket or library would need so many shelves. I made a lucky guess out of the three options, I suppose." Lilith retreated and pouted.

"I see. It seems you're quite familiar with human structures. I suppose the beastkins also live in large structured cities?" Leon rubbed his chin.

"Huh!? Of course, we do! We're not savages!" Lilith was riled by Leon's remark, but her lips soon curved into a derisive smile. "Our building aesthetics don't defer much from each other since we assimilated human knowledge after all. However, if you think this human city is large, then it shows how ignorant you are. The city my Desolate Crow Clan resides in is at least 10 times larger than your human city and our buildings are also much bigger and higher!"

As Lilith said to this point, she puffed her chest out proudly. While humans spread their influence across the lands through several cities and towns, every beast tribes congregate all their forces into one megacity.

"Oh? Why don't you tell me more about your Desolate Crow Clan and the Wildlands?" Leon said with interest. He had only been speaking from the perspective of an ordinary human in the Crawford Kingdom. Only he knew who the truly ignorant one was.

The divine cities of the Divine Realm at a minimum were at least several hundred times larger than the Capital and the population usually numbered in the hundreds of millions. This is only possible because divine practitioners didn't need to eat food to sustain themselves after reaching the Divine Origin Realm. Spirit energy was their sustenance.

"Hmph! Maybe when I feel like it." Lilith pouted when she didn't get the response she was hoping for. This fella was only interested in Wildlands and didn't care about her claims. Maybe he thought she was just boasting? Lilith did not feel good when she arrived at that conclusion.

"Never mind then. Let's head back." Leon smiled. He began walking off without waiting for Lilith's reply. At the same time, he tried to digest the influx of runic knowledge in his mind.

"Eh? Don't you have something to say about how I look?" Lilith finally brought up the matter.

Leon paused and flashed a glance over his shoulders. He continued his way after he calmly answered, "None."

Naturally, he had long noticed the absence behind her back. It was hard not to notice such a conspicuous thing when it goes missing. Although he did not show it, he was quite surprised. He had to admit that Lilith was quite a genius for mastering the art so quickly. However, he ignored it. He did not want to stroke her ego.

Lilith stamped her feet in anger but still followed Leon. She was expecting some praises but didn't expect this fella to be so hateful for not satisfying her vanity.

Zorbek and the 18 other palace guards sighed with relief when they saw Leon. Zorbek would have gone out to look for Leon personally if he did not return within another 5 minutes.

"It's good that you are safe, Your Highness." Zorbek soon shifted his eyes onto the petite figure behind Leon. "…and who is this lovely lady?"

What the heck? Was this person pretending to be stupid? Other than the black wing that she had retracted into her body, she looked practically the same as before.

Never did it occur to Lilith that Zorbek never put her in his eyes and only recognize her by her wing, otherwise she would have been angered to death. There was a limit to how much the person could dislike her, right!? She hadn't done anything to them, yet!

"Are you hitting on me? Sorry, it's too late to win my good impression. I'm not interested in older men anyway." Lilith said.

!!!

Zorbek widened his eyes in shock and almost choked on his own words. What happened to her wing? The others also showed surprised expressions, but they soon started looking at her strangely. The silence made her uncomfortable.

"What is it? Why are you all looking at me like that?" Lilith asked doubtfully.

Leon turned around and asked peculiarly, "If you're not interested in older men, then are you interested in younger boys?"

Lilith was startled by Leon's question before her face soon flush with embarrassment.

"No…!"

"Hahaha…" Leon chuckled lightly. He wanted to continue teasing, but then he frowned. They were still short on numbers. "Alright, enough nonsense. Where's the rest of the team?"

"I just sent them out to look for you. They should be back in a bit to report when they can't find you, Your Highness." Zorbek answered.

"I see. Never mind then. You can busy yourself with your own work. I'm going to meditate for a bit."

"Yes, Your Highness." Zorbek complied.

Leon found himself a spot on the ground and began digesting the rest of the knowledge from [Introduction to Runes for Dummies]. At the same time, Zorbek gathered the palace guards and had them report their findings to him, before jotting everything down on his notebook.

Everyone had a plentiful harvest in this short hour. This could be seen when they presented their overloaded backpacks. They couldn't fit everything inside and had to carry the excess on hand back to the gathering point.

There was more room after depleting nearly all their rations, however, the free space was filled back up with crystals and sunstones. They also found some unknown tools, equipment, and even weapons, which could all be categorized under artifacts.

One of Leon's eyes opened when the artifacts were pulled out, but he quickly lost interest. He suspected they were spirit artifacts or maybe even forbidden artifacts, but the runic lines were all damaged and he didn't sense any artifact spirit from them.

If the runic lines were damaged, then the artifact was pretty much scraps and only useful for study purposes. He was just beginning to understand basic runic lines. He was still far from being able to repair the damaged artifacts.

Sometime later, Leon reopened his eyes and gave the group a brief sweeping glance. Zorbek and palace guards had finished their tallying and were waiting on him.

"Should we begin preparing for our return journey and check if the path is clear, Your Highness? We won't be able to carry any more relics if we proceed further." Zorbek asked.

Leon shook his head. He had completed half of his objectives on this trip, but he was still unwilling to return after making it this far.

Despite searching so many buildings, no one seemed to have located the power sources yet. Leon gave Lilith a brief glance. Was she also looking for power sources?

Suddenly, Leon swept the group again and frowned.

"What's wrong, Your Highness?"

"The other two palace guards. They haven't returned yet?"

Chapter 196 - Bizarre Situation

"The two palace guards. They haven't returned yet?"

Zorbek glanced blankly at Leon with confusion. The two palace guards had returned some time ago, but the prince would not ask this question without reason.

"Yes, they had already returned, Your Highness. Why did you…"

Zorbek spotted the two palace guards, Scott and Willy among the group, but he noticed the numbers didn't add up. They were still short two palace guards from the original 20!

"Huh? Where's Damir and Lutheran?"

Once the question was raised, the group threw glances at each other and became startled. Damir and Lutheran were just with them a moment ago, but they were gone. No one knew or how they just silently disappeared.

"Damir and Lutheran were just with us a moment ago…"

"I was just talking to them just now too…"

"That's right. How did they just slip away unnoticed?"

Suddenly, the cold air made some of the palace guards shiver. Unlike the others, Leon had already learned the history of the Nova Empire. However, even though the palace guards don't know what happened, they could still guess that a lot of people had died in this place.

No matter what caused the ancient civilization to perish, would the people at that time abandon their weapons? The palace guards certainly didn't think so.

"Maybe… we disturbed the resting place of the dead and angered the spirits. Damir and Lutheran could have been spirited away."

A palace guard gulped when he arrived at this conclusion, while several others paled after listening. Most of them hadn't seen an evil spirit, but they grew up listening to ghost stories from their parents.

Parents read ghost stories to scare their children to sleep, saying that the evil spirit will take away if they don't. Often, the children would either cry or be too scared to fall asleep instead. But the point is, if they were asked if they believe in ghosts, every one of them would nod their heads without a doubt.

Humans had a rich imagination, but it didn't stem from nothing. There was always a source that inspired them.

As for what inspired people to come up with ghost stories, it was Extreme Misty Forest. Anyone who've heard the wails of the misty forest would know that ghosts and spirits were indeed real.

"Ah… rest in peace, comrades."

The palace guards expressed their condolences when they heard that Damir and Lutheran might be spirited away. There's no coming from that one.

"Enough nonsense. You're all grown men. How can you still believe in such childhood superstitions?" Zorbek barked.

Leon frowned. It was no superstition. If a person was possessed by an evil spirit, they turn into a violent bloodthirsty fiend and attack other humans on sight. Only a high-level evil spirit that cultivated its intelligence would possess humans and lure them away.

But he didn't believe that was the case either. Although the air in the underground was cold, it wasn't yin. Even if there were any evil spirits born underground in the ancient past, they would have been drawn to Extreme Misty Forest out of instincts for survival long ago. Only a place like Extreme Misty Forest could nurture evil spirits.

The depths of the gloomy underground, the only current source of lighting came from a single sunstone slotted in the center of the gathering point.

"Can I bother your Highness to use your special eye technique to scout the surroundings for the two men?" Zorbek requested politely after his earth senses failed to pick up anything in its limited range.

Leon nodded and activated his [Spirit Eyes] to scan the vicinity of their gathering point. He also used his divine sense to search the blind spots inside the nearby buildings. But after a moment, he shook his head. "They're not in the vicinity. It seems they have left the designated area."

When he was searching with his [Spirit Eyes], he found many traces of footsteps, some of which lead outside the designated area and deeper into the underground. There was also no trace of a struggle.

When he saw this, his first thought was the palace guards had gone rogue. But upon further thought, it shouldn't be the case. The two backpacks of the two palace guards were still here.

Greed and ambition fester in the presence of great treasures. However, the palace guards were already permitted to train with the earth crystals. Transcendence was within their reach. There was no reason for betrayal unless they had other motives.

Leon thought of another possibility for the two palace guards' disappearance.

Leon already knew there were plants growing in the underground world. There might be a plant capable of emitting hallucinogens and bewitched the two missing palace guards into silently leaving the designated area. Although Leon had yet to confirm whether it was a hallucinogen, he had started to smell a strange scent in the air.

"Damir and Lutheran left the designated area? Why would they do that?" Zorbek frowned. "Should we go look for them, your Highness?"

"Wait."

Leon took in several whiffs of the strange scent to identify it. A Tier-3 Poison Cleansing Pill was already in his hand just in case. The strange scent was slowly drifting over to their location with increasing clarity and foulness. It was the smell of turd…

Leon froze and dropped his pill.

A few moments later, the others also began picking up the smell and discussing among themselves.

"You smell that? Something smells like shit."

"I don't think I want to smell that…"

"It seems to be coming from that direction."

Leon glanced in the direction the palace guard pointed. The direction led deeper into the unexplored ruins. After picking up his pill, he said, "Ahem… Let's go check it out. We can leave our stuff here."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The group complied. With two fewer people, they couldn't carry everything, and it would only slow them down in the case of an emergency.

As the group headed over, Leon scouted the area with [Spirit Eyes] for hidden danger. They several buildings but they ignored it and went straight to the source of the smell.

Within the remains of an alleyway between two half-buried buildings, they arrived at the designation. Although they had already expected it, they were still taken aback by the sight. It was two lumps of fresh turd.

The group was filled with confusion.

Seeing the group fall into silence, a palace guard spoke, "We didn't come here to admire other people's turd, did we?"

"Why on earth would they come all the way out here to take a dump without a word?" Zorbek frowned. He couldn't understand the two missing men's thoughts.

"Maybe they were embarrassed to disturb the group with the foul smell?" A palace guard speculated.

"Didn't the smell end up drifting over anyway? What's there to be embarrassed about? We are all men."

"Actually, not all of us…"

The group stole several glances at Lilith. They didn't know how Lilith got rid of her wing, but without it, she looked no different from any other ordinary girl. They couldn't look at her with the same prejudice without the distinct feature that set their races apart. She was quite a fine lass.

Lilith was filled with a weird feeling and oddly creeped out by their stares. She didn't expect to see such a major change attitude just by hiding her wings.

"Ahem." Leon interrupted with a cough. He wished the group could take the situation more seriously. "Take a look at the lump of shit. It's been squished and there's a trail of skid marks leading deeper into the ruins."

Actually, the palace guards were only trying to loosen the tension. Stiff movements wouldn't allow them to perform in their optimum state. The palace guard appeared lax, but they had never dropped their guard.

Zorbek followed the traces pointed out by Leon, before he frowned. "Something had dragged them away. There are no other traces of battle or resistance, but it's safe to say that their chances of survival are close to zero."

"The trail ends here," Leon stated.

At the end of the trail, they could see the ground was intertwined with roots and filled with cracks. The cracks exposed many holes large enough for humans to crawl through. Also, the air was getting fresher.

They had arrived at the perimeters of an ant nest, but it was strange why the air was getting fresher.

Did the ants build their nest under a sea of plants?

"I don't detect any creatures lurking inside. However, my sense doesn't reach very far. It will be unwise to enter these holes, your Highness. We could get swarmed by ants." Zorbek warned while looking at the ant tunnels.

Leon agreed.

Entering such narrow tunnels will put them at a severe disadvantage by restricting their movements and ability to adapt to changes. It was no different from throwing their life away.

"Should we abandon them and turn back?" Zorbek suggested hesitantly. Although he was unwilling, he couldn't endanger the prince.

"No, we need to get to the bottom of this. If they are still alive, we will bring them back. If they are dead, we will bring back their corpses. They after all part of the elites of our kingdom. We can't abandon them. I want everyone to be on high alert and watch the ant holes as you pass them. We will continue forward in the open space."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The palace guards answered with relief and enthusiasm. They were also unwilling to abandon their comrades.

Although no one knew why the two left the designated area without order, they intended to find out exactly why.. There were bound to find the answers on the other end of the ruins.

Chapter 197 - Elder Tree

Leon gazed at the path ahead silently and did not issue the order to set off immediately. Undoubtedly, the path beyond the ant holes will be treacherous. It was a miracle that they had managed to advance this close to the ant nest without triggering another army of ants hunting them down.

"Awaiting your orders, Your Highness," Zorbek said patiently. Throughout this trip, he was supposed to be in command of the expedition. However, he did not mind that this role was passed onto Leon, the prince.

He believed it was a good opportunity for the young prince to gain experience in leading others before he takes the throne and leads the kingdom. But little did Zorbek know, Leon was not interested in the throne.

"Distribute these evenly among yourselves." Leon pulled out a few pill bottles and passed them to Zorbek.

"This is…?"

"Fasting Pills and Poison Cleansing Pills. As the names suggest, the Fasting Pills can satiate your hunger in place of meals, while the Poison Cleansing Pills can cure any low-level poisoning. We don't know what lies ahead. It's better to be prepared." Leon explained. He didn't expect for these pills to be required so soon, but it was good that he refined them.

Zorbek widened his eyes in surprise. He has never heard any of these pills before, but more importantly, the prince was much more prepared for this journey. The prince didn't lack anything and was fully capable of taking care of himself. To begin with, he never heard of an Awakener wielding so many elements. He felt like the prince had a bottomless abyss of secrets and made him felt unfathomable.

"Yes, Your Highness," Zorbek answered firmly. He must hug firmly onto the prince's thighs. Only by following the prince would he have a bright future. As the saying goes; when a person achieves a great way, even its dogs and chickens will ascend.

Leon had refined plenty of pills, but when they are divided, they didn't amount to much. Nevertheless, everyone was able to receive 3 days' worth of Fasting Pills, 3 Tier-1, 2 Tier-2, and 1 Tier-3 Poison Cleansing Pill.

Once the preparation was complete, the group set forth immediately. Under Leon's instruction, the group must keep contact with the intertwined roots to a minimum and only tread on the earthen parts of the ground.

Leon had a nagging feeling that the roots were even more of a threatening existence than an entire colony of ants. However, he also felt that this danger wasn't directed at them, which caused him to be confused.

The roots of the unknown plants stretched endlessly into the deeper parts of the underground. The deeper they went, the thicker it was. From this, Leon was made aware that there may not be a sea of plants. Most likely, all the roots stemmed from one ridiculous large plant and there were no larger plants than perennial plants like the trees.

Perennial plants like the trees could grow to nerve-wracking heights under certain conditions and different classification exists for them. Once a tree exceeds a height of 1000fts, it will no longer be classified as a normal tree. Instead, it will be considered an elder tree.

Different to normal trees, elder trees are sentient and could grow anywhere between 1000fts to 3000fts. In storybooks, they are usually depicted as guardian spirits, worshipped by certain sub-human races such as the elves.

From what Leon knew, there weren't any elder trees in the Human Domain, but at least one existed in the Wildlands. The roughly 1500ft elder tree stood proudly within a certain forest and could be seen from the top of the great wall at the western frontier.

Leon strongly doubted that the tree roots belonged to the elder tree in the west. It was simply impossible. Although they were underground, Leon had not lost track of his sense of direction. They had been heading east this entire time.

If the terrain of the 2nd Underground Floor had not been on a downward slope all this while, Leon would have questioned why such large elder tree had not been seen by anyone in the Human Domain. It turned out that the Human Domain had its own elder tree. It's just that it had always been hidden underground.

How can such a big tree grow underground with neither sunlight nor water?

"This is strange." Lilith suddenly said.

"What is?"

"These ant holes. There are far too many in one place to be the entrances to the ant colony. It's almost like we are already…"

"Inside the ant colony?" Leon shook his head. "If that was the case, we would have already been swarmed by an army of ants."

"That's why it's strange," Lilith stated.

"You seem awfully familiar with the habits of ants." Leon pried with a smile. Seeing Lilith's silence, he shook his head and asked, "What if I said all these ant holes weren't created by ants alone?"

Hearing this, Zorbek raised an eyebrow and asked, "If an ant hole isn't created by ants, what else could have created it?"

"Why do you think I instructed everyone to keep contact with the tree roots intertwining the ant holes to a minimum?" Leon did not answer Zorbek's question directly but answered it with another question, engaging him to think.

The group became startled once this question was raised and began to distance themselves from the roots.

"Don't tell me, these roots caused it!?" Zorbek became shocked. The tree roots have been very still. In fact, they had never moved at all. He never expected that these tree roots might be capable of movements, let alone digging holes. Why would the tree roots dig so many holes into an ant colony?

"Most likely." Leon nodded without giving a definite answer. Until he saw it with his own eyes, it was all mere speculations. "Ever since we entered the second floor, I have always pondered a question. What do these ants eat down here now that the spiders are gone? But after seeing these roots, it became clear to me. Just as these tree roots can be eaten by the ants, the tree roots can get its nutrients from the ants in order to survive. Therefore, I dared to proceed forward despite the danger."

"No wonder we haven't encountered any ants since we entered this area…" A palace guard commented.

"No, no, no. Something is seriously wrong with that reasoning!" Zorbek exclaimed. "If the ants and plants eat each other to survive, then the reason we haven't encountered any ants is that it's not feeding time yet!"

"Doesn't that also mean that when it's feeding time, this place will become a hotspot and also a battlefield between the ants and tree roots?" The palace guards were shocked and nearly fainted. Wasn't this like avoiding the tiger's claws by jumping into the lion's den?

Leon turned around and simply smiled at their terrified faces, revealing the whiteness of his teeth.

The palace guards became even more horrified after seeing the prince's smile. It was like seeing the devil's smile as the devil drag them into hell.

Madman! The prince is a madman! Even if the prince was tired of living, there was no need to drag them down with him, right!?

No, wait… if the prince dies, the queen would definitely kill them all and have them accompany the prince! But if they knew beforehand, they would have objected against entering this deep!

There was a difference between a dangerous endeavor and jumping into the jaws of death! One was bravery and the other was plain suicide!

Lilith felt dubious, seeing Leon's expression. There's no way he was that stupid, right? He didn't look like someone who was tired of living.

"Hold on… these are tree roots?" Lilith asked as a glimmer of understanding flittered across her beautiful black eyes. If they are tree roots, then…

The palace guards glance back and forth between Lilith and Leon, not understanding what Lilith figured out.

Leon ignored the palace guards confused looks and nodded to Lilith, before walking ahead with a carefree attitude. It seems that Lilith was aware of some things, which brought her here.

Naturally, he wasn't tired of living. In fact, he valued his life very much. He had only mentioned that the tree roots can get nutrients from ants to survive. For something to grow to the size of an elder tree, it would need to rely on something else than just mere nutrients for survival.

Leon's first thought was the power source for the floating city. Arden's diary mentioned that artificial spirit energy was able to revitalize the world and allow plants to grow to unprecedented sizes.

If the elder tree had something like the artificial spirit energy to depend on, it would be no wonder why it was able to grow underground, where no sunlight and water exists. It wouldn't even care about the nutrients gained from the ants. The elder tree probably only retaliated when it was annoyed by the ants nibbling on its roots.

At some point, Leon had stopped walking.

Lilith, who was following Leon subconsciously while lost in thought bumped into his back. "Why did you stop walking?"

"Well… I want to, but…"

Lilith followed Leon's line of sight and glanced ahead. She was taken aback when she saw nothing but an earthen wall. "A dead end?"

"Yeah..."

"What to do..." Leon scrunched his brows together in thought, before activating his [Spirit Eyes] to scan the earthen wall. At the corner of his eyes, he noticed a crevice glowing with weak reddish light. "This way."

Leon led the group over to the crevice in the wall, before readily entering without hesitation. It appeared that what he was searching for was just on the other side.

He was not disappointed. On the other side was a much vaster open space that seemed to connect the first and second underground floors, and possibly the third.

The elder tree stood at the center of this space in all its majesty. Its roots curled around an enormous spherical core the size of the palace and the entire space was illuminated by the glowing light of artificial spirit energy all year round.. The leaves of the elder tree seemed to have undergone mutative changes due to this and became dyed in a eerie crimson colour.

Chapter 198 - Attack On The Tree

"My God! What monstrosity is this? Look at the size of that thing! It's even larger than the elder tree in the west! Who would have thought something like this existed underground?"

"How can you even tell if its larger than the western elder tree? We can't see the top even if we crane our necks."

The palace guards exclaimed the moment their eyes laid upon the grand elder tree.

The red glow suffused the overgrown tree in a sinister but awe-inspiring presence. Neither the elder tree's crown nor the top of the massive space could be seen. It was like the elder tree had outgrown the space permitted and got suppressed by the earth.

When the group peered at the space above them, all they could see was a sea of crimson leaves gently swaying in the wind generated by the flow of air escaping through existing passageways and crevices in the surrounding walls.

"No, it's definitely larger than the elder tree in the west," Leon stated confidently.

"How can you be so… oh."

The trunk of the elder tree to the group was already roughly 1500fts and this was just gauging the trunk visible to them. Based on this information, the elder tree could be well over 2500fts, maybe even reaching the limits of 3000fts.

The entire height of the elder tree in the west only amounts to a mere 1500ft. Although this was already very impressive for a tree, it was nothing compared to what was in front of them. This was a tree that is on the verge of breaking through to new heights.

The universe is cold and unforgiving, but it does not cut off all roads to life. All life has an equal chance of obtaining eternity, even trees.

Elder trees were already greater than ordinary trees, but if it exceeds the 3000ft limit, it will no longer be considered great. Instead, it will be considered extraordinary. However, exceeding this threshold is more difficult than awakeners trying to reach the Celestial Realm.

Without the right conditions and blessings of the world, it was almost impossible for an elder tree to grow beyond the threshold in a world like Gaia. But in the unlikelihood that it manages to break through and cross the chasm, it will become a world tree.

World trees were wonders of the world that can grow to a staggering 30,000ft and its tree saps are so potent and magical it can extend the lifespan of other races by hundreds to thousands of years. It isn't farfetched to say that the birth of a world tree was a blessing to the world.

However, each world would only ever have one world tree. This isn't because the world is incapable of giving birth to more world trees. In fact, it was the opposite. Each world can produce multiple world trees when the right conditions are met.

But like a mountain cannot house two tigers, the world trees will have a conflict of interest and try to swallow each other in order to propagate itself. This wasn't much different from cultivators killing other cultivators, whether it was to protect themselves or rob their wealth to advance their cultivation.

The world had always followed the laws of the jungle. Its form may change, but never its source. It is an eternal truth.

The elder tree lived its entire life underground in eternal darkness, solely dependent on artificial spirit energy, but deprived of water and sunlight. Leon was curious about what would happen if the elder tree received water and sunlight. Would it have a magical effect like rejuvenating a dehydrated man, dying of thirst and bring itself one step closer to becoming a world tree? After all, life never strays too far from its source.

"Um, we are focusing on the wrong thing, no? What is this strange red glow? It looks sinister, but I feel like its beneficial for my body tempering cultivation."

The group continued to admire the elder tree for a while until a palace guard voiced his doubts.

"It should be artificial spirit energy. Absorbing it carelessly is dangerous." Leon stated with a frown. The artificial spirit energy was different to what he had read in Arden's diary. It felt more fiendish like demonic energy.

"Something like that can be created?"

The group was taken by surprise.

"Through the Nova Empire's runic technology, yes," Leon answered.

"Nova Empire? Is that that the name of the ancient civilization? How do you know so much?" Lilith doubted before her eyes widened. "Don't tell me you decrypted the ancient language and learned about it from the books you picked up back then?"

Leon took a moment, before he shamelessly answered, "Yes."

The group became even more surprised, but after a brief moment, they seemed to have accepted this answer. It felt like there was nothing that the prince couldn't do. It sure is different, having an educated person on the team.

Did the prince owe this accomplishment to the royal university? Maybe they should also study at… Nah, forget it. They had muscles for brains.

The palace guards didn't believe Leon was able to learn an entire language on such a short trip. The prince must have already had some preliminary understandings in the ancient language from his studies at the royal university.

Little did they know, they couldn't be further from the truth. The university didn't have anyone that advanced in their research of the ancient language.

"Um, aren't we forgetting something?" A palace guard asked. They were supposed to be searching for their missing comrades.

"Ah…"

Everyone immediately remembered their objective for coming here, thanks to the reminder. They were too distracted by the elder tree. Priorities.

"I found them. They're just ahead." Leon quickly confirmed with his [Spirit Eyes].

The two missing palace guards were found roughly 2000 yards ahead by the foot of the elder tree. They were bounded by roots and still in their shameful defecating positions.

Damir and Lutheran also noticed the group as they entered. When they were noticed by the group, they wanted to find a hole to hide in and cry. They were too ashamed.

"It seems they were kidnapped by the elder tree," Leon added. He didn't know how the elder tree did it seamlessly undetected, but he started to have an idea why the elder tree kidnapped them.

"They weren't killed but kidnapped? Why?" The group was taken aback.

Although they came with the will to rescue, they didn't have any expectations. The chances of survival were negligible, and reality was often cruel. They didn't want to be disappointed. However, Damir and Lutheran were still very much alive and kicking. What luck!

"Trees are like a man's best friend; it wouldn't harm us unless we harm it. We share a very special relationship of dependence. They provide us with the air we breathe and can even give us life. In return, it consumes the air we exhale and also… use our turds as fertilizers." Leon began explaining profoundly but towards the end, he almost laughed.

"The tree is dangerous in its own ways."

The palace guards added and laughed raucously.

"Pft." Lilith didn't like vulgar jokes, but she hates to admit it that she also found it amusing as she burst into small repressed giggled.

However, their laughter didn't last long and died down at a sudden rumbling. They glanced at each other with knowing glances.

Behind them, they suddenly started hearing rumbling noises like the galloping of a thousand hooves coming from the darkness beyond the crevice that they passed through, but on an exponential scale.

In the elder tree space, there were fewer ant holes in the ground, but there were many crevices and passageways in the walls from top to bottom. The noise quickly spread to the root ridden ground beneath them and not long after, it began coming from all directions.

"It must be feeding time…" A palace guard gulped.

The commotion got stronger over time and Leon grew doubtful. It was like the ants weren't going to aim for the tree roots but attack the main trunk directly.

"F*ck." Leon cursed.

"Run towards the elder tree!" Zorbek roared, but the others were already begun running before he even told them.

Ants began to spill out of every corner and commence their attack on the tree, while the group ran like their life depended on it, literally. If they were too slow, they would get caught in between the battle between the tree and ants.

The distance between the edges of the space and the foot of the tree was crossed in under a minute. Leon could've have arrived in a third of the time if he flew, but he did not leave the group behind and matched their pace instead.

They arrived at the two root bound palace guards safely but were unable to free Damir and Lutheran from the binds.

"No good. These roots are too tough." Zorbek shook his head.

"It's fine if you guys can't free us, but can you pull out pants up?" Damir felt like he lost all his dignity as he requested.

"Don't worry, this spot should be safe," Leon concluded as he concentrated on the surrounding.

"That seems to be the case…"

No one paid heed to Damir's request and focused on the battle outside. Lilith stood especially further away from the two.

"You normally don't get to see a spectacle like this often."

No ants were able to get near the trunk before they were viciously slashed in half by the tree roots that came to life and moved like a thousand snakes. The numbers seemed endless, but no matter how many ants came forward, the elder tree lashed them apart all the same with absolute domination.

"This is strange. The elder tree doesn't seem to be the focus of these ants." Leon frowned.

"They don't look like they came here for a snack either," Lilith added.

If the ants didn't come out for food and the tree isn't their target, then what is?

Initially, the ants charge single-mindedly towards the foot of the tree like kamikaze soldiers, tasked with an impossible task. But after seeing no progress, they began to change their tactics and began dividing their forces to focus on the tree roots, while keeping pressure on the center.

Leon narrowed his eyes when he noticed this. The ants are being controlled by something intelligent. It wasn't targeting the tree, but what lied under it.

"They're aiming for the power source."

"They're aiming for the power source."

Leon and Lilith said simultaneously. They glanced at each other, before resume studying the ant's behavior.

Leon rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look. Was it the queen or something else? This could be a problem…

Chapter 199 - Suspicions

The battle between tree and ants continue to rage on as ants spilled out of every corner and threw away their lives for their mission. Their numbers were great and unending, but they were nothing more than mere cannon fodders.

The tree roots weaved around each other struck down every single ant that got within a distance seamlessly with great coordination, never tangling itself and created an impenetrable line that could not be crossed no matter the numbers.

At this moment, some ants managed to avoid instant death and latched itself on the tree roots. It nibbled away at the tree roots with its strong mandibles, but the elder tree retaliated in kind with its tenacious roots. The ant ridden roots slammed into the ground, crushing them like pulverized eggshells and kicking up a cloud of dust that obscured the eyes of the spectators.

The two sides appeared to be caught in a stalemate as they fight a battle of attrition to see whether the roots give out first, or the ants run out of cannon fodders first.

A battle of this scale wouldn't happen often, but it did happen at this moment. The group can only blame their own luck for the bad timing.

While the group appeared to be safe, they were also trapped so long as the situation persists.

"Isn't this actually pretty dangerous? The tree roots are slowly being worn out by these low-level ants. What will happen when the stronger ants come out to attack? We won't be able to escape since we are trapped here."

"Doesn't that mean we are doomed if we can't escape?"

The palace guards started to become concerned. Anyone with some knowledge on ants would know that soldier ants don't operate on their own. They have a queen, and there would be a group of royal guards under the ant queen.

These soldier ants weren't much weaker than them. How strong would the higher-ranking ants be?

"Ah… we shouldn't have come here. We are all going to die…" A palace guard said depressingly. His words were contagious and affected the mood of the rest of the group.

Leon frowned. The situation was nowhere close to being dire, but the group was already full of negative vibes. It was too disappointing if the elites of the kingdom were truly like this. He expected them to be more steadfast and strong-willed.

Did they buy their way into the elite team with connections or something was affecting their state of mind? The royal family had spent a lot of effort cleaning the kingdom of its corruption in the past month or two. The latter possibility seemed more likely.

"Be careful of the artificial spirit energy! It's affecting your state of mind!" Leon warned. He had already warned them not to absorb the energy beforehand but to think that they would still be affected by it.

How pervasive this energy was!

Luckily, he noticed the problem early and the current symptoms were only mild. If they noticed the problem much later, it could've caused them a lot of trouble.

Leon didn't know what kind of an effect artificial spirit energy had, but the fact that it slightly resembled demonic energy was enough for him to keep his guards up. It was unfortunate that he still underestimated how pervasive the energy could be.

When the group received the warning, they sealed off all their pores and used their own methods to ward off the energy from drawing to them.

"Your Highness, I would like to interrogate the two men." Zorbek requested.

Leon gave him the affirmation. He was also interested in why the two palace guards left the designated area.

They couldn't be blamed for getting themselves captured by the elder tree, but it wouldn't excuse their insubordination. Without a doubt, they had left the area before getting themselves captured.

It was impossible for them to be captured straight from gathering point soundlessly without alerting anyone. It was even less likely for the tree roots to stop midway to let them chuck a shit before bringing them back to the foot of the elder tree itself.

"C-Captain."

Damir and Lutheran stuttered when Zorbek stern face frowned upon.

"Why did you leave you the designated area without order?" Zorbek interrogated the two, who were still trapped in their binds like wanted criminals.

"We're actually not sure ourselves. We were already here when we realized it. We don't remember what happened before that." The two shook their heads.

"Bullshit!" Zorbek roared. Upon hearing their excuse, he was angered. "Are you telling me you don't even remember going to chuck your own shit!? Who are you trying to fool!?"

The two palace guards, Damir and Lutheran immediately became startled by the Zorbek's outburst.

"What we said was the truth, Captain. We really don't remember!"

Zorbek frowned as he tried to verify the authenticity of their words through their expressions. Their expression didn't show any signs of falsehood and appeared genuine.

"Don't be too harsh of them, Captain. We should be celebrating that we found them here alive and in one piece." A palace guard tried to plead of their behalf.

The previous traces of the two had ended near an ant hole, making one naturally assume that they got dragged into the ant hole. However, there were no further traces that indicated that they entered the ant hole nor traces that they were dragged beyond the ant holes either.

"Yes, Captain. If they had been taken into one of those ant holes back there, I'm afraid there wouldn't have even been any bodies left for use to pick up." Another palace guard said.

"What was the last thing you remembered before waking up here?" Leon suddenly asked.

The two palace guards frowned and try to recall. "We seem to have been helping out with the loot count?"

"Anything else? Think harder."

"We… seemed to have smelt something weird before our memories went fuzzy." The two answered.

"Something weird, huh?" Leon pondered. So there really were hallucinogens? No that shouldn't be possible.

It was impossible for any other plant to survive in the underground if they have such an overpowered competitor like the elder tree. The elder tree would have wrestled all the resources and left them no room for survivors in order to save itself. Perhaps that's why there weren't any wood element crystals?

Leon suddenly became cautious. If it wasn't caused by a plant, then there was either an insect with hypnotic effects they had to fail to discover or someone on the team was sabotaging them. Was the team infiltrated by a spy from the Illusory Butterfly Sect? Leon smelled a rat.

The tragedy of 17 years ago was likely the doing of the Illusory Butterfly Sect, but the sect members involved were never caught. Leon had a hunch such a person must have disguised themselves and blended into the team.

Perhaps the culprit had intended to kill off the two palace guards silently but never imagined the two men's urge to shit was stronger than the unknown spell cast upon them, which in turn attracted the tree roots to kidnap them.

Leon mentally sighed. Truly nature's providence. When a man got to go, he got to go.

Leon immediately labeled everyone as a suspect, except for Lilith. It did not cross his mind once to suspect Lilith. Could the art of disguise allow a human to grow wings? Surely not.

Even the two bound palace guards were not outside of his range of suspicions. Perhaps the spy intended to kill one person instead, but pretended to be a victim after the plan went awry. There were many possibilities at this point.

However, despite figuring out that there was a rat in the team, Leon remained calm and kept silent on the matter. Informing the team of his discovery will cause unnecessary panic and distrust. The spy would also be alarmed and become harder to catch.

It was easier to work under the radar. Although this puts other's lives at risk, their safety wasn't guaranteed so long as the spy remains unknown either way.

"There might have been small flying insects, capable of spraying hallucinogens back there. Be careful." Leon said calmly. By saying this, the spy would not suspect anything.

"Yes, Your Highness." The palace guards all answered.

"Can someone help free us from these roots now?" Damir requested.

Zorbek looked towards Leon.

"You can try, but you cannot harm the roots. We are all f*cked if you anger the elder tree." Leon stressed, but he had zero expectation that they would be able to succeed in free the two men.

Looking back on the battlefield, Leon concluded that they would be stuck in this situation for a long while. He had no intention of doing nothing during this time, especially not when there was such a rich source of wood energy in front of him.

The only problem was getting the elder tree to be willing to spare some of its valuable wood energy to help him form his woodcore without angering it.

"All of you will stay here and observe the battle. Report to me if the situation changes." Leon ordered, before pulling Lilith along with him towards the elder tree.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Communicate with the tree spirit to free my two men. I need you to guard me and wake me up if you sense me losing myself." Leon said.

"Why should I? Anyone can do that." Lilith frowned.

"Please." Leon pleaded earnestly.

Lilith softened her stance and pouted, "I guess I don't have a choice, seeing how earnest you are. Hmph, hmph!"

"Thank you."

Leon said sincerely.

His sincerity seemed to have reached Lilith. She felt her heart slightly race and blushed.

'What is wrong with you, Lilith? How can your heart race for a human? Don't forget that they shot down all your loyal clansmen.' Lilith mentally spoke to herself and shook her head.

Suddenly, she thought how Leon might have read all her expression and panicked.

Seeing that Leon had already had his eyes closed with a serene expression while leaning against the foot of the elder tree in a meditative position, she sighed with relief.

For some reason, she felt also felt disappointed by this and became grumped.

"Hmph!"

"What is it?" Leon's eyes snapped open with a questioning gaze after suddenly getting kicked by her.

"Nothing." Lilith pouted.

Leon was confused.

Chapter 200 - Impulse To Bang His Head

Within the known universe, while it is true that all life had an equal opportunity at attaining the everlasting through divine practice, their difficulty in ascending the realms defers from one another because of existing balance.

In the mundane world, which was devoid of spirit energy, perennial plants like the elder tree still had a natural lifespan that far outstrips any other lifeforms between heaven and earth, but in return for being endowed with such a long natural lifespan, it takes a long time for them to gain sentience and develop their intelligence.

Judging by the extent of the elder tree's growth, Leon speculated that the elder tree was at least 10,000 years old. It should be possible to establish basic communication between them, hopefully.

Leon expanded his senses and reached out for the tree spirit within the elder tree with his consciousness. The tree spirit was quickly startled by Leon's sudden presence and retreated in alarm.

Within the sea of consciousness, Leon had a mental projection of his own body while the tree spirit of the elder tree took on the form of a 5yr old humanoid child adorned in leafy clothing and posses a pair of horn-like branches on its head.

Leon tried to appease the tree spirit by surrendering his hands in the air and indicate he meant no harm.

Of course, if he really did have ill-intentions, the tree spirit could easily wipe out their whole party like its doing to the ants. Even a newly ascended Transcendent would have trouble dealing with the wrath of an elder tree, let alone one that is at the peak of its class.

Leon had some hidden concerns when he attempted establishing communication with the elder tree but seeing the innocent child-like appearance of the tree spirit, his worries were washed away.

The elder tree had relied on absorbing the artificial spirit energy for survival and growth, but it was clear that something was wrong with the energy.

Leon was worried that the tree spirit would have been corrupted by the foul energy and transformed into an evil tree spirit, but it appeared that his concerns were unnecessary.

Trees were miraculous existences that could even transform human waste into something useful. Although it wasn't pure and incorruptible, it wouldn't be that easy to corrupt it like one cannot simply determine whether a child would be good or evil at birth.

Sensing no malice from Leon, the tree spirit circled around Leon and studied him curiously.

"Can you understand me?"

Leon spoke in the human language. However, the tree spirit did not understand his human language and simple tilt its head with "???" over its head.

Leon expected as much and initiated a simpler way of communication. He pointed outside the elder tree and began making request gestures of "bound men", "roots", "release" and "please."

The tree spirit contemplated for a moment. As if to affirm that it understood him, it uttered, "Rao!"

"Thank you."

Leon smiled, but it froze shortly after. The tree spirit seemed to have misunderstood his meaning and caught his main body with its binds. Leon's main body became rooted like his two palace guards.

"Pft, is this your way of communicating with the elder tree? It certainly is unique…" Lilith had evaded the roots when it happened and looked at Leon's amusedly. She failed to guard his body, but she wasn't sorry at all.

"Rao?"

The tree spirit gazed at Leon with a questioning look. It seemed to imply, "Is this what you wanted?"

Leon didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Of course, that was not what he wanted!

"No!"

Leon had a distressed look as he reattempted communication. But no matter what gesture he made; the tree spirit did not unbind him. The lack of progress made him depressed. He did not want his main body to have stuck him this…

The tree spirit seemed to have felt his distress and felt guilty like it had done something wrong. Since it's birth, it had always been attacked by insects that went after its only means of survival.

It happened so frequently over the long years that its roots and developed its own self-defense mechanism to retaliate on instinct. It was rare for it to have friendly visitors.

The bindings on Leon's body was slowly released and Leon thanked it profusely. It sensed Leon's joyous mood and also felt its own mood being uplifted.

Leon did not make any further gestures to communicate with the tree spirit recklessly, lest he incurs more disaster upon himself. There had to be another way.

Leon pondered the issue of communication, but he had forgotten one method he had yet to use.

"Can you understand me now?"

Leon carefully said in the ancient language. The tree spirit seemed to have been surprised and nodded excitedly. "Rao!"

Leon heaved a sigh of relief and continued, "Can you released my two men outside?"

The tree spirit contemplated his words carefully but ultimately shook its head with a reluctant expression. The tree spirit seemed bent on using his palace guards to produce fertilizers for itself.

Leon smiled wryly and returned his senses back to his body, before attempting to negotiate with the tree spirit. The tree spirit followed him and projected itself outside of the elder tree when Leon pulled out a single healing pill.

…

Meanwhile, the situation was growing restless in the Crawford Kingdom.

To the west, the number of berserk beasts attacking the wall had been steadily increasing, with a few researchers falling under the same state being exposed to an unknown substance found inside the carcasses of the berserk beasts after they were dissected for study.

At the same time, there was an increasing number of troop movements along the Crawford-Durham borders and Crawford-Valaran borders. Such movements were startling news to the Crawford Kingdom since they already learned that the royalties of their neighboring kingdoms had long become puppet rulers for the sects.

After learning the news, Heinrich spared no efforts to close the borders and relocate troops from both the southern and western garrisons to strengthen their border defenses.

The situation of the Wildlands had always been filled with uncertainties. This was even more so without the airships to scout the land ahead of them. As such, an abnormal amount of reserve troops had always been stationed nearby in case of any unexpected changes.

However, since these reserve troops got relocated to strengthen the eastern borders, the main garrisons of the western frontier had a sense of vulnerability and uneasiness considering the recent events with the appearance of berserk beasts in the west.

The only person within the western frontier that remained calm about the situation was the general marquis. Regarding this issue, Hendrick only needed to utter four words to quell all the uneasiness in his soldiers.

"I am still here!"

These four words may be simple, but it carried weight and conviction of the general marquis. Towards the people and soldiers, Hendrick was a hero and a symbol of hope due to his long years of successful service in safeguarding the Great Wall and campaigns against the Wildlands. The soldiers were able to firmly believe that everything in the west will be fine as long as the general marquis was with them.

Back at the Capital, Elizabeth was seen pacing back and forth in front of Heinrich's study over an entirely different matter unrelated to the current problems the kingdom was facing.

While the people became concerned about the possibility of war being upon them, Elizabeth was concerned for her son. Although she believed in her son's capabilities, she still had a reason to be worried as a mother.

The hunting team was scheduled to return after a week at the latest, but even after a week had passed, the hunting team had not returned. There's no way she wouldn't be worried. Something must have happened in the underground.

If not for the great responsibilities bearing down on her and her husband, they would have both left the palace to look for their son.

"Sigh, you shouldn't have let our son go with the hunting team, Beth. I knew we shouldn't have let him go." Heinrich sighed melancholically. He had yet to spend any quality time with this son of his.

Elizabeth raised her eyebrow and said, "Are you blaming me, Richie? Even if I was against it, I can't stop my son from doing what he wants to do. Does it even make sense that after being separated for 17 years, we can just come back into his life and impose our will on him? Even if our son accepts us, do you think that's fair for our son?"

"Instead of pointing fingers, how about you figure out a way to save our son and manage the kingdom at the same time? Hmph, hmph! Also, it's been a week and you've only reached the one-star level. Even the guards train faster than you, let alone my daughters-in-law!"

"I… Yes…" Heinrich became tongue-tied by his wife's barrage of unreasonable words. In the end, all he could only answer obediently. He was afraid of his own wife.

But how can he be blamed for his slow progress? Ever since he woke up, he had a whole pile of work dumped on him. Not only does he have to worry about the new problems propping up, but he also had to fix the old lingering ones caused by his wife massacring all his officials. The number of existing problems was enough to give him a headache. Where would he find the time to cultivate in peace?

"Haiz…"

Heinrich issued a long sigh.. He had an impulse to just wash his hand of these matters by banging his head and go back into a coma. He really wanted to ask his wife, "Why did you only wake me up now?"

Chapter 201 - Nothing To Teach

Ugh… Let me think."

Heinrich rubbed his sore temples, before attempting to sort out his thoughts. If he had time, any problem could be resolved. However, the main problem was that his enemies did not give them this time. He could only shelve aside the other matters and focus on the major problems in front of them.

Up until now, they had suffered sneak attacks on their railways, buildings and even a few nobles had been assassinated. The enemy's movements were unpredictable, and their goals could not be determined.

Heinrich couldn't comprehend what the two sects wanted. Was it resources they were after? Secret techniques? Or rather the entire kingdom?

Heinrich was a conservative ruler and believed that if he could figure out what these sects wanted, they could negotiate a solution and avoid bloodshed. Human lives were precious, and they shouldn't be wasted on infighting.

Elizabeth shook her head as she vaguely understood what Heinrich was thinking. Her husband was too soft and gentle. It was also the reason why she fell in love with him. He was neither overbearing nor haughty and was very approachable.

During peaceful times, he would have been a great ruler, loved by the people, but now was not those times. What they needed now was not a soft ruler, but a decisive and ruthless one.

Those fools have simply forgotten the type of horrors and devastation the beast could bring upon them in pursuit of their own self-interest.

She glanced upon a sheet of reports on Heinrich's study table and picked them up for her own perusal.

"Are these the information provided by the three merchant associations?" She asked.

Heinrich threw a passing glance at the papers in his wife's hand and nodded, "En, including our own kingdom, those papers include all the suspicious movements founded and a record of ongoing activities within Durham and Valaran. They…"

"I know. I can read."

Heinrich immediately mummed when he saw his wife frowned. He looked at his wife cautiously with a questioning look that implied, 'If you know then why you asked?'

Elizabeth rolled her eyes when her husband failed to understand the meaning of her question.

"I'm asking if they can be trusted."

In the report, the merchant associations listed many border activities, including amassing large amounts of troops and supplies of rations, weapons, and equipment. This was a clear indication of war preparation.

If a full-blown war truly broke out between the three kingdoms; Crawford, Durham and Valaran, all sides were bound to suffer devastating losses that may take years, even decades to recuperate. There were no winners in a large-scale war except war merchant, who couldn't wait to exploit them.

Not only do they not suffer losses during the war, but they also gain immense profit and fuel the war by selling war supplies.

This was why Elizabeth doubted the authenticity of the information provided by merchants. They didn't want a war, but merchants do.

Although Elizabeth didn't believe the merchant associations had enough courage to blatantly sell them false information, they could be withholding important information in order to guide the direction in their favor to start a war.

"Ah… So that was what you meant." Heinrich finally understood and began to explain, "Naturally they cannot be fully trusted, but right now, our own intelligence network is still in its infancy stage. If we want to understand the state of Durham and Valaran, we have no choice but to rely on the widespread network of the merchants."

Seeing Elizabeth's frown, Heinrich continued, "Relax. Successful merchants put great emphasis on their trust to continue their business. They would not sell us false information nor mislead us so long as we provide them with sufficient benefits."

Elizabeth continued to frown, but she nodded to show she understood it well enough. Although she didn't like relying on people who haven't made their allegiance clear, they had no other choice. She issued a long sigh, before she said, "So what good plans to do you have, my dear husband?"

Heinrich felt a chill and his brain began overclocking, but he still could not come up with a good solution to deal with both the border matters and their son. Since that's the case then…

"Ahem, since you believe our son is very capable, we have to continue believing that he will be able to make it back to the surface on his own. However, the border situation cannot wait. If the other kingdoms truly decide to wage a war, we must be ready for it and this cannot be done without a strong leader at the helm of the border defense..."

As Heinrich said this, he sneakily peeked at his wife. Elizabeth seemed to have understood his meaning as she nodded with a heavy feeling. The soldiers won't be able to defend themselves in the face of truly strong awakeners. However, it was a different story if a Transcendent had their backs.

"I will go guard our eastern borders. I will also be taking Aria and Lynne with me. They had just recently finished consolidating their cultivation. If battle breaks out, I believe it will provide them with valuable experience. I can also teach them some sword arts while they are there with me." Elizabeth said.

"Haiz… I don't really want you to go but it seems we can only do that. Thankfully we still have Uncle Don to protect the Capital, while you are gone to guard the eastern borders." Heinrich sighed and said guiltily. "Oh right, what has Uncle Don been up to? He should still be in the Capital, right?"

"Senior Don… Ever since he came back from the underground, he's been washing himself three times a day and indulging himself in high-end food and drinks in the Upper Districts."

"Is that so…?" Heinrich was surprised. He assumed the Grandmaster Don would be in his usual pill room testing out 'new recipes', but it seems something had changed in the old man.

Although, he heard about the details briefly, he presumed that only those who have undergone the same experience would understand the old man's pains. Being trapped in the underground must've left him with an unforgettable experience.

…

Meanwhile, Don was hiding within his own room. He was not indulging himself like Elizabeth had mentioned. That may have been the case two days ago, but not anymore. He was now hiding from someone.

Two days ago, he had bumped into a brat, who claimed himself to be the prince's alchemy disciple.

Normally, he would have ignored the nonsense. After all, he held a very grand status. All sorts of people tried to meet him every day when he is in the Upper District. However, the brat managed to catch his attention with 'the prince's alchemy disciple.' With a few inquiries, he was able to validate this statement and allowed the brat to meet him.

He was curious why the brat wanted to meet him, but as it turns out, the brat wanted to learn alchemy from him. He was confused by this. With the prince as his master, why would the brat want to learn alchemy from him?

The answer soon dawned upon him when the brat asked excitedly, "Grandmaster Don is the number one alchemist in the kingdom. The prince was taught by you, right? Can I also receive some guidance from the Grandmaster?"

In order to save face and not betray those expectant eyes, he had shamelessly admitted it. However, that was also the start of his dilemma. He had thought that even if the brat was Leon's alchemy disciple, the brat shouldn't be that advanced in his alchemy attainments.

There should be plenty of areas in alchemy he could guide the brat, right? But no, he was gravely mistaken.

After Leon transmitted his knowledge to Reginald, his alchemy knowledge became on par with the grandmaster. He only needs to practice and absorb all that knowledge to be a qualified Tier-3 Grandmaster Alchemist.

Don had made the instinctive decision to escape when he realized he had nothing to teach the brat. Why would he stay and embarrass himself? However, the brat was like the bubblegum that sticks to one's shoes, annoying and hard to get rid of.

The brat wouldn't leave him be and followed him all the way back to the palace. The palace guards were aware of Reginald's status and did not bar his path. After all, he was rescued by them and had been staying in one of the guest courtyards for some time.

As such, it had led to the current situation of him hiding from the brat.

"Grandmaster Don, please open up! I truly wish to learn alchemy from you!" Reginald shouted from outside.

"Go away! The grandmaster is not here!" Don shouted back from inside his room.

"…"

Reginald was momentarily speechless.

"Please, Grandmaster Don, I know you're in there! I sincerely wish to learn from you! Aren't you my master's master? That would make me your grand disciple! Why won't you spare me some guidance in the way of alchemy?" Reginald persisted stubbornly.

Don flushed with embarrassment when he heard this. The evil we bring upon ourselves were the hardest to bear. He shouldn't have claim credit for other people's attainment in alchemy. That boy, Leon was a monster and even the disciple he teaches was a little monster. They were both abnormal!

"Fuck off! I have nothing to teach you!"

Chapter 202 - A Different Kind Of Ant

The healing pill Leon pulled out from his Worldspace was just one of many tier-1 spirit pills he had in his inventory. There were also tier-2 and a few tier-3 spirit pills he had refined in his spare time when managing the herbal garden.

To an unknowledgeable person, the healing pill wouldn't elicit any reaction from them unless they were explicitly informed of its name and usage, however, it was a different case for the elder tree.

The tree spirit reacted strongly to the healing pill the moment it appeared by uttering a cry of excitement.

As a plant brimming with wood elements, nothing was more sensitive to the wood element and its properties than the plants themselves. It instinctively knew that the healing pill was beneficial to it, no matter how minor the effect was.

The tree spirit wanted to snatch the healing pill from Leon's hand right away, but it resisted the urge as it was afraid of upsetting Leon like a child waiting for permission before it could eat the candy offered to it.

Leon smiled and tossed the pill to the tree spirit.

The tree spirit reacted immediately. It caught the pill by impaling it with the tips of its tree root. Once caught, the pill was absorbed and disappeared within the blink of an eye.

Leon's action naturally caught the other's attention as they saw the tree spirit appearing from inside the elder tree in its spirit form.

It happened within an instance, but everyone saw how the pill shriveled before it disappeared into the tree roots. They felt a certain chill when they thought would happen to them if these tree roots impaled them instead.

They felt weak in the knees at the thought of having all their body fluids sucked dry and transforming into a shriveled bag of bones in an instant. This tree was very dangerous!

While the palace guards stared on in horror, the child-like tree spirit screamed with delight.

"What did you give it? Why does it seem so euphoric?" Lilith asked curiously. The pill didn't seem like anything special.

"Just a normal tier-1 spirit pill for healing. It is feeling relieved."

Leon wore a nonchalant expression as he continues to study the tree spirit. At the same time, Lilith's expression turned weird when she heard this.

"A healing pill used by humans also works on trees?" Glancing back at the ongoing battlefield, the roots didn't seem to have gotten any better and were even getting worse from the continued accumulation of damage caused by the dauntless sea of ants. "I don't think it did anything."

"Although the efficacy of the healing pill is negligible to an enormity like the elder tree and doesn't help it recover much from the ant's harassment, the efficacy still provides some minor soothing effect to elevate its pain," Leon explained.

Perhaps, because Lilith didn't have much knowledge on plants or she never interacted with sentient spirit plants before, she continues to wear a dumbfounded look, while thinking, 'Plants can feel pain?'

Seeing she wasn't understanding, Leon patiently continued to explain, "Naturally, the elder tree like any other plants, also feel pain when they get hurt. The only difference is they don't have a nervous system like us and feels pain quite differently. Their tolerance of pain is also much greater due to this."

Lilith widened her eyes as if she had been enlightened, but at the same time, she wished she didn't. She paled at the thought of people uprooting spirit plants and herbs while unaware that its spirits were screaming in agony and begging for mercy. She felt horrible once she thought that while looking at the adorable tree spirit.

They say women are weak against cute things… Leon smiled and shook his head.

"Relax, they can only feel it after gaining sentience. Before that, they are just semi-sentient and won't be able to feel it..." As if reading her thought, Leon said.

"Or they do feel it, but they are unable to react to it," Leon added evilly to tease.

Lilith's expression turned ugly at once. She did not feel better after hearing that. "Is that true!?"

"Hahaha…"

Leon did not explain himself and just laughed it off.

After the tree spirit finished savoring the last trace of the pill, it began eyeing Leon with a pleading expression, begging him to give it more pills.

Leon pointed at his bound men and said in the ancient language, "Free them."

Under the group's startled expression, the tree spirit glanced at the two men then back at Leon. It shook its head and raised up two fingers with a firm expression.

"Darn brat, even know how to negotiate, huh? Two more healing pills to free my own men… fair enough."

Leon fished out another 2 tier-1 healing pills and was prepared to toss it to the tree spirit, but the tree spirit wore a sulky expression and shook its two fingers. "Rao!"

"Not 2? You want 20?" Leon was taken aback, before asking doubtfully.

The tree spirit nodded.

"Oi, oi, your appetite is not small. Greedy little thing… Ahem, not little." Leon corrected himself. If the elder tree was small, then nothing was big. "Fine, 20 it is. You have a deal."

Whether it was 2 or 20, Leon didn't care much. He could refine as many tier-1 healing pills as he wants. His tier-1 spirit herbs were growing in abundance.

Seeing how readily Leon accepted, the tree spirit became skeptical whether its asking price was too low. It instantly changed its mind and made a firm decision.

"Rao!"

Leon froze when the tree spirit suddenly cried out before his eyes gradually widened at the five fingers raised by the tree spirit.

Mother fucker… Are you kidding me? They came to an agreement, but it went back on its word and increased the price. Does it think he was a pushover just because he readily agrees to its previous price? How was this a negotiation? This was daylight robbery!

"Forget it, you can keep my two men."

Leon waved his hand and stowed away the pills.

The tree spirit panicked and immediately released Damir and Lutheran from their bindings without the payment. It regretted being too greedy, causing Leon to call the deal off. It began looking at him with an imploring expression.

"Hmph," Leon grunted to show his annoyance.

Seeing it had no effect, it turned its eyes to Lilith, hoping she pleaded on its behalf. It even brought over one of its damaged roots to show her and appeared very pitiful. "Raoo…"

Being weak to cute things, Lilith's heart instantly melted. She turned to Leon asked, "Um, can you help it, Leon? Look how pitiful it is..."

Looking at this scene, Leon thought it quite comical. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders with a smile, before tossing out the full fifty pills to the tree spirit.

He was only faking a hard stance to teach the tree spirit how precious the spirit pills were. After all, if it cost so much tier-1 spirit herbs just to free his two men, how would he be able to ask it to share some wood element with him later even if he has tier-3 spirit herbs?

Leon began to question if the tree spirit met anyone before them. It showed the naïve mentality of a 5yr old, but it was surprisingly crafty.

The 50 pills were quickly gobbled by the roots of the elder tree and contrary to the first time, the damaged root looked like it had been watered by the spring of life as it recovered at a visible rate.

The pills only manage to recover a single tree root, but it was brimming with vitality as it rejoined the battlefield, slightly changing the tide in the elder tree's favor.

"Look! The ants are retreating! They must have given up!"

A palace guard suddenly pointed out. The others glanced over and also noticed this sudden change. The ants seemed to have received some sort of command that resulted in the battle ending prematurely.

Leon frowned as he thought it wasn't as simple as the palace guard had said. He asked the tree spirit, "Do the ants usually end their attack this quickly?"

The tree spirit shook its head. It got harassed all the time, but none ended this quickly.

Leon frown deepened. He felt that he was at the center of this sudden change. By supplying the tree spirit with recovery pills, he had broken the balance of the battle. However, the ants reacted too quickly and decisively to cut their losses…

"What is that thing!?"

Another palace guard exclaimed horrifically and interrupted Leon's thoughts.

In the distant edges of the open space not far from the crevice they enter from, an unknown creature was seen standing on a nearby cliff proudly and overseeing the ant's retreat.

Everyone felt a piercing chill when the creature laid its cold eyes upon. They instinctively knew that this creature wasn't something the current them had any hopes of defeating. It was possibly at the Transcendent level.

With Leon's superior vision, he could make out the creature's appearance in great detail. The creature greatly resembled the ants, but at the same time, it was different.

Unlike the low-class soldier ants that crawled on all six legs, this one stood on two and only had another two limbs as its arm. A mutated variant? Or an evolved specie? It was humanoid, but it retained its distinctive black shell exoskeleton.

A powerful and dangerous aura was emitted by it, while its cold eyes flickered with great intelligence as it had its gaze locked onto Leon.

To Leon's knowledge, an ant like this had never existed before. It did not seem like the ant queen, but its standing didn't seem inferior to one either as all the ants seemed to obey it. Behind the humanoid ant, there were also another two ants of similar similar figures but less powerful.

Leon's expression turned grim when he realized that they had been marked and they could possibly lose their lives if they leave the protection of the elder tree.