Chapter 150 – Motivator

At the same time that Dream had arrived above the kingdom, his cargo ships also flew down and met him in the air. 

There were over 10 of these cargo ships, and all of them were packed to the brim with bracelets and the robots who would manage their distribution. 

These 10 ships hovered next to Dream's ship, making his appearance look like an armada had arrived. This obviously alerted the hundreds of thousands below him, and everyone looked to the sky at these large gray planes.

"Now that I think about it, nobody was told that we would be arriving. Are we even sure this is the right kingdom?"

Dream looked at the Cardinals as he asked. He had been given a rough location of the kingdom by the Pope, but that was it. They weren't the ones who had GPS satellites.

"This should be it. Allow me to go and ask."

Saying so, one of the Cardinals got up. Dream opened up the hatch and let him fly down to the kingdom.

20 minutes later...

"This is not the right kingdom. The king here said that the one established by the church is to the northwest."

"Oh. Alright. Then let's go."

Saying so, Dream's armada turned and flew off into the distance. They headed to the next kingdom as shown by the satellite that was to the northwest.

"Yes, this is it. There's the Basilica."

The Cardinal confirmed as they hovered over the other kingdom. Dream nodded.

"Alright then. You six can hop out and notify the church administrators. I'll take care of these ships."

"Of course."

The Cardinals flew out, going to greet whoever the leader was. When they left, Dream slowly set his ships down in a large plaza. Once they were set, he stepped out with Idona.

"Oh! Animals!"

Dream smiled excitedly as he walked out of the ships. There were thousands of animals surrounding and looking at them. All of them were of many different species and varied wildly in shape, size, and color. He had never seen so many exotic animals in one place before.

"Let's see. Bears, tons of birds, monkeys, some wolves, deer, mice. Damn, this is a zoo. And... Oh! Kitty!"

After scanning around a bit, Dream finally laid his eyes on two cats, one large, one small. It looked like a parent and child, and noticing his gaze, the large one grabbed its child by the nape and put it behind them, as if guarding it.

"Dream, you should probably watch yourself a bit. Although none of them can harm you, it wouldn't be good to scare them either."

"Scare them?"

Dream responded curiously as Idona talked to him through telepathy.

"Many animals don't have the best opinions about humans. Some think that your species is nothing but a bunch of brutish, dominating savages who do nothing but destroy nature."

"Well, considering the taming and landscaping they do over on our continent, I'm not surprised."

"Just be aware of that as you meet kings and such. Oh, that reminds me. I don't need this anymore."

Suddenly remembering something, Idona activated her mana. The next moment, her face and ears changed to that of her normal, elven looks. Her eyes turned black, those tattoos appeared around her eyes, and her ears went pointed. She had removed her disguise.

As they saw this, the animals around them suddenly lit up. The human they weren't fond of, but an elf? That was a different story.

"Canjkavra!"

"Jornaturv havrt henbrat."

"Rentaq opertuni."

"Kekek. Noventres fetrrani."

"The hell?"

Dream tilted his head as he picked up on the telepathic messages of the animals around them. Their lack of speaking threw him off first, and then he remembered that he only knew the human language, not any others.

But despite not knowing the language, he was able to slightly understand the meaning behind their words. How, he wasn't sure. But it let him know that the animals around him really enjoyed Idona's presence.

"Idona? I no comprendo."

"Oh, you don't know the language huh. Uhh, I don't have a book with me. Damn. I should've grabbed one before we left."

"It's alright. The church here should have... Wait."

Dream stopped talking midway, earning a head-tilt from Idona. He just stood there with his eyes closed, listening to the animals around him.

<Congragulations! You have earned a skill through your own effort!>

<The Passive Skill: [Translate] has been acquired.>

<[Translate] is level 22>

"Oohhh... I see."

As Dream listened and acquired the skill, he was able to understand the animals around him much more clearly. The meaning behind each word everyone spoke became apparent, and he could quickly begin to understand the conversations. 

<[Translate] has leveled up!>

<[Translate] has leveled up!>

<[Translate] has leveled up!>

<[Arcana] has leveled up!>

<[Arcana] has leveled up!>

...

Dream smiled widely as he processed the new skill Translate that rose to level 27. But he smiled even wider when Arcana leveled to level 5

"Dream? Something happen?"

Idona looked at him weirdly as he grinned with his eyes closed.

"Oh, nothing. Just having fun with my skills. Where's those Cardinals?"

Looking around, Dream suddenly released his influence to its fullest extent. His senses quickly encompassed the plaza as well as the basilica in front of them, stopping only at nearly 170 meters.

"Dream?"

Sensing his aura, the Cardinals, who had been talking to someone, perked up. Dream spoke to them through his aura.

"I've got bracelets out here. The Pope said that he wants to make contact. We got the right people?"

"Yes. You can bring some bracelets here. We'll give them to the Pope and his Cardinals."

"Okay."

Nodding, Dream waved Idona over and began walking into the basilica. 

Since he had scanned the whole place with his aura, Dream had no problem navigating and quickly arrived at the conference room the Cardinals were in. And at the head of the table was another Pope. Except this Pope was a lion.

"Cardinals, here are the bracelets."

Saying so, Dream put down two cylinders on the table and tapped them. They instantly split into 10 pieces each. One of the Cardinals nodded and took one.

"Pope, this bracelet will allow you to contact the human Pope."

"Mm."

*Poof*

The lion suddenly transformed, turning into a humanoid. This humanoid had lion ears, a tail, and his lion claws. Dream thought it made him look much less ferocious.

The Pope took the bracelet from the Cardinals and put it on his wrist. And since he wanted this to move quickly, Dream decided to take control of the bracelet and set everything up, automatically sending it through to the human Pope. He also added himself to the conversation.

"Hmm? What's this?"

"Pope, this is Dream. I have with me the... other Pope."

"Ah! Fantastic! Can I speak with him?"

"He's currently in this call. Pope."

Dream turned to the lion, who looked at him and then his bracelet.

"...Hello?"

A deep, rough voice came out. It almost sounded like he was angry.

"Hello! This is the Pope of Humanity. You are the Pope of Animalia?"

"Yes."

"Great! We have many things to discuss. But before that, Dream, have you distributed bracelets?"

"Not yet. They're waiting to be handed out."

"Right. Then Pope, let's talk about that first..."

...........

For the next few hours, The two Popes went over the bracelets, their distribution, and future war plans. It was basically everything they went over with the human Empires.

And once he understood everything, this lion Pope went to work on handing out the bracelets. He first equipped all his 47 Cardinals, then equipped his military officers. Then he went down the chain of command, equipping everyone.

Though this wasn't able to be done in a single day. Their forces were spread across the continent, so the Pope only equipped those who were present. But this was enough for now.

Once this was done, it had already become night. Dream had underestimated the lack of technological understanding these animals had. Though they weren't stupid, this kind of stuff was new to them. So it took hours to get everyone who was important properly adjusted to this new equipment. 

But once they had, they were able to properly start a meeting where the Pope reiterated their plans. And contrary to what Dream expected, they adopted the new plans with relative ease. In fact, they were eager to go out and fight the demons. Although they already had forces in conflict, it was only a small amount and they had yet to go all out. But this meant they would finally get to.

This attitude greatly surprised Dream. But after thinking about it, he realized that it wasn't out of the ordinary. These were animals, not humans. By nature, they were much more aggressive and willing to fight physical battles than verbal ones. And after hearing that Dream would make it fast and easy for them to dig their claws into enemies, they had no objections.

Another factor though was the fact that this was the church. They were much more united in their thinking, and they understood that these demons would be a huge threat if left unattended. Plus, according to their religion, they weren't discriminatory to humans like Dream, at least not as much as other animals would be.

All in all, the Pope was able to settle his matters quickly and begin officially running operations with Dream's new technology. Although he had to continue to distribute those bracelets to his scattered forces, Dream's cargo ships, bots, and 20 transport ships that he had called over would make the process quick and easy. 

So on the second day after Dream had arrived, business had finally been settled and he was allowed to leave. Any other business that needed his input could be given over the bracelets.

"We can go to the Tree?"

Idona smiled and looked at him expectantly. Currently they were both in a room inside the basilica. Dream had come to her after he finished a meeting.

"Yup. Wanna go?"

"Of course! When?"

"Now."

"Now?"

"Uh-huh. Why, got anything to settle?"

"N-no. I'm good. Let's go!"

"Alright."

Smiling, both of them left the basilica and boarded a ship. Without even saying bye, the ship rose and took off. 

...........

It didn't take hardly any time to reach the vicinity of the Tree, which was near the center of the continent. 

But following Idona's instructions, Dream didn't fly straight in. Instead, they would walk in from the outside. Why, he didn't know. But Idona was the elf here, and it wasn't like he didn't have time.

So Dream set them down into the massive forest below about 30 miles away from the Tree.

This 'Tree' was as one would expect. It was some kind of World Tree or Yggdrasil. The elves just called it their Home Tree though. And as characteristic of a 'World Tree', it was utterly massive. 

The tree from the ground up was nearly 3,000 meters tall. It stuck out from the also massive forest around it like a nail on wood. The forest around it was also a huge jungle, and although those trees didn't approach nearly the same height as the home tree, they were still a colossal 700 meters at their highest. The rest gradually scaled down as they moved further from the tree. Though other than it's height and ridiculous scaling, there was nothing else out of the ordinary with this home tree. It looked like an incredibly average tree, just really big.

But according to Idona, this tree was anything but average. Not just because of its size, but because of its miraculous power. 

Idona told Dream that other than class 4's, nobody was capable of damaging the tree. And even for class 4's it was difficult to even cut into it. Not only that, but the tree increased the mana density around it immensely. And then, to top it all off, its roots tunneled extremely deep into the ground. This was where the darks elves lived, and they were apparently able to procure their many valuable minerals from the mana those roots gave off.

Lastly, although she wasn't entirely sure, it is said that the tree possesses a life of its own. Given the immense power, Dream wouldn't be surprised. Though he wondered what it could possibly do given the fact that it was still a tree. 

Either way, with thoughts of curiosity and intrigue, Dream exited the ship with Idona. They were greeted with a rather dense jungle, and Dream wondered if he should change into something more appropriate for the environment. Semi-formal clothes weren't exactly fitting for the wild.

But given the fact that he had no worry for heat nor dirt, he just shrugged his shoulders and took off the blazer he was wearing. After rolling up the sleeves of his nice black button-down and adjusting his slacks, he walked out into the greenery.

"Have you ever considered changing your clothes into something more mobile? Like robes? I only ever see you wearing that."

Idona spoke as they began walking through the forest. Dream shrugged.

"Not really. My movement isn't restricted in these and it's comfortable. Plus, this attire is confidence-boosting. Back on my world, it was a formal kind of wear. I never got to wear it much. But now, I can wear it all I want. Why? Does it not look good?"

"Not at all. Although it's different, you look very nice. I just thought it looked... tight."

As she said that, Idona looked at Dream's bulging muscles that seemed to be wrapped by the shirt, like a present. Although she saw plenty of his shirtless self at the beach and knew his muscles weren't hulking like Ciroc's, his toned muscles seemed strong yet elegant. Ciroc's just looked meathead-ish.

Plus, although the shirt covered him up, it was tight enough to tease the glorious stature underneath. Whenever she looked at him, she couldn't help but be...imaginative.

Knowing what she was talking about, Dream smiled.

"The shirt's a bit elastic. It moves with my body."

"...Right. Anyway! When we get there, just don't piss anyone off. Elves can be a bit prideful."

"Why's that?"

"They think they're a superior species due to our innate gifts. We have the tree, better bodies, look better, and are naturally stronger than other species at the same level. Plus, our attunement with nature allows us to attain great abilities."

"I can see why that would make one prideful."

"Indeed. It's also why I was looked down on. Many think that mating outside of your species is lowering yourself and tainting the bloodline. So for my elven father to mate with a human woman was taboo."

"Ouch. Well, I can't say that I'll willingly take shit from arrogant assholes, but I can try not to make you look bad."

"I'm not worried about looking bad. Believe me when I say I don't need their approval. It's you I'm worried about."

"What, think they're gonna attack me?"

"That's very possible, but gaining their support will also be made difficult if everyone hates you."

"*sigh* Right. Forgot I have to play a bit of politics. I guess I can try and play it nice. But I won't let them walk all over me. By the way, how much do the elves value the Tree?"

"The Tree? Well, if I had to compare it, the Tree is like a religion. There's a reason the elves haven't spread, and it's because nobody wants to part from the Tree. If the Tree fell, the entire Elven race would be thrown into chaos. Why?"

"I just want to make sure the elves have something more to lose than just their lives. Something of more significant value than the deaths of many. And good thing the Tree fits that description."

"...W-why is that good?"

Idona looked at him cautiously.

"Relax. I'm not planning to burn their precious Tree down. But the same couldn't be said for the demons. They need to know that it's not only them who will be threatened by the advance of the demons. Their Tree could see its downfall should they sit still. That's going to be their motivator."

Sp4de

You know what's weird? Whenever I read, I seem to temporarily lose my creative ability. But I get so enraptured by books that I have a hard time stopping. Right now I'm reading a Chinese novel, a xianxia called 'A Will Eternal'. At first I started reading it because it had decent ratings and I had finished my last book, but now I'm totally into it. Two weeks passed and I'm already 500 chapters through.

The novel is written beautifully, and I hate how inferior my writing is. Especially when it comes to the character development. Each character has their thing, their quirk, and it's so dynamic and lively. I chuckle and laugh my ass off all the time reading that book. And although it seems easy to just write the things in that book, when trying to create a universe of your own it becomes incredibly tough. A lot of people fail to realize how difficult it is to write characters like that. 

I don't know. I'm not gonna stop writing, but I often look back to the beginnings of my story and can't help but think about how much better it could've been. Sometimes I feel like rewriting the entire first 30-50 chapters. But then that would require me to go through ALL of the chapters and revise them, and that would take forever to do. I've even thought about starting another story, but I hold myself back, telling myself that I need to finish this one first. 

Nothings an excuse and I realize my inadequacies. Unfortunately, my writing will only evolve as I read more and write more. It's not really something that you can consciously affect. You just kind of tend to mirror the styles you've read as you put down words, and although I've read dozens of novels, it was only after I started writing that my style began developing. 

Oh well. Learning as I go. That's also why I've been gone the past few days. My immersion into the book on top of new years and the fact that winter semester is starting is throwing my writing schedule off. Plus I need to start working out again cause colleges are gonna be opening back up soon for sports. Yay me...

Anyway, sorry for disappearing and my rant. Writing is difficult, but I guess it's fun. It's one of the few outlets I have. 

Thanks all!

Sincerely,

-Your friendly neighborhood Reade