209 Arden's Puzzle

Back at the Inner Palace, a round of knocking was heard outside the king's study room.

Knock! Knock!

Heinrich placed down his cup of tea and said, \"Come in.\"

\"I heard you wanted to see me.\" The person strolled inside and casually pulled a seat over to seat himself opposite the king blatantly without care of offending the party.

Heinrich did not seem to mind and nodded. \"En, I wanted to reform the education system to match the current times. Learning is the foundation of a school, but cultivation shouldn't be neglected. The details can be found in this paper. Have a read and let me hear your thoughts.\"

Having said that, Heinrich pushed a sheet of paper towards the person. Wilfred gave the paper a quick read, before placing it back down and sighed. His sigh seems to contain the vicissitudes of life. \"After all this time, are you finally planning to open up your coffer and share your rich collections of techniques with the world?\"

\"Not the world. Just my kingdom.\" Heinrich corrected coolly.

\"Fair enough. However, I shouldn't be the person you should find for this sort of stuff, right?\" Wilfred asked slyly. In short, Heinrich wanted to implement a compulsory subject to teach students how to cultivate and train their bodies. The compulsory subject would be put under physical education and wasn't reserved for just the Crawford Royal University, but all schools within the kingdom.

\"My minister of education is dead, so it makes sense to find someone else authoritative in the education department, right? How about it? Want to be my new minister of education?\" Heinrich said wryly.

\"Haiz, you won't even let an old man off. I'm already old with not much time left. Just let me relax in peace, will you? I can recommend someone in my stead. However, even if the plans on this sheet of paper is carried out, there wouldn't be any students to teach within the next year or two.\" Wilfred nonchalantly shrugged.

\"What do you mean by that?\" Heinrich raised an eyebrow in question.

\"You don't know? All the students have long been conscripted into military service and sent to the training camp. Only a few managed to stay due to their good background, but it's not like they still attend school with so little people. Schools had long been suspended until further notice.\"

\"I really have heard about this.\" Heinrich gawked awkwardly. It was probably one of the minor problems he had skipped over. However, the ongoing reports of the berserk beast sightings he had been receiving from the western frontier, does cause a need for concern. \"You probably haven't seen such a shut-in king like me.\"

\"I haven't seen such a useless king like you!\" Wilfred admonished.

…

\"You seem bothered by something, child.\" Elder Evergreen asked casually.

\"It's nothing.\"

Leon waved it off, but he was affected by the spy's previous words. Although he would like to dismiss it as the last-ditch effort of the spy sowing discord in the group, he couldn't ignore it once the seed of doubt was planted. As a person who had once died from betrayal once, he was wary of the possibility. There could be more than one spy.

\"Ahem, make yourself at home. We don't usually receive guests from outside the village.\" Elder Evergreen said as they enter his home, which was just a hollow section of the elder tree.

The elder tree is able to manipulate its body at will to shape the treant's homes and accommodate them. This wasn't something that should be possible, at least according to Leon's knowledge from the Divine Realm. It was only possible here in Gaia.

Leon nodded as he stared blankly at the interior of the elder's home. After settling the accommodation for Lilith and his men, he had followed the elder back to his home to continue their talk.

The village exterior was filled with exquisite wonders and beauty, but the inside of their homes was as plain as a blank canvas. It lacked the most basic essential tools and appliances for a home. Apart from a few stone seats, tables, and a bed, there was nothing else. Needless to say, Leon's expectation had taken a steep plunge at the sight.

Leon casually took a seat at one of the stone chairs, while the elder brought over a handful of plucked crimson leaves. \"Ahem, we don't have much to offer our guest as snack except our most staple food, Crimsonleaf.\" Elder Evergreen explained.

Leon did not reach for the crimson leaves, but queried, \"How exactly did you become like this that is neither human nor tree?\"

\"You're looking exactly at the source.\" Elder Evergreen said bluntly, causing Leon's expression to change abruptly. However, he comforted, \"Don't worry. The transformation isn't immediate but a gradual process that happens over a long period of ingestion. Eating it once or twice shouldn't affect you.\"

'Shouldn't…'

Leon noticed with peculiar emphasis and twitched his lips. He rather not take any chances. Instead, he began pulling out a few tools from his Worldspace under the guise of his bag and began brewing his own herbal tea, before pouring a cup for each of them.

\"Please.\" Leon gestured.

\"Look's like you came prepared. Very good.\" Elder Evergreen smiled unsuspectingly without being embarrassed by the fact that the guest had to provide for the host. Being well over 2000 years old, if there was one thing that grew with his old age, it was a thick face.

\"This is good tea.\" Elder Evergreen complimented as his eyes sparkled at the taste. Living underground all his life, he had never had something like this. The herbal tea was hot, but it was soothing and relaxing once it entered his body, making him feel good. \"Alright, child. You seem like you have lots of questions. Ask away. I will answer them all the best I can.\"

Leon smiled at the fact that a simple tea had won over the elder's favor.

The two began chatting away for a full 6 hours. All the doubts that Leon had were answered one after the other. The reason the treants couldn't return to the surface had to do with the treant's constitution.

While the tree-like body grants high defenses and a long lifespan, it also took away their freedom. They were in a sense, a part of the elder tree. The elder tree provides them with all the nutrients needed to survive, thus they were no longer required to eat crimson leaves other than as a hobby.

Because of that, they are also unable to leave the elder tree. Once they leave the elder tree, their bodies would start wilting and dies.

Leon also learned that the treants had been eating the leaves just fine for thousands of years. The change only occurred in the last 500-odd years. Everyone in the village was over 500 years old, including the 'children'.

'Becoming a treant doesn't increase their lifespan but stretch it from incredibly slow aging. It seems that underground was also affected by the Cataclysm 512 years ago.' Leon concluded.

At least from what he had learned, the insects in the underground only grew bigger in the last 500-odd years. The treants only retreated to the elder tree and became what they are today after that event happened.

But what changed exactly? What exactly was the Cataclysm?

The information Leon had on history was very vague. It was said that one day, the color of the skies changed, and the world was swept in a violent storm. After that, the animals all started to mutate. Although it never stated how quickly the mutation was, Leon believed it was a gradual process.

If the process had been immediate, humanity would have never had the time to rally together and retreat to the Human Domain of today. They would have been wiped out there and then.

As for the Cataclysm, Leon had a faint guess it was just another solar storm like the one that ended the Nova Empire. But how could a solar storm cause such drastic changes to both life and the environment? Something else must be missing from the equation.

The deeper Leon pondered, the crazier his thoughts became. He recalled Arden's diary mentioned that in order to revitalize the dying planet in the past, artificial spirit energy conversion plants were built all over the world, harnessing the power of the sun to produce limitless artificial spirit energy.

What if some of these conversion plants survived the disaster that befell the Nova Empire?

No matter how hard he pondered, everything was just mere speculation. Leon shook his head and asked, \"You mentioned that one of your ancestors built a study room that contained all his knowledge and his life's research from the old world?\"

\"That is correct.\" Elder Evergreen nodded. While Leon had asked him many questions, he had also gotten a clearer picture of the situation on the surface. A rare emotion to see the lands above at least once flickered in his eyes.

\"Can I see it?\" Leon hurriedly requested with a glint of excitement, unaware of the elder's emotion.

Elder Evergreen ruminated for a bit, before giving Leon an inexplicable smile and said, \"Sure, I can bring you there, but whether you can get inside is up to you.\"

Leon was confused by the elder's words, but he still followed the elder.

As Elder Evergreen led the way, he didn't forget to grab the teapot and cups with him under Leon's dumbfounded look. Flashing Leon a nonchalant look, he asks, \"Is there a problem?\"

Leon glanced at the teapot then back at the elder, before he smiled.

\"No problem.\"

The two shortly made a steep turn around the back of the village where a lone building stood proudly in the open. The building was constructed simply in a box-like shape, but the building itself was far from being just simple.

It was made from the same materials as the remnant building ruins Leon had seen and it was also filled with runes. The front entrance was nowhere to be seen.

Upon further investigation, the entrance was located on the top of the building and was sealed tightly. Apparently, the study room was inside, but it seemed impossible to get in at first glance.

Leon also noticed the entrance was designed strangely. However, he soon realized it wasn't that the entrance was designed on top, but the building had been flipped on its sides!

\"…\"

\"I heard from my elders in the past that if you want to get inside, you have to solve the puzzle set by the great ancestor first.\" Elder Evergreen explained.

Leon nodded and continued to study the entrance. Next to the entrance, he found an ancient stone tablet embedded into the building. On it were some texts.

'Beyond these doors, lies the legacy of I, Arden Gilardi. Solve the puzzle and thee shall inherit everything!'