361 A Mission Without Rewards Is Still Worth A Try

Mr. Bear acted more human-like than the other great druid, Grandfather Tree. Although they were both Guardians of the same patch of woods and adept at druid magic, they behaved differently. One started out acting really human-like, but eventually lost that personality as time went by; as for the other, it had the appearance of an animal, but it began to act more human-like as time went by. Such polar opposites were, perhaps, worthy of reflection. 

However, despite being a mysterious and dangerous being, Mr. Bear was not as vulgar as its counterpart on earth, Ted, even though they could pass off as twins. When it saw Baiyi's complexion sour, the bear kindly explained, "This is just the Force of Nature."

"Do you mean this is a different way of using a Territory?" Baiyi asked curiously. The only explanation he had for something like this, which Mr. Bear had done without using external power, was… Territories. Only a Territory could bypass limitation that powers like magic could not. 

When Mr. Bear head Baiyi's question, its round eyes widened momentarily, then it narrowed, studying Baiyi more carefully. It was, no doubt, surprised because the Soul Armature in front of it had not emitted any energy signatures mighty enough to suggest that he could use Territories. Hence, Baiyi's question had come as a shock.

The bear went quiet and began to ponder on the best answer to give. "If we follow the theoretical system used by you humans, then yes; your guess would be largely correct."

"But…" Baiyi faltered as he studied the bear again. He had no doubt that Mr. Bear was powerful; it was just that he could not feel any energy pulses from it. A random person could mistake Mr. Bear for a nondescript teddy bear if it did not use its abilities. That begs the question: how did it reach the level of being able to use Territories?

"Child, it's best not to forcefully view my powers through the lens and confines of your human power scale. I have already told you that this is merely the Force of Nature, and it is very different from the powers that you humans have grown accustomed to," Mr. Bear explained patiently.

After that, it raised its round paws, and the nuts took to the air once again, steered by an unseen force. "If the trees want to survive, they must learn to spread their seeds," Mr. Bear said, causing the nuts to zoom around in midair. "These seeds fall onto the earth, sprout, and grow into other trees. While I, in a bid to sate my hunger, harvest their nuts and fruits.

"This is what happens naturally; this is what nature is. Another example I can use is our current situation. A friend who I thought I had lost has returned, so I share my nuts with everyone. This is also a very natural thing to do," Mr. Bear said as it placed the nuts back into Baiyi's hand. "This is the Order of Nature, and it is this very same power of nature that I'm using."

Baiyi was completely perplexed. 'The knowledge which druids possess is too contrived and complicated!' Baiyi had always believed that he had a high innate talent for learning quickly, but metaphysics concepts like these left him completely dumbfounded; he did not even know what angle to begin looking at the concept from. He was still at a loss for what to make of the Gnosis which the Eight Walker had so generously gifted him.

However, after meeting the two great druids, he seemed to have gotten an idea on how to approach the complex concept. Baiyi stood still, struggling to piece together his thoughts, and after a few moments, he asked, "If Territories are changes imposed on the Natural Laws, then the way you used it… Is it a special method of utilizing Territories? From here, it looked like you had bent the Laws to your will, but it also looked like you did not. I mean, if you have been freely bending the Laws all this time, then should you not already be…"

At this point, Baiyi was just thinking out loud. A string of pure mana flowed out from his palm and encased the nuts, causing them to soar into the air. As the nuts individually spun on their axis, Baiyi studied them intently; it was as though they were the fruits of knowledge.

Mr. Bear remained silent, giving him some time to sort out his thoughts. When Baiyi finally retracted his mana, letting the nuts plop right down to the ground, Mr. Bear smiled. "You were thinking that if your hypothesis is right, then I should have already been rendered non-existent, right? Tell me, what's a Law?"

"The foundation behind the creation of all matter, which also dictates the evolution and behavior of all matter. Not all of them present today are natural because a few formed by nature have been rewritten by those who have 'touched' the Laws… But, whenever we ourselves touch them..." Baiyi answered, recalling the information he had obtained from the Law Fragment in Gouve.

"If the Laws are the foundation behind matter creation, then you and I are also part of the Laws. We are them, yet we are not like them. We are made of Laws, while simultaneously, the Laws are composed of us," Mr. Bear said, then it placed its round paw on Baiyi's nuts, which he had let fall to the ground, and patted them lightly. Suddenly, the nuts sank into the earth, and a single sapling sprouted out from the same patch of ground the nuts had disappeared into.

"Do you think I changed it?" Mr. Bear said, and a faint smile graced its lips.

Baiyi nodded in an unsure manner; however, he believed he had gotten a little inspiration this time. Then, he asked, "So what you mean is, if the change is not too drastic..."

However, he stopped himself there. There was just no way everything could be that simple.

Mr. Bear did not say anything, but there was a very human-like grin on its face. "The remaining questions have already been answered; answers that you now hold."

"The Gnosis of Nature?" Baiyi hurriedly asked.

Mr. Bear nodded. "You already have the answer to that question. The only thing you need to do now is to figure out the next step by yourself. Mr. Tree has already revealed it to you. You can start from there."

When Baiyi heard that, his heart skipped a beat. He did not recall the other great druid making any sort of revelation to him. That blessing — which came in an egregious choice of color — was just visual effects with no substantive effect. However, what if the blessing was not the revelation? What if the revelation was the problem that Grandfather Tree had told him about?

Baiyi stood still, lost in his thoughts. Mr. Bear's display of power had captivated his attention completely, and this was not because he thought that it could be used to attack. Nevertheless, this encounter was probably the key he needed to further his understanding of the Laws, and from what he had gathered so far, the answers he sought lay in the cryptic concept that was the Gnosis of Nature.

If Mr. Bear had not been deceiving him, then by following the great druid's thought process, not only would he be able to put an end to the unrest in the Eternal Forest Ocean, but he would also finally be able to comprehend the Gnosis. Although Baiyi was not sure if the two were connected, he now believed that Grandfather Tree's request was more important than he had originally thought, despite its lack of rewards.

When he turned to ask Mr. Bear of its opinion regarding Eternal Tree Ocean's crisis, he noticed that it was done with the conversation and had begun acting like a nosy uncle, who was all-too curious about the life of a newlywed. It kept asking questions like "How is life after marriage? Do you two have enough sexy time with each other? Do you two have kids? Who cooks and who controls the money? What do you two actually do to earn money?"

The Fairy Walker answered most of the questions with half-truths, but she spoke more about the life she had after departing the village in the past. Mr. Bear did not seem to mind the veracity of her answers. The bear kept nodding vigorously and stuffing her hands with more nuts from its stash inside its cave.

"Dig in, and don't worry," Mr. Bear insisted kindly. "You used to steal so many of them from me when you were small!"

When Baiyi saw this, he decided not to ask any more questions. Instead, he sniggered in his mind. 'How did you expect her to eat them?'

He figured that if he asked the bear for its opinion, it would surely ask him to help out; hence, Baiyi decided to let it be. He would cross that bridge when he got to it.

The three chatted for a little while longer before the Fairy Walker dragged Baiyi out of there, using the excuse that they had to visit the Guardian Horse couple. Even after they had left, the Fairy Walker was still holding a handful of nuts. Although she could not eat them, she did not have the heart to reject Mr. Bear's kind gesture, so she took the nuts and gave them to the students.

As Baiyi and the Fairy Walker trod down the woodland trail, headed for the Guardian Horse couple's abode, Baiyi felt a stir in the Void.

It was the Eighth Walker, who now wanted to talk to Baiyi.

The Fifth Walker finally remembered that he did, in fact, ask the Eight Walker a couple of questions, but he never expected the Eighth Walker to take such a long time to read them. Were the questions really that hard to begin with?

Contrary to his expectations, the Eighth Walker did not answer any of his questions; instead, all it said was "Let me out."

'Er…that's odd. I never knew you would want to get a taste of freedom.' Baiyi thought, bemused.

The Eighth Walker continued, speaking very slowly. "Like… her…"

Baiyi turned to the Fairy Walker and told her about its request.

A very short while later, the old militia armor had a new occupant; the Eight Walker had replaced the Fairy Walker. Its previous occupant was not the slightest bit worried about not being allowed to descend again, and that was because Baiyi still needed her to search for the Caudillo Butterfly bow; furthermore, her identity would be useful on certain occasions.

Hence, she returned to the Void in a joyful mood, intent on showing off her position as Baiyi's legitimate wife to the Puffing Piggies, the Assassin and Warrior Walkers, who she had long since defeated.

After the switch happened, the old militia armor stood still, as though lifeless. In fact, it almost seemed that the Pseudo Descent Spell had failed.

Right as Baiyi was also starting to wonder if the spell had failed, the armor mechanically raised its left hand, moving it towards at Baiyi. 

"What's the matter?" Baiyi asked as he touched the armor, and then the Eight Walker gripped his hand hard.

Baiyi instantly felt that he had been hurled into another world.

His brain could not come up with appropriate words to describe what he was seeing. In fact, he had been blinded and deafened. All he could see was bright flashes of light, which were quickly consumed by rushing darkness, then he began to hear the sound of rustling.

Suddenly, his heart began to palpitate faster and harder, as though he was experiencing his worst nightmare. He was surrounded by darkness, seemingly waiting for his worst fear to emerge from the darkest reaches of his mind. Within this inescapable blanket of darkness were sharp cries that turned into needles only seconds after. Suddenly, he regained his sense of feeling, and the needles began to prick him repetitively. 

Despite the seemingly innumerable amount of needles present, the pricking was over in an instant, and a bright flash of light flooded his field of view.

When the light disappeared, Baiyi found himself back at the forest. The Eight Walker had released his hand and was now standing motionlessly.

"T-this is the world you see? That's the world that can only be seen by those who have comprehended the Gnosis?" Baiyi struggled to keep his breathing steady.

The Eighth Walker nodded stiffly, but it said nothing.

"That felt like…" Baiyi tried to describe what he had seen, but to his surprise, he found his lexicon lacking.

Just as he wanted to try expressing himself again, soft sounds came from the bushes close by. Baiyi turned and saw that a strong, beautiful stallion had emerged from the bushes. Its fur was snow white, and its countenance was holy and regal. The creature stared at him with a curious expression.

There was a sharp cone on its forehead, which was glistening under the light of the sun. Was this not a unicorn, the elusive mystical beast?

The unicorn watched Baiyi for a while, then as though it had determined that Baiyi was no threat, it trotted over to and began to nudge him gently.

'Huh? Did it detect the lingering scent of the Fairy Walker on my armor?' Baiyi thought curiously.

Suddenly, the old militia armor crumpled to the floor; the Eighth Walker had somehow undone the Pseudo Descent Spell by itself. As soon as that happened, the glow in the unicorn's eyes dimmed, and an expression of sadness graced its face. It was as though it had just lost that which was most precious to it.

It was a pitiful sight. "It's alright. She's coming back," Baiyi said, then he cast the Pseudo Descent Spell one more time, and the Fairy Walker returned to the militia armor.

When the unicorn saw the militia armor stand back up, it became curious and drew closer before sniffing the armor.

Suddenly, it neighed in horror, and its front hooves struck the air. It had clearly been frightened, but instead of kicking the militia armor, its hooves returned to the ground. It was as though the unicorn was unsure of what to do next.

"Hee hee, why this silly horse! Excited that I'm back?" The Fairy Walker smirked, then she charged at the unicorn and wrapped her arms around its neck.

The unicorn's expression turned into one of helplessness mixed with misery; the same sort of look one would expect to see on a human facing the apocalypse. At this point, it was obvious that the friendliness and sadness it exhibited previously were not directed at the Fairy Walker at all.

Baiyi recalled some of the memories that the Fairy Walker had shared with him. On one of them, a young Fairy Walker and her excited young followers were running, and dozen sabercat cubs were trying to flank them. Right behind the sabercat cubs was a snow-white pony; it was doing its best to catch up to them.

"Ho ho! Long time, no see. You have grown up without me!" The Fairy Walker hugged the unicorn's neck even harder and rubbed her helm on its face. "Don't worry; I'm not gonna ask you to fish for us again, okay? After all, you're a full-fledged mystical beast now, aren't 'cha?"

As Baiyi watched them, he wondered if the unicorn had really wanted the Fairy Walker to return. From the looks of things, it was still traumatized by the actions of the young brat of old.In case you're confused, Google 'Ted (2012)'.