Chapter 264

The Aether dimension was much calmer without the constant flow of the Necrotic mana pumping toward the planar shell. Interestingly, the connection between the dead tree and the shell persisted...

No, not just persisted, I realized as I felt a small flicker of nature mana flowing toward the shell.

The tree was still functioning.

Fascinating, I thought as I followed the connection back to its source, and soon, I realized the tree wasn’t as dead as I had first assumed. I had no idea from where, but there was a little Divine Spark possessed by the dead tree.

Then, a notification popped, warning me about the source.

{-1 Nature Spark, God Forest}

The delay was rather suspicious, but before I could pay attention to that, I had a more important thing to do. I dashed inside, using the same tunnel I had used earlier, to the underground cave with the spring.

Only to see one of the roots of the border tree already burrowing against the first tree, taking control... It was definitely not good news, and I was ready to cut the connection ... but not before a little experiment.

{-199 Nature Spark, God Forest}

A bit wasteful, maybe, but after the great haul I had attained, a few hundred points looked like a much more acceptable amount. After that, I destroyed the tree I had created in the underground cave, only leaving the ward to assist the tree.

Then, I went outside once more, leaving the tree to recover. The carved sections were already recovering as the tree devoured most of the mana. Once outside, I tapped into the Arcana dimension once more, creating a similar ward around its magical roots to fasten its conversion rate — this time, with several traps of light mana in case any undead might decide to fiddle with it.

Once that was done, I turned my attention back to the outer defenses, creating a layer of trees to conceal the wards. Once that was done, I started adding several beacons, some inside the defensive line, some hidden away, ready to give me the mobility I needed.

The lack of constant mana drain was certainly useful.

However, as I started establishing the detection wards, I noticed a trigger. Not from here, I realized, but back from the God Forest.

It didn’t feel like the undead, but still, I teleported immediately, right into my basement outpost.

Seldanna was gone, but I could sense her outside, and the rest of the camp was reacting to her movement as well. Curious, I went to the surface, confident my invisibility would hold up without a problem.

The great improvement in my stats made me feel much more confident in the situation.

On the surface, I met with a surprising sight. A great flock was flying toward the camp, consisting of large rocs, and the elves had gathered to greet, with the priestess at the center. The leading bird was a bit different. At first, I assumed it was another roc, but further examination revealed that it was not the case.

No, it was some kind of majestic bird I failed to recognize, but somehow radiating nature mana. As they got closer, I could see a dozen or so elves on top of that majestic bird, each wearing gleaming golden robes, and the rest wearing silver metal armor.

Altogether, there were almost a hundred elves split along a dozen beasts. A great response.

However, I didn’t need to hear the suspicious glances the elves throwing toward the birds to know that it was a bit excessive for reinforcements — especially since, even at a distance, I could feel their strength.

“Hurry up,” one of them whispered. “We still need to go to the boundary to assess the changes,” one of the golden-robed figures said, unaware that I was listening.

“I don’t know, this forest gives me a weird feeling. I don’t want to leave this place as well. Maybe it’s linked to whatever that was going on.”

As they argued, I quickly sent a magical message to Seldanna, telling her to accept whatever they had in mind unless they started killing. She didn’t say anything, waiting for their discussion to end, aware that they were outnumbered.

“Enough, we don’t have time to waste,” their leader suddenly bellowed, and a magical pressure radiated off him, which relied on his Divine Spark, which was still in Chosen form, but almost about five hundred points.

A fascinating amount, enough to scare all elves — except Seldanna, but I was quick to send a message to her, to act shocked.

“As per the rules of the silver city, we declare this patch of forest ours. All of you, disperse!” he ordered, then, pointed his finger to Seldanna. “And since you’re the leader of this rebellious band, you’re going to go to the capital for trial.”

Even as they gave the order, two of the golden robes stepped down, staying in the forest with ten soldiers, while two other was already moving to arrest Seldanna.

A fascinatingly quick reversal.

{Strength: 16 Charisma: 16

Precision: 16 Perception: 16

Agility: 16 Manipulation: 16

Speed: 16 Intelligence: 16

Endurance: 16 Wisdom: 16}

{Purified Divine Spark: 2392}

{Pseudo-HP: 2869 Mana: 4140}

{ADDITIONAL SPARKS

Light - Chosen 7.4

Nature - Chosen 10}

{MINIONS

Guardian God Forest - 1809}

Elven Priestess - 70}

[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 666000]