Chapter 491 The City Around the World Tree

With Roxene back in his companion storage, Marcus went into his ghost form and shot into the air.

Flying at an incredible speed, he made beeline it right for the colossal tree where the Great Spirit of Nature Forlorieous resided.

Now that the civil war in Tralenstein was over and Lyra was no longer in danger. It was time for Marcus to get back to his original goal and meet with Forlorieous.

Currently things with Salvia were mostly stable, as the king had arranged for a high-ranking member of the church that worshiped the Great Spirit of Light Ragyog to come and supply her with the necessary energy she needed.

Of course, this member had his own contracted spirit, but apparently while they were around level forty, this spirit was only an average ranking one.

The poor spirit could barely keep up with Salvia for now, and it would not be long before this stop gap was no longer able to help her from slipping back into dormancy.

Still, this had bought Marcus the time he needed, and now he was on his way to meet with Forlorieous, who should be able to help.

Moving at top speed in a straight line, it did not take Marcus even a day to reach his destination, as he was finally able to see the full breadth of the tree that housed the great spirit of nature..

In terms of just the area the tree took up, it was already larger than the entire area that Borealia’s capital encompassed. Along with the tree reaching all the way up to the top of the world’s atmosphere, which was over seven thousand miles high.

‘That is a very big tree.’ Was all Marcus could think the second he was able to truly appreciate the size of this monstrous organism.

Continuing forward, Marcus got closer and closer, until all he could see was the titanic tree in front of him and the ground below.

Soon, he spotted the first massive root of the tree that was easily the size of a small city.

However, before he could get any closer, he noticed a light shimmering around the area. Indicating that some type of barrier had been set up.

Stopping in front of the barrier, Marcus examined it for a moment, but he truly had no idea what it actually did.

Yet, as he looked around closely, he saw that normal wildlife was able to move in and out without any sort of trouble.

‘Must have some conditions set to it. So, it probably keeps anything of a certain type or level out, while allowing other things within. The only question is whether I will be allowed in, or will have to try knocking and hope I get Forlorieous’ attention.’

Taking a few minutes to plan out his next course of action, Marcus soon remembered that he had indeed had a similar experience to this barrier once before.

‘That is right. Around the Church of the Great Spirit of Water, Aigean, there was a barrier like this. Though that one completely repulsed me, and I only got in thanks to Voda’s help after I tired to force my way in.’

Remembering his first experience with a barrier around a place that was under the protection of a great spirit, Marcus decided to err on the side of caution this time knowing that he had been far too brash before.

Also, if he upset Forlorieous, it was possible that he might crush him without so much as a glance, as Voda had almost done.

Extending his spiritual energy out to the barrier, Marcus connected to it and sent out a sort of knock.

He then waited for a minute, then two, then three, and so on, until over ten minutes had passed.

‘Guess that was not enough to get anyone’s attention. I was trying to be very respectful, but let me try to be a bit louder.’

This time taking his own arm and infusing it with spiritual energy, Marcus moved to knock against the barrier but found himself passing right through it.

‘That was unexpected. I must not meet the requirements for being barred entry.’

Waiting around for a few more minutes, Marcus wondered if anyone was going to show up to investigate his arrival, but nothing seemed to happen.

He was still all alone, and the forest around him was undisturbed.

‘I suppose I can just head in and see if I can find him myself. Apparently, he is a heavy sleeper, so maybe my presence was not enough to wake him up?’

With nothing else to do Marcus continued flying towards the largest tree on the planet.

Watching the landscape move by Marcus closed the distance to the trunk of the tree, and when he was just a few dozen miles away, he noticed that there were buildings that had been built into the trees around the world tree.

‘That is right, Gwyneira told me that a community of wood gnomes lived around Forlorieous. Maybe I can talk to one of them and figure out how to get in contact with my fellow great spirit.’

Descending towards the treetops, Marcus stopped right above a large square where the woods gnomes were playing some sort of game with a ball woven from vines.

This was the nearest large congregation of these people around, and Marcus hoped that one of them would know what he wanted or at least could point him in the direction of someone who did.

Looking at the gnomes Marcus could see that they had slightly pointed ears, and the adults were only around three to three and a half feet tall.

Along with those characteristics, all of them had a slight green tinge to their skin, and hair colors that were either some shade of red, brown, or green.

After examining the forest gnomes for a couple minutes, Marcus landed in an obscured area that was covered by branches. He then resolidified before heading out, not wanting to appear right in front of the gnomes and scare them.

Unfortunately, just walking out into the open Marcus received curious stares for about eight seconds, before mass hysteria broke out.

The youngest gnomes were cared away by the older ones as they screamed in panic, and quickly every gnome in the area had been alerted to Marcus’ presence from the screams of their fellows.

Of course, as Marcus watched this, he was unsure of why they had reacted this way, but then remembered that he looked human.

‘Crap, this is not good.’ Marcus thought as the gnomes frantically ran all over the place.

To them it was as if a horrible monster had descended upon them and was going to kill or kidnap all of them.

Quickly, all of the gnomes in the vicinity had vacated the area, leaving Marcus completely alone in the square.

‘Well, this is just great. I am not sure why they are so afraid, but something must have happened in the past to make them fear others so much.’

Sitting down on the ground Marcus waited. Figuring that at some point, a braver gnome or maybe some other entity he could speak with might show up.

And as he expected. Just around seven minutes after he showed himself, a stronger looking gnome who was wearing heavily enchanted wooden armor appeared.