Chapter 87 – Is Flamie a World Tree

Rumble.

Rumble.

Although sounds kept coming from underground, the ground was peaceful.

……

As time passed, even the sounds coming from underground disappeared. That was it. What remained were two fresh green leaves that had come up above the ground, and the name that appeared above them.

[Powerful Purifying Ent]

“What? Is it finished?”

While Se-jun was dumbfounded by the result, which was different from the noisy sound,

Thud.

Something came up from under the sprout. No, to be precise, it came up along with the sprout.

And,

Creak.

The Powerful Purifying Ent, which had grown underground to a thickness of 20cm and a height of about 50cm, stood up, raised both arms, and stretched in a hurrah pose.

And,

Creak, creak.

The Powerful Purifying Ent, with green leaves on its head, walked past Se-jun and began to walk.

“Uh?! Hey! Where are you going?”

Se-jun asked, placing a hand on the Ent’s body. Se-jun’s talent, Friend of Nature, made communication possible.

However,

[Ent… protects……]

“What are you saying?”

Se-jun asked again, but

[……]

it was a friend of very few words.

Creak, creak.

Se-jun had no choice but to follow behind the Powerful Purifying Ent for now.

And,

[Master! Welcome!]

the place they arrived was in front of Flamie.

Creak, creak.

The Powerful Purifying Ent began to hover around Flamie as if to protect her.

“Flamie, do you know why the Ent is doing this?”

[Just a moment. I will ask.]

Flamie conversed with the Ent.

[The Ent says its mission is to protect the World Tree.]

“World Tree? But why is it protecting you, Flamie?”

[I don’t know. It stubbornly insists on protecting me. Flamie is strong, though!]

As Flamie spoke, she fluttered her leaves as if throwing jabs in the air.

“Alright. First, Flamie, keep an eye on it to see if it does anything strange.”

[Yes! Leave it to me! I will watch it well!]

Se-jun had Flamie monitor the Ent and

“Aileen, do you know about the World Tree?”

sought information from Aileen.

[The administrator of the tower says that the World Tree is a tree with powerful force of abundance, and beings who are permitted to live near the World Tree can enjoy the benefits of abundance.]

“Then what about the Ent?”

[The administrator of the tower says that originally, Ents are guardians that protect the World Tree.]

“Then is our Flamie a World Tree?”

[The administrator of the tower tells you to wait for a moment.]

***

When Se-jun asked if the apple tree was the World Tree, Aileen

“Uh…”

was flustered. She did not know well either.

So,

“Wait for a moment.”

she had Se-jun wait and

“Grandfather!”

hurriedly called Kaiser.

—Oh! Aileen~! Do you finally want to talk to this grandpa?

“Yes! Grandfather, I have something I want to ask.”

—Sure! Ask me anything!

“If the World Tree appears in the tower, can I check it?”

—Then of course you can. In the crystal ball…

Kaiser began to explain to Aileen how to check for the World Tree.

And the result.

[Giant Tower Growth Conditions]

···

..

.

—World Tree: Unachieved

…

..

.

There was no World Tree in the Black Tower.

“Grandfather, then what is the reason the Ent protects a tree that isn’t even the World Tree?”

—Aileen, could it be? Did Park Se-jun ask that?

“Yes?!”

—That impudent fellow! Then he should have asked me. Bothering our granddaughter!

Kaiser was in a mood to fly to Se-jun right away and resolve Se-jun’s curiosity. The black dragon statue began to unfold its wings.

However,

“Grandfather—! If you tell Se-jun everything, I won’t stay still!”

At Aileen’s threat, the black dragon statue, which had spread its wings wide, folded its wings again.

***

[The administrator of the tower says that there is not even a single World Tree in the tower yet.]

“Then why is the Ent doing that?”

[The administrator of the tower says that probably, the Ent saw Flamie’s potential.]

Aileen asked Kaiser and answered Se-jun in real time.

“Really?”

That our Flamie had the potential to become the World Tree? Se-jun looked at Flamie with satisfaction.

At that moment,

“Chairman Park! Where did you go, meow?!”

Theo shouted from the hole in the cave ceiling and jumped down. Theo had been playing with the black rabbit and Cuengi, and was looking for Se-jun to rest on Se-jun’s lap.

Landing.

As soon as Theo landed stably on all four feet,

Pitter-patter.

he ran to Se-jun’s lap and clung tightly.

And,

“Chairman Park, sit down and receive my report, meow!”

Theo told Se-jun to sit. Since various things happened as soon as he arrived, he had not reported the transaction results yet.

“Ah. That’s right. Representative Theo, did you sell everything this time too?”

Se-jun asked, sitting down.

“Of course it’s sold out, meow!”

Theo answered proudly and took out the money from his bundle.

824,630 tower coins. It was an amount increased by four times compared to the last transaction.

“Good job. Here is your incentive.”

Se-jun cleanly handed 50,000 tower coins to Theo.

“Thank you, meow! And here are the things Chairman Park likes, meow!”

Plop, plop.

Theo shook his bundle and took out Churu and the coffee and seasonings Se-jun liked. There were 70 packets of instant coffee mix, along with plenty of salt and pepper.

As the camp on the 38th floor of the tower was activated, each guild periodically sent supplies, so the hunters’ resources were abundant.

“There’s so much?! Representative Theo! Well done!”

Stroke, stroke.

Se-jun stroked Theo’s back.

“Then how many hours of President Theo, meow?”

“Hmm… I’ll let you be President Theo for 150 hours.”

“Good, meow! Then hurry and tear open the Churu, meow.”

At Se-jun’s praise, Theo lay down exposing his belly and demanded Churu.

“Alright.”

Tear.

When Se-jun tore open the Churu and brought it to Theo’s mouth,

Lick, lick, lick.

Theo began to lick and eat the Churu diligently.

And,

“So anyway, meow! I, to that fellow named Utata…”

While eating the Churu, he boasted to Se-jun of his heroic tale of defeating the wild boar wandering merchant named Utata on the 38th floor of the tower. Theo’s pleasant healing time began.

After an hour passed like that,

Gororong.

Theo, before he knew it, fell asleep lying on Se-jun’s lap while receiving Se-jun’s strokes.

“Yawn. I should sleep now.”

As Se-jun yawned, lifted Theo, and stood up,

[Master! Good night!]

Flamie said, waving her leaves.

“Yes. Good night to you too, Flamie.”

Se-jun greeted Flamie, went to his bedroom, placed Theo next to him, and lay down.

[The administrator of the tower tells you to sleep well.]

“Yes. Sleep well, Aileen too…”

Se-jun answered and fell asleep.

A while later,

“Meow…”

Theo, briefly opening his eyes from discomfort, climbed onto Se-jun’s lap and took his place.

Gororong.

Just as Theo’s snoring sound began to be heard,

Sliiiip.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu.”

the door opened quietly, and Iona, who had returned after teaching magic to Pyupyu, entered to have a sweet sleep.

And,

Kyurorong.

Iona climbed onto Se-jun’s lap, covered herself with Theo’s tail, and fell asleep.

***

Early morning on the 257th day of being stranded.

—You fellow Park Se-jun! Wake up!

“Ugh! Yes!”

At Kaiser’s shout, Se-jun got up in a hurry.

—An enemy is coming right now, and you can sleep?!

“An enemy?”

—Yes. Corrupted ent scouts are coming! Move quickly!

“Yes!”

At Kaiser’s scolding, Se-jun hurriedly took his weapons and ran to the west.

At that moment,

“Huh?!”

There was a being fighting the branch scouts first. Looking closely, it was a one-sided beating.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Unfitting for its name ‘Powerful’, the Powerful Purifying Ent was getting beaten up collectively by ten small branch scouts.

It seemed to have come out to block the enemies to protect Flamie. Having been beaten so much, both its legs and one arm were broken.

“Ent!”

Whoosh

Se-jun hurriedly threw his hand axe at one of the branch scouts beating the Purifying Ent.

Thud!

[You have defeated a corrupted ent’s small branch scout.]

[You have gained 25 experience points.]

“Retrieve!”

Whoosh.

Se-jun retrieved the hand axe while running and threw it again, and in the meantime, Se-jun arrived at the place where the Purifying Ent was.

And,

Stab!

Thud!

He defeated the enemies, wielding his dagger and hand axe. For Se-jun, small branch scouts were a piece of cake.

Having defeated ten branch scouts like that,

“Are you okay?”

Se-jun asked, looking at the Purifying Ent.

Creak.

Munch, munch.

The Ent nodded its head and began to chew and eat the bodies of the dead branch scouts.

Creak.

Every time it ate wood, its broken legs and arm began to recover. The Ent could heal its wounds just by eating wood.

“That’s good.”

While Se-jun was watching the Purifying Ent recover,

Creak, creak.

again, enemies approached. This time, 15 of them.

“Come!”

Se-jun shouted and ran toward the enemies. Se-jun fought like that several times. Since only about 10 to 20 small branch scouts came, it was not difficult.

***

“Meow?”

Theo opened his eyes at a feeling of emptiness. And he immediately noticed that Se-jun was not there.

“Where did Chairman Park go, meow?”

While Theo was looking around searching for Se-jun,

Squeeze.

he felt something grabbing his tail.

“What is this, meow?!”

As Theo was startled and looked at his tail,

“Kyu… no…”

Tremble, tremble.

Iona was holding his tail, trembling, having a nightmare.

“Just this once, meow.”

Theo stepped outside to look for Se-jun, carrying Iona on his tail.

***

Munch, munch.

Creak, creak.

The Purifying Ent, which had been eating wood continuously, began to fight the enemy again as soon as it recovered its body completely.

However,

Thud!

Hit by the enemy’s fist, its arm broke again. The Purifying Ent was still very weak.

Munch, munch.

The Purifying Ent ate wood again for recovery. Perhaps because it ate a lot, its height grew slightly, and a white flower began to bloom at the tip of the sprout on its head.

“Cheer up.”

Se-jun wanted to cheer on the Purifying Ent. It felt like his own business.

While Se-jun was defeating the branch scouts like that,

“Found you, meow!”

Landing.

Theo ran over carrying Iona on his tail and clung to Se-jun’s lap again.

“Now I will handle everything, meow! Chairman Park, rest, meow!”

“No. I’ll fight.”

“Understood, meow.”

Theo was not one to suggest twice.

“Kyu-kyu-kyu.”

Thanks to that, Iona’s sweet sleep began again.

Since the enemies appeared intermittently, Se-jun was able to fight leisurely.

At that moment,

Creak, creak.

the Purifying Ent approached Se-jun.

“Huh? Why?”

Se-jun placed a hand on the Ent’s body and asked.

[Seed… pluck…]

“A seed? Oh?! When did this?”

At the tip of the sprout on the Purifying Ent’s head, a white seed was formed instead of a flower before he knew it.

Pluck.

Se-jun plucked the seed.

[You have acquired the Purifying Ent’s Seed.]

[Your job experience points increase slightly.]

[The proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 2 increases significantly.]

[The proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 2 is filled, and the level increases.]

Looking at the options, the seed that did not have ‘Powerful’ in its name had no effect of raising stats.

“I must plant it again.”

Thud.

Se-jun immediately dug the ground with his dagger and planted the seed.

Then,

Rumble.

After a moment, a sprout grew from the ground, and one Purifying Ent came up.

Munch, munch.

The Purifying Ents, now two, began to eat wood together. And around the time flower buds began to form on the sprout of the Ent born just now, the two, having eaten all the branch scouts, returned to Flamie.

“Oh! That’s nice!”

Se-jun thought that he should provide wood for the Ents. That way, the number of Ents seemed likely to increase in no time.

It was on his way to the cave where the Ents were, after gathering wood from the pile behind the house.

(Master! I brought something good for you!)

The Golden Bat, who had been waiting for Se-jun to pass by, called him.