Zack stood floated in the same place for a few more minutes before he felt solid land appear beneath his vision.
His eyesight went from completely black to colorful in a matter of seconds as he looked around to see where he was.
Zack was currently standing in the middle of trees with oddly shaped leaves. They looked claw like leaves and were a weird shade of pink.
Zack averted his gaze from the leaves and looked at his inventory and status screen. Neither of them had gone through any changes in his travel as he released a sigh of relief before checking up on Lance.
'Any difficulties?'
[ Nope. I am completely fine. ]
Zack then folded his wings back and looked started exploring his surroundings. He also opened the map to see if it showed his location but the entire screen went black in front of his eyes.
Zack had expected this to happen so he decided to head North and see if it lead him anywhere. He walked forward while looking around the trees to make sure that no one was looking at hi.
'This place feels to empty and quiet…' Zack thought as he continued to move. He didn't stop until he saw the first moving living being after his arrival.
[ Is that a squirrel flying through the air? ]
'Lance, that's clearly a humanoid figure…' Zack replied while facepalming as his eyes followed the figure.
The figure was barely two feet tall and had two small glittery wings coming out from behind it. Zack couldn't guess its gender as he silently moved forward while keeping an eye on the figure.
'That's definitely a fairy.' Zack thought as he kept looking at the fairy. He was also able to see that the figure was a female. The female fairy also held a basket of blue berries in her hands as she flew forward while whistling.
[ Keep following her and we should be able to get to a village or something like that. ]
'Yeah I know.'
After an hour went by in such manner, Zack noticed that the forest was opening up into a clearing ahead.
He increased his speed to get far away from the fairy and saw that the clearing had numerous flowers spread across it.
In the middle of it was an insanely huge tree that seemed to be touching the sky or perhaps going beyond it.
The tree had golden balls of light floating around each of its branches as Zack felt a relaxing feeling spreading throughout his body.
His eyes then turned towards the female fairy who brought the basket close to the world tree and emptied the entire basket down in front of the tree.
The next second, the ground slowly split apart and swallowed the berries as the girl joined her hand and prayed.
After that, she turned around and went back in the forest as Zack used inspect on the tree.
[ Yggdrasil: The world tree ]
Zack inhaled sharply as he was about to fly forward and touch the tree when suddenly, he felt his body freezing up.
"Spirit Spear Basquias, Third Form, Octo Tentoris!"
Zack felt slimy tentacle like things hitting his arms and the back of his head as his eyes suddenly felt heavy. He turned back and saw a man standing right in front of him with a small smile on his face.
"I warned you last time. If you ever stepped foot into the forest again, I will kill you publicly." The man said with a smile as Zack memories took another refreshing turn.
However before he could say anything, his entire body slumped down as he felt himself slip into unconsciousness.
***
"I should count how many times I have been knocked unconscious in such a way." Zack muttered as his eyes opened up again.
However, he soon realized that he was still unconscious as his older version was standing right in front of him.
Older Zack's hair were white this time as he stood at the base of the world tree with a grin on his face.
In front of him was a man with long red hair, tied back using a rubber band, and kind brown eyes.
"I said leave this domain!" The man huffed as his body was suddenly wrapped in a light blue armor.
Old Zack didn't say anything as he raised his right hand and blue flames emerged from the tip of his fingers.
"Still want to say something?" He asked before shooting a bit of his flames towards the man and turning to look at the world tree again. "I am here now Yggdrasil. What did you want to show me?"
Suddenly the entire world tree lit up as the golden ball at the top of the tree suddenly flew down and landed in front of older Zack.
The ball of light was englulfing the golden spirit spear Chastiefol in a protective manner but right in front of older Zack, the bubble popped and the golden spear lit up.
He grabbed the spear with his hand and turned to stare at the man with a small smile.
"Try increasing your defense and control the amount of mana you use." He said in a helpful tone before he rose in the air and waved his hand. "Till we meet next time, goodbye."
"I will kill you, young one!" The man shouted as his arms had been burnt by the flames.
The current Zack was suddenly plunged away from these memories as he finally woke up in the real world. His eyes looked around to see that he tied in the air in some sort of silky material.
'I forgot that Basquias has a trapping form too. To think that he would still remember those words.' Zack thought as he tried to break free from the silk and heard a chuckle.
"Its not possible. The silk from my Guardian form is too strong for the likes of you. Perhaps your older version could have done something but the current you is helpless." The man, Glox, spoke.
Zack had remembered his name as well as the information that Glox was the king of fairies and had just ascended the throne back when Zack had come to the Fairy king's forest for the first time.
Back then, the world tree had called out to him in the dreams but he hadn't liked the arrogant behavior of the king and had decided to tease him a bit.
The teasing had led to him humiliating the king of fairies in front of his court and he had to run away from there.
[ Your past version was a delinquent to say the least. ] Lance muttered as Zack rolled his eyes and looked at Glox.
"Are you still gonna kill me for embarrassing you in front of the entire court? That was so long ago and you are no child to hold grudges for such a small thing."
"Small?" Glox echoed as he rose in the air and flew straight towards Zack. "The next two hundred years after that forced me to battle those who didn't judge me worthy. I had to kill all of them and made a mark on my face to remember their numbers."
Glox's face was full of small scars and Zack counted at least twenty plus of such scars. He looked straight into the king's eyes and sighed.
"Then go ahead and kill me," He replied but before Glox could say anything, Zack burnt the silk down to ashes. "That is if you can."
He then summoned Chastiefol and opened his wings wide. Glox's pupils shrank a bit as Zack rushed through the air and reached the world tree.
He touch its trunk and saw the quest completion messages appearing in front of him.
[ First Part of the quest is complete. ]
[ 500 levels have been awarded. ]
[ Second part: Win the war currently going on the Eastern Continent ]
'So the war started behind my back.' Zack thought as few more notifications appeared in front of him.
A smile appeared on his lips as alongside the notifications, memories from the past also appeared inside his head.
He turned to look at Glox and waved his hand in a cheerful manner.
"I guess we can fight now but keep the spear in base form. It will just be like our first battle."
"Basquias." Glox muttered in an irritated tone as he realized that Zack had just went through some sort of power up.
And since he also has Chastiefol, Glox knew that Zack could summon the Phoenix and have him battle for him instead. The fairy king didn't not want to fight a fiery creature in the middle of a forest so he had no choice except accepting Zack's offer.
[ What are you trying to do? ]
'Trying to teach him a lesson and defeat him in one blow. If you remember correctly, time runs differently here. The war has already started and I can make a difference now. But before, that, its time to leave this place.'
Zack then raised Chastiefol in his hand and flew to the ground. He paid no attention to Glox or his spear as he smiled and rushed forward.
"You were never able to use the true form or the true ability of your spear Glox since you never focused on the things that were actually important for you," Zack said as he suddenly appeared in front of Glox. "That's why you won't win now."
"True spirit spear Chastiefol, First Form, True Chastiefol!" Zack shouted as his spear was suddenly wrapped in golden light.
With that golden light, he brought the spear directly in front of Glox's heart and stopped at the last second.
"Go and change those things and maybe you will grow stronger. As for me, I have a war to win." Zack said as in front of the terrified Glox, he suddenly vanished.
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