Chapter 50: Chapter 45: Gotta Endure, What Else Can I Do?
A line of text appeared on the computer screen.
[The faith in the Skinner has completely vanished from the area. His believers will begin to seek a new god.]
Luh Yao suddenly had a bad feeling.
Deep underground, Isabel and her group encountered no more Mad Molting Monsters. At the end of the passage was a tunnel that spiraled upward.
Luh Yao saw that the view had shifted back to the main map. This location was a hidden area deep within the Northern Forest. The environment, however, was unusual; the surrounding trees and grass had been burned to cinders, and the ground was blanketed in black ash.
In the center of this blackened area stood a stone effigy of the Skinner, its surface covered in a dense array of red eyeballs.
Piles of firewood were stacked around the base of the Skinner sculpture, burning with a flame that looked as if it hadn’t been extinguished in years.
Isabel stood beside the statue, and a dialogue box appeared above her head.
"Lord, this burning wood... it’s the remains of the Tree People."
"These flames are eternally burning the Wandering Souls of the Tree People, preventing them from returning to the Sea of Mourning."
The Burrow Wizard, Senji, also spoke. "Lord Apostle, this is the destination the bark led us to. An artifact left by the Forest God might be hidden here."
Their heritage had been broken for many years, and they had nearly lost their written language, so the Sen Race’s knowledge of the bark was limited.
Isabel glanced around.
"Lord, if we destroy this altar, the Wandering Souls of the Tree People can finally be at peace. We might be able to get more information from the Dead. Shall I destroy it?"
Luh Yao agreed.
Upon receiving the command, Isabel summoned the Holy Sword.
She brandished the Holy Sword. With a series of swift slashes, the surface of the Skinner statue pulsed with a faint red light. But it quickly shattered into a pile of black rubble.
The flames beneath the statue seemed to lose their power. They dwindled rapidly and were soon extinguished.
Isabel stood, leaning on her sword. Pinpricks of green light began to emerge from the ashes on the ground, coalescing into a tall, brown, humanoid figure.
[Tree People].
Luh Yao double-clicked on the Tree Person, bringing up its detailed stat panel.
...
[Tree People LV20] [Isabel Creation]
Life Value: 990/990
Mana Value: 222/222
Damage: 20
Defense: 25
Speed: 7
[Thick Hide]
Naturally has high Life Value.
[Self-Reproduction]
Can produce new offspring.
[Leaf Shooting LV15]
Attacks enemies from a distance by shooting leaves.
[Rebirth LV15]
Continuously restores Life Value during rainfall.
[Forest Element LV1]
A Forest Elemental Creature. Promotes rapid forest growth. Receives a boost to all Attributes while in a forest. The effect’s potency depends on the ability’s level and the creature’s Life Value.
...
Luh Yao carefully studied the stat panel’s description.
’The Tree People are suited for stationary combat. Their offense and defense are balanced, and with high health, they can take a beating. Their only drawback is their low speed. So, the best way to use them is as a stationary tank or for direct frontal assaults. The forest is their ideal battlefield.’
’If the Tree Person’s health gets low, I can just use [Rainfall] to heal it.’
’The only downside is that [Forest Sword] only created a single Tree Person this time, which is a pretty poor conversion rate. But with its [Self-Reproduction] ability, it should theoretically be able to act as a progenitor and continuously produce new, smaller Tree People, given enough time.’
After creating the Tree Person, Isabel began to glow with a white light.
The [Mourning Prayer] ability activated.
Wisps of black smoke rose from the ground. The smoke slowly began to swirl, finally coalescing into a writhing Dead Black Ball.
Isabel began a cryptic exchange with the black ball.
As they conversed, Isabel faced Luh Yao and relayed the conversation in real-time.
"...This was once the altar of the Forest God. It was the original core from which the Forest God’s Faith spread throughout this Fragment World."
"When the Forest God fell, this place was invaded by two outside gods: the [Whistleblower] and the [Skinner]."
"The invading legions they dispatched burned vast swathes of the forest and shattered the altar, seeking the [Golden Field]—the Forest God’s Main God Space and the center of all its dimensional worlds."
"...The [Skinner] stripped the bark from all the Tree People. Some were turned into [Mad Molting Monsters]; the rest became fuel for this Skinning Altar."
"The [Golden Field] is the Forest God’s Divine Treasure Vault. The Tree People say they don’t know its exact location."
"It is a special world, accessible only to those who pass its trials."
"The first trial, as known by the Tree People, is to restore life to this ancient land: to turn the desert back into a forest and cover the mountains with flora once more."
"There is one other requirement: the Trial Taker must never have treated the Forest God’s Faith as an enemy."
Luh Yao pondered.
’So basically, I just have to plant a lot of trees.’
’I can complete the first trial just by planting trees?’
Luh Yao felt the condition sounded a bit too simple, so he typed a question for Isabel.
"Lord, you are absolutely correct. This is indeed the trial to become the Forest God’s successor."
She explained, "The Forest God was once a highly revered Main God. For any god, the [Golden Field] is a priceless treasure vault."
"If you can, Lord, please do not pass up this opportunity."
Luh Yao mulled it over for a while.
’Worst-case scenario, planting trees will just cost me some Faith to perform a [Miracle].’
’Besides, in the long run, the Tree People are an indispensable part of my forces. Afforestation is a good long-term strategy anyway. Planting the trees now is just an early investment.’
’I have over 10,000 Faith just sitting here with nowhere else to spend it.’
’Faith needs to be spent to generate more value. Otherwise, it’s just a number.’
’The Blood Knight is still going berserk in the castle, attacking friend and foe alike. I won’t be able to take it down anytime soon.’
’So, let’s plant some trees!’
...
For a Divine Player, planting trees wasn’t difficult. It just required activating the [Miracle] of [Rainfall], followed by a [Scorching Sun], and alternating between the two. The Tree People could handle the rest.
The whole process was like kneading dough.
A layer of rain, a layer of Sun. Too much rain? Add more Sun. The Sun’s too strong? Make it rain.
As a God, the most important thing for Luh Yao was to have enough Faith to cast large-scale [Miracles].
Moreover, covering the entire Southern Desert and Western Mountain Range required an even higher Faith cost than he had anticipated.
The situation in the mountains was a bit better.
After 15 uses of [Rainfall] and 11 of [Scorching Sun], combined with the Tree Person’s [Forest Element] ability, green shoots began to sprout on the once-barren mountains.
The desert, however, was a disaster zone.
Luh Yao had to cast [Rainfall] a full 40 times and [Scorching Sun] 35 times just to achieve initial coverage and get green shoots to sprout.
These two rounds of work consumed a total of 1,700 Faith.
Work on the mountain range was more like icing on the cake. It already had some trees and grass, and though sparse, the foundation was there. So after the first round of rain and sun, the greenery there gradually grew thicker.
The desert was a far more complicated matter.
What Luh Yao hadn’t expected was that the first creatures to cause trouble would be the Sand Worms.
Seemingly aware that the saplings posed a potential threat, the Sand Worms began to secretly destroy and uproot them. This infuriated Luh Yao, who immediately dispatched Isabel to stand guard.
’Anyone who dares to ruin my beautiful green mountains is going to die!’
After Isabel slaughtered a dozen or so Sand Worms, the rest finally realized their lives were more important. Most of them migrated to the sandy southern coast, while a small number burrowed deeper into the earth.
In short, the desert’s native inhabitants had finally caved.
Luh Yao hadn’t even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief before more problems arose in the desert. Many saplings withered before they could mature, as they required a great deal of rain and sunlight.
He had to try repeatedly. After spending another 1,000-plus Faith on [Miracles], he finally stabilized the situation in the desert.
An all-nighter is a night owl’s epitaph.
At midnight, Luh Yao lay in bed, his eyelids heavy with sleep.
But he couldn’t sleep. All he could think about were those little pixelated saplings, his gaze drifting irresistibly toward the computer screen on his desk...
’Might as well stay up,’ he thought. ’What else can I do?’
