Chapter 146: Request From the Daerfaen
The silence felt almost eerie.
Max sat down on the dry ground, returning to his human form as he waited patiently. An entire day passed without anything happening. During that time, countless doubts crossed his mind, and even more reasons appeared for him to stand up, turn back, and leave this empty place behind almost immediately.
But he stayed.
At the dawn of the second day, something in the area shifted.
The forest surrounding him began to play a tune through the wind, creating a melody so unusual that it almost felt deliberate, as if someone hidden among the ancient trees was guiding every breath of air on purpose. The sound moved softly through the leaves, gentle at first, then clearer, circling the empty clearing without ever stepping inside it.
Max opened his eyes.
His gaze slowly searched the empty area, scanning the dry soil, the silent edges of the forest, and the space where the whispers had vanished the day before.
"She once danced among the fairies,
Her soft breath painted the forest floor.
She took the boyโs hand and led him home,
While love and hunger burned the sky.
A hole so deep swallowed the clouds,
And wherever that boy appeared,
The worldโs destruction followed near.
Oh, boy so handsome, boy so grown,
Return to the girl once loved by the world.
She is the sky, she is the soil,
Her soul still craves the return of joy.
Return...
Return...
To you~"
A sudden melody danced in the wind, circling around Max like the voices of unseen fairies singing from every side of the forest. The song was gentle, almost sweet, but something about the words made the empty clearing feel colder than before.
"Beautiful, but I like to get to the point faster."
Max scoffed.
But the melody did not stop.
It began to circle him, round and round, faster and faster, brushing against his ears, slipping over his skin, and pressing softly against his mind as if trying to crawl inside and plant the meaning of its song directly into his thoughts.
"Enough!"
Max barked, and void magic spread in all directions, freezing the mana in place.
The melody halted at once.
The trees around him began to shake even wilder, their branches rustling despite the wind dying completely, as if the forest itself had flinched from his anger.
"Please..."
A voice of a young girl replaced the melody.
"Help us restore our grove."
"We need mana to replenish the hidden lake..."
"The girl awaits its boy at home..."
"Please build the home once more for them..."
"For your hard work, a blessing shall be bestowed."
"A love of land and breath of forest."
"The clue of truth."
"The clue of myth."
"All answers shall be yours to keep."
"The power you seek shall be..."
"The forest sees you."
"We see."
"We pay."
The voices shifted with every sentence, young and old, soft and cracked, childish and ancient, as if the Daerfaen were not a single spirit but the echoes of every soul that had once lived, loved, suffered, and disappeared inside this forest.
Max slowly stood up, dusting the dry soil from his palm as his gaze swept across the dead clearing.
"Fine," he said, nodding his head. "But you better keep your word. Otherwise, this entire forest shall become timber for my lands."
He extended his hand and allowed his mana to pour into the earth.
Almost immediately, the dead ground began to change.
Moss spread across the dry soil like a soft green wave, crawling over cracks, stones, and old roots that had been buried beneath the surface for who knew how many years. The air grew colder, then fresher, and the sky above the clearing slowly darkened as if evening had fallen in a single breath. A soft glow rose from the ground, almost lunar, like moonlight was not falling from above but being born beneath his feet.
The earth began to split.
Max narrowed his eyes and took a few steps back.
Something was growing from the forest floor.
Or rising.
Just like the whispers of the Daerfaen had promised, a small pool, no, a pond, began to rise from the cracked ground. Clear water pushed through the soil, shining with a gentle radiance as it gathered inside the hollow center of the clearing. It carried an extremely rich smell of sweet mana, so thick and pure that it even made Max feel slightly intoxicated the moment he breathed it in.
The pond drank the mana he produced at a frightening speed.
Even with his supply, Max could feel the pull growing heavier and heavier, as if this hidden lake had been starving for ages and now refused to let go of the first source of life it had found. He did not know how much time passed after he started. He did not count, and for once, he did not feel the need to.
He allowed this moment to become his peace.
After so many battles, betrayals, deaths, and near destructions, this strange cultivation of the forest felt almost relaxing. Refreshing, in a way he had not expected. He watched the moss spread, the pond grow, and the dead clearing slowly breathe again beneath his mana.
And yet, the mana gathering inside the pool tempted him.
It was rich. Too rich.
The longer he poured mana into it, the purer and sweeter it became, as if the pond was refining everything he gave and turning it into something far greater. Max could not help but wonder what would happen if, after this was done, he absorbed some of it back into himself.
He stepped closer.
"I wonder what you really are."
His face reflected in the water, and for the first time in a long while, Max saw himself clearly again. After years in this world, he had not even noticed how much he had changed. He was not only more handsome than ever, but more mature as well, kissed by time while still carrying the face of a young man in the first years of his twenties.
His jaw looked sharper. His eyes looked colder. Even his expression no longer carried the same restless hunger he once had when he first arrived in this world. Now, there was something heavier there, something shaped by battles, women, bloodlines, betrayals, death, and the endless pursuit of power.
For a moment, he only stared.
Then his image rippled.
The calm pond water began to boil dangerously, bubbles rising from its glowing surface as the sweet mana inside it twisted out of control. The reflection of his face stretched, broke apart, and darkened, as if something beneath the water had noticed him staring back.
