#217. The Scenery Looked Up At (1)
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The rain had stopped, leaving the wilderness behind.
Dwarves, dressed in outdoor work gear, bustled around the World Tree, carrying panels linked together in a long line.
Some were inspecting the branches and leaves from the high decks of Rael Row.
“Left section, all leaves are in good condition! No signs of contamination from the black rain observed, and no anomalies detected in internal vitality levels!”
“Same for the right section!”
“No issues with the soil either! The nutrient levels within a 30-meter radius have actually increased compared to a few hours ago!”
Exclamations of admiration erupted from all around.
It was the result of directly witnessing the World Tree’s immense vitality and its ability to purify the soil.
But it wasn’t only the dwarves who were moved by the sight.
“To think they can diagnose the health of vegetation with precise numbers… From an elf’s perspective, it’s an unimaginable method.”
Grine couldn’t take her eyes off the dwarves’ busy work.
Ray asked her a question.
“How do elves do it then?”
“We commune. We listen to the flowers, trees, animals, and insects, empathize with them, and understand.”
“…Flowers and trees can talk?”
“Hmm? Of course they can.”
The boy and the elf exchanged puzzled looks.
Ray was the first to attempt a rebuttal.
“I can understand communicating with animals and insects. There’s beast-taming magic, after all. But flowers and trees don’t have consciousness in the first place, so communication’s impossible.”
“Why do you think flowers and trees can’t express their will?”
“Well, because they’re not living beings.”
Grine’s expression showed she now understood why their views clashed.
“What’s your definition of a living being, Ray?”
“Something that moves by itself.”
“But plants, including flowers and trees, move too. If you look carefully, the branches and leaves of the World Tree are swaying on their own.”
“That’s just the wind blowing them. They’re not moving by their own will.”
Grine smiled.
“Would you look again? It’s not the wind shaking the branches. The World Tree is matching its movements to the wind.”
If the World Tree found the wind unpleasant, it wouldn’t move at all, she said.
At her words, Ray narrowed his eyes and glared at the World Tree.
“…I can’t really tell.”
“How can you not?”
“I just don’t feel any difference.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“…….”
“I don’t get it.”
“It’s just─”
“Ray, now you know how it feels too, huh?”
A voice cut in suddenly from beside him.
Turning his head, Ray spotted Veronica scurrying away into the distance.
While considering whether to chase after her, he heard Grine’s voice.
“Maybe it’s because humans live in a much faster flow of time than plants. Before I met you, while traveling through the human sectors, that’s what I felt. Humans are like flames.”
“Flames?”
“Yes. Flames that must burn busily throughout their short lifespans. Since humans are given a shorter life than other races, they have to shine as brightly as possible in the time they’re allowed. They work tirelessly, study, socialize, obsess over things, develop, and then…”
Listing off what she had seen of humanity, Grine smiled as she looked at Ray.
“Of all the flames I’ve seen, yours is the most intense, Ray. Thinking about it again, maybe it’s only natural that a human, who lives in such a fast time, can’t sense the subtleties of plants living in a slower time. But, Ray, you *are* human, right?”
“…….”
To be honest, Ray couldn’t fully understand Grine’s explanation.
But he could keenly feel how different an elf’s worldview was from that of a human.
The conversation then shifted toward the dwarves’ outstanding technology.
“If we end up living together with the dwarves, their skills would be a huge help in managing the World Tree. But I’m not sure how the elves of the Last Forest will accept coexisting with dwarves.”
Ray suddenly remembered something Grine had told him before.
“You said the two races didn’t get along even in ancient times, right?”
“That’s what the preserved records in the Last Forest say. They only mention that the two sides had poor compatibility… but after meeting the dwarves in person, I understand.”
The dwarves pursued artificiality.
The elves pursued naturalness.
According to Grine, their values were complete opposites.
“Do you dislike the dwarves when you see them?”
“Hmm, not exactly. It’s not that I hate them. It’s more like a biological discomfort when they’re around? Especially when I see Elder Parun, it gets even stronger.”
We all agreed to just call that feeling ‘dislike,’ across races.
Ray shot her a look, but Grine just flicked her long ears while watching Parun wandering off in the distance.
At that moment, the dwarves seemed to have finished their inspection and withdrew from the World Tree.
Ray walked over and placed his palm against the World Tree’s trunk.
“…….”
…A rough texture.
According to Grine, even if they poured in the same amount of mana, they couldn’t expect the same rate of growth as in the morning.
Once a tree reached a certain height, its growth would drastically slow, and it would spend the rest of its life growing leisurely — that was the nature of the World Tree.
But personalities differed between individual trees, leading to slight variations.
Ray closed his eyes and tried to commune with the World Tree.
‘Hello.’
No response.
‘My name is Ray.’
Still no response.
‘I want to help you grow taller. I hope you’ll work with me.’
His voice echoed into emptiness.
He tried various ways to initiate conversation, but the result never changed.
It was a moment when Grine’s talk of communing with plants started to feel more suspicious again.
‘Maybe I should just burn you down.’
The instant he thought that, he felt something flinch from the World Tree.
Sensing it was the right moment to inject green mana, Ray immediately focused his mind.
Wuuuuuuung──!
Mana imbued with the element of growth spread throughout the entire World Tree.
Several minutes passed like that.
Tap, tap.
Ray stepped back, removing his hand, and looked up at the now massive World Tree.
Grine approached, marveling.
“Amazing…! It looks like it grew more than twice as tall. How tall would you guess it is now?”
“About 200 meters… no, it might be closer to 300 meters.”
Parun, who approached from another direction, answered too.
“We’ll have to actually measure it to be sure, but it’ll keep growing for a while, so measuring it now doesn’t mean much. To think a tree grew this much in less than half a day… No matter how many times I blink, I can’t believe it.”
Grine nodded at Parun’s amazement and asked Ray.
“If we compare it to the time saved for growth, this achievement might even surpass what you did this morning. And you don’t seem nearly as exhausted. How did you do it?”
“I asked nicely.”
“Oh! So you succeeded in communing?”
“I think we’re going to be good friends.”
From then on, helping the World Tree grow every morning and evening became part of Ray’s daily routine.
Each time mana was infused, the World Tree would grow anywhere from several dozen to over a hundred meters.
Through repeated communion, Ray realized that the World Tree had become greedy for height.
At some point.
Its base no longer widened — all the growth was now reaching only toward the sky.
And on the fourth day.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Ray, when you come back, you must tell us everything you saw up there.”
“You *absolutely* must not get hurt! If you even feel a little uneasy, come straight down. Got it?”
With everyone’s goodbyes behind him.
Ray accepted the food pack and began climbing the World Tree together with Isra.
Because the World Tree’s trunk was enormous, the peeled bark provided enough space for both humans and dwarves to climb.
Ray sometimes used the peeled bark like stairs, sometimes leapt up like rock climbing, and sometimes explored the hollowed-out areas like caves.
“Hey! Wait up! You’re way too fast!”
Hearing the shout below, he looked down to see Isra struggling his way up.
Both boys wore Dwarf-made gloves and boots that assisted physical movement.
And since Ray could also use enhancement magic, it was clear who would climb faster.
“You don’t have to strain yourself to catch up.”
“No way! We can’t just send a human! A dwarf representative has to go too!”
“Were you forced to come?”
“No! I volunteered! Obviously! Who else could go but me?”
Come to think of it, dwarves were instinctively fearful of heights.
That was why only Isra ever showed up in the watchtower.
‘Isra must be a special case.’
Maybe, like him, a mutant with different traits from the norm.
Ray reached out and cast enhancement magic on Isra too.
“Oh…? Ohhh! I suddenly feel so strong!”
Leaving Isra’s excited shouting behind, Ray steadily climbed higher.
Whoosh─! Tap! Tap! Tap!
Climbing vertically against gravity consumed far more stamina than moving on flat ground.
“Huff, huff.”
His breathing quickly grew ragged.
Sweat drenched his whole body.
But burning curiosity drove him to keep moving.
What would the world look like from that height?
Would a World Tree this tall reach the Sky Islands?
Besides the spirit of exploration, the sunlight filtering through the leaves seemed to energize him.
Tap!
Ray let go of the protrusion he had grabbed onto and launched his body upward to grab the next one.
‘The next handhold is a bit far… Maybe I should hang here and rest a bit first…’
That was when he felt a ticklish sensation in his chest.
A stream of elongated energy flowed from the yellow gem on his shoulder down his arm.
“Shhhk─ shhhk─.”
Laqria appeared.
Meeting the round, black eyes of the snake, Ray asked.
“I haven’t summoned you, and you almost never come out voluntarily, especially not in a materialized form. Are you here to help me?”
Laqria flicked her tongue, tilted her head, and then slithered along the World Tree’s trunk, disappearing beyond.
Overflowing with joy, longing, and excitement.
‘Is it feelings toward the World Tree?’
It seemed plausible.
Animals originally thrived in forests and grasslands, after all.
Ray caught his breath.
Just as he was about to launch himself toward the next protrusion—
Sssrrrrk──
On the other side of the massive trunk, Laqria appeared again.
Spirits could adjust their body size when materialized, and Laqria usually grew bigger when in a good mood.
And right now…
“How happy *are* you?”
Ray muttered, staring at Laqria’s massive head, large enough to swallow a human whole.
After a brief exchange of glances—
Laqria opened her mouth.
Ray settled himself atop one of the serpent’s massive fangs.
“Good, I almost caught up—”
The moment Isra’s shout rang out from below, Lacria sprang into motion.
Keeping her mouth open so as not to accidentally swallow Ray, she raced upward along the trunk at a speed matching that of a speeding vehicle.
The top of the World Tree.
It took less than a few minutes for the serpent’s head to emerge through the dense branches and leaves.
Ray dismounted from the fang and climbed onto a nearby thick branch.
“I should’ve asked for your help sooner.”
His body wobbled slightly from the momentum of the sprint, but it didn’t take long for his sense of balance to recover.
Then, slowly, he lifted his head.
And in the moment he looked down at the vast world—too expansive to have ever grasped in its entirety before,
—thump.
The boy’s heart began to race.
—
