Chapter 59: The Sacred Tree’s Propagation Method
Finding an island in the vast sea was much easier than finding a hill on land. Before setting foot on the island, the three circled it, confirming there were no other islands nearby, then officially landed.
The miniature Sacred Tree stood in the center of the island. While miniature, it was still a giant compared to ordinary trees. Its height of twenty to thirty meters and girth requiring several people to encircle made it particularly conspicuous in the surrounding waters. Lush vegetation flourished around it, yet the island seemed devoid of animals, except for some highly specialized insects – they possessed the ability to cling tightly to plants in strong winds and were unusually large.
Unlike the original Sacred Tree, this Stormy Sea branch had numerous aerial roots. These long, soft, noodle-like roots dangled from every branch, swaying in the wind. Abyss could faintly sense a magical vortex centered around the tree. A large amount of magic was being absorbed by the tree through these developed aerial roots.
“Is this the Sacred Tree’s root? So it grows into another tree at the other end?” Leona asked, curiously examining the tree as she stepped onto the island. “That’s quite interesting, like a mother and child.”
“Perhaps because the Sacred Tree isn’t entirely a plant,” Flora said to Leona, dismounting the undead warhorse with Abyss’s help. “I think the Sacred Tree is something between a plant and a magical construct. Similar to a familiar, but different in some aspects. We’ll have to ask Miss Agnes directly for specifics.”
“That’s similar to strawberries,” Abyss mused, stroking his chin as he walked towards the tree. “Strawberries grow stolons from the mother plant, and these stolons develop into daughter plants, making them very efficient at reproducing. However, the Sacred Tree uses its roots for this process. It also has some roots in the seabed, and I don’t know what form they take. The information from the insects is limited.”
“Wait, don’t strawberries grow on trees? How can their stems creep on the ground?” Leona suddenly looked at Abyss in astonishment.
Rebecca’s laughter echoed through the mind link.
“I’ll have Rebecca cultivate a strawberry variety that grows on trees for you sometime,” Abyss chuckled, waving his hand dismissively, not wanting to tease the worldly yet naive princess. “Let’s continue upwards. I want to sense the magic around the Sacred Tree.”
Flora followed closely behind Abyss. “I’ll be responsible for your safety.”
…
As the three approached the miniature Sacred Tree, Abyss closed his eyes, slowly walking forward while trying to sense the magic around it.
Logically, if the Druids in the Elven Kingdoms could sense the mixed power in the magic from the corresponding root, then Abyss should be able to sense it here as well.
Even though the power felt reassuring and comfortable, Abyss had seriously warned the Druids not to consider it benign. Trusting one’s intuition had its advantages and was a favored approach for many Druids, but blindly following intuition could also be detrimental.
Abyss tried hard to find that comforting power around the miniature Sacred Tree, but despite his efforts, he found nothing.
“What’s wrong? No results at all?” Leona, also receiving Abyss’s shared sensations, had been waiting for that comfortable feeling, but it never came. “Could it be that you were careless and made a mistake?”
“The Druids said the feeling was warm and tingling, but I don’t feel anything here,” Flora whispered. Like Leona, she was receiving Abyss’s real-time sensations. “The magic here is no different from before we landed. It’s still chaotic and unsettling, completely different from the Druids’ description.”
“Could there be a special kind of power here that undergoes a qualitative change after being filtered through the Sacred Tree’s roots?” Rebecca’s voice echoed in their minds. “Abyss, do you have any clues?”
“Hmm… To be honest, I don’t sense any special power here,” Abyss shook his head. “This island doesn’t look like it’s been visited… But attributing the Sacred Tree’s problems to natural phenomena doesn’t explain the griffin-transforming elf attacking me. There must be something else…”
Everyone fell silent, except for Leona, who was still curiously looking around. The other three were deep in thought, trying to figure out what they had missed.
“Abyss, I remember you have the ability to sense underground structures,” Flora said. “You sensed the basement when we went to Leona’s old home. Can you sense anything beneath this island?”
“I can’t sense anything. There are no cavities under the island…” Abyss tried using his usually reliable intuition, but still found nothing.
The investigation hit a snag. If they had arrived to find a group of cultists on the island, it would have been simple – a fight would solve the problem. But now, they didn’t even know where the problem lay.
“Wait…” Just as they were at a loss, Rebecca suddenly asked Abyss, “Abyss, your sensing ability isn’t unconditional and absolute, is it?”
“Yes, that’s right. It’s just intuition. I might be more sensitive to things like underground cavities. My master often used my ability to find tombs,” Abyss replied honestly. “Why, Rebecca, do you have an idea?”
“If it’s not absolute, then I think there’s another possibility,” Rebecca’s voice calmly analyzed in their minds. “That is, a hidden space exists in a place you can’t sense!”
“You mean…?” Abyss immediately understood.
“Exactly,” Rebecca said. “I think the problem might not be that the ‘source’ at the end of this root is contaminated, but that something is being added during the ‘transmission process’. We need to follow this root downwards. Perhaps we’ll find something valuable on the seabed.”
Leave a Reply