Bonus Story:
The Three Sacred Trees of Ngai Forest
ALLO, TREANT, AND I trudged through Ngai Forest on our way to battle the Origin Matter after turning back from the Skypiercing Spire. We’d just taken down the horde of weeping banshees, boosting Allo and Treant’s levels significantly. I now felt like we were strong enough to take on the Origin Matter we’d had to run away from the first time we encountered it.
I called out to the others behind me with Telepathy. ‹We’ve been traveling for a while now. Let’s take a break.›
Ngai Forest was vast. We had a lot of ground to cover between the Skypiercing Spire and the area where we first encountered the Origin Matter.
‹Master, may we go a little farther first?› Treant asked.
I hadn’t expected Treant to object to taking a break. It was usually the first person to suggest one… Had we taken too many? I mean, I understood the urgency. A bunch of the Divine Voice’s Spirit Servant lackeys were wreaking havoc on our world as we spoke, not to mention the fact that we had no idea when this Mad God affliction would start affecting us. But still, Allo and Treant had to be exhausted—physically and mentally. If we weren’t in top condition, we wouldn’t stand a chance against an opponent like the Origin Matter. I got that Treant was anxious, but we still needed to take breaks when we could.
‹Oh! I am not opposed to taking a break, Master.› Treant flapped its wings. It must have picked up on some of my thoughts with Telepathy. ‹However, I sense a powerful magical presence up ahead, so I would like to check it out first.›
‹A strong magical presence…?› I repeated, confused. I didn’t sense anything… Had Treant sensed something before I did? I’d kinda thought I’d be a little better at that sorta thing, considering our stat and rank differences… Besides, I didn’t think Treant had any perception skills…
‹Call it intuition, but I feel as if I sense a few fellow members of my genus.›
‹Your…genus?›
‹Indeed. I believe I feel the presence of trees who possess magic, ones different from the other cursed trees around us.›
How did it know that without any related skills? Interesting… I guessed it was just intuition. It wasn’t like I could only do the actions listed in my skill set. But did that mean Treant’s “genus” was trees imbued with magic? I suddenly wondered if we’d stumbled across a colony of Treants.
‹Got it. Sure, let’s check it out first. It might teach us something useful about this weird place. But if it looks dangerous from a distance, we should avoid it.›
Following Treant’s directions, I moved toward these alleged trees that possessed magic. As soon as I laid eyes on them, I knew they were the ones Treant was talking about.
Three strange trees stood side by side in a clearing, apart from the cursed trees. Each were around five meters tall—a decent height for a normal tree, but far shorter than the cursed ones. All three trees possessed distinct, abnormal characteristics.
‹Wh-what the heck…?›
One tree bore a variety of golden fruit on its branches: apples, bananas, oranges, ones that looked distinctly grapelike…and more unusual ones I couldn’t remember the names of. They all shimmered the same shade of gold.
The second tree had deep hollows along its trunk and branches, each filled with what appeared to be crushed fruit pulp and juice, like a variety of fruits had been stuffed unceremoniously into it at random. A thick, honeylike substance dripped from its hollows. As we got closer, I noticed a sweet scent in the air. Had someone stuffed fruit into this tree? But, like…why? What for?
The third tree had what could only be described as chicken meat hanging from its branches. There was no other way to describe it; they looked just like raw, plucked chickens with their heads removed and all the blood drained from their bodies.
Those things look ready to get cooked to a crispy golden brown and served up on a dinner platter. Why’re they hanging from a tree like a bunch of fruits?!
“Wh-what is this…?” Allo stared in wonder. I could see why. This scene looked like something from the kind of nightmare you got while you were home with the flu. I felt like my head was about to explode. There went my hope of learning anything about Ngai Forest. The only thing clear to me was that common sense didn’t apply here.
‹Oooh! What yummy-looking fruits!› Treant exclaimed, completely oblivious.
‹Fruits?! Which ones?!› The golden fruit didn’t look edible, the fruit on the second tree was all crushed and mushy, and I wouldn’t call those lumps of meat fruit… Was Treant hallucinating or something?
The tree spirit in question hopped off my back and made to move toward the trees. I threw out a paw to stop it.
‹Wait, Treant! These are no ordinary trees! I’ll scope them out first to make sure they’re safe. Just hang back for a sec!›
Honestly, I felt like it’d be smarter to just pretend we never saw these trees and walk on by. There was something wrong with these things. But Treant hung its head in disappointment when I stopped it. It seemed fascinated by these strange trees, and I’d have felt like I’d let Treant down if I just told it to ignore them.
I warily leaned closer to the first tree, the one with golden fruit.
Tree of Gold: Value L (Legendary). A tree which bears golden fruit, as described in countless fairy tales. Long ago, two small countries waged a long, bloodthirsty war over the land where this tree stood. By the time one country emerged victorious over the other, the damage caused by the war was so great that the tree’s golden harvest was no longer sufficient to cover the cost. Ironically, the very next day after the war ended, the tree withered away.
Oho… A legendary tree? And those fruits weren’t just golden in color…they were real gold. In our outside world, this tree would be worth a fortune. But in Ngai Forest, it was nothing more than a pretty decoration. Regardless, I was relieved to know there was nothing particularly dangerous about the Tree of Gold—even if it did have a pretty disturbing story attached to it.…
I turned my attention to the second tree—the one with the many hollows.
Tree of Sacred Wine: Value L (Legendary). A tree said to have been created by the god of wine-lovers. The hollows of this tree flow with rich honey, and various fruits grow and ripen inside them. The fruits swell and crush each other, then mix together with the honey and ferment into fruit wine. It is said that just one sip of this rich, sweet wine can turn hell into heaven.
Another legendary tree… This forest was full of all kinds of wonders. I was worried that there might be monsters around throwing fruit into its hollows, but I guess it was all done by the tree itself. How convenient. So, thankfully, the second tree didn’t seem dangerous either.
The alcohol produced by the Tree of Sacred Wine is highly addictive, inducing pleasure and a powerful hallucinogenic effect. Countless rulers, great sages, and renowned scholars have succumbed to the wine’s effects and wasted their lives away in a haze of drunken pleasure.
Whoa. This wine sounded less like alcohol and more like a dangerous drug. Just when I thought this tree was harmless… Well, I guessed it was fine as long as we stayed away from the wine, but it didn’t feel like a safe tree to be around for long.
Finally, I looked at the third tree, which bore the big hunks of what seemed like chicken meat.
Tree of Meat: Value L (Legendary). A tree which bears flesh, referred to in parables from Church of the Holy God. Said to bear fruit which closely resembles chicken meat.
The Church of the Holy God…that was the religion Lilyxila and the Holy Land Lialum followed, that worshipped the Divine Voice.
But…this wasn’t just fruit that looked like meat. It was meat. Even I could see that. My eyes trailed toward the cleanly severed necks of the chicken carcasses. How could anyone look at these things and call them fruit?
Of course, no such fruit truly exists. The tree is only used as a metaphorical symbol to teach followers lessons on unconscious selfishness.
But it’s literally right in front of me?! I agree, this thing is way too weird to be real, but here it is! In the flesh—literally! Don’t think you can gaslight me…