Light rose into the empty air and began to speak.
Once the system was working properly, Yggdrasil stopped her first.
“I did this. So please, calm yourself.”
Elisia flew into a rage as she watched the tree split and crumble.
“It is my everything. The last remaining trace of my mother!”
“I know. That is why I intervened. I could not stand to see my child toyed with and left half-dead.”
“…….”
Yggdrasil looked at the crumbling tree and spoke.
“Countless children of mine die, crumbling as they burn. This, too, is the natural order.”
“I need no such natural order. Just… return my mother to me. O Primordial Mother Tree.”
Elisia begged Yggdrasil.
“And so I have done so.”
The tree that had birthed the monster turned to light.
It gathered into one and condensed even smaller.
“Death is not the end. It is merely another path leading back to life.”
The condensed light vanished, leaving only a single small seed behind.
“I hope you follow the natural order. And let me give you one warning.”
The atmosphere changed abruptly. Yggdrasil unleashed a faint wrath upon the elf.
“Stop pulling out dying World Trees and remaking them. I hear the screams of the children. Let them pass in peace.”
“Hee-hee?”
She looked at her strangely.
“But I only have one mother.”
“…….”
Yggdrasil disappeared in disgust.
“Pull out another child, and you will die by my hand.”
Elisia picked up the seed with an expression full of longing.
Soon, she held it preciously to her chest and shed streaming tears.
“Mother, my mother.”
‘This elf’s pupils are a bit strange….’
At a glance, she was clearly not someone sane.
“I-I… shall take my leave for now?”
She nodded silently.
“I-I’ll come tomorrow!”
He scurried away.
Sinhyeok left her space and headed toward the dwarf’s workshop.
“You brat! Where do you think you’re running off to! Why didn’t you come!”
Aurumstone flew into a rage at seeing Sinhyeok arrive so late.
“I was busy.”
“Hmph! What could you possibly be busy with!”
“Goodness.”
Sinhyeok paused for a moment and plopped down in a corner.
Soon, he opened his mouth with difficulty and asked the dwarf one thing.
“But Teacher….”
“What is it? You haven’t even finished organizing the warehouse, brat.”
“I’ll do that later.”
Looking at him, Sinhyeok thought of that crazy elf from earlier.
A complete madwoman who had pulled out World Trees from other worlds and remade them, all to find her lost World Tree.
‘In a way, was it desperation?’
Unable to contain his curiosity, he opened Pandora’s box.
“…Teacher, what is a World Tree to an elf?”
“Hmm, I suppose ‘everything’ would be correct. That is what it means to them. It is their mother, their home, their world, their spirit, their culture.”
“Hmm. Then can it be replaced with another World Tree?”
“Of course not. Many World Trees may coexist in this universe, but they are all different. Entirely different beings.”
Aurumstone gave him advice as if warning him.
“Do not try to understand. It is a realm only they can comprehend.”
At those words, Sinhyeok couldn’t forget Elisia’s expression from earlier.
Those pupils steeped in madness, yet genuine and desperate.
‘Then is Ichan the same… But why isn’t the system giving me any pro tips?’
[I have not forgotten.]
‘That’s a relief.’
[Try using synthesis.]
“Huh?!”
[Strengthening and synthesis are but a hair’s breadth apart. The key is to make the other party’s traits stand out.]
[Empty yourself and accept the other. Only when you are empty can you see the other.]
‘Too philosophical.’
[End.]
And it vanished just like that.
[Some updated functions are being blocked.]
“Damn it. Shit….”
The dwarf looked at Sinhyeok oddly as he muttered to himself.
“Did you eat something wrong? What are you doing talking to yourself?”
“Sigh, I really don’t know.”
Bang bang bang!
Aurumstone’s eyes went wide at the sight of the door being pounded violently.
“Damn! Why is that crazy bitch coming here!?”
Bang!
The door was forced open, and she barged in looking even more benevolent and cheerful.
“Hohoho~ My liege, you were here~”
“T-that… why is that crazy bitch like that!”
Aurumstone backed away quickly in disgust.
Sinhyeok laughed awkwardly and stepped back slightly.
“Why don’t you spend more time in reunion with that seed from earlier. Enjoy your mother a bit more.”
“Hoho! It’s fine. Come quickly. We still have so much left unfinished, don’t we?”
Elisia snatched Sinhyeok’s wrist.
“J-just a… little while!”
‘Ugh, such monstrous strength…! D-damn it!’
She dragged Sinhyeok along with considerable brute strength.
Sinhyeok glared at Aurumstone and mouthed.
‘Teacher!’
Aurumstone shook his head anxiously.
“Sorry, I can’t handle that crazy bitch either.”
Dragged along, Sinhyeok entered her space once again.
“Haha! My liege, I am feeling very, very refreshed right now!”
Sinhyeok flinched every time she spoke.
“My liege, please continue what you were doing. Hee-hee.”
“S-shall I?”
He was so surprised his speech became strange.
“I-I’ll go!”
Elisia followed closely behind.
‘W-why are you following me!’
They arrived back at the field he had been tending.
She was right behind him.
“Aren’t you going anywhere?”
“I’m not busy.”
“I am… a bit busy.”
“Then I’ll watch from behind.”
She sat on the ground and quietly stared at Sinhyeok.
She watched silently, and when their eyes met, she grinned.
Gulp, gulp.
“That’s… a little scary.”
“Is it?”
She turned half a rotation to the side and looked at him from the side.
He shuddered.
Her sideways glance was even more frightening.
“Please just look at me from the front.”
Sinhyeok decided to just ignore her and try what Yggdrasil had advised.
‘“Empty yourself and accept the other,” what?’
“Sigh, I don’t know. It told me to try synthesis.”
He grabbed whatever was at hand and examined it closely.
‘But what am I supposed to synthesize? Mana?’
“My liege, I just saw hope.”
He flinched.
He began to grow scared at her words from behind.
“My homeland burned away. My mother tree couldn’t even leave behind a single seed. All that remained was a single leaf.”
“I-is that so?”
“I tried to revive it, clinging to that leaf. That result from earlier was exactly that. I devoted many lives to that which I thought was my mother. I believed that if I did so, it would return.”
‘Mad.’
He could roughly guess her deeds.
‘An elf crazy for trees.’
“Phew, they were difficult days. I tried to artificially create a World Tree. I manipulated and fused countless species. When that didn’t work, I pulled out other World Trees. Of course, only dying ones.”
Sinhyeok grew increasingly terrified by the life story of the considerably deranged elf being laid bare behind him.
“Every method failed, but today I experienced a miracle.”
Sinhyeok began to think he should run away from the increasingly excited elf’s mutterings.
‘Where should I run?’
“My liege!”
He jumped.
Sinhyeok trembled in surprise at that moment.
“W-why?”
“You are my benefactor. So if you ever need help, just ask.”
Then she sprang to her feet.
“A-are you leaving?”
“Yes! I must gather my strength again for our mother!”
Tadadadat!
She was quite frightening as she ran off smiling.
“Shall I heap plenty of fertilizer so she grows quickly!”
Sinhyeok was relieved when she disappeared.
“Mother, see you soon!”
He shuddered.
For some reason, her words seemed horrifying.
“She’s pretty scary.”
Once she was gone, Sinhyeok could finally concentrate at ease.
“Sigh, shall I really focus now.”
‘How with synthesis.’
He recalled Yggdrasil’s advice.
‘Make the other stand out. Empty myself?’
He plucked a random weed before him and concentrated.
‘I roughly understand what I’m supposed to do.’
In short, wasn’t it something like this?
He stared intently at the plucked weed.
Looking very, very closely, this weed, too, held its own unique mana.
‘I can see it. What am I supposed to do with this?’
Perhaps Yggdrasil’s advice was to somehow do this through synthesis.
“Synthesis.”
[Attempting synthesis.]
He manually mixed the surrounding mana with the weed’s mana.
“Ooh! It’s working. It’s working!”
[Synthesis failed.]
Tsk.
Uh, no.
“Ah, damn it!”
Sinhyeok simply couldn’t grasp the feeling.
“I don’t get it.”
He grabbed the weed and tried again.
‘Mixing. In the end, it’s all the same thing!’
Even trying again, the resonance amplifying the weed’s unique aura did not occur.
“Sigh, I don’t know, hah.”
He threw the weed and lay down on the ground.
“How do elves do this? It’s crazy hard.”
His head was numb. It had been a short time, but he had gone through so much that he was utterly exhausted.
“I think the time is almost up.”
When he casually checked his phone, a lot of time had passed.
“Ah, I’m completely screwed. I haven’t harvested a single herb.”
“My liege~ if this continues, you won’t get tomorrow’s special meal~”
The elf’s words came from afar on the wind.
“I know. Sigh….”
‘This is bad.’
There were no definitive results.
Sinhyeok sighed deeply and sprang to his feet.
“Moping like this won’t solve anything. Let’s ask someone.”
This Hongik had many good and excellent mentors.
“Starting with Ichan!”
Since he was born an elf, he might have some useful advice.
* * *
“Ichan!! Resonance! How do you do resonance!”
“Hm? Resonance? Hm… it’s hard to explain. I’ve just been able to do it since birth.”
“Tsk. Tell me in more detail!”
“Hyung, have you ever consciously thought about how to breathe since you were born?”
“Well, no….”
Ichan replied, looking at Sinhyeok with a blank expression.
“Don’t you have anything to say about yourself?”
‘“Empty myself”? Originally, when elves are in the forest, they don’t have their own energy. They are filled entirely with World Tree energy.’
“Tsk.”
None of the answers were any good.
“Then how did you do resonance when you were on Earth?”
“Of course I couldn’t.”
“…….”
Sinhyeok replied quickly.
“Okay, you’re disqualified.”
“Ah, why!”
Ichan got teary at the word disqualified.
“Just say I passed!”
“No, I don’t want to! Go back!”
“Hmph!”
Sinhyeok went out, looked around, sighed, and naturally headed to the place he always ran away to.
“Aah, this is just right.”
When his heart was complicated, he naturally ended up here.
‘“Empty yourself and accept the other.” How do you even do that.’
Squeak.
Suddenly the window above opened.
Sinhyeok flinched.
“Are you learning resonance?”
He saw the Chief Archmage poking her face out the window.
“I am, but aren’t you busy, Chief?”
“Then aren’t you busy? Playing hooky here.”
“Urk, I came here to think for a moment.”
Gim Hyeonsuk looked at Sinhyeok intently and smiled faintly.
“That elf must be quite a headache. Is she still making sacrifices to the tree and such?”
“Did she have a splendid record?”
“Of course. These days she’s fine.”
The Chief Archmage stuck her face all the way out beneath the window and looked at Sinhyeok.
“You’ll be cracking your head for a while. Ryu Jihyeon struggled with it for days too.”
She just kept laughing.
“Ah, please stop teasing me. My head really hurts.”
“Kekekeup.”
The Chief Archmage laughed, perched on the window, and took out a candy.
“No matter how much you ask, the answer won’t come out. Sinhyeok, they say all streams return to one source. In the end, it all becomes one. Even if you take tens of thousands of paths.”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t listen too much to advice from others. In the end, your method will be different too. It’s like how the same technique is learned and mastered differently by each person. It’s all different.”
Sinhyeok looked at the Chief Archmage giving him sincere advice.
“Are you telling me to find my own method?”
“Of course. But there is a fair trick to it.”
“Oh?”
‘“Empty yourself” means to change all the energy you possess. Only then can you match it with the other’s.’
“Eum?! Ah! What the! So that’s it!”
The Chief Archmage looked at him with a puzzled expression, as he seemed to have figured something out.
“What do you know?”
Sinhyeok was already running off into the distance.
“Hey! Hey! What did you figure out! I was just rambling!”