Ariel sat on the carriage, looking at the forest on the side of the road. They were returning from a city to the east of Sirol City. In her hand, there was a letter with information difficult to swallow.

However, the signature below made it quite challenging to take it as false information.

"Hello, Miss Ariel.

I am Verena Liferoot, and I have written this letter so that you stop visiting the Golden Sap Forest for the foreseeable future. The situation is too complicated to involve more parties in.

Regards."

Ariel frowned and stored the simple yet clear letter. While she didn't know what had happened, she knew that a few people knew about the existence of the World Tree in the middle of the grove.

"What do I do with this…? Sigh." Ariel muttered. "Well, at least no one really managed to associate us with the World Tree. Lady Verena probably knew because she had been observing her daughter's movements."

The old explorer approached and asked. "Can we really do nothing for that young tree?"

Ariel looked at her companion with a complicated smile. After Liu Shu's berries helped him reach Level 10, the man's loyalty toward the World Tree was deep. Sadly for them, this time, Level 10 was not enough to help.

"We can't. Families in the world's canopy are getting involved. Those involved are influential enough even to force Lady Verena Liferoot to send someone like me a letter."

Robert hummed and scratched his beard. "Well, if in the future that young tree manages to overcome things, we should pay a visit."

Ariel laughed. "Agreed. Let's try to grow until then. We actually have a favor to pay out. Her fruits have made us very popular. Sunflower Caravan, forward!"

Robert smiled. "Order received, Caravan leader!"

Larte, the caravan's ex-leader, snorted in the distance. "Ariel, don't let success go to your head because I appointed you as the leader!"

Ariel laughed louder. "Aye, aye! Sir!"

***

Meanwhile, in the White Flower Forest to the northwest of Liu Shu's position, the remnants of the Void Witherwood Exarchs gathered in their operation base.

One of the highest-level ones who remained alive, a Level 17 Human, slammed the table and asked, "What do we do!? The leader is gone!"

Another Level 17 frowned. "Without our leader, we are done for as an organization. The people left are not enough to sustain our activities."

A Level 14 man screamed. "We should take revenge!"

"Take revenge?" A woman by his side snorted. "Are you stupid? We had 80% of our forces gathered in that town, and not one of them has returned! If we hadn't received news from Lord Eldric that everyone there has been annihilated, we would still be stupidly waiting for orders!"

The woman commented. "How about we join Lord Eldric? He said that he wouldn't let this slide since it was quite a significant investment on his part. Moreover, he lost around 10 Stormbird Riders and their mounts the first time. That has angered him quite a lot since it is the first time that wanting to get something has cost him so much. Moreover, he has yet to be successful."

"Become the lapdogs of a noble? You are dreaming!"

The woman lifted an eyebrow. "Do you have better ideas? We will gain a new, competent leader. Get the support of a powerful family. Moreover, we can slowly wash off our past identities and integrate again."

The only Level 19 present looked at the woman and asked, his voice deep. "Have you forgotten who Void Witherwood Exarchs belong to?"

The woman's smug smile cracked as she looked at the man who spoke. "We are in this land to impart the will of the Nexus. I don't care what you do for your own benefit, but the will live and die to fulfill the purpose. Our purpose is to gain a foothold in this land, so we will ignore the Golden Sap Forest and start recruitment again. Our Leader started without a real solid base, yet we have 40 first-cycle warriors on our side and a large part of the capital we accumulated. If a simple setback can bring us down, then all the efforts our ancestors made would disappear. Prepare to infiltrate into nearby cities and avoid World Tree-dominated areas."

The woman snarled. "Why are you acting as if you are our leader!? Being Level 19 doesn't give you the right to start ordering us around!"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The man nodded. "You are right, Level 19 doesn't." Then, his aura burst outward, swallowing everything with a profound presence.

The woman choked out a scream. "L-Level 20!? When!? How!? Alaric, when did you Level Up!?"

Alaric snorted. "I don't need to explain myself. Now, restart the efforts to rebuild the ! Also, send messages to and . Tell them that we need assistance to expand the Nexus' will to these lands. They will be quite eager to help."

***

In the Azurebell Heather Sect, Eldric threw a chair against the wall for the eighth time and continued to worsen the mess in his room. "Liferoot low-life! It's just a stupid plant house that luckily gained intelligence!"

At his side, the captain of the Stormbird Rider squad commented. "Sir, you need to calm down."

"Shut up!" Eldric snapped at him and pointed at his nose. "What were you doing either way!? It was a FIFTEEN against THREE! Why did you take so much time!?"

The captain replied coldly. "Three transformed Sylvans are not easy to deal with without casualties, Sir Eldric."

Eldric shouted. "THEN DO IT WITH CASUALTIES!"

The captain looked at Eldric's reddish face for a few seconds and sighed. "Sir Eldric, when you calm down, call me again. I am reporting to Lord Stormrider about the loss of those guards to replenish our numbers."

Eldric's face turned white, and he grabbed the back of his shirt. "Wait! Don't!"

The captain paused and looked back with a frown. "We are just 15 now, Sir Eldric. A group of 25 is ideal to bring out all the strength of our battle formations."

Eldric plopped himself on a couch and sighed. "I know. But father will kill me. Training each of your kind is quite costly, so losing 10 of them… He will need to ask and know why, right?"

The captain nodded. "That's natural, Sir Eldric."

Eldric took a bottle of alcohol from the side and poured himself a cup. "Then, don't tell him what happened. Tell him that you were ambushed by someone my father hates, and that's it."

The captain saw his action and paused his steps. With a sigh, he said. "While we are your personal guards, we belong to the Stormrider family first. I can't lie to your father, Sir Eldric."

Seeing Eldric's face twist in a grimace, the Captain sighed again. He had been with Eldric since he was little, so their relationship was similar to that of an uncle and nephew. 'I need to correct his attitude so that he becomes a proper leader. Enough pampering.'

He approached and sat by his side. "I know Sir Eldric is currently sad and angry, so you are just venting. This is probably your first loss to this degree."

Eldric didn't listen and took the cup to his lips, but the captain stopped the glass. Eldric looked at him with a glare, but seeing the stern face of the usually calm and tolerant person, he couldn't help but feel a bit startled.

"Sir Eldric, isn't it enough?"

Eldric frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Sir Eldric has been free and has done many wrong things. We've been complicit to all your wishes, evil or otherwise. So, we are not much better people than you."

Eldric frowned as he listened, and the captain continued. "How about you start to learn how to lead and become stronger properly?"

Eldric placed the glass on the table and crossed his arms, raising his handsome brow. "Are you lecturing me?"

The captain stood from the couch. "This time, your arrogance caused the death of 10 brothers and sisters and their companions. Time to learn from that."

Eldric leaned on the couch and supported his chin with one hand. After the captain left, his lips arched mockingly. "Does he think that he is my actual uncle?" Eldric retook the glass and drank from it.

His lips arched mockingly, and he stood up. Walking to the side of the room, he opened an adorned red and brown box with a golden key. Inside, three fruits lay on a luxurious cotton pillow.

"Malachai gave me one of these each, telling me it came from that World Tree," Eldric remembered the towering World Tree, and greed flashed in his eyes. ", , and . Who would've thought that a miracle fruit like this existed?"

Eldric hummed. "More than Cinderielle, I now want that World Tree. If I can get it, don't talk about becoming the next family head. My Stormrider Family will leap to the next stage!"

"But, it is difficult. It seems that the Liferoot family has already placed their eyes on that tree… Do I involve my family? A direct confrontation doesn't really benefit us. They are powerful, but these fruits have limited value in critical high-level battlefields."

Eldric pondered, not knowing what to do for now. "Father will probably recall me back to the family after he learns I lost 10 Stormbird riders. I guess I need to gather support from others in my generation and create an alliance. After I eat the breakthrough berry, I will become much stronger, so garnering attention and benefits will be possible."

With many thoughts in mind, undercurrents started moving in the nearby areas.

***

While it wasn't that large of an event for outside forces, the borderline destruction of the Void Witherwood Exarchs didn't go unnoticed.

Something drastic must have happened for a power led by a Level 20 to be silently annihilated. Yet, as everyone investigated each other, nobody found conclusive clues about anybody's participation.

Soon, though, reports of Verena Liferoot's recent movements around that area started coming alight, making many guess that those people angered Verena by targeting her daughter one way or another.

After all, there were reports that said that they saw Verena Liferoot carrying her injured child and another two away from a forest.

With this new information, many leaders rolled their eyes and ignored it. 'Provoking that woman is not something a faction with just a Level 20 should do.'

Still, many realized that there have also been recent movements in the Golden Sap Forest. This made the change the category from a Level 5 to 10 F zone to a Level 10 to 19 F+ Zone.

This change shocked many living in nearby cities like Fortuna and Sirol City, and they wondered what caused such an abrupt change.

After all, being Level 10+ meant that people lower than Level 10 had a really high chance of encountering lethal danger. The Level ranges were placed to tell explorers where they could go and harvest resources or hunt efficiently. After all, a Level 15 would never purposefully go to a Level 5 zone to hunt. The Experience Points gained that way were just too little.

While not aware of it, Liu Shu's actions silently affected the world around her, moving everything towards a new era.