After entering this floor, my confidence in our assessment of the past events was slightly shaken. This is the first time in four floors that we were all together on the other side of the door.

This floor’s initial setup though was quite similar to the thirty first floor. We were in a city, in the middle of the road and everything around us was void of color and seemingly frozen in time. There weren’t any people around us to really check but the few lights that were visible had no flicker.

Quartz had gotten ever so slightly better, but he still hadn’t said anything, nor had he fed Mezu. Which would’ve been concerning if he hadn’t been fine all the other times they’d been separated. Well… he hasn’t been alone with either me or Sailhin though…. So, we don’t really know how he’ll be.

The ding came and the banner revealed itself at eye level.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to floor 37: The Great Tree

Description: The kingdom of Kalandria used to be a kingdom of nomads. Its citizens moving to wherever the food was, able to run at any sign of danger. But as if being rewarded by the gods for hard work surviving in their ever changing and almost desolate lands, they were gifted a tree with golden leaves. At first, they were weary but eventually they came to realize the safety they gained from the tree. And in order to protect and take care of the gift from the gods the nomads changed their way of life. For the first time, they built their homes to last.

Centuries had past and now the grand capital lives under the expansive branches of the gods’ gift. However, their peaceful lives have been disrupted. For unknown reasons, the protection provided by the tree has weakened. Its golden leaves have dimmed and before the citizens could search and find the problem the capital came under siege by a lich. The army of undead had swarmed the city streets seeking to feed on the power emanating from the tree’s heart.

Your party was resting in the city when an emergency signal sounded out. You and other adventurers were offered a reward if you assist in the city’s protection.

Completion Requirements:

Stop the Lich’s assault.

Starting in 10

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The banner switched to a count down.

“Alright, Dodger, Brick and Quartz, you three and go off and fight,” Sailhin said.

Quartz without any prompting and only some semblance of awareness of his surroundings, that he seemed to have only acquired somewhat recently, he cut off his arm and passed it to Mezu. Mezu didn’t take it immediately, and he hesitantly reached his hands out.

Quartz’s face shifted slightly, some movement was something, and Mezu seemed comfortable enough to take it.

“Alright bye!” Dodger said pulling Quartz off.

Brick ruffled Mezu’s hair and signed “we’ll watch over him,” before he ran after them.

Unsurprisingly, only now, Mezu didn’t follow. He just put the bleeding end of Quartz’s arm in his mouth and began to suck.

I looked away quickly towards the others. But only Sailhin was there.

From a distance I heard Dot shout, “Well Lefty and I already had our time, so we’ll head off too!”

I looked off in the direction I heard her from to see them heading of in the same direction that the others had gone.

I looked at Sailhin and was about to speak when Mezu hugged my leg tightly. His eyes looked up at me and his mouth was clamping onto Quartz’s arm. I gave him a shaky smile before looking to Sailhin.

“Seems like it’s your turn. It’s a bit strange that we started in the same place though. I think you should go to the tree. Until the tree itself is fixed I doubt the siege will end even if we try and kill the lich.”

I sighed and picked him up. Sure, I’d mostly gotten used to him eating a half elf, but I wasn’t completely comfortable with it. After all we couldn’t be sure what half of Quartz it was that Mezu found tasty. I hoped that it was his goliath half, or even better it was just because he was mixed. Like how food feels more like a meal when its mixed together.

The world around us started up again and the sounds of fighting now reached my ears.

“Alright, I should go manage the battle.” She looked off to the fighting, “You got this. See you after!”

Sailhin ran off in the same direction of the others. It wasn’t overly comforting that she wouldn’t look me in the eye after cheering me on. But then again, she always seems to be distracted by the duo of plan ruiners rather than me. Though one of the duo is currently mentally not there.

I was now alone with Mezu.

Just me and the little kid that I still wasn’t sure of his opinion of me.

The little kid that sucked on Quartz’s blood like it was the best thing to drink.

I managed to hold eye contact with him for a bit as he sucked.

Nope.

I looked away and shuddered.

Watching him do it would only make things worse.

After this floor though, he needs to be washed. He’s got too much dried blood around his lips and in his hair.

Alright Paeris, focus on the task at hand. I need to find this tree. The floor description was very colorful, and described the branches as immense so the tree must be easy to find. If the city was built around it, the tree’s trunk should sit at its center.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Since it’s nighttime, using the tree as a positional marker wouldn’t be helpful, but just going towards the more elaborately constructed buildings will be a good start. A common trend I noticed during my studies of past and current civilizations is that the more wealthy tended to live closer to places of cultural or religious significance. With how detailed the other floors had been, following that assumption shouldn’t point me in the wrong direction.

There was no practical way for me to travel with Mezu, except for flying him around. Carrying him on my back was an option but probably not the most ideal choice. I wouldn’t say it was a question of whether or not I could carry him, and still use my bow. As an elf my baseline of strength was higher than humans, but I still wouldn’t say I’m physically strong enough to be able to handle the sudden difference for a sustained amount of time, even if it was just carrying him around.

Lefty and Dot said he was relatively comfortable being flown around so that would probably be the best thing to do.

I collected a cloud of mana and put it under him tethering it to my bow. He pouted somewhat now that he was out of my arms. I didn’t think he’d care that much, but I guess he’s used to being with Quartz all the time. And it has been a while since he’s been carried around.

“Sorry bud, I’m not as strong as him. But I’m sure he’ll be better after this floor, and you’ll get to make him carry you around everywhere.”

I put a somewhat forced smile on, it was still hard to do it naturally while looking at him eating.

I looked around and the buildings didn’t seem overly run down or adorned. They were plain. I’d have to get a better vantage point. Though, with it being nighttime, I wonder if there would be enough light for me to see much. I went to the closest building and climbed up.

I took a look around me.

In the direction the other’s ran off too, there were small collections of a warm glow not too spaced out from each other. The sounds of battle were mainly coming from that same direction.

I looked in the exact opposite direction and the city seemed to get taller and taller. Whether it was the ground or just the buildings themselves, I wasn’t sure, but heading in this direction was probably the best choice.

But with things being dark I wondered if mana sight would give me a better picture of things.

I blinked and saw the natural state of mana. Though there was a slight discrepancy with the mana in the distance, there was some sort of warp to them, as if there was barrier distorting the image of things. I turned around towards the fighting and everything seemed normal. The distortion could be linked to the powers of the tree. I panned my head from the undistorted view, back to the distortion. I could now tell where the edges of the distortion started. With a better understanding of its relative position, I headed in that direction.

It was best to conserve as much mana as I possible, there was no telling what I’d have to deal with, how much fighting I’d have to do versus any healing I’d have to perform. So, running across the roof tops got my blood pumping. I continued to use my mana sight until the distorted space took up the majority of my view.

Once off I took a look at the buildings. My initial assumption was right, the buildings were now further apart but also quite large. In this light I couldn’t tell the colors of the ornaments but with there being ornaments I’m sure I was in the wealthier art of town.

I was almost done with rooftops to run along though. Two buildings ahead of me there was a large grand, palace like building. If they linked the tree to their religion, having a space large enough for people to visit the tree was good. Or if they restricted visitation, then having the palace built around it would give the ruling class even more of an excuse to control things.

Though the tree itself, if it was indeed large, would have a large trunk… and yet I couldn’t see anything. If the tree was distorting the mana enough for me to see it, and it was taking up all the space I could see at this point I should be close enough to see some sign of the tree.

There was enough light from the palace, but now that I focused in on it, it was distorted as well. It kind of looked like a painting, if that painting was alive and moving.

How fascinating. If this was a created spell that would be so interesting to study. I headed closer and once I jumped down from the final building and only the palace was ahead of me, I seemed to be past the barrier.

Infront of me, the palace no longer seemed like a living painting, instead it was a grand and elaborate feat of architecture and design.

Sprouting up from the palace was a large trunk. And as I followed it up with my eyes, I saw golden canopy covering the sky. It certainly was a sight. Though our Jaichoeubre had always been described as something much grander than this. The leaves themselves seemed to be emitting the light that lit up the general area.

The trunk itself appeared to have some lights affixed to it, and the palace was lit on its own, though currently it wasn’t very light. The fighting didn’t seem to have reached here just yet, the barrier, whatever it’s source, seemed to be working at the very least.

No need to waste any more mana to activate another cloud for myself, probably best to just share Mezu’s.

I pulled him over and stretched the already activated cloud, I sat myself on the newly stretched portion and directed us to fly higher and over the palace’s walls.

If there was something wrong with the tree, it was best to head there directly. Avoid all the people and just head straight to the problem.

The tree was in the center of a large courtyard. The land surrounding the tree was very well maintained. There was a diverse yet cohesive ecosystem of flora and fauna that was kept from the base of the tree by a river flowing around it. Well, I suppose not a river, the tree could technically be sitting on an island, and the water surrounding it a pond, well a lake at this scale, and the small streams branching from it seemed to support the surrounding vegetation.

If it wasn’t for the obviously created structures surrounding this space, you would feel as if you had stepped into a forest. We were so far from the battle, but even if it was directly outside the walls of the palace I felt as if I wouldn’t be able to hear it from here.

I landed on the other side of the river and put the cloud back to its original state.

I sent a fresh pulse of mana through my limbs, it always seemed to help me get a feel for external mana patterns.

I put out a hand towards the tree, hesitating only for a moment.

I’d never tried to connect with something so large before.

The instant I lay my hand on the tree, my eyes closed, and I could see the extensive structure of it. It was different than mana sight.

I know some of my classmates had described this completely different. There were some who saw nothing but could still sense the flow and structure of the object. Some could visualize it but only partially, it was a complicated task. They always seemed to describe it as they felt that they were aware of the space and distances, and they used that to create the general structure of the object.

For me and a few others, we just saw it without much difficulty. As if it was a replacement for the world seen when our eyes were open. Well, the world with mana sight, and there was no separation of colors to determine the type of mana. We simply saw the mana of the object in its natural state.

If the natural state was somehow disturbed, I should be able to see a change or a gap in the structure where there shouldn’t be.

I looked up at the branches. The glowing leaves were making it difficult, and at times like these I wish I had the steps that the others had. They were able to separate parts of the structure to get a clearer look. I glared at the leaves and turned to look down instead.

The leaves were there for everyone to see. If they were harmed at the top of the tree that would be the hardest to see but for a tree to be sick, it’d probably loose leaves. The inhabitants would’ve noticed if their great tree was sheading its leaves.

If the issue was within the roots, then the inhabitants would miss it until the tree’s upper parts were affected.

The root system was even larger than the canopy. They reached out deep and far off, probably extending out to every part of the city. It would make sense if the roots were the source of the protection the city had experienced. And as the city grew, the roots grew with it. The exterior veil however could be something that the inhabitants created themselves, and the palace was the marker for the distance.

I took a look at the roots in groups and finally saw a shift in the color of the natural state. Once the change was visible, it was a lot easier for me to follow it back to the trunk. From there I stepped around the trunk until I stood over it.

The only problem was how I was even going to get to it. Even if I could manipulate earth mana, the absolute waste of my stored mana would make any repairing I’d need to do difficult.

If I was slightly close to the original wound, I would be able to slightly help things but if I didn’t destroy the source… Would it count as healing it?

My sleeve was tugged at.

“Not now.”

He tugged again so I turned to look at him and saw him pointing at two small floating things.