Chapter 78
78. World Tree
The next day, I woke to Eleanor's presence approaching my door.
“Did you sleep well last night, my dear?”
“Yeah, slept great.”
I gave Eleanor, who greeted me with a bright smile, a perfunctory answer. In truth, I hadn't slept a wink.
I kept being bothered by the distinctive presence I felt from Eleanor, so I spent the whole night investigating it.
Of course, I hadn't learned much. To begin with, my basic understanding of mana was far too lacking.
I did have some background knowledge from learning mana control with Eleanor on the 7th floor, but in other words, that was all I had.
Most of the knowledge and tips Eleanor gave me were far too abstract.
So last night, for the first time in a while, I dug through the open community forums.
Mana control and mana detection skills are the sort of things every mage-type class has at least one of.
So I thought if I looked hard enough, I'd find information or a guide that would answer my questions. I was completely wrong.
[Author : Park Chanyong#1442]
[Title : What does this mana attunement skill even do?]
They say it's good if it's high, but is it just a prerequisite for the skill quest? How do you use it?
- High mana attunement makes your skills more efficient. It's a must-have skill.
- But that explanation isn't written anywhere. Are you sure?
- The description doesn't say it, but any mage main would know.
- I'm a level 60 fire mage, and anything with 'mana' in front of it can't hurt if it's higher.
- So what's the exact effect?
- Dunno about the specifics, but it's good anyway.
Yeah, it's a prerequisite for mage skill quests. Without it, you'd probably be unable to learn even half your skills.
There was practically no challenger who properly understood mana attunement and the other mana-related passive skills.
Most people didn't even properly understand the basic principles of mana control, let alone how to use the skills they had learned.
Even high-level strategy-focused challengers and ranker-class challengers knew it was important, but very few knew the specifics.
There were some self-proclaimed 'orthodox mages' who seemed to have their own understanding of mana.
But even those guys contradicted each other on everything, and the community treated them like outright frauds, so they were far too untrustworthy.
In the end, I hadn't really found anything and had just spent the whole night lurking on the community boards.
“Did you really sleep well? You look a little tired.”
While I was lost in thought, mulling over what had happened yesterday, Eleanor suddenly leaned her face close and asked.
“I told you, I just overdid it a bit yesterday.”
With that, I took out the pendant I'd received from Eleanor and showed it to her.
“I used this.”
The final reward from the 7th-floor quest, which lets the user temporarily boost their mana in a limited way.
Its effect is undeniably extraordinary, but it comes with side effects to match. It places a heavy burden on the body.
If my face looks tired, that's entirely because of this pendant. Staying up one night is nothing to me.
“Aha, I see now. The embedded mana has been depleted, so it looks like you used it fairly recently.”
Eleanor could accurately tell how much embedded mana it had just by glancing at the pendant.
Among the people around me, Eleanor was the one who knew the most about mana, after all.
Did Eleanor herself know the identity of the presence I was sensing?
**
After a brief breakfast with Eleanor, I immediately asked what I'd been thinking.
“A presence?”
Of course, I didn't mention anything about NPCs. I just said that only your presence felt especially strong.
I said it felt strangely intense, too intense for it to just be due to the amount of mana she had.
“Hmm, I can't tell. If I had to guess, maybe your sensing ability has developed in a biased direction?”
“Biased?”
“It's rare, but sometimes an ability develops to sense certain things especially well.”
Eleanor said that and gave me a few examples.
Like being unusually good at sensing projectiles from a distance, or unusually good at sensing the presence of living beings.
But she'd never heard of someone being especially good at sensing only a specific person.
Eleanor asked if maybe it was just because I was familiar with her presence, but of course I shook my head.
“Then I don't know either. Personally, I'd like it if it were because you thought of me as special...?”
In a sultry, drawn-out voice, Eleanor's wandering hand reached for my thigh.
Here we go again.
I slapped away the hand crawling toward a place it had no business going and continued my train of thought.
As Eleanor said, suppose I really am strongly sensing some specific thing—something only Eleanor has.
What is there that only Eleanor has, something that doesn't exist in other NPCs?
She doesn't have any special item, and it's not like she has some special trait passed down through the Dark Elf royal family.
If she did, I'd have felt the same way when I saw the Dark Elf queen on the 7th floor.
Or was it really because I'd once shared senses through some Night Elf secret art?
But if that were the case, there was no way Eleanor wouldn't know.
And that still wouldn't explain why her presence suddenly disappeared on the 7th floor.
No, wait. There is one thing.
Something only Eleanor has, unlike other NPCs: the sense of self of a top-tier elite NPC.
If I were sensing that, it would explain everything—including the fact that her presence suddenly vanished on the 7th floor.
But does it make sense to physically feel someone's sense of self? What exactly am I sensing?
What makes an NPC not quite an NPC, what gives an NPC a human-like sense of self.
And what disappears the moment that self is lost.
At that moment, one very abstract concept flashed through my mind.
“The soul...?”
And even a way to get information about it.
**
The three main powers at the heart of the faction quest are in constant conflict on the 8th floor.
An unstable situation in which local conflicts keep breaking out, making it all but certain that war will eventually erupt.
As such, Eleanor, one of the Dark Elf faction's key figures and one of its fighters, had no choice but to stay busy with one thing or another.
“Ahh... I wanted to talk with you more, but I just can't seem to find the time.”
In the end, Eleanor left my side not long after saying that. The quest still hadn't progressed.
After saying goodbye to the disappointed Eleanor, I headed off as well.
If what I was sensing was the other person's soul, and Eleanor's intense sense of self and presence came from that soul.
“If that's the case... then I have no idea.”
Come to think of it, knowing that wouldn't really change anything.
Honestly, it might be much better to just make quest progress instead of spending time on this.
But my feet didn't stop. For some reason, this time I just couldn't sit still.
The place I came to was one I'd often visited on the 7th floor as well- the Dark Elf Erwen's forge.
-Knock, knock.
When I knocked on the closed forge door, a clattering racket rang out from inside.
Soon after, the door opened, and a small Dark Elf with an incongruously large bust appeared.
“Sigh... Even if you're in a hurry, isn't rushing me like this a bit much? How much more do you plan to torment an old woman—hmm?”
Erwen, who had come out carrying armor and a sword, widened her eyes the moment she saw me.
“What is it? What, have I finally gotten so old I'm seeing things? Are you really the human I know?”
“Uh, can't you tell from this?”
“The one I made for you... no, why is it in such pristine condition? Did you keep it on display somewhere and take it out now?”
Erwen let out an incredulous sigh when she saw the wrist guards I held out. Well, fair enough.
From Erwen's point of view, it'd be like equipment she'd made twenty years ago was still as good as new.
“I did nag you to take better care of your gear, but you listen way too well. You don't look like the type.”
It wasn't because I treasured it and took such good care of it; it was just genuinely brand new. But I had no intention of correcting her misunderstanding.
Besides, even though she was speaking as if scolding me, she seemed secretly pleased.
“By the way, when did you come all the way here again? I heard you were a busy man.”
“Yesterday. I had something to take care of, and I'm planning to stay for a while.”
“Really? Did you greet Eleanor? That girl would be over the moon.”
Erwen asked me this and that, like she was greeting a grandchild home after a long absence, and naturally led me inside.
The inside of the forge hadn't changed much despite the passage of twenty years.
Considering this Dark Elf blacksmith's age, twenty years probably wasn't all that long anyway, so it wasn't strange.
“I only have tea to offer, so what can I do? If I'd known you were coming, I would have set out some snacks too.”
“It's fine. I came because I have something to ask you.”
“Hmm, I figured you weren't just here to say hello. All right, ask me anything.”
Erwen is the oldest among the Dark Elves, aside from the queen, who isn't easy to meet.
So she's the most suitable person to ask about this topic.
A being tied to the abstract concept of a soul.
“Tell me about the World Tree.”
The mysterious tree that keeps the elves' souls in circulation and grants them immortality.