Chapter 44
The elves slowly approached me.
The one in front was the oldest-looking elder.
If an elf could grow that old, I couldn't even guess how many years he'd lived.
The elves behind him likewise carried the deep air of age and experience.
They looked at me with eyes full of emotion.
Third NPC since entering the tower.
Like the old man who carves magic, their existence had never been mentioned by anyone in the gallery.
This was the real deal.
I smiled in anticipation.
The elder elf who looked the oldest opened his mouth.
“Regolos, Iluril Erhu....”
“Huh?”
It was an incomprehensible language.
I frowned.
What the hell was going on?
This was bad.
If I couldn't communicate, there'd be no way to get a reward out of them.
Right then.
The pendant around my neck began to glow again.
Then the elf language came through in translation.
“...Savior. My name is Tinahan.”
Did it also have a translation function?
The elf elder looked back and forth between the World Tree and me, eyes brimming with emotion.
“Great savior.... At last, you have freed this sacred seed from the source of corruption and made new life sprout in our homeland....”
I frowned, sensing something ominous.
It looked like he was about to launch into a long story.
“This sacred seed... was the last hope of our race, and the final ember of dying life. When the shadow of that black tower fell over us and our mother, the World Tree, groaned under the pain of corruption, we gathered our last strength....”
He piously pointed at the pendant around my neck.
“...We placed the World Tree's final hope into that leaf and seed, and made a covenant that someday, a stranger from far away would embrace the seed and return to our corrupted homeland, where new life would sprout anew. In the midst of it all, the pendant was lost in the battle against the corrupted ones, but we still had no choice but to rely on that single promise and wander the rifts in time for ages upon ages, in endless waiting and despair....”
“No, wait, wait, wait....”
I cut him off there.
Listening to him, it felt like he'd never stop.
“Enough already, just give me the reward.”
I'm the type who skips all the story in games.
I had zero interest in long-winded backstories or NPC sob stories.
What mattered was only one thing.
What could I get from finishing this event?
Anyway, the 20th floor is the final floor of this jungle.
So there'd be no point learning their history here anyway.
My blunt demand left the elder elf, Tinahan, momentarily flustered and at a loss.
But he soon let out a hearty laugh and nodded.
Like a grandfather indulgently putting up with a spoiled child's tantrum.
Their eyes held nothing but endless goodwill.
“...I understand. You are someone who values practicality. Very well. We will repay you with the most precious thing we have.”
The elder elf said no more and slowly walked toward the newly born World Tree.
He extended his wrinkled hand and carefully caressed the tree trunk.
Then he closed his eyes and whispered something.
A dazzling green light burst from his body and flowed into the World Tree.
At the same time, the elder elf's face began to age at a frightening rate.
His eyes lost their light, and his skin shriveled like bark.
Even a layman like me could tell.
The elf was pouring all of his life force into the tree.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
At the same time, the World Tree began to grow even more.
Its trunk shot fiercely toward the sky.
The tree instantly filled the 20th floor's space, then kept growing as though it were defying the laws of space itself.
Its leaves sparkled like stars in the sky.
The surroundings were filled with mana so clear and pure it could no longer be compared to before.
I stood there blankly with my mouth open at the overwhelming sight.
Only after a long while could I finally force out a single word.
“...The thing from earlier... wasn't fully grown?”
The elder elf, having poured out all his life force, paid his respects to the World Tree with hands that had become as dry as twigs.
His face held nothing but the serenity of one who had completed a long duty.
There was no trace of fear of death.
The elderly elf, who looked as if they might collapse any second, slowly walked toward the World Tree.
The World Tree gently lowered one of its enormous branches.
A branch shaped like a gentle staircase, as if welcoming them.
The elder stepped onto that staircase without hesitation.
One step, then another. Toward a higher place.
From below, where I watched, his figure gradually grew smaller.
Before long, he vanished among the World Tree's massive silver leaves, until at last he dwindled to a speck of light and disappeared completely from sight.
I stared blankly at the scene.
Ascension.
That word flashed through my mind.
The remaining elders watching also silently nodded to one another.
Without the slightest hesitation, they followed after the elder.
They devoted all of their remaining life force to the World Tree and began climbing the stairs it had lowered.
Watching them blankly, I suddenly came to my senses.
I couldn't just let them all go like this.
I hurriedly grabbed the arm of an elf who was about to climb the stairs.
“Wait! You have to give the reward before you go!”
At my shout, the elf stopped and turned back to look at me.
The elf's face already held only the gentle smile of one who had cast away all lingering attachments to life.
“Don't worry. Our youngest will repay your contribution with a fitting reward.”
The elf gently pulled my hand away and walked back toward the stairs.
And so, all but one elf turned to light and vanished into the sky.
All that remained was one elf who looked relatively young.
Unlike the others, she stared up for a long while at the sky where her kin had disappeared, her face a complicated mix of sorrow and reverence.
“...Sorry, but I don't have much time.”
Of course I have a heart too.
I didn't want to do this even at a mass funeral.
But given that I had no idea when the tower might kick me out, there was no way I could just wait around.
At my question, the youngest elf turned her gaze to me.
“When elves reach the end of their lifespan, they return to the World Tree.”
She began explaining in a calm voice.
“We don't know what lies at the end. But... we believe they're reborn. As many elves as ascend into the embrace of this World Tree, so many new lives are born from the tree.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than bud-like things glowing faintly began to bloom all over the World Tree's enormous trunk.
The buds soon bloomed fully, and inside them emerged little children.
Silver hair and pointed ears.
They were unmistakably elf children.
A rustling sound came from the giant petal-like beds laid out all around.
Little shadows began toddling out one by one.
At first, the children looked at one another curiously, but soon their gazes found a single unfamiliar presence.
Me.
The bravest child among them walked up to me.
And carefully touched my hair with a tiny hand.
“...It's black.”
That one line was the signal.
The children who had been hesitating until then swarmed toward me all at once like a swarm of bees, as if they'd been waiting for it.
The children tugged at my clothes, fiddled with my hair, and looked up at me with eyes full of curiosity.
Voices chattered from every direction.
“Your hair color is different from ours!”
“Why is this outfit so huge?”
“Your ears are round!”
“...What is this?”
They were children with bodies even a little smaller than mine.
In an instant, I felt like I'd become the neighborhood ringleader of a bunch of little kids.
The elf elder, once the youngest and now the eldest among them, smiled at the sight.
“My benefactor, it is now time to repay you.”
She pointed at the newly born giant World Tree.
There was deep reverence in that gesture.
“This tree was reborn through your will. Therefore, you have earned the right to take a part of it.”
The elf pointed to one branch that glowed softly with life energy.
“If you break off a branch overflowing with living vitality and make a staff from it, you will gain magic that commands the will of the forest.”
The elf then pointed to a root that touched the ground and looked especially thick and sturdy.
“If you pull out a root imbued with the deep, solid strength of the earth and make a staff from it, you'll be able to wield magic that shakes the earth.”
Finally, she looked up at the lush leaves covering the sky.
“Or I could weave the leaves into an accessory for you.”
As I listened to her explanation, I asked the most important question.
“Can't I take everything?”
“...That won't be possible. The World Tree has only just been reborn, and it must maintain balance. If you take one thing, the power of the other side will grow stronger to restore that balance. Even if you are our benefactor, I cannot let you disturb the tree's foundation.”
“Then can I take one elf with me... Just kidding.”
“Haha, you're a funny one.”
I quickly started calculating in my head.
First, wood-attribute magic. Not bad.
Especially since I'd never even heard of that attribute.
But it doesn't feel compatible with my sand magic.
A tree growing in the desert?
All I could think of was a cactus.
Should I use magic to shoot cactus spines or something?
‘I'll pass on this for now....’
An accessory was obviously not it.
I already had a growth-type pendant on, so why would I need another accessory?
Obviously, the first thing I should get was my main equipment: a weapon.
‘Then that leaves only one option....’
Earth-attribute magic?
By classification, I was definitely an earth-attribute mage.
But all of my magic is bound to the sand subtag.
‘Did I eat more sand before awakening or something?’
I had no way of knowing the reason. I was the only one who'd awakened this way in the first place.
What was certain was that I didn't currently have the ability to control the entire ground.
‘If I get this, will I be able to use rocks and minerals too?’
Maybe this would break through my limits once more.
And the synergy would probably be the greatest, too.
I'd finished thinking it over.
“Let's go with the roots.”
“A wise choice.”
The elf nodded, saying it was a good choice.
“Please wait a moment. I will seek the tree's permission and bring you the best root for your body.”
The elder walked toward the World Tree.
In the meantime, I was surrounded by the young elves again.
The children kept circling around me, and whatever about me they found so fascinating, they bombarded me with endless questions.
One child stood before me and asked:
“Who are you?”
“Someone who's about to disappear. Don't worry about it.”
I answered in a lifeless voice.
Another child poked my side and asked:
“Where are you from?”
“From over there. But why are you talking to me informally?”
“What is this outfit? Why are you wearing something so huge?”
“...It's fashion.”
As if my answers didn't matter at all, the children started clinging to my body like they'd found a new piece of playground equipment.
One was pulling at my hair, another trying to crawl into my robe, and one even tried to climb onto my back.
I felt like I was going to die of annoyance.
I just wanted them to hurry up and make the staff already....
While I was being tormented by the children,
a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
“Ah, right.”
Groaning, I pried the children clinging to my body off me for a moment.
I took out a familiar item from my pocket.
It was a smartphone.
…….
...?
In an instant, the noisy surroundings fell silent as if the earlier uproar had been a lie.
Even the children who had been climbing on me and tugging at my hair froze in place.
Dozens of eyes fixed at once on the black, shiny rectangle in my hand.
I instinctively opened the camera app.
I had to capture this rare sight.
After all, what remains in the end are just photos.
But just as I was about to capture the children's faces on screen.
“Wow!”
The tiny finger of the child closest to me poked the screen.
The camera app closed, and an unrelated calculator app opened instead.
“Hey!”
Before I could even scold them, the other children rushed in again.
This time their target wasn't me, but the smartphone in my hand.
“Shiny!”
“So cool!”
One of them even tried to snatch the phone outright, while another pressed their face right up against the screen and stared at it in wonder.
I desperately tried to protect my phone and shouted.
“Hey! Back off! Don't touch it!”
But I couldn't possibly hold out against dozens of tiny hands.
I somehow managed to reopen the camera app and press the shutter, but the result was a disaster.
The photo contained only one blurry giant eye from an elf child and about a dozen fingerprints covering the lens.
“Ugh....”
In the end, I gave up on everything and put the phone back in my pocket.
Just then, the elder elf returned to me carrying something huge.
A staff made from living roots intertwined together.
At a glance, it looked like no ordinary item.
But there was one problem.
“...Isn't it a bit too big?”
The staff looked at least a head taller than me.
Its size looked like it would be hard to lift even with both hands in this small body.
“That, too, is the World Tree's will. It's not something I can dare lay a hand on.”
The elf shrugged as if there was nothing that could be done.
How inflexible.
I grumbled to myself.
But only for a moment.
The instant I took the staff, all my complaints vanished when an information window appeared before my eyes.
[World Tree Root]
[Grade: Legendary]
[Effect: Dominion of Earth. Grants the power to control the earth itself, beyond sand. Earth-attribute magic evolves to a higher realm.]
I smiled in satisfaction.
Yeah. What does size matter, anyway?
It's a legendary item, after all.