284 Small Determination (1/2)

”The world before us changes every day.”

This was doubtlessly the most suitable explanation for what was happening in this Forest of Dreams. It was just that, perhaps, the words ”every day” should be changed to ”every instant,” instead.

Under the dimensional will's control—fine then, Amelia was in deep hibernation, so it should be said that under my guidance—this forest was changing at every moment. What was a forested path one second would become a deep pit the very next instant.

Not only would this confuse any attacking undead armies, but even the wood spirits themselves would get lost in their own forest.

Let's not mention those so-called natural talent abilities that go on about how children of the forest would never get lost in a forest. As far as I knew, those druids and rangers would only show off their pretend knowledge after memorizing some maps.

In the end, memories were limited in capacity. If, for example, someone slept by a lakeside in the night but woke up, the next day, and saw a flourishing city, it was only natural for that person to feel that their circumstances were unfamiliar. It would be strange, instead, if that person actually knew their way around.

”…Why has the market disappeared yet again? Why is Blue Smurf #356 who lived next to me now living on top of the tree? Also, most importantly, why am I in the middle of a lake! Ahhh! My collectibles have all been ruined!”

This unlucky child spent half an hour hauling all her belongings out of the water. Yet it wasn't a rare occurrence; those who were sent to the very tops of the trees after waking up were the unluckiest of all.

Wood spirits had the ability to communicate with trees, and it would require no effort for them to descend from the treetops—as long as they didn't have acrophobia, of course. However, it was another story for transporting their collectibles—that, indeed, was a huge headache.

Collectibles? What would the newly-born wood spirit species even like to collect? Indeed, it was truly peculiar that this newly-born species had hobbies of collecting various useless items, similar to a squirrel. They would collect all sorts of seeds and fruits, and subtle items, such as their victory loot from the undead—lich hip bones or zombie cavities—were especially gathered.

They didn't seem like calm forest spirits whenever they discussed their favorite collectibles; instead, they acted like shoppers arguing over discounts at a store having a major sale. This was all the more so as they felt that the best treasures came from outside the forest. In fact, the first thing they would do after a battle with the undead was to try and obtain as much victory loot as possible.

”…This is a good thing. At the very least, they have their own hobbies. This is the behavior of an intelligent species displaying their independence.”

Although I said that in my mind, the subtle feeling of discomfort became stronger and stronger as I watched how the little lolis around me were bragging about Abomination guts with those cute and innocent smiles of theirs.

”Forget it. Since they're Amelia's species, it'll be even more inconceivable if they were too normal.”

[You're talking as if it totally has nothing to do with you, father of a species. Right, should I give you a ”glorious title” that's impossible to hide? ”Father of Ten Thousand Lolis.” That way, everyone will get to know the joyful news that you became a father!]

”Please don't!”

Alright then. I immediately surrendered. That System of mine was too vicious. If I wore this title out every day, wouldn't everyone laugh at me forever? That would be pure torture.

Cough, let's get back to the main topic. Since the geography of this region changed far too rapidly, the first thing each wood spirit would do after waking up was use their mental abilities to communicate with the other wood spirits and the trees around them to download the newest map to their minds. Otherwise, they'd surely get lost in the surrounding area.

Spending all this effort of mine in helping evolve this forest obviously meant that these changes weren't meaningless. In fact, it was the opposite. This was all evidence that the entire forest was evolving.

”What type of opponent is the scariest? The fastest? The strongest? No, the one who's one hundred times larger than you is the scariest. One step from him will equal several hundred steps from you. Can your speed possibly top his? If his little finger is as large as your entire body, no matter how strong you are, can an ant possibly lift an elephant?”

Actually, that was just how it was in real life. If you miniaturized a dragon by a hundred times, it would be nothing more than a tiny fire-breathing lizard. Miniaturizing a titan giant would make it into nothing more than a slightly large doll. But if you expanded something like a scorpion, ant, or cockroach to the size of a dragon, an ant's strength for its body proportion, a scorpion's poison, or the undying nature of a cockroach would become peerless terrors.

That was why, in order to completely increase this forest's overall defensive attributes, I believed that all I needed to do was increase this forest's size by ten, one hundred, even one thousand times. In that case, all the various magical plants created here would naturally grow larger as well, greatly improving the power levels.

Actually, the results were better than I expected. Those pinecone bombs that were ten times larger than me were utterly impossible to assess. Their explosions could reach the clouds, and I suspected that they were on the scale of the small nuclear weapons from my previous world. The roots that were originally for the purpose of tripping our enemies became webs of death that could kill anything. Even those large strengthened outer shells that the wood spirits liked to wear became titan giants that reached the clouds.

With the support of a dimensional will, things were just that unreasonable. Still, there were limits.

Dimensional laws could overwrite the natural laws of a dimension. These lifeforms that far surpassed the natural laws, however, thrived in this dimension—it was their natural environment. The moment they leave it they would be drastically weakened. Yet, within the forest, the dimensional will was the strongest existence. As long as they remained in the forest, Amelia would be able to help them and transform what shouldn't have been physically possible into reality. The unreasonable would become the reasonable.

This was indubitably a massive advantage for us when defending. It seemed that the gap between us and the undead would only keep growing as time passed. If I was the undead commander, I definitely wouldn't have allowed the dimensional will to continue evolving. I would have taken everything to a full-out battle as early as possible.

Perhaps my existence gave the two familiar commanders on the other side too much pressure. Perhaps they didn't have experience in this area. Or perhaps they were simply slacking off. Although they kept probing the forest's defenses, they never truly sent their main forces. The way they were treating things seemed far too conservative in my eyes.

This obviously seemed unreasonable. Before, the dimensional will had been in hibernation, and the forest had defended itself instinctively. Now that I was here and acting as the forest's strategist, the evolutions were obviously heading in an anti-undead direction. They should have sent everything they had as early as possible, which would have given them the greatest chances of victory.

Of course, the overly high speed of evolution did bring about a few small problems. For example, the wood spirits who were still too slender and small would occasionally have difficulty balancing and controlling their strengthened outer shells. Some would have great adventures when finding their way home every day. After all, the wood spirits were now truly an independent species of their own—they were no longer able to change themselves at will. A young bird that had left the nest wouldn't return.

However, this also meant that these wood spirits were an intelligent species equal to humanity and the elves. As one of the very few newly-born species in the recent generation, they had limitless potential for development. I did some very rough estimating and figured that the average mature wood spirit combined with a strengthened outer shell usable in the mortal plane would be able to easily reach Silver rank combat strength. This made them equal to the upper-ranked elves, a newly-born Silver rank species. Amelia was destined to leave her name in history just by creating the wood spirit species.

”You've accomplished something incredible without realizing it, Amelia.”

These past few days, I had been resting at that core lake where Amelia resided where it was more convenient for me to guide the forest's evolution.

I lightly brushed Amelia's slightly messy hair. The seemingly pure sleeping princess didn't seem to have any intentions of waking up. Her features, while she slept, were unencumbered by traces of her typical insanity. Instead, it bore a look of weakness, which was rare for Amelia, and resembled the softness of drenched white lily flowers post the rain. It really made me want to care for her.

”If she doesn't talk, she's actually quite cute.”

I lightly brushed off the leaves that had fallen on her, attracted by her face that had regained some of its normal complexion.

Ever since she fell into a deep sleep, Amelia had been smiling almost childishly. The typical dark circles around her eyes had vanished, and the natural color of her skin was more resplendent than even the best makeup.

With a pure appearance that would cause anyone to calm down, her formerly pale lips had become red and luscious. It was as if she was a sleeping angel that shouldn't be desecrated.

Yet even while I admired the beauty before me, I was thinking about a topic which ruined the idyllic scenery.

”It would seem that I still need more sacrifices to help wake you up.”

Souls were the source of everything. The two highest Goddesses of Order and Chaos needed to absorb nutrition from soul shards that entered the Cycle of Reincarnation to help themselves recover. Amelia, too, required a large number of souls to recover after becoming a newly-born dimensional will. And the undead were undoubtedly the best source of souls for her.

”You owe me, and I'm going to remember this debt. You better pay it back to me later.”

I lightly flicked her upturned nose, but to my surprise, it felt rather good, so I took advantage of her and rubbed her nose two more times…

While I was sighing to myself that she actually became so easy to pick on, Rosa sent me an urgent message through our mental connection.

She informed me of a new wave of seemingly different enemy attacks. When she told me that she surprisingly lost control of the situation, I knew that it was time for me to leave.

”It's far more fun to pick on you when you're awake. I shall help you wake up again.”

It wasn't an oath, nor was it a promise. It was just something that I wanted to do—a decision that I had come to.

I didn't notice how the sleeping beauty's mouth seemed to arc upwards, as if she was secretly smiling as I left.

Leaves fluttered down the trees—a delicate message that revealed the beauty's inner thoughts about the dense block of wood that had just left.

”I shall use everything I have to return my debt to you, dear Roland. You're not allowed to refuse. As long as you don't leave me, I shall stay by your side during my life and in death.”

This Forest of Dreams had become an independent dimension of its own and was incredibly difficult to deal with because of the dimensional will's existence. However, its true enemies were more than just some mid- and low-level undead.

Feyman didn't have enough experience with dimensional wills so he didn't know anything about what was going on. However, the former First Senator Gricasio had both power and experience. He had long since figured out that dimensional laws were at work here. Yet he didn't intend to say anything.

After all, Gricasio knew that if he pointed out the situation, and everyone found out that this was a time-limited battle where the best strategy would be to rush the forest as quickly as possible, he would most likely be sent out as the vanguard. At such a time, unless he was willing to resist against the Undead Emperors' wills, not only would he have to face that person head-on, but his own gigantic body would be the best target of all. There was a ninety-nine percent probability of him becoming cannon fodder.