Chapter 378 (1/2)

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The sky above changed for the first time when the fog rose to blanket the heavens, and as the dark clouds covered the span of the sky, the surroundings rapidly became dark.

Gugu, gugugugu—

The ground began rumbling next, causing Su-hyeun to lower his gaze.

“Something from beneath…?”

Kwa-gaaaak, rumble, shatter—!

Soon afterward, the ground overturned, and another type of “ground” rose from beneath.

Su-hyeun quickly regained his balance and took a look around himself. He observed that the new ground that was breaking through the old one was slowly rising.

“What is the meaning of…?”

“You shouldn’t get too flustered so soon,” said Luslec who maintained a serene face—this wasn’t his first time, after all. “It’s not the right time to get shocked, anyway.”

“…”

Su-hyeun stared at the ground beneath him that continued to rise higher before shifting his gaze over to the scenery that was growing smaller below him.

Then, he noticed large green-colored leaves sprouting out from here and there.

“This wasn’t a regular ground at all,” he thought.

Su-hyeun lightly tapped on the brown-colored ground with his foot. Although it did feel hard, the sensation he got back was different from “earth.”

“It’s a tree.”

Rumble, gugugugu—

The tree that had planted its roots in the blink of an eye to rise up to the heavens continued to grow larger while spreading its branches in every direction.

Su-hyeun and Luslec, as well as the participants of the upcoming mission nearby, were actually standing on one such branch all this time.

Su-hyeun asked, “Just how much bigger will this thing grow?”

“It’s only just started, you see. It’ll still be some time before it’s fully grown.”

The tree had already broken through the clouds covering the sky by now. With the way it continued to spread its branches out, the tree seemed large enough already to completely wrap around a single world.

“But it’s going to keep getting bigger?” he thought.

It was like this thing was an infinitely-growing tree. While watching this tree that only got bigger and bigger, Su-hyeun began picturing a certain image in his mind.

“The World Tree…”

It would be a gigantic tree large enough to blanket the entirety of the sky, one that also functioned as a world in itself. The tree that appeared in this place definitely fit that description.

Just like what Luslec said earlier, the tree continued to get larger for a long while. At the same time, the branches got warped and bent, while the leaves overlapped to create several “floors” in the process.

And so, the gigantic tree that seemingly broke through the heavens to grow bigger ended up expanding to the size of this small world by several folds.

“Looks like it’s almost finished, and I get a feeling that it’s gotten bigger than the last time I was here,” said Luslec.

“Is this really the World Tree?” Su-hyeun asked, sounding mystified.

He had gone through trials related to myths and personally experienced many different worlds, but this was still his first time witnessing a World Tree. As such, even someone like him was stunned by this amazing spectacle.

“Eh? Who told you that this is a World Tree?” But somewhat ironically, Luslec’s reaction was different from what Su-hyeun was expecting. Luslec was resolutely shaking his head instead. “The real World Tree isn’t this small, you know.”

“You…are saying this is small?”

“Well, yes. But that’s when comparing it to the World Tree you’re referring to, Mister Su-hyeun. If I am to make a comparison here, then this one’s size is kind of like the World Tree’s seed.”

“Not even a sapling, but…a seed?”

If Luslec said “sapling,” then it might have been understandable. For one thing, the world he and Su-hyeun found themselves in wasn’t all that big. To put it in perspective, this planet was slightly smaller than Earth’s moon.

As such, if there was indeed a World Tree capable of supporting a world far bigger than this place, then he would have understood the reason for calling this tree that appeared before their eyes as a World Tree’s sapling.

But now, it was not even a sapling but a mere seed?

“This tree can’t even be compared to the real World Tree, you know. I mean, a World Tree doesn’t just maintain one world but also supports several other dimensions and the worlds found inside them, after all.”

“In that case, just how large is it?”

“Please imagine the smallest tree you can think of.”

“…?”

“That, and this tree, well, I guess the difference is around that.”

Even though Su-hyeun heard the explanation, his mind could only come up with a blank.

After Luslec prompted him, what Su-hyeun pictured in his mind as the smallest tree was a sapling so small that calling it a “tree” was being a bit too optimistic. But now, Luslec was saying that the difference was kind of like that sapling and this ginormous tree that Su-hyeun couldn’t even take in with one glance…

“A tree that connects dimensions, is it?” Su-hyeun chuckled wryly to himself. The whole concept just didn’t sink in, and because of that, he didn’t feel anything much from it.

He even wondered whether Luslec was blowing some hot air here or not.

“Well, then—?”

Before Su-hyeun’s questions had time to be resolved…

“It’s about to begin.”

Luslec narrowed his eyes just as several messages floated up.

[The first assignment will now begin.]

[Please acquire a golden leaf of the fake World Tree.]

[Additional rewards will be awarded depending on the number of golden leaves procured.]

[Anyone not in possession of a golden leaf half a day later will be disqualified.]

[Remaining time: 12:00:00]

Swiiiiiish—

Pah-bak, pa-babababak—!

Ka-boom—!

A sudden bombardment enveloped the location Su-hyeun and Luslec were standing on. Leaping up in the air almost at the same time, Su-hyeun confirmed with his eyes the culprits responsible for that sneak attack.

“So, it’s those guys from earlier?”

It was the group of people that joined forces just before the fake World Tree appeared. It seemed that they became confident after shoring up their inadequate strength with headcount and then decided to attack first.

“Nezha.”

Shu-wuwuwu…

Prince Nezha’s figure appeared before Su-hyeun’s eyes as he flew up high in the air. “You know what needs to be done, right?” Su-hyeun asked.

Nezha nodded once before directly flying toward the group of 10 down there.

Individually, none of them were all that impressive. At the very least, none of the 10 was the apostle Luslec was talking about earlier.

“Finding the golden leaves takes priority.”

The time limit given was 12 hours, and only the ones found to be in possession of the golden leaves after that period would pass the first mission.

What a nasty mission this was. One could see its nastiness simply from the fact that a person wouldn’t immediately earn the right to move on to the next stage by acquiring a golden leaf but only after they managed to hold onto at least one for the next 12 hours.

“It’s to encourage competition, in other words.”

What a transparent scheme that was—attack the ones who acquired the golden leaves first and then take them away. However, it was inevitable that one would end up as yet another target after acquiring the leaves.

In the end, acquiring the golden leaves early on wasn’t necessarily the best strategy.

Shu-wuwuwu—

Bluish light swirled within Su-hyeun’s eyes. After activating the Sage’s Eye, he felt like the entirety of this enormous tree’s branches could be surveyed with just one glance.

Then, he spotted faint little lights among the branches.

“The golden leaf.”

Unlike the other leaves that were practically the sizes of mountains, the golden leaves were no bigger than a person’s palm.

They had sprouted in remote edges and were hard to spot, but it seemed that several participants had already noticed their existence by now.