Game of the World Tree

At this moment, he seems to be kneeling while praying amongst a grove of ancient trees.

His massive form is blending well alongside the tall ancient trees, making it difficult to differentiate him from his woodland surroundings.

This guy seemed to be avoiding something…

Could he have encountered some other sentient beings that were much more stronger than him?

Eve felt slightly anxious.

Although Berserker was the only one capable of exploring the outer map at the present, there was still a certain amount of risk involved in sending him to survey these uncharted areas all by himself.

One of the potential risk was that the his identity might be recognized by some other sentient beings.

Oak Guardians are a special kind of existences which are equivalent to humankind’s archangels. Therefore, they are widely known all throughout the world, mostly due to their allegiance towards the World Tree.

Her resurrection could no longer be kept a secret once Berserker’s existence is exposed to any of the believers of other religions and they somehow managed to repot it back into their respective patron deities.

And once her revival spread to the public, every enemies of the World Tree from a thousand years ago would without a doubt come crawling out of the woodworks and launch an assault against her.

It would be fine if Evé is in a good condition, but alas she’s still suffering from her pseudo-death status. Luckily the mana on the mortal realm was currently weak, and the gods stationed in the heavenly realm could not really descend to Saigües in their true form, including Eve’s potential enemies.

Unfortunately, at present, she was still in critical condition and could not actively intervene. Thus, she could only scheme and manipulate things in her favor from the shadows.

She would very likely be in danger if followers of other gods arrived, even if it was just three or five legendary experts.

Fortunately, Berserker was originally a woodland creature and could blend well within the forest. Moreover, there are only few sentient races living around Elfen Forest. According to Alice, there seemed to be only one hostile tribe loitering around in which primarily composed of Orcs.

Their overall population are mostly warriors but there’s also some few priests who have the capability to communicate with their god, Uller, the god of winter and hunting.

However these priests wouldn’t leave their base most of the time, thus Berserker would not be exposed just as long as he is careful not to enter their stronghold and quietly eliminate the witnesses who accidentally saw him during his exploration.

Did Berserker encountered some orc priest?

Had he found their stronghold?

Evé sensed Berserker’s position and quickly dismissed this assumption.

Although the oak treant had already left the safety zone, he was still only thirty kilometers southeast away from her.

It would have been exposed long ago if there was an orc tribe within this area.

Therefore, Evé estimated that the orc tribe’s location would be at least sixty kilometers away from her.

But if the reason he was hiding wasn’t because of the Orcs, then what else could it be?

Thinking this, Eve’s gaze went beyond Berserker point of view and expanded her perception behind him.

Her eyes then froze whilst looking at a particular dilapidated structure.

Several hundred meters behind Berserker were the remains of a wall covered in thick vegetation.

Even though it was covered in vines and weeds, the exquisite patterns on the marble remains could not be hidden, and the stone tablets carved with ancient elvish writing also revealed the true nature of this ruins before her eyes.

“It’s a city from the ancient elven kingdom, and according to the elvish script written upon the walls, it should be the remnants of the once holy city of Florence.”

Evé, who possessed the inheritance of the world tree, quickly reached this conclusion.

Florence was the city closest to the world tree back in the Elven kingdom, and it is also the holy land of the elven religion.

Of course at this moment, Florence was already a ruin.

In fact, Evé had the intention of searching for these elven ruins when she sent Berserker to explore the surrounding areas.

She just didn’t expect results to come so soon.

But why did Berserker hid himself in the first place?

Could something have happened inside these ruins?

After thinking for a moment, Evé decided to directly ask the Oak Guardian instead.

She controlled her divine power and entered Berserker’s consciousness…

The Oak treant who was currently praying with his eyes closed, suddenly felt a soft and warm force caressing his mind. It was a completely new and wondrous feeling and his excited emotions instantly turned into calmness.

It’s the attention of the Matriarch!

In an instant, the Oak guardian understood everything.

He lowered his tall head even more and looked even more respectful. Meanwhile, the majestic and ethereal voice of Evé rang out deep within his mind.

“What is it that makes you hesitate like this?”

Berserker tried to reign his overexcited heart as he gestured a tree-shaped symbol with his thick arm across his chest and replied respectfully,

“Matriarch, I have found the ancient holy city of Florence, and while exploring the area around the city, I found this thing…”

As he finished speaking, the trunk of the oak guardian split open to the sides, revealing a tree hole. Berserker then reached in and pulled out a shimmering object.

It was a light green asymmetrical crystal, glittering with a soft light. It seemed to have some kind of mysterious and sacred power imbued deep inside it, making people unable to resist the urge to claim it for themselves.

A divine-blood crystal!

Evé, who had inherited the World Tree, immediately recognized it.

In an instant, Eve’s mind shook violently, and she couldn’t help the urge to fully project her consciousness into the scene to thoroughly inspect the crystal.

As the name suggests, it’s a divine-blood crystal that is formed from the solidification of a true god’s blood.

For ordinary creatures, the power of these divine crystal is too strong and cannot be absorbed or used by them, but it is the best material for making divine and holy artifacts, or for drawing forbidden spell arrays.

For legendary beings and even demigods, these divine crystals are incredibly precious, since they can be analyzed and studied in order to unlock the secrets behind divinities or some unexplored mythos.

And for true gods, each divine crystal contains a trace of their corresponding divinity, in which they can fully absorb and utilize, or use to analyze the divinites of other gods!

The crystal in Berserker’s hand was a divine-blood crystal belonging to the World Tree of ancient times!

In an instant, Evé guessed the crux of the matter behind these crystals…

It was probably the remnants from the Heavenly War a thousand years ago.

At that time, the World Tree was besieged by the gods, and almost fell. As a result, the Elven Goddess’ golden divine-blood rained down like rain…

These light green crystal is probably a byproduct of that time and was somehow preserved up to this day.

Due to the existence of the preservation spell casted upon the World Tree to protect itself, these divine blood crystals were also inadvertently sealed and couldn’t be sensed by others even after a passage of a thousand years had passed.

Hence, it was lucky for them to remain undiscovered up until now.

But the protection spell had finally disappeared when Evé reawakened. As a result, the seal that concealed these divine blood crystals have also vanished as well.

Naturally, people can now easily find these crystals due to them sensing the trace of divinity imbued within it.

What a stroke of luck!

Looking at the size of this divine-blood crystal, it can probably bring her at least one point of divine power!

Evé felt delighted.

However, she soon calmed down.

If all that he had discovered was merely these divine crystal, then Berserker would only need to pray and offer it to her as a sacrifice, and there was no need to hide himself…

Thinking of this, the solemn voice of Evé echoed in Berserker’s mind once more.

“How did you discover this crystal?”

Upon hearing the inquiry from the goddess, Berserker seemed to had expected it and respectfully replied,

“Matriarch, I found it on the leader of a few goblins I had eliminated.”

Goblins?

Evé was slightly taken aback.

Goblins are a small humanoid species with green skin, long pointed ears, and the ability to use rudimentary weapons and tools. Their strength is relatively weak, with the highest rank being an apprentice level of ten.

The goblin race are mostly looked down upon primarily due to their low intelligence, gruesome appearance, and ferocious, lazy, and weak nature. Generally speaking, even the gods would not even consider integrating them into their own religion, unless its under special circumstances.

How could there be goblins loitering within the Elfen Forest? They didn’t exist here a thousand years ago, so perhaps they must have just relocated here recently.

Evé was puzzled.

But she was relieved as she brought up the habits of these weak creatures introduced within the inheritance.

Goblins generally live in underground caves or certain ruins with their own social order and ethnic groups. They probably considered the ruins of the holy city of Florence as their new lair.

So, are they the ones collecting the divine crystals of the World Tree?

But why are these goblins collecting divine crystals when they as a species, cannot even use it in the first place?

Perhaps…

Is there someone ordering them to do so behind the scenes?

Evé fell into contemplation.

“Not only that, but I also found signs of a goblin priest inside the ruins of Florence,” Berserker continued.