World Tree.
Oliver now seemed to understand why Forrest didn't answer right away, and why the old man at the bookstore found it hard to explain.
Because it was something that could not be explained quickly or in a few words, World Tree was something bigger than anything Oliver had ever seen, and its concept was vague, in a word – unknown.
It was in the present progressive tense.
It was only about 30 years ago that a proper book about World Tree came out, and it was still being researched.
Even Oliver who read the book didn't know how to explain it.
“Um, yes…”
He felt that the explanation of the old man at the bookstore was pretty good.
A very large encyclopedia and the largest tree in the world.
This was something that Oliver agreed with.
First of all, regarding the World Tree, it was true that it was the largest tree among the trees that have been discovered so far, but it has never been confirmed by the naked eye.
The reason was, the World Tree was not on the ground.
Because it was a tree that was right under the ground.
It was said that the main body of the World Tree was under the ground people are stepping, called Root, and with Root as pivot many trees grow around the world like side branches.
In other words, it was reasonable to view the World Tree as a cluster of many trees centered on a huge Root, rather than a single huge tree.
Although it has not yet been revealed how the World Tree came into existence, there were two hypotheses that seemed credible.
One was the theory that the huge body (Root) in the center of the earth spread out all over the world to get nutrients such as sunlight and became the World Tree.
Another was that the roots of many trees were intertwined and naturally merged into one to become the World Tree.
Both had strong support from academians and the supporter of each hypothesis were fighting each other that their hypothesis was right, so there was no definitive conclusion saying ‘this is the origin of the World Tree’, and this was not a very important issue because there was something more fascinating than the origin story.
The World Tree was not just a tree, it was just the appearance that resembled the tree. The amazing thing about the World Tree is that it has huge natural magical powers. Using those powers it remembers what was happening around the trees that have spread all over the world and stores that information in the abyss world called ‘Rootnet’.
If one could use the Rootnet, they could see not only what was happening around them but also on the other side of the world.
In other words, the world tree could be said to be the eye that sees the world.
And, that was not the end.
Wizards and Druids have developed technologies that can artificially enter this ‘Rootnet' through magic and sorcery to store, manage, and print information. This was called ‘Rootnetsailing’ or simply ‘netsailing’.
Using netsailling, they have stored and managed all the limitless information of over tens of millions of volumes in the World Tree and were able to retrieve and check it whenever needed.
Oliver found it quite extraordinary.
It didn't take a single piece of paper to store that much information, and it doesn't take much effort to find the information you need.
It was very convenient and efficient to just go to Rootnet and get the necessary information.
For this reason, it was said that some ‘blessed countries' including England, are gradually showing a movement to actively use the world tree in national administration and politics.
At this time, Oliver was also naturally aware of the dangers and disadvantages of the World Tree.
Where there was light, there always exists shadow.
For example, exploitation of the World Tree by organizations such as Heimdal.
Not only that, but it was also a serious problem that it was very difficult to learn netsailing.
Basically, considerable magic skills were required, and most importantly, mental strength, strong enough to maintain consciousness on the Rootnet, a sea of numerous information, was also required.
The book warned that users' consciousness could get engulfed in the sea of information and could cause great damage if done wrong.
In other words, it was powerful and convenient, but it was difficult to use, and thanks to that, only a small number of wizards and Druids were using it.
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Oliver came out of the inn to check whether what he read in the book was correct.
After wandering a long time between District U, the end of the workers' residence, and District V, the beginning of the slum dwellings, Oliver was able to find a branch of World Tree, in a place that was at the border of the two places.
“Is this the world tree…?”
Oliver mumbled as he looked at the tree standing alone.
At a glance, it was just an ordinary tree, but thanks to the iron fences and signposts around it, he could tell that it was one of the trees of the World Tree that was spread around the world.
[World tree certified by the Magic Tower. In case of damage, you may receive strong punishment according to the law, so please be careful
-Landa Police Department.]
Oliver looked at the sign on the iron fence and once again saw a tree called the World Tree.
No matter how hard he tried, it looked like an ordinary tree – A tree that could be commonly seen on the streets of Landa.
Oliver had seen fenced trees like these previously, but he never paid attention to them.
Oliver regretted why he didn't recognize the existence of the World Tree sooner.
It was probably because of his narrow field of vision, where he doesn't see anything other than what he wasn’t interested in.
“I need to fix it.”
Oliver was aware of his shortcomings and thought of correcting them as he focused his energy on his eyes.
The vision of ordinary human gradually blurred, and the vision of a warlock that could see emotions, Life-force, and even magic got activated.
"This…?"
Oliver tilted his head at the sight in front of him.
With the warlock's eyes, the world tree looked more like a pipe than a tree, and through the pipe, various magical powers were moving at great speed.
The blue, yellow, red, and purple colors moved very fast and in a bizarre pattern.
Oliver touched his face.
Just in case, to check whether he had the mask on his face.
Fortunately, he was wearing the leather mask properly. He thought it would be okay if his face was exposed with this one.
Confirming safety, Oliver shifted his gaze downward.
Under the world tree, towards the roots.
"Um…."
Oliver groaned in bewilderment.
He could clearly under the ground, but it was getting blurry because he couldn't see the end.
It felt like a puppet show from a hundred steps away, and it felt frustrating for Oliver because he couldn't see anything.
As written in the book, Root seems to be in the deepest part of the ground.
"ha……."
Oliver sighed.
He came here because of a book he read out of curiosity, but now, he wanted to check out as many things as possible.
Origin theory, seeing the tree with many magical powers and learning about the function and purpose of the World Tree.
But, the most important thing that Oliver wanted was, to use the World Tree.
He wanted to get a taste of what it has by accessing the unknown world of Rootnet, which was connected by numerous roots.
Of course, this was extremely dangerous, and in a sense even foolish.
Without getting anything, there were even chances of him getting tangled in some kind of risk.
Still, Oliver wanted to give it a try.
Because he wanted to do it.
When he came to his senses, Oliver was able to climb over the fence and find himself close to the World Tree.
Soon, he took out the emotions from the test tube.
Then he wondered.
In the book, it was said that one can enter the Rootnet through magic.
Oliver stretched out his hand that was filled with emotions to the World Tree, thinking of it as an experiment.
Seeing that there was no content related to this in the book, it was almost meaningless, but he just gave it a try.
“It worked?”
murmured Oliver, slightly startled.
It was similar to entering the secret space at the sausage factory and Puppeteer Glyph’s workshop.
When he touched the tree with the emotions in his hand, it felt as if he had put a key into the keyhole.
Of course, it didn't open right away since the keyhole was designed in an unknown shape like the one at Puppeteer’s place, but that wasn't an issue for Oliver.
Oliver scanned the surrounding of the keyhole using the emotions, stored the information in his head, and processed them – Like the World Tree.
Of course, it was quite different and slightly difficult compared to the one at Puppeteer’s workshop, but Oliver did not give in, tried, and forcibly pushed the emotions into the keyhole.
At that moment, a crackling sound resounded in his head, and then there was a rattling sound.
With that, an unfamiliar scenery unfolded before his eyes.
An empty world with no sky and no ground.
A world on a black background like the night sky.
The only thing that moved was the colorful magic that flew like a meteor.
Oliver instinctively sensed that this world was a Rootnet.
A world that was made up of the roots of the World Tree, a sea of information containing countless knowledge.
Oddly enough, Oliver did not panic, even though it was strange and interesting.
He was just calmly looking around, observing, and understanding this place.
As said before, the surroundings were as black as the night sky.
Oliver instinctively looked at his hand.
It was made up of white lines, and the shape of the body seemed to be different because it was the virtual world of the abyss.
If there was anything else that bothered him, it was the noise that kept buzzing in his ears.
A number of unwelcome voices shouted and pressured Oliver, who simply closed his ears and looked around.
‘Now, what should I do? Should I leave?’
But there was a problem.
He luckily got in, but he didn't know how to get out.
Even the book he read only had information about the World Tree, and there was no instruction on how to use it.
Oliver wondered whether he had to burn his brain in the drifting sea of information like said in the book
“Um, then… it’s unavoidable.”
Oliver was calmer than he thought. Of course, if such a situation happened, one should normally be terrified, but since there was nothing he could do about it Oliver remained calm.
After a while, Oliver decided to experiment rather than ponder over the question with no answer.
It was said in the book that if you handle Rootnet properly, you can get the information you want just by thinking, so he wanted to check if that was true.
‘So, what information should I look for?’
‘The Demon? Black magic? Beautiful emotions?’
Oliver was tempted, but since it was his first time, he decided to try something lighter.
He thought there will not be any major problems, so said something that would be good for practice.
“Forrest.”
There was a slight creaking sound, and in an instant, some of the magic that moved around like a meteor flew in front of Oliver's eyes and spread like fireworks.
Along with that, unknown characters lined up in the air, all of the characters were something he had seen for the first time.
“What is this… huh?”
Oliver exclaimed in amazement.
As he continued to look at the letters he saw for the first time, he thought if he concentrated for a while, he could understand what it was about.”
As Oliver was about to get used to it, he felt an intense gaze from somewhere.
"What?"
Oliver turned toward the gaze.
An eye made of immense magical power was staring at him.
[Who are you?]
Oliver looked silently at the Eye.
The Eye cried out once again.
[Who are you?!]
As Oliver was about to answer, his vision suddenly turned to darkness.
When he closed his eyes and opened them, he had come back to reality.
Oliver confirmed that the emotions he had in his hands were gone.
It seemed like he was thrown out because he ran out of emotion.
"Um……."
Oliver processed the new interesting facts that he got to know.
Oliver recalled the Eye that he had seen on Rootnet and soon realized that he had to get out of here.
He thought there might be chances of him getting into trouble if he stayed here anymore.
He escaped from the place by running as hard as he could while wearing a black suit made by mixing Life-force and emotion.
He was curious about many things, and he thought he had to take care of himself first to find answers to those curious things.
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
After that, a week passed.
Oliver did not return to the inn immediately.
He stayed near the place from where he first accessed the World Tree and observed the surroundings for a week.
The reason was none other than the Eye he met at the Rootnet world.
He didn't know what it was, but he knew that something observed him, so he stayed around to see what happened.
If he got caught by a troublesome entity, he was thinking of giving up his current identity and going somewhere else.
Fortunately, nothing happened.
For a week, not even a single ant came near the World Tree, let alone chase after Oliver.
In the end, Oliver, who came to the conclusion that it was not a big deal, left the area and returned to his lodgings, and went to the restaurant of Forrest, who he had forgotten for a while.
It felt like it had been almost ten days since the last job was over, so he was even worried that he might have forgotten about him.
Kent said that one of the few advantages of this job was freedom, but still, Oliver, who was still a rookie, was a little skeptical.
As he opened the rattling door and entered, the red-skinned Al welcomed him.
He smiled gladly at Oliver.
“Mr. Dave, thank you so much for coming. Are you here to see the Boss?”
"Yes."
"It's good. Boss was also waiting for Mr. Dave. Come along. I'll guide you."
(To be Continued)
