In front of everyone on the flying ship, Niara placed ten small sprouts on the floor. They were a vibrant green and about the size of a closed fist. They looked like flower buds about to bloom or little plant cocoons.

Tiny grooves with spiral patterns covered their surface, and through them, pure light and life energy visibly flowed. Instantly, the air on the flying ship became cleaner and softer, filling the space with a refreshing aura.

Those sprouts were, without a doubt, a priceless treasure. Even though the World Tree's body had been corrupted, its core remained untouched, and that's what gave its offspring such pure power.

From the moment they were born, the sprouts had such a dense wood-type energy that they were incredibly resistant to corruption. Only when they were taken into the universe by the Risen did they start to become corrupted.

*Buzz*

A few seconds after being removed from the stone, the sprouts started buzzing and vibrating intensely. They turned into pure light, expanding and stretching quickly.

Everyone watched the natural transformation take place — it was something instinctive, something they were born with. Since they could only fight like this, the sprouts instinctively took that form for protection.

Soon, ten small humanoid figures, around a meter and a half tall, appeared.

Their ears were delicately pointed around white hair. None of them had clear gender features. Their skin was a soft, light green with a subtle texture, like the smoother bark of a young tree.

Their eyes were large and a deep emerald green. The ten little beings quickly looked around, realizing they were surrounded by strangers. Fear and panic showed on their faces. Their bodies started to tremble, and they took steps closer to one another, as if the only thing left to them was the company of their own siblings.

Everyone there instantly felt a wave of deep compassion — they were like pure, innocent newborns. It stirred something in their hearts, a powerful desire to protect them at all costs.

Niara smiled and took a few steps toward them.

The ten of them focused on her, scared. But as they looked closer, their eyes subtly changed.

Niara gently murmured, "You can feel it, can't you? It's not exactly from your mother, but I carry something tied to another World Tree. Don't be afraid — everyone here is willing to risk everything to help you."

The Heart of Nature inside her radiated wood-type fluctuations, something the sprouts could sense as a presence close to their mother's.

They didn't know how to speak yet or understand words — they were newborns, completely unlearned. But she knew that. Even so, she looked them in the eyes, and somehow, they felt the intention behind her words.

Niara reached out and touched one of their heads, comforting them.

Everyone on the flying ship stayed quiet and kept their distance. Darian floated nearby, staying back to avoid scaring the little ones.

Now it was up to Niara — she was the only one who could connect with them. Since they couldn't understand speech, she would have to use the Heart of Nature to convey her intentions and get them to help.

She had just received that Heart of Nature, and this type of non-verbal communication was extremely difficult. It was like putting someone in a car for the first time and expecting them to drive skillfully... with no time to spare.

But... Niara was a natural genius, one of a kind. She struggled to learn things the way most people did, through study or thought. On the other hand, when she could use something directly, especially under pressure... it was almost magical — she'd quickly master it.

Minutes passed.

Niara sat down, and all the sprouts came closer, surrounding her. It was like they wanted to be her shield, like they already saw her as an older sister — ready to protect her from any danger.

She closed her eyes, fully focused, gently touching each of their heads, staying that way for a while.

An hour later, she opened her eyes with a smile and turned around. All the sprouts mimicked her, changing their facial expressions into soft smiles too.

Darian was there.

"I did it, Dan. They can sense where their mother is. They'll guide us to her."

Everyone on the flying ship got excited. Howlyn had said the World Tree's location was a secret, even to the Risen Lords. No one knew where it was or how to find it — everything had been done to make it unreachable. But now, Darian had created the opportunity, and Niara made it happen.

"Amara, head east. I'll guide you as the little ones lead me," Niara finished. Then the ship began to move again.

***

Hours went by as they kept moving through the Black Forest. The World of Life was, without a doubt, immense — and this was just part of the original planet.

When their first full day in that world came to an end, the giant trees started to thin out. In their place, a range of barren mountains emerged.

The ground was ruined, and the scars of battle were still visible. A strong stench of blood lingered in the air.

It looked like they had reached an ancient battlefield... everyone could tell those marks had been there for a long time, since there were no longer any traces of life or even death-Yin around.

As they went on, they realized the battlefield was way bigger than they'd thought. There were massive skeletons — the flesh had long since rotted away, but the bones still gave off powerful auras. Some of them were clearly Mannaz, others looked like Risen. This was definitely what was left of the Divine Dragon Academy's final stand — their last struggle to survive.

At first, the bones were scattered, but as they moved forward, more and more started to appear. Soon, the entire ground was covered with remains.

"Did we just walk into hell?" Amara couldn't help but say, staring at the white bones on the ground and smelling the sickening scent of blood. The whole thing really did look like the legends of hell.

Suddenly, an oppressive feeling struck all of them. It was like something was warning them: Turn back, or you'll die horribly.

"It's just behind that mountain," Niara pointed out, and all ten sprouts mimicked her gesture at the exact same time.

When the flying ship arrived... everything around them looked exactly the same. Nothing stood out.

They landed. Niara grabbed Darian and the two of them got off the ship. The sprouts followed right after them in a neat line, like little ducklings behind their mother on the river.

Niara stopped and pointed at the emptiness. "This should be the place. They say they feel the connection coming from right here."

Darian nodded and activated his rings, focusing as much as he could.

The people on the ship watched closely. Everyone used their senses and blessings to try and find something — but there was nothing there, not even anything hidden.

*Buzz!*

Everyone jumped. It didn't take more than a minute for space itself to start trembling and buzzing.

Above Niara and Darian, the air looked like turbulent river water. She turned and ran back to the ship, the little sprouts hurrying after her.

"Go!"

Darian shouted, activating his rings at full power. He had only found that spot because he'd felt a strong hidden corruption there. So he forced the space around it open — he knew it was right below them. Without that, it would've been impossible.

Burning through a massive amount of energy, he made the perfectly hidden place reveal itself.

He'd forced the entrance open by manipulating spatial runes. A passage appeared ahead, and the flying ship immediately shot forward at full speed, entering it.

...

In seconds, everyone's vision was swallowed by total darkness. Everything was wrapped in a miasma so thick they couldn't see anything around them.

Amara was stunned and disoriented, but a calm voice rang out:

"Keep going."

Darian spoke, and she adjusted the ship's direction, flying straight ahead at full speed. A few minutes later, he told her to stop.

"Stay here, little ones. Dan's going to heal your mom, everything's gonna be okay," Niara murmured, also sending the message through the Heart of Nature.

They were trembling, scared, unable to see or sense anything around them. Her voice calmed them down a little.

She jumped off the ship.

When she hit the ground in front of them... there was a tree, and it looked nothing like the World Tree from the Aeternum Atlantis Empire.

It was dozens of times taller and wider — over ten thousand meters high. If it were on Earth, it would be the size of Mount Everest, visible even from space.

But it was completely black and corrupted, releasing a miasma as dense as the one from a Risen Lord.

Darian let out a snort, and his body pulsed. White power wrapped around him, and he touched the tree.

It didn't take even a second to confirm — the corruption was definitely from a Risen Lord. He didn't stand a chance at purifying something like that.

He looked at Niara, and she nodded, already knowing what to do. She stepped forward, put her hand on the tree, and started using what little wood power she could.

A faint green energy flowed into the tree... but clearly, it wasn't enough to purify it. Still, she kept going, trying to draw out the purest energy she could...

Minutes passed... until...

"!"

Darian sensed something inside the tree. Niara had managed to pull out a ridiculously pure trace of wood energy — coming straight from the Heart of Nature, from another World Tree.

Inside that tree's core, something reacted when it felt that presence. Then... Niara's power was pulled in.

It was like a thread connecting her to the core. Darian smiled and started sending his white power into her. Only a small part could go through that thread — but it reached the core directly.

A few minutes later...

**CRACK!**

A shattering sound rang out like thunder.

It came from the tree — the whole thing looked like it was splitting open, like it had been struck by a celestial lightning bolt. Darian smiled, and his white power burst out, pouring straight into that massive crack.

Everything got pulled straight into the core.

Then...

All the miasma in the area shook. The space trembled. The entire tree shook along with it.

Soon, a green wooden light burst out of the tree like a beacon.

"We did it!" Niara shouted, overjoyed.

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