Game of the World Tree
chapter-432

The players ultimately accepted Lilia and the others’ invitation.

After all, the first step in understanding this demi-realm and finding clues about the fragments of the Scepter of Life is to establish deeper contact with the local inhabitants of this land.

Seeing the five of them nod in agreement, the group of local youths cheered excitedly.

After encircling them, the locals began the journey back to town.

On the player’s side, Boxlunch and the others weren’t worried at all about being deceived by these humans because, simply put, there was no other reason than sheer confidence in their own strength.

The more they learned about this demi-realm, the more confident they became in their abilities.

Along the way, they didn’t forget to observe the landscape around them, recording any new species they stumbled upon, as well as any powerful monsters and the like.

However, much to their surprise, something odd stood out within this forest, which the young locals also referred to as the ‘Elven Forest.’

Coincidentally, all the plants here can also be found in the real Elven Forest outside. But while this demi-realm’s Elven Forest looks like its real counterpart, the rarer and more exotic plants outside don’t seem to be available here at all.

Despite its similarly lush appearance to the real thing, this forest seemed like a lesser version of the real Elven Forest when inspected more closely.

Any plant outside that’s slightly more rare was simply missing here.

Furthermore, there wasn’t a single sign of a magical plant to be found here, something that was quite ubiquitous in the real Elven Forest.

This place seemed truly was a mana deficient world.

Moreover, what applied to the plants also applied to the monsters.

No, it is more accurate to say that the monsters here were mostly just ordinary wild animals rather than magical beasts.

So far, the strongest monster the players had encountered was only an intermediate Iron-rank Brown Bear.

Yet the young locals’ faces turned ashen as they froze in fear upon seeing that particular bear.

“Oh no! This is bad! It’s the Forestland Giant Bear! We’ve run into the overlord of this forest!”

“T-This Forestland Giant Bear is incredibly strong, with terrifying defenses and overwhelming power. It’s said to be a rare rank-2 magical beast! I’m afraid only the elders can deal with it…”

“Honorable Ones, we must quickly flee! This is a Rank-2 magical beast that’s capable of destroying entire towns with ease!”

These local youths started to panic as they had no way of gauging the players’ strength.

This was also partly due to Choppin, the elven mage of the team skilled in [Concealment Magic].

He had a tendency to hide their team’s presence and was careful to conceal it during their exploration, thus leaving the young locals unaware of their true power.

This piqued the players’ curiosity.

These people regarded them as divine beings, and their dazzling armor and robes were right in front of them, so how could these locals not realize how strong they actually were?

How peculiar!

Well…they can just prove their strength with actions.

At this moment, the pride of these five Silver-rankers flared brightly as they sought to show off their power.

“This one’s mine!”

“Don’t hold me back, I’ve got this!”

Several of them scrambled for the chance, but their captain, Boxlunch nodded towards their tank, Optimist:

“You go ahead.”

Optimist grinned, flashing his pearly white teeth and pulled out a massive two-meter-long greats word, before charging straight at the giant bear.

“M-My Lords!”

The young locals gasped in worry, but their cries of concern quickly turned into dumbfounded silence mere seconds later.

The tank, known as Optimist, whilst clad in gleaming heavy armor, let out a low shout, raised his greatsword, and leapt into the air.

His powerful steps left the ground beneath him cracked.

In the blink of an eye, he stood before the giant bear, moving with the speed of a rabbit despite his heavy armor.

Then, with just a single downward slash—

Squelch.

The giant bear didn’t even have time to roar, much less defend itself.

Under the radiant glow of his skill, the bear was cleaved cleanly in two.

Blood splattered everywhere as a seven- to eight-meter-long fissure remained on the ground in the aftermath of the devastating strike.

Local Youths: “….”

A deathly silence ensued.

These group of young boys and girls stared wide-eyed in shock at Optimist, who stood with his sword in hand, looking utterly unbothered.

Meanwhile, the other players, except for Boxlunch, stood with their arms crossed or hands on hips, as they casually critiqued the performance of Optimist.

“Hmm…still a bit slow, you let its blood splatter all over your body.”

“I guess it was so-so, maybe a 60 out of 100.”

“Opt, you’ve still got a long way to go!”

Optimist: “…”

He merely rolled his eyes at the antics of his friends.  

As for the local youth, they were completely awestruck.

“S-So… so strong!” Lilia gasped, her eyes sparkling with admiration.

The others were equally charmed, their expressions filled with awe.

Soon, the way they looked at the players further changed, as their behavior became even more reverent:

“They must be the elites of the Divine Clan! Surely they are the legendary top-ranked Divine Beings! The true Silver People!”

“Praise the Creator God! I’ve actually seen top-ranked Divine Beings!”

Evé, whose still observing everything through Boxlunch’s perspective, raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

“Top-ranked Divine Beings? Silver People?”

By now, Eve was fairly certain that these “Divine Beings” these youths were referring to were actually the elves.

Based upon their reactions to both the giant bear and the players, it seemed these the elves that immigrated to this demi-realm in the past varied greatly in strength…

Some of them might be Silver-rankers, while the weaker ones were likely only have low or intermediate Iron-rank strength.

“So, it seems these so-called ‘Divine Elves’ are also cursed with the racial bloodline curse.”

“If that’s the case then, the civilization within this demi-realm was probably created by those elves who fled here a thousand years ago. Otherwise, these locals wouldn’t be able to speak Elvish, have Elven bloodlines, or revere the elves as Divine Beings.”

“However, what’s still unclear to me is whether these local human inhabitants originally existed in this demi-realm or if they entered it alongside those elves in the past…”

“In any case, I should be able to locate the last fragment of the Scepter of Life once I find the ruins left by those Elves in this demi-realm!”

“It’s strange though…I haven’t been able to sense the location of the last fragment ever since the players entered this demi-realm. This feels eerily similar to how Reinhardt sealed his fragments…”

Evé pondered about this matters quietly.

The players continued traveling alongside the young locals.

After killing the giant bear, Lilia and the others treated them with even greater respect.

As they moved forward, the players asked these youths for more information regarding their demi-realm, while also subtly probing them for anything related to the last fragment of the Scepter of Life.

Alas, as expected, these youths knew nothing about the Scepter of Life, which somewhat disappointed but didn’t really surprised the five players.

However, they still did learn some interesting things…

“History? Honorable Ones, do you wish to hear our history?”

“But… shouldn’t you already know everything about us, considering you’ve probably lived through its entirerity?”

“W-What!? You’re not from this world? And you actually came from beyond it?!”

“In that case… could the myths told by our Elders actually be true?!”

These group of youths bore excited expressions, while the players looked utterly confused:

“What myths?”

Lilia and the others began to elaborate:

“It’s a secret myth from our Divine Grace Clan that has been passed down through generations…”

“This myth states that the Great God of Creation led three hundred Divine Beings, who are survivors from the divine realm and created our world.”

“Then, the Creator God used His own flesh and blood to bring forth our ancestors, the Divine Grace Clan…”

“However, creating life drained too much of the Creator Gods power, and thus, He eventually fell into an eternal slumber…”

“As the God of Creation succumbed into deep sleep, you, the esteemed members of the Divine Clan went into seclusion, to search for a way to awaken Him.”

“…Until today, that is.”

“But this is just our clan’s old secret myth. The Church has dismissed it as a false, distorted heresay…”

“In the Church’s version, the God of Creation emerged from nothingness, and was born alongside the world itself, wielding the combined powers of nature and life.”

“The God of Creation first created the Divine Beings, then we the humans. Then, from the union between Divine Beings and humans, we, the Divine Grace Clan, were eventually born…”

“After creating everything, the God of Creation fell into deep slumber, and with His sleep, the Divine Beings began to perish…”

“However, the Great Creator God is destined to awaken one day.”

“When that day comes, the entire world will be destroyed, but all those who worship Him will be reborn anew into eternal life amidst the destruction, and the fallen Divine Beings will return as His chosen ones in His divine kingdom as His followers.”

— 432 —

【 THE MYTH OF THE CREATOR GOD 】

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