Chapter 281: Forest of Dreams (Part 2 of 2)
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
“I don’t want to grow up…”
Every child has had such a thought. Adults couldn’t understand the words of children, as the little ones had their own way of looking at the world that was drastically different from the more practical adults.
Scary demons would hide under the bed, a grandmother wolf would come when it became dark, and the story of the dragonfly and the rabbit would continue tomorrow. If they secretly shut their eyes, the fairies that lived in their shoes would help them complete their annoying homework, despite the fact that the payment was only some vile vegetable juice.
In the eyes of children, topics such as the end of the world were matters best left for adults. The worthiest topics of all were the fact that they had that disgusting celery for lunch today, Mary next door purchased another doll, and that Little Black from the blacksmith’s enraged his dad and got beaten again.
But children would eventually grow up into adults. When they became parents themselves, they would treat the fairy tales they heard about the love between the gra.s.shopper and the hamster as nothing more than a joke. They would toss their former dolls and toys created from dirt into storage rooms.
Childhoods were typically beautiful, but people were destined to grow up. A child’s former treasures stashed away ever so carefully would eventually be treated as nothing more than trash taking up s.p.a.ce by the person themselves.
Some people, however, were destined to have no childhood at all. Amelia Milan was one of them.
“I want playmates…”
Her insane personality stemmed from her lonely heart. When Amelia discovered that all the adults around her had nothing but dirty thoughts and endless desires, and that even the other children were nothing more than puppets for adults to fight over benefits, the young princess closed off her own heart and refused to mature.
“I refuse! Refuse, refuse, refuse!”
The young adult-hating girl established thick castle walls around her heart, stubbornly living on in her safe and isolated fortress. If anyone insisted on approaching her, poisonous thorns would instantly steal their life away. Yes. From the very start, Amelia was much like the Sleeping Beauty from the fairytale, sleeping away for many years.
Everything stemmed from the soul; even magic was a reflection of the soul. A child’s dream would always be the most fantastical—but also the cruelest. As the years pa.s.sed, the young princess turned into a witch and entered human society. But her fairytale-like Forest of Dreams, which was Amelia’s Soul World as well as her home, retained her true nature.
Under the purest of coincidences, Amelia’s physical body transformed into her own fairytale kingdom. After she gained the power of Creation, she kept wanting to create her own Divine Miracle, and then all this happened.
“I want family…”
Her past stubbornness caused her to detest the overly complex humans. Plants, who were much simpler, were the real true friends to whom she was willing to open her heart. Yet plants lacked intelligence and were far too simple in nature; the lack of ability to communicate wouldn’t help alleviate Amelia’s loneliness that came from the depths of her heart. And that was how the wood spirits were born.
“Men aren’t trustworthy, and adults aren’t trustworthy, either…”
Her adoptive mother, as well as her own sufferings (everything was Roland’s fault), were the best explanation. And with her natural talent of Communication, the depraved desires of men were easier to see than practically anything else. She always felt that it would be better for all men to die, and as for women… after ripping off their fake masks of friendliness and politeness, the jealousy uncovered made Amelia feel all the more uneasy.
The only part I never understood was that the witch Amelia actually treated children quite well—especially little girls. Yet it was probably because only little girls wouldn’t have any wicked thoughts in her eyes. As for little boys? The moment that she thought about how they would eventually grow up to be a stinky gentleman like Roland, Amelia would impulsively want to feed them to her piranha plant flowers.
This Creator was just that willful, but after she gained the power to control this entire dimension, she also gained the power to transform her strange fantasies into reality. And so, due to Amelia’s influence, this wood spirit species’ physical appearances turned into little girls like Rosa.
The tremendous plant giants and treants over three meters tall were nothing more than strengthened outer sh.e.l.ls under the wood spirits’ control. Their true bodies were hidden underneath these tremendous outer sh.e.l.ls, and all of them were young girls… This species, which consisted of only young females, was inconceivable and caused this forest to become a holy ground in the hearts of a certain group of people.
When I approached this lake, countless memories and thoughts along with a gentle voice echoed in my mind. That was the blessing of the Creator to her new species. Her words’ gentleness and motherliness made people naturally feel warm and comfortable.
“Children, my first present to you is the Virtue of Humility. Only with humility can you have progress and understand your own insufficiencies. This will give you the potential to fully grow. Children, as part of Humility’s reward, I bless you with the wisdom to learn beneficial things from other living creatures as well as absorb and imitate other creatures’ special abilities to help yourselves evolve.”
Amelia’s blessing reverberated throughout the entire forest. With their mother’s blessing, every single wood spirit gained the natural talent ability of high-speed learning.
“Children, my second present to you is the Virtue of Charity. Only by sharing a sweet fruit will it taste even sweeter. And as part of Charity’s reward, I bless you with the ability to mentally communicate with each other. Under my protection, not a single person will be able to cut off the soul connections you have to each other. The forest shall become your most trustworthy ally.”
Speech was unnecessary for the wood spirits, as they inherited part of Amelia’s ability of Communication. They only needed to mentally communicate with plants and other wood spirits.
“Children, my third present to you is the Virtue of Purity. Pure young girls don’t need to be tainted by adulthood, and pure love doesn’t need to be polluted by physical desires. Beautiful love is the sweetest candy of all. As part of Purity’s reward, I bless you with the ability to forever maintain the willfulness of youth. And if any of you are really cursed by love and decide to leave behind the fruit of pure love, you will be able to reproduce in a unique fas.h.i.+on as descendants of the forest without needing to rely on the boring physical traits of genders.”
As for this, I found it impossible to comment on… it was most likely due to Amelia’s distastes. In the future, just the studies on how wood spirits reproduced became a major area of research on its own.
“Children, my fourth present to you is the Virtue of Kindness. You must learn how to understand how difficult it is for others and respect their hard work. Blind conflict will only bring about even more troubles, while a calm att.i.tude will help you to become true victors. As part of Kindness’s reward, I bless you with the fortune to be undying. Not a single person will be able to steal away your souls from me. As long as you’re under my protection, death is nothing more than a temporary rest.”
The battles so far with the undead had already proved this point. As long as they were within this forest, the wood spirits were truly undying.
It was now that I understood the mystery of the wood spirits’ evolution. The Seven Virtues was the path that Amelia’s soul took, and the blessings that she gave to her children stemmed from the Seven Virtues. They helped her children to evolve to a great degree in such a short period of time.
But Amelia had only been able to complete four blessings. She no longer had enough power left to bless them with “Temperance,” “Diligence,” and “Patience.” Otherwise, the wood spirits could become a truly independent species that wouldn’t need to stay in this patch of forest.
Not a single mother wouldn’t want her own children to be healthy and kind. Amelia opened up her heart and gave them the best blessings she could think of as their Creator, and the wood spirits grew to this degree based on their mother’s will. In that case, the reason they summoned me here was probably an instinctive way of seeking my a.s.sistance.
“…It looks like I’m going to have to do a lot of work this time.”
I gently touched the sleeping Amelia’s face and felt her skin, which seemed abnormally soft. There were even tears in her eyes. The formerly maniacal witch’s soft appearance made her seem so pitiful.
I sat down by her bed of petals and closed my eyes, opening up my soul to this world as well.
I now knew what it was that I should do after receiving all those memories from Amelia. I was going to continue Amelia’s incomplete blessings for the wood spirits so that this newly-born species would be able to leave their mother and truly become independent, becoming able to travel by themselves to other planes.
“Temperance? Diligence? Patience? I apologize; I don’t have any of those. Amelia, if you’re willing, I shall use my own method to bless these children. It’s no good to only spoil children with love as your educational method for them is obviously too unbalanced. A species that’s too pure will actually die off easily, instead.”
The lake started glowing, and the dimensional will transformed into a fundamental power that granted me the power of Creation within this world. I had received an answer of agreement, so I gave my “blessings.” Or, perhaps, it would be more suitable to call them my “curses.”
“Blessing of Temperance? I apologize; I only have a curse named Gluttony here for you all. However, please don’t ignore the usefulness of eating for one’s growth as a healthy body is the foundation for everything. Children, when you receive my present, you shall receive an endless desire for nourishment and the ability to take root in any land and absorb nutrition from the earth. You will also receive the special ability to devour other creatures and even non-creatures to cure your injuries and continue your evolution.”
When the power of creation shone in the forest, the wood spirits continued on their path of evolution and grew even stronger. As for the numerous extra roots and tails that grew on their backs? That was to prepare themselves for taking root in the ground. The ugly, strengthened outer sh.e.l.ls of the plant giants and treants grew several dozen more roots as well. From now onwards, whenever a wood spirit was heavily injured, she now had the ability to take root in the earth, which would speedily help her recover. That additional ability of devouring would be considered a forbidden technique, to be used only when a wood spirit’s life was in danger.
“Blessing of Diligence? Ha, I only have a curse by the name of Sloth for you all. While Diligence sounds nice, being overly concerned with getting involved in others’ lives will be nothing more than a bother to others. Don’t allow others to disturb your rhythm and maintain your Sloth. You shall all become used to being treated coldly, so you won’t require others’ recognition. Your wills will become as resolute as the hardest stone. Not a single fantasy will be able to stop yourselves from your original intentions of self-perfection. You shall be as unyielding as steel, and your minds shall be able to live on forever.”
A silver light flashed in the wood spirits’ eyes as the power of creation shone once more. From now onwards, they became the natural enemies of illusionists and psychological-based techniques. They could ignore mental magic that fed on their silence, fear, and shock.
“The Blessing of Patience? Hmph, that’s the Virtue that I look down upon the most! Is tolerating others supposed to be a Virtue as well? I shall give you all the present of the curse—Wrath. If there’s something that displeases you, why bear with it? Tolerating the unjust is nothing more than appeasing them. You should just viciously punch them in the gut! Take this present from me, the blessing that stems from a certain hound of Wrath.”
The power of creation shone one last time, and the wood spirits gained the power to strengthen themselves based on their emotional states. Sharp thorns for piercing grew on their outer sh.e.l.ls and weaponry, and from now on, the wood spirits became known for suddenly exploding with power far beyond their typical level. Their physical might was once again increased by the power of the earth, and not a single creature in the future would be willing to engage in melee combat with these seemingly small weaklings.
“Right, I should give you all a name as well… How about wood spirits? Wood for the forests, and spirits to represent all lives.”
With the seven “blessings” complete and their “true name” having been confirmed, the creation of the “wood spirits” was finally completed. This Forest of Dreams that was just glowing so much earlier suddenly dimmed, as it was now time for her children to rest and grow in their sleep. The forest entered nighttime.
“Thank you, our father.”
“Wait a moment! Don’t call me like that! Hey—hey—hey—don’t go to sleep! Quick, clarify what you mean! This misunderstanding will be the end of me!”
But n.o.body responded to my words. All the wood spirits, including the Three Virtues, were entangled by the forest’s roots that suddenly reached out. They slowly sunk underground and, along with the magical forest, into a hibernation. This would help them complete their final changes.
I, however, hadn’t completed my work yet. I should say that the most troublesome part was just beginning.
Amelia opened her heart and soul to help these little wood spirits grow, but she obviously lacked sufficient combat experience. Her own soul had sunken into a deep sleep so the wood spirits could only grow through their own experiences and instincts. And since the wood spirits were still relying on their own instincts for battling, if it weren’t for their undying bodies and the fact that the undead lacked high-level combat strength, they probably would have been defeated by the undead armies long ago.
Just having undying bodies didn’t mean that one was undefeatable. There were countless items and spells developed specifically for dealing with those with undying bodies.
I just met two familiar faces earlier. Although I had always suppressed them back in the day, they were both Undead Lords with thousands of acc.u.mulated years of experience. In fact, they could even be considered my seniors in term of experience, and since they were both my collaborators in name, of course their power levels would be significant. They also knew countless undead top-secret techniques and spells—our opponents wouldn’t be easy to deal with.
But who was I? I was the former Undead Emperor. I refused to believe that anyone in this world could possibly surpa.s.s me in my understanding of undead troops types and undead high-level combat strength. Since Amelia had already selflessly shared all her experience to help these children of hers grow, of course I wouldn’t be stingy.
Right now, what I needed to do was open up my soul and connect myself to the wood spirits’ webbed soul connections, sharing my past combat experiences, giving them advice, and directly interfering in their evolution. I would improve their combat strength as well as give them anti-undead strategies. Although it wasn’t practical for the wood spirits to evolve much further within a short period of time, the defense lines in the forest, the magical plants, the wood spirits’ strengthened outer sh.e.l.ls, combat techniques, and way of thinking all had ma.s.sive room for improvement.
“…You’re all so kind. Since all the trees’ roots are on your side, why don’t you make them into sudden traps that will trip the undead? Also, don’t place all your important structures and residences on the ground. That’s too dangerous. You’ll have to be afraid of wide area-of-effect magic spells and a.s.sa.s.sins. It’s much better to place these structures in the wide underground.”
“Since your enemies are the undead, come believe in the Holy Light together with me. Relax—you don’t need to really believe in it. Allow me to teach you all how to fool that divine automated computer that the G.o.d of Holy Light has become. Come, let’s first learn how to praise the Holy Light while cursing the G.o.d of Holy Light at the same time.”
“You need to be cautious of bone dragons’ corrosive dragon breath. It’s basically the mortal enemy of all plants. We need to prepare some specialized anti-dragon nets. Although they’re gigantic, they actually have far weaker ability to control their bodies compared to living dragons, and they have far weaker senses. We can easily deal with these blind idiots using traps.”
Amelia’s information to the wood spirits contained far too little about practical combat, while I had an endless amount I could provide to them. Soon, even though they were hibernating, the wood spirits that obtained my combat experiences and information began discussing new plans and recommendations of their own. In the cover of this night, the entire forest began its own path of evolution.
Perhaps the next time that the undead came here, they would face an opponent that was utterly unlike before. It would surely give them a happy surprise.
After I finished all this, I stood up and stretched my body that had been covered with leaves and vines. Perhaps those silly wood spirits would believe that this was my way of avoiding catching a cold.
The sleeping beauty seemed like she was having a good dream. She was smiling faintly despite the fact that she was still in a deep sleep.
“…Since she’s become a complete dimensional will, she still needs enough sacrifices and souls to replenish herself in order to awaken; is that it? Alright then. It seems that those sacrifices will come here on their own, soon enough.”
I could see a pitch-black army gathering on the horizon. At an estimate, they would probably have enough soldiers to start a new battle before dawn.
“Relax and sleep well. I shall help you prepare enough sacrifices for the sake of these wood spirits of yours.”
Translator’s Thoughts
imperfectluck imperfectluck
Woohoo! This is chapter 101 that both imperfectluck and I have done together. Time pa.s.ses so fast. -Pranav