Chapter 768: Unexpected
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
The Forest of Dreams had indeed changed quite a bit compared to 10 years ago. Still, these changes wouldn’t be that evident without careful observation.
The Forest of Dreams was a living forest with its own will. Or, perhaps the Forest of Dreams was more accurately described as a part of Amelia herself… She was constantly expanding her own domain. Maybe those within the forest wouldn’t feel anything, but if there was a satellite providing a bird’s-eye view, then one would discover that the Forest of Dreams was increasing its area every year at a rate of more than 30%. Over the past 10 years, the Forest of Dreams had secretly multiplied its area by more than 10 times.
Apart from the Forest of Dreams’ natural expansion, the wood spirits were also working hard to expand their forest, or maybe it should be called their territory. This was one of the wood spirits’ most important tasks over the past few years.
The wood spirits started out by hiring adventurers to fight with them against the undead and help them plant seeds around the forest to expand the Forest of Dreams’ territory. This kept repeating over the years.
As time pa.s.sed, all of the newly planted forests became connected, which naturally multiplied the Forest of Dreams’ area many times over.
A greater area would also represent more power of nature. This also represented that even more souls would enter the Forest of Dreams’ natural cycle. The wood spirit population was increasing explosively. Amelia’s personal power level would also explosively increase with all of this.
Amelia was the will of the entire Forest of Dreams. It could be said that the entire forest was a part of her physical body, and that every single wood spirit was her child and an embodiment of herself. The current Amelia now seemed quite gentle and low profile in comparison to her past extreme self, which only made me feel like she was even scarier and more inscrutable than before.
“It’s likely that she’s already reached the level of being a so-called Main G.o.d.”
I was quite confident of this. Just from the fact that the wood spirits’ products were becoming ever more inconceivable, I started viewing Amelia as a new Nature G.o.d or Life G.o.d right from the time that the wood spirits created the Dusk Fruit which was something that encompa.s.sed the secrets of life.
The Mother Earth G.o.ddess was the only Nature G.o.d who had ever reached Main G.o.d level, but she had long since lost her own will. It was rather doubtful whether she should even still be cla.s.sified as a Nature G.o.d.
Basically, the Mother Earth G.o.ddess couldn’t be counted on to help the other Nature G.o.ds if the Nature Faction was endangered.
It was a fact that there were many Nature G.o.ds, who ranged from moderates to extremists. Still, none of the Nature G.o.ds were the type who wanted to conquer the world.
Of course, the Nature G.o.ds were far too ancient, so they had many wors.h.i.+ppers in the mortal plane. All druids and nature mages could be categorized into the Nature Faction. The Nature Faction’s only obvious weakness was that they had always lacked the highest-level combat strength—a Main G.o.d to lead them.
Previously, the Nature Faction had been trying to make friendly entreaties towards Amelia to recruit her as a way of strengthening themselves. However, the Nature G.o.ds then started to faintly keep their distance from Amelia after she showed off her newest creation.
The Nature Faction would enjoy recruiting a powerful comrade who was around their level, but they would reconsider if they instead gained someone who became the boss of them all.
Amelia had never made any response. She neither accepted nor rejected the Nature Faction’s invitation. She only focused on developing her wood spirits.
I knew that this was because she looked down on the Nature G.o.ds who were quite the loose alliance where everyone only did their own thing. Amelia was also waiting for the Nature G.o.ds to make a better offer. She would be willing to be their boss in name if she could obtain major benefits.
As for the differences between Amelia’s and the Nature G.o.ds’ philosophy on life? That wasn’t a big deal at all. Even within the Nature Faction, many of the Nature G.o.ds had their own territory and ideas, so it really didn’t matter much.
If Amelia and the Nature Faction still couldn’t come to an agreement in the end, then that would be no big deal for her. The Seven Virtues all had potential power sufficient to reach G.o.dhood. They wouldn’t even be G.o.ds who relied on the power of belief. As long as Amelia and the wood spirits had enough time, they would be capable of creating an all-new Wood Spirit G.o.d Faction… Actually, they were doing so already.
Did this sound really mythical and inconceivable? But, since the elves had their Elven G.o.ds (although all the Elven G.o.ds were now dead), the humans had the Holy Light Faction G.o.ds (currently in the process of becoming ruined), and the dwarves had their Dwarven G.o.ds (who became weakened and then allied with the Nature Faction), of course the wood spirits could have their own G.o.ds.
“I’ve already seen through Amelia’s scheme! She just wants to recruit more people! I’m a man, so I definitely won’t join a G.o.d Faction that’s entirely female!”
I was simply spouting random ridiculous things while touring the Forest of Dreams in my free time. Just about every single wood spirit here knew who I was, so I was treated as a VIP for once, which actually felt quite nice.
The battlefield in the distance would never stop its warring. Contract Heroes of many different species were busy everywhere. Although more than 70% of the Contract Heroes were humans, I also saw wood spirits, elves, and beastmen among the Contract Hero adventurers. There were even quite a few gray elves and half-demons.
As expected, adventurer was the most inconceivable job of all. Any species and any job cla.s.s might meet as adventurers.
Some of the adventurers had just returned from the battlefield, while others were making preparations to go into battle. Whether or not they would return alive would depend on their companions and personal power level.
The Forest of Dreams forever remained the most popular battlefield for the Contract Heroes to earn points from. There was an uncountable number of people arriving every day. Apart from the allure of the wood spirits’ wondrous products, the foundational reason was that this was the safest interdimensional battlefield in the mortal plane.
That’s right, the safest. Even if the enemy here was the endless undead army, and the current enemy was the endless devil army, this was still the safest battlefield for the Contract Heroes to grind points at.
The reason for this? It was quite simple. As long as the Forest of Dreams was here, even enemy Level 4 individuals wouldn’t dare to take one step into this place. Having a completely safe zone for resting and healing that adventurers could retreat to when losing was something completely unheard of on every other battlefield.
The most dangerous part about an interdimensional battlefield wasn’t actually the never-ending war of attrition, but rather that it was impossible for you to choose your opponent. If you met a Level 4 individual who was far stronger than you, it would be impossible for you to win.
Currently, I was also borrowing the protection of the Forest of Dreams to hide from all those who wanted to hunt me down.
“As expected, having an absolutely safe base is truly enjoyable…”
“Bad news! The frontlines have been broken through!”
When I heard that surprising shout, my first reaction was that this was impossible and that there must have been a traitor, and my second reaction was that there really was no end to my jinxing ability. Maybe I should shut myself up permanently by wearing a metal gag?
“Or, if I look at this from a different standpoint, this is actually a karmic weapon. In the future, I’ll curse all my enemies… no, praise them…”
The common sense that everyone knew was that the Forest of Dreams was impossible to conquer. Yet, the current events proved that the impossible was indeed happening.
The newest trees on the outskirts of the Forest of Dreams were now withering and dying in large patches. The entire Forest of Dreams was beginning to shake slightly as if it was a living creature that was in pain.
There was only one possible explanation for this.
“Something happened to Amelia? Who could possibly injure her?”
My astonishment was real. My knowledge of Amelia was that she was currently one of the strongest existences in the entire world. Her nature and life magic attack power wasn’t that strong, but it would be highly difficult to counter. Her plants also had rather unique living souls. None of my four magic swords would be suitable for fighting against plants which were filled with life. On top of that, Amelia was incredibly powerful at both magic and melee combat. I truly wouldn’t know how to deal with her if she got into close range of me.
But before I could recover from my astonishment, the loli Rosa of the Seven Virtues arrived behind me.
“Father, Mother was beaten up by Uncle. Mother wants you to take revenge for her.”
I was utterly confused by this. Just what did this even mean?
Uncle? Did that mean my brother? So, Karwenz?
Wasn’t he busy trying to hunt down the Chaos Girls? Why would he come fight Amelia, who was obviously incredibly difficult to deal with? Wait a moment, there was one explanation that would cause everything to make sense…
“Amelia is also a Chaos Girl?”