Chapter 2492 Life Pool <TOC> Chapter 2494 Aesop’s Mission
Translator: SumTLMan
“Do you think their condition seems well-maintained, and stable?” Tree Spirit’s voice came from behind.
Angel nodded: “Indeed, they seem much better off than Witch Gloria was when she was sealed by Iron Armor Granny.”
Previously, even while sealed, Gloria’s eyes were bloodshot, and she ferociously wanted to attack everything around her. But the patients in these vine cocoons looked quite peaceful, almost as if they were deep in slumber.
Tree Spirit gave a resigned chuckle: “Their stable appearance is only because their life energy instinctively suppresses the madness while they themselves cannot suppress the madness.”
“Cannot suppress the madness? What do you mean?” Angel asked, puzzled.
Tree Spirit did not provide a direct answer but said: “Just walk ahead, and you’ll understand.”
Hesitant at first, Angel took a step forward.
Initially, Angel’s steps were slow, but after a couple of steps, he suddenly paused for a second, his expression turning to one of shock, then he hurriedly moved forward, reaching the edge of the Life Pool in just two seconds.
Standing there, Angel’s expression grew even more astonished.
While still at the perimeter earlier, he had only sensed a strong life energy, comparable to the wood elemental domains of the Tidal Realm; however, under Tree Spirit’s guidance, a few steps forward immediately alerted him to something wrong.
The life energy had become so dense that it had reached a qualitative transformation.
Even breathing could directly affect the energy of a living being.
Now, standing by the Life Pool, with each breath, Angel could distinctly feel positive changes occurring within his body.
It was a strange sensation, like a drunkard suddenly becoming sober from drunkenness, or like receiving sudden enlightenment, making his thoughts clearer.
Every old organ in his body felt as though it was thoroughly cleansed and rejuvenated, bursting with newfound vitality.
From physical to spiritual, from thoughts to mind, everything emitted a comfortable sensation.
Angel clearly sensed every change within himself, and these changes were devoid of any side effects, a feeling of purification and… evolution.
Is this the core of the Eternal Tree, the truth of the Life Pool?
No wonder Liana was so fixated on this place.
If it were Angel himself, he would also be unable to resist staying in such a place for a long time. This feeling of purifying the bloodline and invigorating thoughts was infinitely valuable.
“Now, do you understand?” Tree Spirit slowly approached and stopped by the edge of the Life Pool, casually stirring the water. As the ripples dispersed, an even richer life energy surged upwards, causing the people hanging in the vine cocoons above to emit coarse breathing sounds.
Angel himself felt so comfortable that he almost moaned, no wonder those patients couldn’t help but groan.
Tree Spirit said, “Even if they are now afflicted with madness, they still long for the energy that provides absolute benefits to living beings. This longing, which I call instinct, suppresses their madness. That’s why they seem to be in better condition than Gloria.”
“But in reality, they are consuming my energy,” Tree Spirit said with a helpless wry smile.
Tree Spirit wasn’t wrong; the Life Pool was the energy of his millennia of accumulation. Even if outsiders breathed in just a little of the scattered energy, it was still his energy being depleted.
“That’s why I previously mentioned issuing a rescue mission, where the reward would be offered by them,” Tree Spirit explained. “The life energy they’ve consumed these past few days, even under the influence of madness, has still enhanced their vitality without any reduction.”
Angel nodded in realization.
Perhaps the madness induced by distorted meanings temporarily weakens their mental seas, but there are always ways to recover. However, enhancing one’s vitality like this is quite rare. Earlier, Angel thought having them repay the mission rewards seemed somewhat inappropriate by the Savage Grottoes, but now he sees that the organization is indeed generous.
“Originally, I wanted to keep them at the Puppet Hospital in Windmill Town, but this outbreak of madness is even more terrifying than the last live wire outbreak. Once these mad patients leave the range of the Life Pool, even if bound, they will continue to emit murmurs. These murmurs might be useless to formal wizards, but they are very effective against apprentices and ordinary people. Just one person’s murmurs spreading could almost instantly cause the entire Windmill Town to fall.”
Hearing this, Angel’s face also turned pale. He had only thought the madness was slightly worse than parasitic light particles or live wires, but not by much. But according to Tree Spirit, this astonishing mode and scale of infection were far more terrifying than any other plague he knew of.
Without control at the source, it wouldn’t take long to spread throughout a country.
At this moment, Angel felt somewhat relieved that he had been cautious. Before sending the spotted puppy away, he thought of the madness and had the puppy bring out the green rune structure, otherwise, the consequences would have been unpredictable.
“They can’t be kept at the Puppet Hospital, so there’s no choice but to keep them here. At least here, they won’t mutter murmurs, though it’s tough on poor me.” Tree Spirit said, beating his chest and stamping his feet. He usually controlled the Life Pool very strictly, even Rhine had hardly entered a few times, and this time it was really a major loss.
There were dozens of them.
Just watching them breathe in the life energy every day made Tree Spirit feel physically and mentally uncomfortable. That’s why he went to the Wilderness of Dreams to meet with the development team of the Tree Group and create various images to soothe his heart.
Therefore, when he saw Angel arrive, Tree Spirit was so excited to personally come out to greet him.
Because Angel’s arrival meant… these brats nibbling at his energy could finally leave, how could he not be thrilled?
However, to avoid misunderstanding, Tree Spirit still cautiously asked, “You’ve come this time, surely you’ve figured out a way to treat them?”
Angel really wanted to try answering “no”. But seeing Tree Spirit so cautiously, afraid of further distress, he couldn’t bear it and nodded honestly, “It can now be used, but…”
“But what?” Tree Spirit, initially pleased with the first part, was startled by the caveat in the latter half and asked cautiously.
“I just don’t understand why it has such an effect.”
Anyway, Tree Spirit had seen the green light released by the spotted puppy before, and Angel thought for a while, then briefly explained the situation of the Green Rune System and his research doubts in slightly vague language.
After listening to Angel’s words, Tree Spirit was relieved that the Green Rune System could be used.
As for Angel’s confusion, Tree Spirit did not care: “You’re asking me, but I don’t know how to answer you. However, I can share my own experience, I also have some abilities that I couldn’t understand at first, and no amount of study would give me the answers. But after using them more, those doubts somehow cleared up, the things I didn’t understand before slowly resolved themselves during use.”
“But that’s just my personal experience, I don’t know if it applies to you, but why not try using your special abilities more? Maybe one day it will click for you?”
Tree Spirit’s point, which Angel actually understood, was essentially “practice brings truth.” But does the principle of “practice brings truth” really apply to a system like the Green Rune System, whose fundamental logic he hadn’t grasped? Angel didn’t know, but it might be worth trying more.
“Also, haven’t you transplanted the skin of a morphing softworm and learned shape-shifting?” asked Tree Spirit: “You can now use shape-shifting, but do you understand the real principles of shape-shifting?”
Angel: “I don’t understand, but I could learn it.”
“Are you going to learn it now?” Tree Spirit raised an eyebrow.
Angel remained silent; for the time being, he wouldn’t learn it because the true principles of shape-shifting are very profound and take a considerable amount of time, at least on the scale of years or decades.
“Although I won’t learn it now, I will eventually need to learn it to master it thoroughly.” This, Angel was quite certain of.
“Then that’s settled, the doubts you don’t understand now, you can resolve once you become stronger in the future,” Tree Spirit winked: “It’s almost the same, right?”
“So, as long as it works, use it. You can study it slowly once you have the capability.”
This time Tree Spirit’s words seemed to make some sense, but in Angel’s view, it was somewhat sophistical. Although he didn’t understand the logic behind shape-shifting, the principles had been summarized by predecessors, and he could learn it given time. But the Green Rune System, where would he start learning from scratch, in the Nightmare Plane?
Angel couldn’t tell Tree Spirit the entire truth about the Green Rune System and just sighed without further expanding on the topic.
Tree Spirit was also happy that Angel did not continue the conversation; he now wanted Angel to hurry up and treat these people.
With an encouraging look from Tree Spirit, Angel finally focused his attention on the vine cocoons above.
Through Tree Spirit’s explanation, Angel understood that the vine cocoons were actually cages made by Tree Spirit to prevent these people from squandering the Life Pool. The vine cocoons were quite sturdy, and struggling wouldn’t free them, but the cocoons were not enclosed, the gaps between the vines did not hinder Angel from using the green rune.
After making sure everything was correct, Angel said to Tree Spirit: “Then I shall begin.”
Tree Spirit nodded vigorously, eyes shining with anticipation as he watched Angel.
Angel’s gaze first settled on the six vine cocoons closest to the Life Pool; these were the formal wizards who had succumbed to madness. The other vine cocoons contained wizard apprentices.
Looking at the nearest vine cocoon, a faint green light emerged on Angel’s body, and green runes appeared on his right eye, right hand, and right forearm.
He gently extended his fingertip, and the dancing green runes converged elegantly into a hazy point of light at his fingertip.
This point of light contained the composite structure that Angel had researched over the past few days.
With a flick of his finger, the point of light transformed into a stream of bright green light, which rushed into the first vine cocoon.
Seconds later, Angel nodded slightly to Tree Spirit.
Tree Spirit quickly retracted the first vine cocoon, and as the vine disappeared, the figure inside fell to the ground.
The figure had a pale and emaciated face, wore a black robe, and held a bone staff. Angel recognized him as Rococo’s mentor, “Whispering Shadow,” Duncan.
Once freed from the vine, Duncan’s eyes were initially bloodshot, but they soon cleared.
He looked up at Tree Spirit and Angel, as if he wanted to say something, but before he could speak, he fainted.
Tree Spirit helped him up and placed a hand on Duncan’s forehead.
After a moment, Tree Spirit smiled at Angel, “No worries, his madness has been cured, although his mental sea is a bit depleted… He deserves it.”
Tree Spirit was initially pleased, but quickly realized that Duncan had absorbed a significant amount of life energy in the past few days. His expression changed, and he promptly threw Duncan out of the life energy-covered area.
Fortunately, Duncan was a wizard; if he were a mere mortal, such a throw would likely have been crippling.
“Continue, continue.” Since Duncan could be saved, Tree Spirit was eager to proceed with the others.
Angel did not hesitate and proceeded with the second, third, and fourth…
Soon, the last formal wizard was also rescued.
Their reactions were similar to Duncan’s, each initially regaining consciousness for a few seconds but fainting again due to damage to their mental sea. They appeared dead, but with enough energy expenditure, the damage to their mental seas could eventually be healed.
Once their mental seas were healed, their vitality was not only preserved but significantly enhanced.
Thinking this, Tree Spirit looked at the unconscious wizards with a fiercely determined gaze.
Having saved the formal wizards, it was now time to attend to the apprentices.
However, just as Angel was about to begin treating the apprentices, a pure white dove suddenly pierced through the Eternal Tree’s bark, flying directly in from the outside world.
Tree Spirit gently waved its hand, capturing the white dove in its grasp.
It glanced at the note on the dove, furrowing its brows slightly.
“Angel, you keep them safe for now; I need to step out for a few minutes, I’ll be back soon.” No sooner had Tree Spirit spoken and vanished with the dove than it reappeared within two seconds, addressing Angel again: “Almost forgot to tell you, those people we saved, throw them to the outer area. It’s alright to aid them when they’re sick, but don’t coddle them once they recover.”
With that, Tree Spirit disappeared once more.
Angel stood there, lost in thought for a moment. The pure white dove that had flown into this space was not unfamiliar to him. It was a Dove Spirit from the Path of Magic Siphon, also a symbolic magical node of the Mirror World, possessing it essentially meant entering the core circle of the Savage Grottoes, where one could independently establish their own territory. Angel had one too, temporarily kept at Phantom Island.
Beyond its symbolic significance, the pure white dove also served as a messenger. Evidently, Tree Spirit had received some news, prompting his departure.
Seeing Tree Spirit’s furrowed brow, had something happened in the outside world?
Angel did not dwell on it too much; whatever it was, it likely wasn’t anything significant. Otherwise, Tree Spirit wouldn’t have had the time to specifically remind Angel to relocate the saved individuals to the outer ring.
With this thought, Angel dismissed the concerns of the external world and continued his efforts to heal the hanging sufferers of madness.