Chapter 197 - Elder Tree
Leon gazed at the path ahead silently and did not issue the order to set off immediately. Undoubtedly, the path beyond the ant holes will be treacherous. It was a miracle that they had managed to advance this close to the ant nest without triggering another army of ants hunting them down.
"Awaiting your orders, Your Highness," Zorbek said patiently. Throughout this trip, he was supposed to be in command of the expedition. However, he did not mind that this role was passed onto Leon, the prince.
He believed it was a good opportunity for the young prince to gain experience in leading others before he takes the throne and leads the kingdom. But little did Zorbek know, Leon was not interested in the throne.
"Distribute these evenly among yourselves." Leon pulled out a few pill bottles and passed them to Zorbek.
"This is…?"
"Fasting Pills and Poison Cleansing Pills. As the names suggest, the Fasting Pills can satiate your hunger in place of meals, while the Poison Cleansing Pills can cure any low-level poisoning. We don't know what lies ahead. It's better to be prepared." Leon explained. He didn't expect for these pills to be required so soon, but it was good that he refined them.
Zorbek widened his eyes in surprise. He has never heard any of these pills before, but more importantly, the prince was much more prepared for this journey. The prince didn't lack anything and was fully capable of taking care of himself. To begin with, he never heard of an Awakener wielding so many elements. He felt like the prince had a bottomless abyss of secrets and made him felt unfathomable.
"Yes, Your Highness," Zorbek answered firmly. He must hug firmly onto the prince's thighs. Only by following the prince would he have a bright future. As the saying goes; when a person achieves a great way, even its dogs and chickens will ascend.
Leon had refined plenty of pills, but when they are divided, they didn't amount to much. Nevertheless, everyone was able to receive 3 days' worth of Fasting Pills, 3 Tier-1, 2 Tier-2, and 1 Tier-3 Poison Cleansing Pill.
Once the preparation was complete, the group set forth immediately. Under Leon's instruction, the group must keep contact with the intertwined roots to a minimum and only tread on the earthen parts of the ground.
Leon had a nagging feeling that the roots were even more of a threatening existence than an entire colony of ants. However, he also felt that this danger wasn't directed at them, which caused him to be confused.
The roots of the unknown plants stretched endlessly into the deeper parts of the underground. The deeper they went, the thicker it was. From this, Leon was made aware that there may not be a sea of plants. Most likely, all the roots stemmed from one ridiculous large plant and there were no larger plants than perennial plants like the trees.
Perennial plants like the trees could grow to nerve-wracking heights under certain conditions and different classification exists for them. Once a tree exceeds a height of 1000fts, it will no longer be classified as a normal tree. Instead, it will be considered an elder tree.
Different to normal trees, elder trees are sentient and could grow anywhere between 1000fts to 3000fts. In storybooks, they are usually depicted as guardian spirits, worshipped by certain sub-human races such as the elves.
From what Leon knew, there weren't any elder trees in the Human Domain, but at least one existed in the Wildlands. The roughly 1500ft elder tree stood proudly within a certain forest and could be seen from the top of the great wall at the western frontier.
Leon strongly doubted that the tree roots belonged to the elder tree in the west. It was simply impossible. Although they were underground, Leon had not lost track of his sense of direction. They had been heading east this entire time.
If the terrain of the 2nd Underground Floor had not been on a downward slope all this while, Leon would have questioned why such large elder tree had not been seen by anyone in the Human Domain. It turned out that the Human Domain had its own elder tree. It's just that it had always been hidden underground.
How can such a big tree grow underground with neither sunlight nor water?
"This is strange." Lilith suddenly said.
"What is?"
"These ant holes. There are far too many in one place to be the entrances to the ant colony. It's almost like we are already…"
"Inside the ant colony?" Leon shook his head. "If that was the case, we would have already been swarmed by an army of ants."
"That's why it's strange," Lilith stated.
"You seem awfully familiar with the habits of ants." Leon pried with a smile. Seeing Lilith's silence, he shook his head and asked, "What if I said all these ant holes weren't created by ants alone?"
Hearing this, Zorbek raised an eyebrow and asked, "If an ant hole isn't created by ants, what else could have created it?"
"Why do you think I instructed everyone to keep contact with the tree roots intertwining the ant holes to a minimum?" Leon did not answer Zorbek's question directly but answered it with another question, engaging him to think.
The group became startled once this question was raised and began to distance themselves from the roots.
"Don't tell me, these roots caused it!?" Zorbek became shocked. The tree roots have been very still. In fact, they had never moved at all. He never expected that these tree roots might be capable of movements, let alone digging holes. Why would the tree roots dig so many holes into an ant colony?
"Most likely." Leon nodded without giving a definite answer. Until he saw it with his own eyes, it was all mere speculations. "Ever since we entered the second floor, I have always pondered a question. What do these ants eat down here now that the spiders are gone? But after seeing these roots, it became clear to me. Just as these tree roots can be eaten by the ants, the tree roots can get its nutrients from the ants in order to survive. Therefore, I dared to proceed forward despite the danger."
"No wonder we haven't encountered any ants since we entered this area…" A palace guard commented.
"No, no, no. Something is seriously wrong with that reasoning!" Zorbek exclaimed. "If the ants and plants eat each other to survive, then the reason we haven't encountered any ants is that it's not feeding time yet!"
"Doesn't that also mean that when it's feeding time, this place will become a hotspot and also a battlefield between the ants and tree roots?" The palace guards were shocked and nearly fainted. Wasn't this like avoiding the tiger's claws by jumping into the lion's den?
Leon turned around and simply smiled at their terrified faces, revealing the whiteness of his teeth.
The palace guards became even more horrified after seeing the prince's smile. It was like seeing the devil's smile as the devil drag them into hell.
Madman! The prince is a madman! Even if the prince was tired of living, there was no need to drag them down with him, right!?
No, wait… if the prince dies, the queen would definitely kill them all and have them accompany the prince! But if they knew beforehand, they would have objected against entering this deep!
There was a difference between a dangerous endeavor and jumping into the jaws of death! One was bravery and the other was plain suicide!
Lilith felt dubious, seeing Leon's expression. There's no way he was that stupid, right? He didn't look like someone who was tired of living.
"Hold on… these are tree roots?" Lilith asked as a glimmer of understanding flittered across her beautiful black eyes. If they are tree roots, then…
The palace guards glance back and forth between Lilith and Leon, not understanding what Lilith figured out.
Leon ignored the palace guards confused looks and nodded to Lilith, before walking ahead with a carefree attitude. It seems that Lilith was aware of some things, which brought her here.
Naturally, he wasn't tired of living. In fact, he valued his life very much. He had only mentioned that the tree roots can get nutrients from ants to survive. For something to grow to the size of an elder tree, it would need to rely on something else than just mere nutrients for survival.
Leon's first thought was the power source for the floating city. Arden's diary mentioned that artificial spirit energy was able to revitalize the world and allow plants to grow to unprecedented sizes.
If the elder tree had something like the artificial spirit energy to depend on, it would be no wonder why it was able to grow underground, where no sunlight and water exists. It wouldn't even care about the nutrients gained from the ants. The elder tree probably only retaliated when it was annoyed by the ants nibbling on its roots.
At some point, Leon had stopped walking.
Lilith, who was following Leon subconsciously while lost in thought bumped into his back. "Why did you stop walking?"
"Well… I want to, but…"
Lilith followed Leon's line of sight and glanced ahead. She was taken aback when she saw nothing but an earthen wall. "A dead end?"
"Yeah..."
"What to do..." Leon scrunched his brows together in thought, before activating his [Spirit Eyes] to scan the earthen wall. At the corner of his eyes, he noticed a crevice glowing with weak reddish light. "This way."
Leon led the group over to the crevice in the wall, before readily entering without hesitation. It appeared that what he was searching for was just on the other side.
He was not disappointed. On the other side was a much vaster open space that seemed to connect the first and second underground floors, and possibly the third.
The elder tree stood at the center of this space in all its majesty. Its roots curled around an enormous spherical core the size of the palace and the entire space was illuminated by the glowing light of artificial spirit energy all year round.. The leaves of the elder tree seemed to have undergone mutative changes due to this and became dyed in a eerie crimson colour.