Handles Taesan Well (1)
Handles Taesan Well (1)
"The Fairy Tree?"
[?]
"Yeah. Didn't I tell you that tree tried to kidnap you last night?"
I woke up feeling perfectly happy, only to immediately become the victim of an attempted kidnapping.
"A presence suddenly appeared in the middle of the night and startled me so much that I nearly blasted it with Calamity Flame, but I realized what it was just in time and stopped myself."
The back garden of the mansion, where I'd been led by Yeon-hwa's hand.
As I blinked my drowsy eyes open, Yeon-hwa, shaking her head in disbelief, pointed her finger at the Fairy Tree.
"Huh...?"
[Doubt]
I tilted my head again, observing the Fairy Tree.
It was a Fairy Tree that had grown monstrously, far beyond my initial plan. While it was still bare, having yet to sprout any leaves, an ethereal, numinous aura now emanated from it.
Upon inspection, there was nothing particularly strange about it. In fact, it was getting healthier with each passing day. That was thanks to its roots assimilating with the earth veins and greedily absorbing vitality energy.
The once-dead Fairy Tree had now become a living, breathing tree of life.
It was a near-resurrection, achieved through the interweaving of Taesan's Expansion Ability, the Life and Death Judgment, and the innate talent of my fairy kin.
Just then, a presence stirred deep within the Fairy Tree, and a perky thought was transmitted to me.
- Nngh... Your Majesty...?
It was Rio, the fairy who had been seeking a hollow somewhere within the Fairy Tree to curl up and sleep in.
- Already... yawn... Did you sleep well...?
[Yes, did you sleep well too?]
- Yesh... I slept incredibly comfortably...
Rio gave a tiny flutter of her folded five-colored wings and wriggled her way out. Observing that through my perception, I let out a small laugh.
[Well, that's a relief.]
[Do you like the Fairy Tree?]
- Yup! I really, really love it!
The thought, thick with drowsiness, instantly brightened.
- I'm so happy! So happy to see it again!
This Fairy Tree was the very tree where Rio and the other children had lived, gathered, and been born. It was inevitable that she'd be so attached to it. Having had to leave this Fairy Tree behind against her will and then flee from monsters before she could even process her feelings — no wonder all of them were now glued to its bark.
'Seo-yul liked the Fairy Tree too, didn't she?'
Though she'd been a little awkward about it, Seo-yul often came out for walks whenever she had time, as if to admire and gently stroke the tree.
It really had been a good call to bring it back to life, even if the process was a little reckless.
I smiled softly and shook my head.
[You don't need to get up. I'm just out for a moment, so keep on sleeping.]
- Mmm... But still...
[I'm heading back in after checking on something... good girl?]
- Mm... Okay...
Rio hesitated for a moment, but once I sent my sound transmission laced with sincerity, she relaxed and wriggled back inside. Then it looked like she dropped off to sleep as if she'd passed out.
"...That was Rio just now, right? Did she wake up?"
"Yes, so I told her not to worry and to keep sleeping."
"Ah-ha... Hmm..."
"What's wrong?"
When I tilted my head, Yeon-hwa stared at my Confession Necklace with a strange look in her eyes.
"No, it's just, the way you talk when you're with the fairies is a bit infuria... ahem. Man, my words just slipped out."
"?"
[?]
Yeon-hwa stopped mid-sentence and shook her head vigorously.
[Hmm.]
Anyway. The Fairy Tree itself had nothing wrong with it. The only thing I could make a guess about, perhaps, was the Fairy Tree's innate talent. It felt as if that part of it had developed a will of its own.
'I'll need to look into it more.'
I didn't think Yeon-hwa was lying. After all, if even the slightest threat had emerged, my Crisis Observation sense would have sounded the alarm. I didn't even entertain the hypothetical. Yeon-hwa had no reason to lie to me, did she? Even if it were a lie...
'Well, she'd have her reasons.'
I nodded to myself and brought my two hands together to form a hand seal.
'Manifest, Authority of Knowledge.'
—Oooong!
My consciousness wavered, then sank downward. Half of my senses grew thin, while my mind sharpened into vivid clarity. My eyes opened.
Instead of fog, countless bookshelves came into view. They were everywhere I looked left or right, even above when I tilted my head back to check. The shelves were stacked high as if to encircle the round central space.
'No issues.'
This was a corner of my consciousness where the 'books' manifested by the Authority of Knowledge were gathered, and it looked similar to the interior of the Tower of Knowledge. It wasn't something I had constructed.
When Lady Ariel had bestowed the Authority of Knowledge upon me, she had given me this library, already configured to be comfortable and easy on my mind. Her consideration didn't end there. This library—the Authority of Knowledge—was also linked to the Authority of Observation.
It was structured so that excess information wasn't discarded but instead got stacked neatly into this library, volume by volume.
'The piece of last night's memory is over here.'
A form manifested within my consciousness and rose up. It passed by books of various colors and thicknesses until I arrived at the place where memories were kept.
It was a book I'd forcefully jammed full of all the information observed that day. Thanks to that, its thickness was staggering. I extracted the memory of last night.
—Oooong!
At the same moment, my consciousness surfaced. My muted senses returned. I could see Yeon-hwa staring down at me blankly.
"Did you just pull a book out?"
"Yes."
Yeon-hwa's gaze shifted to the book clutched in my hand. A book with a pure white cover. Fwoosh! When I infused it with mana, the book flipped open.
Memories from last night, which I had glossed over, came flooding back in vivid detail. The branch that had slyly slipped in through the window and tried to coil around my waist to take me away...
[What's this?]
I really had almost been kidnapped.
With a dumbfounded expression, I turned my body around. I idly tapped the root sticking up out of the ground.
[What are you.]
[Why did you try to take me?]
Though I put it that way, I didn't take it seriously. If there had been even a trace of malice or threat, my consciousness would have jolted me awake. That meant it was filled only with goodwill, and the outcome of its actions wouldn't have been harmful to me.
—Slide
Just then, the thick root I was tapping on flinched, and a thin root sprouted out from it.
"Oh, it moved."
Just as Yeon-hwa said. The root that had been fidgeting for a moment stretched itself out, bit by bit, towards me. As expected, there was no malice.
I could feel warm goodwill instead. I stayed still, and the root came up to softly wrap itself around my hand.
—Swoosh...
The energy that flowed in from the root heated up my body, making it flush with warmth.
'Vitality energy?'
A portion of the vitality energy brimming within the Fairy Tree was seeping into me. The process was clean and without any loss.
[Was this why you were trying to give me your vitality energy?]
—Oooong!
As I stroked the root with wide, round eyes, its intention was conveyed to me.
A small, childish mindscape. It was at a level hard to even call a consciousness... similar to a lower spirit. Yet its benevolent intent was clear. A gentle smile naturally spread across my lips.
[Thank you. You were thinking of me, were you?]
As I tenderly stroked the root wrapped around my hand, the root wriggled as if pleased. Before I knew it, my winged garment, which had transformed into three pairs of wings, fluttered once.
'?'
Feeling a gaze stick heavily to my cheek, I turned my head.
"What's wrong?"
"Um... oh, no. It's nothing."
Yeon-hwa swallowed and cleared her throat with a hem-hem.
.
.
.
As the cadets were all still digesting the results they had gained from the tower entry, the day of the 2nd-year, 1st-semester midterm evaluation arrived.
The schedule was no different from last year.
Two days of written exams followed by three days of practicals. Today was the second day, marking the end of the written evaluations.
'Hm.'
I was at a café near the evaluation hall. Sipping ice water, I wore a peculiar expression.
'I don't feel nervous anymore.'
I wasn't anxiously worrying about the results either.
I'd just finished the written exam, and I'd solved everything without trouble. I was even confident about all my answers.
As for the upcoming practicals and tournament? It sounded arrogant, but since I already knew the outcome would be good, I wasn't concerned.
'It really feels like a different era.'
How was it this time last year?
I'd taken the written exam honestly, relying on my own ability. Then I'd swallowed nervously thinking about the practicals ahead.
"Ugh... it wasn't easy... so hard..."
That's where I was at.
Senior Daera, who was sitting across from me clutching her head, seemed to be in a different place.
I'd been about to ask how it went, but I clamped my mouth shut.
[...Senior Daera, which question did you find so difficult?]
"Ah... ugh... a... all of them were hard..."
[Didn't everything come from what we studied?]
"Yeah... it did, but it was hard..."
Senior Daera answered with a blank expression, noisily slurping her sweet coffee.
Last weekend, Lee Ha-sol had stayed at the mansion, trained, and prepared for the written exams with us.
That too felt like a shift of generations—I had become the one giving advice to Lee Ha-sol and instructing Senior Daera.
"Ah... especially hard was that part. The dungeon analysis..."
[Hmm... but you got most of that right, didn't you?]
I tilted my head.
Considering how much she was whining, the solutions and answers she described were mostly correct.
In a way, it was only natural.
Senior Daera hadn't exactly been in a position to study recently, but she possessed knowledge gained from surviving years on the Reverse Side.
"That part's fine... but look at the other sections. Those I really didn't know."
[Aha.]
But apart from that, her score was definitely weaker compared to the dungeon and monster sections.
"Ugh, my head aches... Still, the written exams are finally over. Once the practicals are done, my rank should jump a lot..."
[Mm.]
Senior Daera slumped her head onto the table and let out a tired sigh.
I glanced between Senior Daera's slumped form and the problems she'd complained about, then nodded and raised my hand.
A book floated up above my hand. It was a book manifested with the Authority of Knowledge.
[Tap.]
"Ack."
I stuck it onto Senior Daera's head. The book melted into her. Senior Daera, who had been slumped over, flinched and bolted upright.
"Wha, wha, what... hey...?"
Her stammered words trailed off at the end. Her blue eyes widened, blinking blankly.
"...Huh?"
[You understand now, right?]
"Uh, uh... huh? What—what was that just now?"
Senior Daera felt her own head and murmured, looking as if she didn't understand. I nodded and crunched on some ice.
[It's one of my abilities.]
[It condenses knowledge or concepts into a book... I can give it to someone else too.]
That's the application of the Authority of Knowledge.
"...Ah! Wait! Then couldn't you have just given me this?"
Around the time I crunched down a few ice cubes, Senior Daera, who had been gaping, let out an exclamation and pointed at her head.
[That is true.]
"Ah, what! Then before the written exam you could've..."
[But then it would've felt too much like cheating. They even go out of their way to confiscate smartwatches and communication devices, so if you took the exam with knowledge I handed you...]
"...Ah, right? Yeah, solving an exam with a click like that does feel off."
Senior Daera quickly accepted it and slumped back down. I gave a wry smile at the sight.
[Ahaha. And just handing it over like this would delay your own growth. Learning accompanied by understanding is far better, after all.]
"Yeah, you're right, Junior Disciple. Ah, nothing comes easy in this world."
Senior Daera grumbled to no one in particular and sucked down her coffee; the cup was empty in barely three sips.
"Junior Disciple. You're also entering the tournament, right?"
[Yes, I'm participating as a Combat Major.]
"Wow... what do the second-years who face you do...? Or maybe not? Some might actually be happy for the publicity."
I nodded at the sudden change of topic.
The tournament. My thoughts reached beyond it.
Once the midterms were over, it would be vacation. There was plenty to do over the break.
'I also need to start entering the dungeon with the Curse-Lifting Jewel soon.'
The dungeon's grade was so high that I had been cautious, but I felt I should secure it for safety's sake anyway.
There were plenty of other ways to grow.
But the most important schedule was still the meeting among the Three Great Families.
'I'll probably leave right after vacation starts to prepare...'
Given the grand scale of the meeting, it would take some time to arrive early and get ready.
The truth had already come to light. The essence of Homogenization hadn't been uncovered, but it was known that I used Calamity Flame, Azure Sea, and Taesan.
I didn't know how the meeting would play out. In the 3rd Iteration, which had followed a similar path, things had ended right before a meeting like this could be held.
'If it proceeds like some kind of event... they'll probably put my Unique Ability to the test.'
Probably in the form of a spar or something.
'Hmm.'
I stroked my chin, sizing up the situation, and gave a small nod.
Whatever happened, showing an excellent performance there wouldn't hurt.
.
.
.
That evening.
I entered the spacious underground training room in the mansion and opened a subspace portal in midair.
Thud! A monster's corpse dropped with a heavy sound. It wasn't soaked in blood or anything.
'Was this a 4th Rank one?'
It was one of the monsters I'd subjugated on the Reverse Side, and I'd been stashing any promising monster corpse into subspace.
The corpses of high-ranking monsters, especially, had so many uses that I was collecting them meticulously.
The main use was, of course, necromancy.
I crossed my arms and observed the state of the corpse with Observation.
The monster's corpse hadn't decayed. In fact, it was so fresh it looked like it had just died.
Because I had manipulated the flow of time in subspace.
'But it wasn't quite good enough to turn into a special undead right away.'
Creating special undead was always difficult.
Not only because patching together and strengthening the corpse was hard, but also because of the inherent limitations of undead.
A dead body... a broken vessel, forced full of necromantic energy and vitality to create a moving doll.
That was the essence of an undead.
In other words, the sharper and clearer the thought residue used to animate the doll, the better.
'Then...'
I drew another line in the air.
That wasn't subspace. Instead of a hole, a pitch-black book appeared in the air.
'Its condition... is still fine.'
After checking the book's condition, I pushed it into the corpse.
The book naturally dissolved into the corpse.
Thud! The corpse jolted—a positive reaction as a clear, matching soul entered it.
I nodded and manifested Taesan.
'There, it's your original body. Naturally, it'll fit well, right?'
The Authority of Knowledge could contain many things in books—concepts, knowledge, and more.
And its scope included souls that I could handle.
The undead, now close to a successful creation, raised its body.