The World Tree Takes Root
In the garden in front of the grand mansion in the Room.
Right in the center of that garden, a small sapling had sprouted. It was a tiny tree about as tall as Carpe's knee.
"......Is this the World Tree?"
Thinking back, there had been a line like that in the item description.
◈ If planted somewhere, it might grow into a very small World Tree.
"So that somewhere was the Room?"
-A bit unexpected. I figured it'd be a quest item for creating an elf forest in some other region.
"I thought so too."
He'd imagined a classic RPG quest: revive the withered Tree of Life to save the elves, the kind that shows up in every game.
-There actually is a quest like that. A hidden quest that pops up a few months from now when elves appear in another region.
Clearing it grants the title 'Savior of the Elves' and maxes out affinity with the elf race.
Of course, for Carpe—who'd already gone through all that—it was a quest he had no need to bother with.
"I wanna see too......"
The being who knew the most about the World Tree in this space right now.
Mirage, who had spent over 800 years imitating the elf queen while tending to the World Tree, approached it.
Mirage gently stroked the sapling and smiled faintly.
"Heehee. What a cute little one. Yep, it's definitely a World Tree. Still young, so its power is weak...... but it's special."
"Special? In what way?"
"The World Tree is the guardian tree of the elves. It blesses all elves nearby. But this one doesn't. It's blessing its master, not an elf."
"......Me?"
"Yep. It recognizes you as its owner. Such a good kid."
And at that moment, a notification window appeared before Carpe's eyes.
You have become the owner of the World Tree!
"......Huh?"
Carpe just blinked in astonishment at the notification that far exceeded his expectations.
And about five seconds later.
"Whoa! Whoaaa!"
-Holy crap! This insane game again, again!!! A growth-type title?! You need to clear an Epic quest for those!
Not quite on the level of Three Firsts with its all-stats +33, or the balance-breaking ones like First 0-Star and First 10-Star that give extra skill points—but excluding those, it was hands-down the most unique title Carpe had.
-HP and MP boosts in percentages from the start? That's broken. Not something you see at this level......
In truth, it wasn't that useful in the early game when absolute HP/MP values were low, so the percentage gains were minimal.
But after second and third job changes, things changed.
You could gain thousands—tens of thousands in extreme cases—extra HP/MP.
That's why percentage HP/MP boosts were rare options, appearing only occasionally on Legendary items.
"World Tree's Blessing, huh......"
But the real jackpot, making even those percentage boosts look dim, was something else entirely.
A simple yet overwhelmingly powerful effect: full recovery!
It was basically a second life.
"This is seriously amazing."
Carpe gently stroked the young World Tree, just like Mirage had. Another notification popped up.
Young World Tree in the Room
Blessing Target: Carpe
The sacred tree that guards the forest of elves has taken root in the player's Room, granting faint blessings.
It grows alongside the Room. With care and affection, it may grow even faster.
Grants beneficial effects to the Room and player.
- Workers in the Room: Vitality +10%. Vitality recovery speed +10%.
- Harvests from production/gathering in the Room: +10% yield.
- Player and retainers: HP +200, MP +20. HP/MP recovery speed +20%.
- Manager skill effects slightly enhanced.
"......Nice. Really nice."
A universal buff not just for the Room, but for Carpe and all his retainers too.
At this point, he was tempted to prioritize Room upgrades over the third relic.
"Let's see. Next upgrade requirements......"
• Player Level (43/60)
• Forest Cat Fur (0/40)
• Great Tiger Hide (0/1)
"Forest Cat? Great Tiger?"
-Ah, I know where that is. Perfect timing—it's on the way. You can get them in a forest before heading to Ramark Kingdom.
"No way. For real? Coincidence?"
-Not a coincidence. All Room upgrade materials so far have been from places you could reach. This one's the same.
"Anyway, awesome."
That settled the plan going forward.
Grab Room materials on the way to Ramark Kingdom, then head for the third relic!
-By the way, what's this manager skill? It's new.
"Probably added when it hit level 3. Gotta check it out."
Carpe opened his status window.
At the very bottom of the Room functions section, there was a new entry: [Manager Skill].
Appoint a retainer in the Room as 'Lead Manager' to apply their manager skill.
Special quests required to unlock manager skills.
Appointable Managers
• Cheonma Jijon (Current Manager)
• Mukhyang
• Tistania of Radiance
• Mirage of Illusions
"Special quests, huh."
Of course, nothing new comes easy.
As Carpe thought that and moved to check the quests—
Unlock activated.
All retainers' 'Manager Skills' forcibly unlocked, ignoring acquisition conditions.
"......Huh?"
-Eh?
Unlock activated on its own, skipping all the quests!
Notification windows poured down like a barrage before Carpe's eyes.
Retainer Cheonma Jijon acquires manager skill 'Cheonma's Teachings'.
- Cheonma's Teachings: As manager, +15% EXP gain for all retainers.
Retainer Mukhyang acquires manager skill 'Fruit's the Best!'.
Retainer Mukhyang acquires manager skill 'Magic Squirrel'.
- Fruit's the Best!: As manager, +50% production speed for all fruit-type items from 'Orchard' facility. +50% extra for acorns.
- Magic Squirrel: As manager, +3% magic attack power for retainers.
Retainer Tistania of Radiance acquires manager skill 'Chivalry'.
- Chivalry: As manager, +3% defense and vitality for retainers. Tistania takes 10% of damage dealt to other retainers.
Retainer Mirage of Illusions acquires manager skill 'World Tree's Friend'.
- World Tree's Friend: As manager, slightly enhances World Tree buff effects.
Number of appointable managers increases as Room level rises.
Current appointable managers: 1
"......This is like that thing in management sim games."
He wasn't a big fan of the genre, so he wasn't sure exactly, but it felt familiar.
"Whew. So much new stuff."
Since entering the upgraded Room, too many new things had piled up—he needed time to sort it all out.
Of course, that was only true for Carpe.
-Oho. Now this is interesting. Manager skills, huh. Could be pretty useful if played right.
Cheonma showed keen interest in the new feature.
-Great! Seeing the unknown fires me up. You'll leave the Room's internals to me, right?
"Obviously. You're way better at this stuff than me. Gotta assign 'em optimally."
-Got it. I'll mess around with the upgraded Room and manager skills, so you do your thing. Oh, gotta edit that video too.
"Thanks, man."
-You got it.
Here, Cheonma's 'your thing' naturally meant gear crafting.
Carpe granted free action to Mukhyang and the others.
"Understood, my liege. Then I'll train the squirrel workers with Hyang. And double-check for any threats nearby."
"Kyuu kyuu!"
"I'll stay here, Master. Feels comfy."
Mukhyang and Tina left to train the squirrel workers, while Mirage crouched by the World Tree, gazing at it.
"......Peaceful. Nice."
Carpe chuckled once, then headed into the grand mansion.
Straight to the workshop. The moment he entered, another notification appeared.
Room upgraded. Workshop functions added.
Smelting with 'Mid-Grade Iron Ingots' now possible.
Set item crafting unlocked.
Set items have higher crafting difficulty than normal gear.
"......Higher difficulty?"
Uneasy at the ominous notice, Carpe approached the anvil.
There were two hammers on it.
"No way this means......"
Carpe swallowed hard. If his guess was right, this was definitely......
Set item blueprint 'Wind-Infused Gear' registered.
Required materials 'Mid-Grade Iron Ingot' and 'Wind Essence' fulfilled.
Craft now?
"Craft it."
Carpe sat at the anvil and picked up the hammers.
Place two 'Mid-Grade Iron Ingots' on the anvil.
"Damn."
Carpe sighed. His prediction had hit the mark.
The forbidden realm allowed only to rhythm game masters!
Two-handed play!
"Hoo. Alright. Knew this day would come."
No rhythm game worth its salt skipped two-handed inputs.
Carpe had anticipated it and trained accordingly.
Daily trips to the arcade for rhythm game boot camp!
Time to test those results.
"Come at me!"
Clang!
Carpe's hammers rang out with a satisfying sound, filling the workshop.