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[Radiant Fruit]
A radiant fruit containing the essence of the World Tree.
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It’s something I often think about.
These descriptions are often quite useless.
What does it mean to contain the essence of the World Tree?
How nice would it be if we could immediately know its effects?
Then again, expecting that might be asking for too much.
Being able to know even this much information is a privilege not everyone can enjoy.
The smell is incredible.
My mouth is watering.
I want to chew and swallow it right away, but I hold back and put it in my subspace for now.
‘You must obtain the fruit.’
That’s what Father said.
Given how many times the usually taciturn man emphasized it, it must be a very important fruit.
It might even be a healing medicine that can cure Father’s body.
… Come to think of it, is Father alright now?
His chronic mana deficiency seemed to be because he was constantly maintaining gigantification.
There might have been a practical reason why he had to maintain gigantification.
Maybe he had a disease where he couldn’t survive without being gigantified…
I imagined various scenarios.
In any case, this filial snake returned to Father with the fruit.
In the meantime, Father had become gigantic again.
I got angry.
I asked why he did that when his wounds weren’t fully healed yet.
I demanded to know why he kept using gigantification when he was low on mana.
When I jumped up and down in anger, Father dealt with it in his typical way.
He ignored me, pretending not to hear.
‘Then why do you keep using gigantification! At least give me a reason!’
Normally, I wouldn’t have gotten an answer.
But surprisingly, Father responded.
「… Later.」
Does that mean he’ll tell me later?
After eating the fruit?
Or tomorrow? After ten nights have passed?
I couldn’t tell, but I took out the fruit anyway.
‘Here, I brought it as you said. Eat it.’
But Father shook his head again.
「You eat it.」
‘What? You insisted I bring it, and now that I have…’
As always, Father refused to eat the fruit.
I thought all monsters had an instinct to become stronger, so why does he keep doing this?
I was a bit confused if this was Father’s indirect way of showing affection, like saying “You eat the chicken leg.”
「I’ve already eaten it.」
For a moment, I misunderstood it as “Dad doesn’t like legs very much.”
But he meant it literally.
「Last time.」
‘Yes… huh?’
Father is saying he has eaten a radiant fruit before.
He said he got the fruit at a purple banquet held somewhere else in the great forest before.
「… And, I evolved.」
I wonder what kind of snake he was before.
Was he something like a Polaris Python? Or maybe just a White Serpent?
Because Father wasn’t stronger than chimpanzees or Riokku, I couldn’t imagine he had such an impressive history.
Then, were the monsters that flocked to this ‘festival’ particularly strong?
「So eating the fruit again would be useless.」
It seems the fruit’s effect only works once.
「So, you eat it.」
Father emphasized once again.
If you say so, I guess I have no choice.
Let me eat it.
“A fruit that affects evolution, how exciting. Another secret of evolution is being unveiled.”
I agreed with Pelerian’s sentiment.
Father evolved into a unique species.
Being a unique species doesn’t necessarily mean superiority.
But being rare often means having outstanding abilities.
Many named monsters are unique species, and many of those called calamities are unique species too, they say.
‘Will I become a unique species if I eat this too?’
“The possibility isn’t low…! But I can’t be certain.”
Pelerian tends to get overly excited about evolution.
And I’m the same.
I want to evolve right away.
I should eat the fruit and immediately find a safe place.
“Boss…”
That’s when it happened.
The gorilla approached.
Huk, is she going to demand a share of the fruit?
Despite my narrow-minded suspicion, she smiled gently.
Why are you smiling so sweetly?
I looked around at my subordinates.
Despite all of them being gathered, there weren’t more than 60.
Even though we fought trying to take advantage as much as possible, nearly half of the monsters died in battle.
Somehow, it made me feel bitter.
‘You are forever responsible for what you have tamed,’ right?
Remembering those words, I went out alone to save the centipede family.
Father probably saved me with a similar thought.
But even so, not all the monsters I tamed could be safe.
Maybe even reciting that phrase is just self-satisfaction and deception.
“Thank… you.”
‘What?’
But the gorilla said something unexpected.
“We, fought. But not much, help.”
‘Well…’
That’s true.
Today’s battle was entirely fought by me and Father.
Although I was rational and cool-headed, I didn’t say those words out loud.
Still, without you all, even dividing the world into three wouldn’t have been possible.
“Snake and, papa snake, fought hard. But we, survived.”
‘Yes…’
“And level, went up. Got much, stronger.”
The gorilla pounded her chest with both arms.
Well, the experience points from the monsters that Father and I killed all went to the group.
“Without boss… all dead.”
After saying that, the gorilla raised her hand and brought it to her eyebrow area.
“Salute…”
That was the salute posture I taught her when I was bored.
You remembered it well.
Of course, the other monsters were just standing blankly.
Only Spot was waving his front paw, trying to imitate the gorilla.
But still… it made my heart ache somehow.
‘That’s a left-hand salute, you should use your right hand.’
“Ah, aah…”
Come to think of it, I think I’ve underestimated the monsters too much.
Even though I tamed them, they weren’t children.
Each of them are warriors who constantly fight to become stronger, to evolve.
I took out the fruit from my subspace.
‘Thank you for everything so far, and…’
As the leader of the crew, I spoke as if making a toast.
‘Let’s do well from now on too, guys!’
“Waaah…!”
Receiving applause from Mrs. Gorilla, I put the radiant fruit in my mouth.
Crunch!
It was the texture I expected from its appearance.
As I chewed the crispy flesh, the juice spread in my mouth.
I gulped down that sweet fruit.
My insides feel warm, as if the medicinal effects are kicking in.
I wonder what the effects of the radiant fruit are.
I should try to evolve after checking the effects by returning to the cliff.
「Evolution is being prepared.」
What!
Until now, the rule was that you had to sleep in a safe place to evolve.
Why is it suddenly starting to evolve here?
「Protecting the evolving monster.」
What’s going on?
Creak-
Suddenly, roots of the World Tree started sprouting from the ground.
They’re particularly white and thin roots.
Like ivy, the fine roots are wrapping around me.
I was startled and tried to escape, but then my eyes met Father’s.
He who had rushed to me when I was about to be caught by Riokku, now looked just calm.
He nods as if to say it’s okay.
Is this a process Father has experienced too?
I stopped trying to escape from the fine roots.
Fortunately, the fine roots weren’t binding me, but gently wrapping around me.
‘Let’s talk about what we couldn’t later!’
I said that to Father.
I have many questions.
I want to ask about gigantification, and how he became a Polaris Serpent.
I want to ask how he met Mother, and why he ran away like that back then.
His level was 100, so I wonder if he’s about to evolve too. If so, I want to help.
I should also tell him about Gunter.
If Father truly loved Mother, Gunter might become someone we need to take revenge on someday.
Father didn’t answer.
My vision was gradually obscured by the tree roots.
In the end, like a silkworm wrapped in a cocoon,
I was enveloped by the white roots of the World Tree.
「The mana concentration in the air is increasing.」
Then, a strange message was heard.
「Roots that couldn’t bear fruit are rotting.」
「A putrid smell is emanating from the rotten roots.」
What does that mean?
But trapped in the white space, I couldn’t know anything.
“Oh!”
Pelerian also retreated into the ring with a short scream.
A transparent and sticky liquid started to fill the space I was in.