“I suppose it’s the Flame’s Tear.”
The similarity that the item had with the Lake’s Tear was uncanny; the fact that it held an immense power inside was also the same. The only difference was that they had elements opposite from each other.
“There was the Lake’s Tear where the Fire Tree was, and now, the Flame’s Tear is where the Water Tree is. It’s too much of a coincidence.”
“There’s no way it’s a coincidence,” Lyla said firmly.
“Do you know something?”
“Yeah, I found out.” It was something she learned from Finel’s memories. Zich nodded. Finel had stuck the Flame’s Tear into her body to control the Water Tree. There was no way she didn’t know about it.
“That item used to be in the laboratory. You know the many passageways and rooms you saw before coming to this room? Those used to be laboratories.”
“Was it a study subject? No, I suppose the empire could have created it.”
“Yes, you are right. The empire created it.”
“Seriously? They could even make stuff like this? How much power and knowledge did this empire exactly have?”
If the empire still existed to this day, perhaps Demon Lords including Zich and Demon People wouldn’t have been so active. Even if they didn’t have the cheat-like ability of regressing, they most likely would’ve subjugated them.
“Should we go to check up on it?”
“Of course, we should.”
Zich called the three interested in the Water Tree. They were about to return after going into the ruin, but Lyla stopped them.
“We are going to come back anyway. I also have something to say to them on the way anyways.” Zich knew the thing Lyla had to tell him was something she had to also hide from Hans, Snoc, and Elena.
“We came back needlessly then. We should have taken care of everything when we went out last time.”
Lyla paid no heed to Zich’s grumblings and told the three, “The tree will go through a transformation, so don’t be too surprised.”
Lyla took Zich and left the room. After they walked through the main passage, smaller passageways on the side began to appear. Lyla didn’t hesitate and chose one. After she walked a bit further, she reached one big room.
“Is this the place?”
“Yeah.”
Zich searched the room slowly. An elaborate magic circle was painted throughout the entire room. It wasn’t unusual since there were magic circles in the other rooms too. Yet, this room had a special characteristic. In the middle of the room, there was an octagonal pillar as tall as a person’s waist. Like everything else, it was also engraved with a magic circle all over its surface, and there was a round groove on its top. Lyla walked up to the front of the pillar and placed the Flame’s Tear on top of the pillar.
Crackle!
A rough current of fire shot up from the Flame’s Tear. Lyla backed three steps away, but its fiery heat even reached Zich, who stood a distance away.
Whooosh!
The magic circle in the room resonated. Blinking red lights began to appear.
Haaaa!
Fire sparks shot up from the Flame’s Tear and began to travel across the magic circle engraved on the pillar. It was a truly majestic sight.
“Is this okay?” Zich edged closer to Lyla and asked. His hands were reaching for Windur on his back. He planned to pull out Windur as soon as the situation became dangerous.
“It’s fine. The flames coming off from the magic circle aren’t that hot.”
Like Lyla said, the flames coloring the magic circle red simply emitted light heat and weren’t pouring out heat strong enough to harm people. Instead, it was making the insides of the room soothingly warm.
Zich took his hands off Windur.
“Let’s go back, Zich. The tree should’ve changed.”
Zich and Lyla turned around to take the path they took. Meanwhile, Lyla said, “I thought of something. You know, regressing is not just any kind of ability, right?”
“Yeah.”
There could have almost been nothing more miraculous than an ability that could turn back time.
“No matter how great the powers of the empire were, I don’t think it was possible for them to have created the regression ability with no foundation.” She wasn’t undermining the empire; that was simply how unbelievable the regression ability was. For them to control a tremendous ability like that freely, there must have been some kind of cornerstone—something completely beyond a person’s imagination,” Lyla said and stared forward. At the end of the passageway, there was the giant water tree.
“I suspect these trees.”
“Are you saying that these trees created the regression ability?”
“Yeah. These trees contain an unimaginably great amount of mana. Furthermore, all the three trees we found have a connection to Clowon.”
The Tree of Earth was in the burial site of the emperors of the empire. The Tree of Fire was in the territory that the empire’s military occupied. Finally, the Tree of Water was where the empire’s laboratory was.
“If there really is a foundation for the regression ability, I am most suspicious of these trees.”
“That’s certainly true.”
“ I bet it would have been very difficult for them to control them since not only do they contain a huge amount of mana, but they also have elements from nature. Thus, they probably needed a processor.”
“Are you saying that the Flame’s Tear is the processor?”
“I think so.”
Zich thought of Finel. She had controlled the Tree of Water using the Flame’s Tear. When he took the Flame’s Tear, she couldn’t endure the tree’s immense mana and burst. Considering that, Lyla’s claims sounded very convincing.
“Specifically, I think it’s a device that represses the tree’s power. Since the power of the tree is too strong, I’m sure they couldn’t have controlled it entirely.”
Zich and Lyla soon arrived at the room where the tree was. There they saw it—instead of the streams of water they saw previously, water droplets were hanging from the tree branches.
* * *
Zich and his companions returned to Shootuol. The companions fell onto the beds as soon as they arrived at their lodging. They weren’t gone for that long, but the mental stress from this event was much more than long journeys. That indicated the magnitude of Finel’s strength.
While Hans, Snoc, and Elena fell into a peaceful slumber after eating a delicious meal and lying down in a comfortable bed for a long while, Zich and Lyla gathered in their room again. It was to finish their previous discussion. Since Hans, Snoc, and Elena were fast asleep, it was now a perfect time to discuss by themselves.
“You said that regressions are probably connected to the tree, right?” Zich’s interest was obviously in this matter. Honestly, when he found out that Glen was also a regressor and he could regress multiple times according to his will, Zich had felt a small concern. No matter what Zich did, it would all be nullified if Glen just turned back time. Zich knew about the dangers of regression more than anyone else since he had greatly benefited from regression himself.
However, if Lyla’s argument was right, there might be a way to stop Glen’s regression.
‘So far, I’ve been only relying on Windur to find out more about the mysteries of regression.’
When Zich destroyed the Bellid’s northern base and met Glen, Zich had tried to figure out if Glen was also a regressor. Glen’s reaction was extremely subtle at that time, so he thought there was a high possibility that Glen was not a regressor. However, they were now certain that Glen had gone through countless regressions. Then, had Glen pretended to not know what Zich was talking about back then?
‘No, there’s a high possibility that he might really have not known.’ This was Zich’s thought.
Then, why did Glen not know about an event that happened before his regression?
‘It’s because he was not the main player of this regression. At that time, he was also dragged into the past like everyone else.’
Thus, Zich tried to find out more about his regression by focusing on Windur, which was the key to his regression. His goal was to prevent Glen from turning back time again. However, Lyla had introduced another factor that might help them learn more about regressions.
“Do you remember the story of the five mysterious trees?”
“You must be talking about the story we heard in the Great Adrowon Forest.”
“Yep. I think that those five trees are referencing the trees we saw. The remaining two trees we haven’t seen yet are probably in places related to Clowon. I think that those five trees make up the regression system.”
A system in which a total of five trees with enormous mana and power were mobilized to support it—a system like that seemed as if it would be enough to perform an astounding feat like regression.
“Then, to stop a regression, do I need to cut down all those trees?”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
“No, it’s too much.”
It would be impossible for even Zich Moore to cut down one of those trees. If Zich attempted to cut one down, there was a high possibility that he would get defeated instead. A Demon Lord that died from a tree—it was not even a joke he could laugh about.
“There could be another method.”
“What is it?”
“We can go looking for all the trees and dismantle all their suppressors.”
“Tell me more in detail.”
“The Lake’s Tear, and the object we named the Flame’s Tear. They’re all objects made to suppress the tree’s powers, and that’s probably the reason why their elements are the opposite of the trees they were found with.”
The Lake’s Tear was found where the Tree of Fire was, and the Flame’s Tear was found where the Tree of Water was.
“I bet there are also Tears with opposite elements in areas where the other trees are. That’s probably the reason why Clowon put these objects near the trees.”
“It’s to suppress the powers of the trees and to control them according to their will.”
“Yeah, and if the regression ability is really made by using the trees, the system was probably made by using the suppressed power of the trees as its base. No matter how great of an empire Clowon was, it probably wouldn’t be able to use the trees’ real powers.”
“In short, if we go around looking for those trees and retrieve all the Tears, then the regression system that uses the suppressed power of the tree as its base would collapse.”
“Exactly.”
Zich rubbed his chin. “But wasn’t the Lake’s Tear, the inhibitor of the Tree of Fire, already removed from its tree? The Lake Tribe kept the Lake’s Tear and not in Clowon’s ruin in Mentis. When I first opened the room with the Tree of Fire, its flames burned and continued to let out its power.”
“As long as the system has already been established, even if one inhibitor is removed, it will probably still work. But I’m sure it’s more unstable than before.”
“Then, since we also released the tree of water by removing its inhibitor, the system is probably even more unstable than before.”
“Yes, if my thoughts are correct.”
“If we release one more tree, the system will probably crack exponentially, right?”
“Perhaps, the system might completely collapse.”
“Now that I think about it, there’s one tree that we know the location of.”
There was still the tree in Violuwin’s tomb, which ignored the natural law of order and let its roots on the sky and grew from the ground. However, both Zich and Lyla closed their mouths. It was because they recalled their enemies in the tomb.
“Will you be able to fight them?” Lyla asked this, but she didn’t think that she would be able to hear an optimistic response.
In the first place, the reason why they came to Shootuol instead of the Clowon ruin they knew about was because it was difficult to defeat the enemies in Violuwin.
“Lyla, you got a bit stronger this time, right?”
“You noticed?”
“Of course, I’ll notice such an amount.”
“It seemed as if getting my body stolen by Finel was actually a fortunate occurrence. I don’t know if I should be happy or not about this.” Lyla continued bitterly, “The amount of mana and the extent of my magic have certainly increased, but it’s still too much for me to deal with the enemies in Violuwin by myself.”
“You don’t need to deal with them myself. I might perhaps have a way too.”