Chapter 63

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Chapter 63: Oak Elder

In the next fall, Oak Elder, who had been asleep for months, suddenly woke up.

It was midnight, raining lightly in the sky. Most people were already asleep, but some creatures who don’t need sleep were still awake. Tasha was practicing her sword skills in the Training Ground for the last time. She landed on the ground after flapping her wings, looking into the distance, sensing something.

"Good evening, master of the dungeon," the old tree said gently. "Please wake up the Druids for me, my time has come."

Lights lit up in the treehouse, and many people jumped down along the vines. Someone sprang up from the sleeping deer herd, his spirit beast understanding something important and quickly catching up. A black panther leaped down from the tree branch, picked up clothes from the tree hollow, and ran towards somewhere far away with all four legs. The Druid pharmacists living in the dungeon got dressed and started to move. Craftsman Dwarfs who were working overnight on their way met them, spreading the news quickly among themselves. At the same time, a flying dragon was landing by Ribe Lake to fetch the Druids and apprentices from the city.

It was rare for Mr. Dragon to offer help. A group of young apprentices nervously hung onto him, feeling like they were riding on a flying ship in the sky. The dragon’s shadow passed over the sky, while torches were lit on the ground. Light spots from all directions gathered in the center of the forest. The passage to the dungeon led directly to the Oak Elder. The Craftsman Dwarfs kindly distributed lanterns, and the light from the lanterns illuminated a small part of the forest. The crowd surrounded the big oak tree in circles.

The light rain was falling steadily, most of the people who hurried here didn’t have umbrellas. Luckily, Oak Elder was big enough that when he opened his branches, the tree canopy acted as a huge umbrella, protecting them from getting wet. All the Druids and apprentices were gathered here, along with all the Craftsman Dwarfs. The dragon knights who had been driving earlier were also here. With so many people, it was surprisingly quiet.

"Ah, too many people," Oak Elder sighed. "I didn’t want to gather so many people."

"We would regret it for the rest of our lives if we didn’t come!" Chief Hogan of the Craftsman Dwarfs said. "You’ve taken care of us for so many years! Taking care of our parents, our grandparents, and even their grandparents!"

The Craftsman Dwarfs nodded in agreement, and Oak Elder smiled. He looked at the crowd under the tree canopy, seeing faces that were calm, sad, or confused. The number of Druids was almost the same as a hundred years ago, with even more apprentices now, including humans from the towns, Amazonians, and even Orcs. Seeing this scene at the end made him feel content.

"Children," Oak Elder said to the Druid, "Come on, it’s time!"

The young apprentices looked puzzled (some of the seven or eight-year-old children were still not fully awake), but the Druids knew exactly what to do, like pigeons finding their way home. The onlookers stepped back, giving them space closest to the oak tree. Each official Druid held hands with each other, forming a circle around Oak Elder’s thick trunk.

The circle began to spin.

This scene was like a reenactment of the rain dance the apprentices did before, but more… how do I put it, more awe-inspiring, holding everyone’s gaze. Everyone’s steps were in sync, like a carefully designed pattern, yet with a natural rhythm as if from the wild. The Druids chanted prayers in the language of the woods, as the oak tree began to glow with the beat of their stomping feet.

Countless shades of deep and light green shimmered in the canopy of the tree. You could see the first tender buds of spring, the lush green leaves that covered the sky in summer, the resilient maple trees swaying with golden red attire in autumn, and the evergreen trees standing tall with pine green in winter, all in an instant. This glow emanated slowly from the depths of the oak, spreading along the branches and veins of the leaves, illuminating them brightly as if each leaf hid a firefly underneath. The leaves swayed in the rain, and in this radiance, from afar, those oak leaves with uneven contours looked like gears and palms, fluttering in the wind, whispering endlessly.

It’s challenging to translate the language between Druids and the oak tree; much of it is beyond human society, beyond human understanding. Who can interpret a gust of wind, a shower of rain? The onlookers remained silent, but the singing gradually grew louder. Many voices joined in, picking up the chorus—the forest as the accompaniment to this chant.

Who is singing?

You cannot find a mouth on the earth or the trees; this singing came from all directions, with the singers nowhere to be found, nowhere to shake off. The natural breath connected the entire forest, as if pigments spreading in water, the influence expanding. When alone, a single blade of grass is just a blade of grass, a tree is just a tree, but when this invisible force binds them together, a primal consciousness emerges, a powerful existence that even earthquakes and tsunamis cannot destroy. This sound is like a baby’s babbling, a wild beast’s song; it’s a whisper, a shout, endless.

Some Druids let go of their hands, taking up wooden staffs, and the oak chimes struck against the staffs, their pace quickening. The drumbeats began! The singing started! Though the volume heard in the ears seemed unchanged, the onlookers somehow perceived the sound as deafening. It reverberated in the eardrums, in the mind, in the chest, the rhythm mirroring the heartbeat.

Plop! Plop! Plop!

The majestic oak tree was still growing, and people could hear the sound of its branches and leaves stretching, like a strong person waking up from a deep sleep, stretching with a crackle in their bones. The light became brighter, a column of light rose in the black night like a huge torch, illuminating the entire forest. But the light was not harsh at all, onlookers watched in amazement at the canopy of the tree, as if they were seeing the sun for the first time in their lives.

Tasha felt like she was watching a fireworks display as the splendid oak tree reached its highest point and suddenly burst into full bloom.

Oak Elder let out a breath, smiling as he closed his eyes.

Whoosh! All the leaves soared into the sky at that moment, the translucent, ethereal bright leaves at that moment turned completely real, fluttering like a group of startled butterflies. The various shades of green scattered, the green of spring, summer, autumn, and winter all mingled together. The flowing light scattered away, leaving the oak tree rapidly decaying, like a matchstick after the flame has gone out. People immersed in the beauty began to scream, the apprentices cried out in panic, only now realizing what had happened.

The time had come, the moment for Oak Elder to bid farewell to the world.

The oak tree torch had been extinguished, but the Druid’s dance became more intense, dancing and singing as if it were not a farewell but a celebration. Among them, one of the best sprinted forward, placing their palm on the withered trunk, like a slow-motion shot of a breaking porcelain cup, with a crackling sound, a huge crack appeared in the trunk of the oak tree from bottom to top.

The magnificent oak tree split open, and from the crack shone a warm green light reflecting on everyone’s faces. In the hollow of the dead tree, a beating heart grew, the forest sharing a single heartbeat.

The Heart of Nature did not look like a heart but more like a crystal in the shape of an acorn.

"It’s yours now!" Victor eagerly reminded.

After I die, you will receive Heart of Nature – Oak Elder promised so in the contract. Tasha could feel that with the Guardian lost, the Heart of Nature was now open to her, like a tempting feast, emitting a pleasant fragrance.

"Yes, it’s mine now," Tasha said.

She stood still, watching the Druid approach.

Without the Great Druid present, a few highest-ranking Druids carefully extracted the Heart of Nature from the decaying tree trunk. The tall oak collapsed the moment the Heart of Nature left, turning to rubble before hitting the ground, like a gentle, wooden drizzle. The Druid dug up the original spot of the oak tree and buried the Heart of Nature inside.

"What are you waiting for?" Victor urged, "Quick, dig it out and let the gnome dig from underneath! The Heart of Nature grows faster than slime, be careful that it doesn’t suddenly grow into a tree in a moment, do you want to wait another thousand years?"

"It’s mine," Tasha said, "so I can do anything with it."

Including doing nothing.

The singing had stopped, the dancing had ceased, now the dust settled, and someone started weeping. Oak Elder had guarded Wanderer Camp for centuries, several generations of Craftsman Dwarves considered him an enduring elder. Marion sniffled, under Oak Elder’s shade, she found a place to stay after losing her home and loved ones. Oak Elder was a gentle and loving elder, and over the years, many apprentices who had been guided by him asked in a whisper, rubbing their eyes, "Grandpa won’t come back, will he?"

"Yes," said the Druid.

"Why doesn’t everyone look sad?" the apprentice asked, echoing the thoughts of some people.

The Craftsman Dwarf cried, Marion had red eyes, many apprentices wiped tears away, even the Dragon Riders who often saw Oak Elder looked somewhat sad. But the Druids, who received teachings and traditions from him, did not cry, they looked peaceful. The apprentice’s mentor, Beast Speaker Pulima gently patted the apprentice’s head and said, "Because this is nature’s way."

The cycle of growth and decline, birth and death, is the path of nature. The seed of the Druid Sacred Tree withers and flourishes every thousand years, the Oak Guardians’ duty ends here, the Heart of Nature restarts the cycle, and the Guardian’s death marks its new beginning. The sacred tree will grow anew where the seed is planted, after centuries of turmoil, the Druids will welcome a new sacred place.

Oak Elder has passed on, his teachings carried on by countless Druids. In the place where the oak tree lies buried, the future Great Druids will lay down their bones, new trees will sprout from their graves. Where the sacred tree stands is a sacred place, the home of Druids, their sanctuary, their destination and starting point. All will reunite in the soil, bodies nourishing the earth, souls returning to the Will of Nature, through changing times, the Will of Nature never fades.

"We will go to the same place, death is just a temporary parting," Pulima said, "maybe when you understand this, you can become a true Druid."

The ground trembled slightly.

People stepped back, watching as a tender yellow shoot emerged from the freshly filled soil, growing into a small tree as thick as an arm within moments. The newborn sacred tree was only a little taller than a person, but destined to grow taller than Oak Elder in the days ahead.

This is death, also rebirth.

"Unbelievable," Dragon Knight Douglas mumbled on the edge of the crowd, "such a big, ancient creature, gone in an instant."

"No one can live forever," his dragon said, "whether it’s a sacred tree or a dragon."

Douglas finally learned the dragon language, and talking was no longer a problem. He patted the giant dragon’s wingtip and said with a smile, "But for short-lived creatures like us, your end is in a very distant future."

"Not necessarily," the giant dragon said.

"What?"

"I was once a remnant of a Primordial Dragon, now I am both new and continuing, young and old," the dragon said.

"Are you not going to live much longer?" Douglas asked nervously.

"By our standards, yes," the giant dragon said, looking at the Dragon Knight’s suddenly pale face, "perhaps only a year or two later than your natural end, I too will go to the Dragon Graveyard."

"…Oh," Douglas said in a daze, silent for a minute, scratching his face with a strange look, "This is still very bad. I always feel that dragons are better off staying forever. How awful would the world be without you all. I am very sorry for your sadness, but it’s not that I only feel sad, erm, nor can I say happy? What I mean is, I don’t want to lie to you, saying I’m not at all feeling a sense of relief… I am a bit proud, I’m really sorry about that… How do I explain this, human nature’s flaws, you know?"

The huge dragon chuckled and placed its wings on Douglas’s shoulders, almost crushing the Dragon Knight to the ground.

Ravens flew in from afar.

The former Great Druid listened to the direction of the wind, and the raven knew where to plant the Heart of Nature. For hundreds of years, the Heart of Nature had been kept here by the Oak Elder. The sacred tree had disappeared over these hundreds of years, unseen by many generations of ravens. Yet they instinctively came here, just like every dragon knew how to find the Dragon Graveyard.

After years of recovery and with the help of the Druids, the Angaso Forest stood tall again on the land. Green grass covered the ground, various trees rooted and sprouted leaves unevenly. Rodents and rabbits returned first, birds returned to nest in a season, and the lush deer herd brought wolves and other solitary predators. Excavated streams connected the upper channels with the downstream ocean. During the high water period at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn this year, the disappeared red-spotted trout swam upstream, jumping out of the sea once again towards their birthplace. The new wetlands began to take shape, and new water birds flew in from afar. Brown bears left their footprints here.

At this moment, the returning residents stirred as if sensing something.

The Heart of Nature was rapidly changing its form, with countless roots growing underground. Tasha could feel the pulsating forest and the heartbeat of nature. The Heart of Nature belonged to her, even without consuming this heart with the Dungeon Core, its influence was still exerted on her.

The card of the Oak Guardian had turned grey. Apart from the name, all the other parts of the card had faded.

There were some changes in the dungeon’s attributes, the "Natural Aura Affinity" remained the same, but the following explanation changed from "The keeper of the Heart of Nature has made a contract with you; the Will of Nature has glanced at you" to "The Will of Nature has glanced at you; through the contract, you have obtained ownership of the Heart of Nature (control diminishing as the Heart of Nature grows)".

"Look!" Victor said angrily. Ever since Tasha turned down his proposal to consume the Heart of Nature, he had been nagging like a broken record. "It would’ve been so great to merge! Wait until the Heart of Nature grows into a complete sacred tree, then I will stab you in the back when you least expect it. Let’s see where you’ll cry then."

"How many years does it take for the sacred tree to mature as you told me before?" Tasha asked.

"Probably around two to three hundred years…" Victor reluctantly replied. "What’s the big deal about two to three hundred years? It passes in the blink of an eye!"

"If back then I could still stumble because of this matter, then between these two to three hundred years, I would have long been taken care of by humans," Tasha said.

It was better if she didn’t mention it at all, but as soon as she did, Victor became even angrier, saying, "So you knew you would be taken care of by humans?!"

Victor had just scolded Tasha intensely for her foolishness. He repeatedly emphasized that the rebirth of the Druid Sacred Tree would cause a huge commotion. He explained that what Tasha did before with the "Summoning Druid Fireworks" was nothing compared to this. "Every thousand-year cycle, the Druids will be on high alert, calling upon all allies, gathering all members, preparing to fight against those who seek to sever the Druid legacy. We call this the ‘Millennium Standoff,’" Victor explained. "It happens every thousand years because this commotion cannot be kept hidden!"

The forest trembled, and those with a natural connection woke up in the night, gazing blankly towards the southeast corner of the sky. The dungeon’s imitation of the buzzing noises created by Red Setter’s incomplete mechanical devices was loud, and this time, it might not be as fortunate as before. Humans might discover this place and react.

"I know," Tasha said. "But even without this incident, how long do you think we could stay hidden?"

If only a small team knew the truth, they could be silenced. If only one or two villages and towns knew, they could communicate covertly and use puppets to deceive the authorities. But if a bustling city lies to the southeast corner, and even a state of Aryan?

Keeping it secret firmly was absolutely impossible. In fact, trying too hard to keep it a secret would only make it more suspicious.

Things were still the same, sticking to the strategy of isolation might work for a while. Tasha could keep all residents underground, using magic to grow food, farming quietly, and hoping that humans above ground wouldn’t find out about her. However, Tasha was not a typical dungeon.

Half-breeds, also known as mixed-race humans, most of them couldn’t live underground forever. They still needed space and sunlight from the surface, even though the dungeon could provide for them. The dungeon was Tasha’s shelter, but not a place for thriving. Whether it was nurturing the residents in the dungeon or making use of Tasha’s knowledge, expanding and solidifying their base, interaction with humans was inevitable.

When Tasha chose to shelter and make deals instead of devouring, the pros and cons were already decided.

She needed wealth, knowledge, technology, and labor force from the humans, and she needed humans to accept and interact with the creatures from the dungeon. These goals were contradictory to the idea of hiding. Tasha needed to find a balance between the two, fostering the rapid growth of the dungeon while carefully controlling the spread of information. Opportunities always came with risks.

Now, they were reaching the limit. According to Tasha’s estimate, even without the Heart of Nature matter, the discovery of the governor being replaced should happen within the next year or two – unless the humans were too foolish. Could such fools really build a powerful Aryan Empire?

"So because we can’t hide for much longer, going public is fine, right?!" Victor waved his book, looking like he wanted to knock on Tasha’s head to see what was inside. "Two options, one with more benefits and less drawbacks, the other with fewer benefits and more drawbacks – even if you think the latter won’t have a big impact, any normal being would choose the former, right? What’s wrong with you? Is it because of that damned compassion of yours?"

"Who told you the first option has more benefits and fewer drawbacks?" said Tasha. "Also, are you saying you don’t want these pages anymore?"

Victor angrily closed the book, making a loud sound.

The reason for not merging with the Heart of Nature was only partly because of care for the Druid.

The Dungeon Core can merge with the Heart of Nature, but the history and significance of the latter are greater than the former. Once fully merged, the dungeon’s characteristics will definitely undergo huge changes, and it might even be led by the Heart of Nature. With her affinity for dragon and nature, if she fully merges with the Heart of Nature, what will happen?

The Oak Elder may have signed such a contract partly due to the consideration that a dungeon merged with the Heart of Nature would sincerely protect the creatures of nature, like a Druid protects nature.

A newly born Nest Mother might agree to such conditions. Without a well-formed, flexible personality, and the allure of power, Tasha is different. Her sense of self is paramount, and no amount of power can buy her soul.

Tasha has died once, and with various bodies she can discard at any time. So, if her personality is affected, is she still herself?

Tasha has a cold side; while she protects and nurtures many races within her capabilities, sacrificing herself for others, she can also abandon everyone, including Marion, Victor, and Ahuang, when the going gets tough, to bide her time and seek revenge.

She rejects the Abyss as a natural ally, still trying to unbind from the dungeon. In this situation, how can Tasha willingly entangle herself in nature’s web?

The benefits from the Heart of Nature are already sufficient for her.

[Heart of Nature] (Passive): Nature’s breath protects you, cleansing the bodies and souls of dungeon residents with natural energy. This effect lasts until the awakening of the Oak Wise.

The Oak Guardian card vanishes, but the skill of [Heart of Nature] remains, in a different form without the word "fake" attached.

The natural energy slowly immersed the forest as the most attentive Druid felt the breath of the trees. The earth felt welcoming like a home. They would only understand what happened once they performed their magic later. Marion was still calming down from the recent ceremony. Under the moonlight, the subtle changes in her hair color were hard to notice. Mavis suddenly woke up, puzzled, and stared at the ceiling before deciding to get up and make some food. Jacob rolled under the bed in a fierce battle dream, his throat itching and bones burning, waking up startled before falling back asleep.

Changes were happening to all the people with natural attributes in the dungeon, but for now, apart from Tasha who could see their attributes, no one else understood it.

The drizzle had stopped, giving way to a pale light on the horizon. People looked up in the morning light. After a night of light rain, a colorful rainbow hung in the sky.

It was a new day again.