This is the first of two posts for today.
We spent some time without using excessive divine power, in order to perform Layer Synthesis on the 73rd Floor as planned.
Thanks to that, our divine power replenished in less than half a month, so we decided to perform Layer Synthesis immediately.
As this was our first time, we decided to have the Elves stay in the center of the floor for the time being, just in case.
We had already decided on the 11th Floor as the layer to be combined.
The reason was simple: it was a floor with forests that the Elves could easily manage.
Also, since the 73rd Floor is an intermediate layer, we included verification of how the movement of monsters would be if a lower layer were attached next to it.
The execution of Layer Synthesis itself was finished quickly.
Moreover, the operation itself was simple, just selecting the target layer and where to attach it on the four sides, so it wasn’t a big hassle.
The problem, however, was what the actual synthesized layer would be like, so after the operation was finished, we immediately headed to the 73rd Floor with Kouhi.
To conclude, it was reported that there were no major changes, such as earthquakes.
Colette was waiting on the 73rd Floor side, and everything was completely normal until Kousuke and his group arrived.
It was so normal that she didn’t notice that Layer Synthesis had occurred until Kousuke and his group arrived.
As for whether it had actually become wider, that was something we would have to confirm from now on, so we left it to the Elves and returned to the Management Layer.
***
Since we didn’t know how Layer Synthesis would affect the World Tree, we returned to normal operations for a few days.
Even so, we didn’t do anything particularly noteworthy like building structures or installing anything.
Kousuke himself was quite busy developing Divine Tools, but the change came to him.
Someone was shaking Kousuke, who had dozed off on the sofa in the Management Layer.
“…Older Brother. …Big Brother Kousuke. Please wake up…”
“……Hmm…?”
I woke up to the sound of my name being called and a shaking, but I didn’t know who was shaking me.
No, if I just looked at her face, I would have known immediately, but I was still half asleep and didn’t notice the major changes beyond the face that retained a hint of her past self.
“Hmm…? …Eh? Ah, what…!? Could it be, Esena!?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
The girl in front of me smiled happily and said so.
Kousuke unconsciously stared intently at Esena.
The last time he saw her, she was about five years old, but she had grown considerably to about twelve or thirteen.
She still had the look of her past self, but she was definitely more mature.
Kousuke, whose brain processing finally caught up, involuntarily stood up from the sofa and petted Esena’s head as he used to.
Of course, her height had also increased, but she wasn’t tall enough to surpass Kousuke.
“Wow. That’s amazing. You’ve changed this much…!”
Esena, whose head was being petted, blushed shyly and looked up at Kousuke, but she didn’t stop him and let him continue.
“Yes. It’s not quite double, but thanks to the increased Ley Lines, my Holy Power has also increased significantly. Because of that, the World Tree has also been able to grow considerably.”
Her tone, which was clearly that of a child before, had now completely matured.
Moreover, the content she conveyed to us had become easy to understand.
“Oh. Is that so. …Ah, sorry. Was I a bit too familiar?”
As he watched Esena’s transformation, Kousuke realized she was no longer a child like before and stopped petting her head.
Esena continued, looking at his hand as if she didn’t want it to stop.
“Ah… I-it’s fine. …If you’d like, you can do it more…”
The latter part became a whisper, and Kousuke couldn’t hear it.
“…Hmm?”
“N-no… It’s nothing.”
“Is that so?”
Esena nodded at Kousuke, who tilted his head.
She had a somewhat disappointed expression, but Kousuke didn’t notice it.
***
And so, Kousuke met the grown-up Esena, and Colette approached them when she noticed them.
“Colette… If you noticed, you could have told me…”
Kousuke said, grumbling, but Colette retorted.
“Don’t say unreasonable things. I only noticed Esena’s growth just now, too?”
“Eh? Is that so?”
Kousuke involuntarily looked at Esena.
“Ah… y-yes. Until recently, I was busy controlling the power that flowed into me. Now that it has stabilized somewhat, I came here immediately.”
“I see.”
“…Somehow, I’m not convinced. Well, it’s fine though.”
Colette looked somewhat displeased at Kousuke, who honestly nodded at Esena’s words.
“Putting that aside, how are things going?”
“Yes. As I said earlier, it is stable now. It’s fortunate that the expanded area is a forest. I don’t think it will take long for the flow to be properly organized.”
“I see. Next is the land adjustment.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Kousuke only vaguely understood the content of their conversation, but he knew that things were progressing smoothly.
“World Tree… I understand that Esena’s side is okay for now, but what about the Elves?”
“They seem to be investigating the added area, but it’s only been a few days since the combination, so I don’t think the investigation is finished yet?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Even if there was movement of monsters, it would take some more time to see the results.
Regarding that, we should probably expect it to take quite a long time for any effects to appear.
Or, it’s also possible that nothing will change.
“By the way, you said it was good that it was a forest before, but is it better to keep adding forest areas from now on?”
In response to Kousuke’s question, Colette looked at Esena.
Esena, who was looked at, pondered for a while.
“…It’s a delicate matter. If it were just to increase my power, forest areas alone would be fine, but considering diversity, I think it would be good to include other environments.”
Upon hearing Esena’s reply, Kousuke, feeling happy about her growth, asked her a question.
“Is it bad to suddenly attach a layer of another environment?”
“No. It won’t immediately cause me to wither, but it will take time for me to get used to the power of the Ley Lines of that environment. If that happens, I won’t be able to move like I do now for a while.”
“I see.”
“If possible, it would be easier to adapt if you could increase the forest layers to gain strength, and then add other environments.”
Kousuke and Colette nodded in admiration at Esena’s clear answer.
“…You know, even Colette is nodding.”
“Of course. For one thing, such a drastic environmental change wouldn’t happen in nature.”
When you say it, it’s true.
The place that was a closed world (floor) suddenly doubled in size, so you never know what kind of changes will occur.
However, as long as the World Tree exists, we can probably assume it’s relatively stable.
After all, the World Tree undoubtedly exists at the center of the floor (not in a physical sense).
“Either way, Layer Synthesis can’t be done until our divine power replenishes, so let’s observe the current situation for now.”
“That’s right.”
“Understood.”
Colette and Esena nodded at Kousuke’s conclusion.
“……That said…”
“Yes?”
Esena tilted her head at Kousuke, who looked at her with a perplexed expression.
“No, I was just thinking you’ve become quite mature and beautiful.”
“Is… Is that so? Thank you.”
At Kousuke’s sudden remark, Esena blushed and looked down.
Seeing that, Kousuke just thought it might have been a bit too cheesy, but Colette, watching from the side, secretly sighed.
From a human perspective, she now understood that she had been quite oblivious before, but she thought Kousuke was about the same.
The second post will be uploaded at 8 PM.
May 11, 2014 Layer Combination → Layer Synthesis
June 14, 2014 Typo Correction
