Chapter 409: 26. Tears of the World Tree (5k)
“Alright, please head down first; I’ll be down shortly. After all, the Archangel Michael should only want to meet me, who knows the method; Gouwen can stay here, right?”
Hela nodded after hearing this, though her tone carried a hint of complaint. Her bare feet seemed to be slightly floating above the ground rather than resting on it, but she pretended to stand on her toes and smiled, saying,
“A little secret, okay? No need to worry. Compared to directly knowing, I still prefer the feeling of discovering things gradually myself. I’ll wait for you downstairs, but you’d better not take too long; the Archangel Michael doesn’t like to wait long.”
“No problem.”
Hela smiled, waved her hand, and turned to go downstairs. After Fisher watched her descend from the window, he did not return to Mikhail and Tang Zeming Asuka but beckoned Gouwen to come over.
As Gouwen approached, he helplessly complained to Fisher,
“Archangel Hela really appears and disappears like a ghost; I never noticed when she came in.”
“Gouwen, I have something very important to discuss with you.”
“Sure, no secrets.”
Fisher glanced at Mikhail, who was still fiddling with tools in the distance, then asked,
“Gouwen, can you tell me everything about the Tears of the World Tree?”
“Tears of the World Tree? I can, to be honest, I know quite a bit about it because I spent a long time wandering the Tree Continent before. Well, where to begin? You know, besides the Heavenly Lock in the Holy Realm, there are actually two incredibly powerful entities in this world: one is the World Tree, and the other is Feima Baharon from the Dragon Continent.”
Gouwen leaned outside the window, looking down at the planet through the grand solar halo above. You could still vaguely see the outline of the giant golden tree.
“There are rumors that the World Tree, the Heavenly Lock, and the Dragon God are actually triplet siblings. They have the unique favor of the [Supreme God] Ramastia, who even went so far as to request other deities to bestow their most precious powers upon them. But aside from the soul given by the god Dalasgon, which can be perfectly divided into three, the powers granted by other deities cannot be perfectly split into three equal parts, yet Ramastia still ensured fairness as much as possible.”
“The World Tree received a little more in the authority of fate; she is also the firstborn sister. The Heavenly Lock received a bit more in creative authority; he is the secondborn son. Feima Baharon received slightly more in the authority of life; he is the youngest child. Don’t underestimate that small amount; even a little additional divine authority can lead to unimaginable consequences.”
“That’s why the World Tree and the elves are so sensitive to fate, possessing spatial and temporal perception beyond all living beings; the Heavenly Lock and the angels have such superb forging skills and wisdom, while Feima Baharon seems to use the authority of life to create his own people but still remains the strongest among his siblings.”
“However, since the World Tree was born, she has been rooted to the ground, unable to move her body even a bit. Therefore, she possesses another divine gift, which is the [Fate Loom] bestowed by the Fate God Anebatos. No one knows the exact effect of this divine gift, but it’s said that it is this item that solidified her identity as the eldest sister, allowing the three divine children to get along harmoniously to this day, at least on the surface.”
“The so-called Tears of the World Tree rumors are actually a byproduct of the Fate Loom, given by the World Tree to her offspring, the elves, over a thousand years ago when she established the world calendar. The elves treat that thing as a treasure, keeping it in Jianmu Palace as the foundation for the ‘gift’ to operate. There is only one in the entire world, very similar to the Holy Grail granted to Lady Salie by the Heavenly Lock, and even more important than that.”
“Why are you suddenly asking about this? Is it possible that the forging method is related to this?”
Fisher’s expression grew increasingly stiff as he listened. Upon hearing Gouwen’s words, he silently looked up at him. After a second or two, Gouwen took a deep breath and said, “Oh no, the Archangel Hela really jinxed us. But the problem is, she was just making a joke back then! If you really tell Archangel Michael that, he will definitely suspect you’re messing with him. My wife, my life is over!”
Seeing Gouwen nearly on the verge of tears, Fisher sighed, patted his shoulder, and turned to walk downstairs.
“I understand. Leave it to me.”
Watching Fisher leave alone, Gouwen’s expression gradually faded, furrowing his brow in thought. In the room, Tang Zeming Asuka also couldn’t ease her mind and walked out, only to see Gouwen lost in contemplation.
She came to the window, watching Fisher walk towards Michael’s forge room with a worried expression, nervously wringing her school uniform that had gotten quite dusty. She subconsciously muttered, “Namu Amida Buddha.”
Fisher was continually thinking of countermeasures and, midway, noticed Hela, who was looking down at the crafted holy artifacts beside the road with her head lowered. She seemed to sense Fisher’s footsteps from afar, did not turn around, and just asked,
“Are you done asking?”
“Did you hear my conversation with Gouwen?”
Hela turned her head with a smile, pointing at Fisher, saying, “According to your human classification, I probably have the sixteenth rank. I’m a bona fide mythological creature, and humans can’t perceive what I can. But don’t worry, I covered for you. Archangel Michael won’t hear it, and he’s still focused on researching his forging, so he won’t pay attention to you.”
Fisher was slightly taken aback, taking another careful look at Hela, seemingly not expecting her to help him like this.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. It works as an apology for when you pulled me into the shockwave earlier. Now let’s head out and meet Archangel Michael.”
With her hands behind her back and bare feet, she floated slowly towards Michael’s forge room. Fisher just needed to walk a little faster to keep pace with her. After pondering briefly, he suddenly asked her,
“So, should I tell Michael that the forging method requires the Tears of the World Tree?”
“Now you see me as a helper angel? It’s a bit late for that! So, it’s true that the Tears of the World Tree are needed, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s stopping you from telling him? After all, I’m also looking forward to seeing what happens when the focused-forging Archangel Michael encounters an almost unsolvable problem. I’m only a bit excited.”
“Is that part of the fun, too?”
“Oh, it seems you understand a tiny fraction of me now. Not bad, not bad. With such perceptiveness and conversational skills, you should have decent relationships with other women, even with more than one, right?”
Fisher didn’t respond but continued to ponder, saying, “I’m just worried that even if I say I can help him create it, he might take it as my delay strategy and just flip the table, if he’s not foolish.”
Hela also didn’t answer him, smiling as she continued to imagine, “What if one day you gathered all the women connected to you and told them about the good deeds you’ve done outside? Wouldn’t that be fun? Do you think they would fight among themselves first or team up to stab you with knives? Ah, just thinking about it gets me so excited. If I weren’t an angel, I could come down often to see more interesting things.”
“…”
Sure enough, communicating completely with this strange angel was impossible, not at all.
Fisher silently stopped talking to Hela, and she also kept quiet with a smile, as they had already reached the door to Michael’s forging room. At this moment, the heat lessened significantly, and the unique chill of the universe spread again, causing Fisher to shiver slightly with his cold fingers.
Michael lounged in a white stone chair at the end of the room, his long white robe trailing far behind him. He had long red hair and an extraordinarily handsome face, devoid of any trait hinting at gender, giving him a divine appearance.
He held an object emanating terrifying heat in one hand, seemingly the semi-finished product he had just struck with a hammer. The golden short hammer lay at his feet, wrapped in a hazy golden light.
“Archangel Michael, I’ve brought the person.”
Upon hearing Hela’s words, Michael didn’t even glance at Fisher. Instead, he suddenly spoke,
“In this world, I know only one way to impart consciousness, which is to draw a strand from the sea of consciousness in the Spirit Realm, using either the power of life or inherent reproduction to bestow it upon another life. But reproduction is a weakened power given to her citizens by the Supreme God, which is why I say there is only this path. Many angels and I have attempted to surpass the soul with our skills, yet we all failed and had to give up in the end. Until today, you appeared here with that object that lacks a soul but possesses consciousness.”
Michael’s eyes slowly shifted from the object in his hand to Fisher. Even though he held back somewhat, the high-ranking aura he emanated caused Fisher to feel somewhat unnatural.
“You should have already met the other Trans and should know the promise I made to him. Similarly, as long as you can tell me the method for forging such an object, I can not only let you go but also do my utmost to fulfill one of your requests.”
Fisher glanced at the numerous sparkling holy artifacts beside him, fell into silence for a moment, and suddenly asked,
“Are you implying that you’ve previously tried to create conscious holy artifacts?”
Michael leaned back in the stone chair, tossed the unfinished object aside on a nearby table, closed his eyes, and replied,
“I don’t like questions. Just tell me the method of forging.”
“Forging requires one Tear of the World Tree per item.”
Suddenly, Michael opened his eyes. The solar halo above began to rotate slowly, making a crisp “clicking” sound in the increasingly turbulent aether. He slapped his cheek and turned to Hela beside him, speaking in a flat tone,
“Did you bring him here to deceive me, or is it Salie and Remiel? Has he already disclosed the true method to Salie?”
Hela hurriedly waved her hand, smiling as she said,
“How could that be? I only just learned about this. But Archangel Michael, forging with consciousness is indeed an act of divine theft, so it makes sense to use such a precious item.”
Michael’s beautiful face remained expressionless, but his fingers kept tapping his cheek, producing a sound like ceramic clashing. He slowly stood up and picked up the colossal hammer lying at his feet,
“Let’s not divulge the method of forging just yet; I’d rather not know the method and be unable to forge, as I don’t want to suffer that kind of pain. First, let’s detain them. Once I activate the solar halo, we’ll go to the Sixth Day to search for something about the Tears of the World Tree.”
“Ha, now that Gabriel is insane, who knows how long it will take to find what I want. After that, I’ll decide. You’d better pray that it won’t take too long.”
It seemed that this angel’s obsession with forging was deeper than Fisher had imagined, making Fisher speechless while also deepening his understanding of Archangel Michael.
However, the strange angel who appeared on the high platform had already gone mad; no wonder all the archangels ignored her vote at that time. If it hadn’t been absolutely necessary, they might not have even asked this already insane archangel for her opinion.
Hela nodded and asked,
“Are you detaining just this human or…”
“All three of them.”
Michael held the golden short hammer in one hand and the unfinished object in the other, quickly flying away from the room towards the high ceiling, in the direction of the gigantic solar halo.
“Click, click, click!”
The sound of the solar halo’s rotation grew increasingly evident, and many angels who were forging temporarily put down their items, turned their heads, and flew away to other places.
Fisher sighed, and Hela turned to motion for Fisher to hurry and leave.
“Let’s go; once the solar halo is activated, this place will become as hot as the sun. Archangel Michael must recharge the forging stations for the angels, and this process won’t take longer than three days. Before that, you should stay in the cages.”
On the upper floor, Gouwen and Tang Zeming Asuka also heard the deafening sound of the solar halo outside and hurried down the stairs. Meanwhile, Mikhail on the second floor closed the doors and windows, bringing down the bedding and blankets he had laid on the floor, clearly familiar with the procedure. He glanced at the returning Fisher and Hela and asked,
“Which day are you heading to? I usually go to the fourth day to ‘take refuge’; there aren’t many angels there, and sleeping on the floor is quite comfortable.”
“We’re going to the seventh day, to jail.”
“…See you.”
Mikhail, who initially wanted to join Fisher and the others, immediately walked away without looking back upon hearing this, leaving Tang Zeming Asuka opening her mouth and failing to say anything to stop him.
Hela led Fisher, Gouwen, and Tang Zeming Asuka towards the cylindrical teleportation passage. As they walked, Fisher briefly recounted his conversation with Michael to Gouwen and Tang Zeming Asuka.
Upon hearing that Michael was going to the Sixth Day to find information about the Tears of the World Tree, Tang Zeming Asuka racked her brain to recall the dazed angel reclining in the chair at that time, surprised that she had gone mad. Gouwen stroked his chin, puzzled, and said,
“Gabriel is a symbol of wisdom, one of the seven peaks! She actually went insane? This is quite unexpected, though I never knew that the Holy Realm had such a powerful and high-ranking archangel.”
Hela took Fisher and the others along the way up the cylindrical passage to the seventh day. To Fisher’s surprise, the high platform where they were previously judged and the square in front were actually part of the seventh day. The entire seventh day was dark and empty, with basically nothing there.
It seemed that Salie, as the messenger of the Heavenly Lock, only had that single identity; there wasn’t much for her to manage or any actual authority.
Hela smiled slightly at this and looked back at them as she said,
“The wise archangel Gabriel, who governs the Sixth Day alone, is indeed the wisest being in the entire Holy Realm. Before, she mostly stayed in seclusion, generally residing in the Sixth Day’s Wisdom Vortex, a massive library containing nearly all the wisdom and knowledge of the world; there has never been another angel in the Sixth Day besides her.”
As Hela spoke, she led Fisher and company to an empty space where a single open sealed cage was starkly placed. It looked like the lever had just been set in place, and Hela interrupted her discussion about Gabriel to say to Fisher,
“Although I am supposed to keep you locked up, Archangel Michael won’t care about your specific situation, and Lady Salie certainly has no reason to detain you, so I won’t lock the door. You can just stay here for the next few days; if you need anything, just call me, and I’ll bring it to you. Of course, don’t ask for anything too precious, like the Tears of the World Tree.”
Upon hearing this, Gouwen immediately stepped back, hiding his hands behind his back, clearly unwilling to have contact with the woman before him. Tang Zeming Asuka also retreatingly hid behind Fisher, afraid to extend her hand. Only after a moment of silence did Fisher extend his palm.
Hela smiled and drew a simple crown shape on it, then said,
“Afterwards, you just need to press this crown pattern three times, and I will appear. Whatever requests you have, just let me know. Okay, I’m leaving; you can arrange yourselves.”
“…”
Fisher didn’t respond but regarded the symbol on his hand. Meanwhile, Tang Zeming Asuka, who had hidden behind him, spoke up, asking,
“Archangel Hela, you still haven’t finished explaining why Archangel Gabriel went mad.”
“Oh, right! My apologies, it’s all old news; it’s not fun to bring it up again.”
Hela turned around with a smile and said to Tang Zeming Asuka,
“She was a respected figure, gentle and wise. When she was around, even Michael had to give her a bit of face, and she made numerous contributions to the Holy Realm. You know how Lady Salie governs a Holy Grail capable of fulfilling wishes, right? She was the first angel to accumulate enough wishes.”
Fisher was taken aback upon hearing this and immediately raised his head to look at Hela.
“Hmm, that’s right. Archangel Gabriel went insane because of the wish obtained from the Holy Grail.”
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(End of this chapter)
