Chapter 600
Treant
Anastasia’s light golden hair reached her earlobes, like a golden apple.
Her amber pupils were clear and transparent, intoxicating like dark brown wine.
The girl barely reached Eivass’s chest, about the same height as Yulia.
Compared to the average height of the elf race, her height was noticeably shorter… Eivass had rarely seen an elf shorter than Isabel, and today he had.
Eivass vaguely realized why the timid Yunus had suddenly become brave and even rescued Anastasia from the bandits—Eivass didn’t know if Isabel had short bobbed hair when she was young, but her hair color was exactly the same as Isabel’s.
Her height seemed to be about the same as Isabel’s when she was nine years old.
It was clear that after Anastasia was sent to the Fairy Kingdom, her height had not grown at all.
And Isabel at that age… was precisely when Yunus left Glass Island. She was the Isabel in his memory.
…He must have reacted instinctively.
Perhaps he only realized it wasn’t Isabel after he acted; or perhaps mere similarity made his heart ache.
Anastasia ran to Grace, spreading her arms, and with a practiced little hop, she was about to leap into Grace’s embrace.
If they were outside, Grace would surely be able to easily hold the girl in her arms. But Grace, who had also shrunken, could only clumsily flap her withered leaf-like wings and fly back a couple of steps before managing to embrace Anastasia.
“Aya…”
Grace affectionately called Anastasia by her nickname, caressing her hair with love. With the same hair color but different hair lengths, they looked as close as sisters.
As her hair swayed, Eivass genuinely smelled the light fragrance from it. It was a fresh scent of pine mixed with orange peel.
This was the scent of the shampoo from Grace’s home.
…What is this situation?
Eivass hesitated slightly.
As he focused his spirit to resonate with the Path, the power of devotion flowed within him. His right eye, which Eivass had sacrificed his vision for, turning dim yellow like amber, emitted a faint red glow like a lit furnace.
This was an unknown ability, similar to “True Sight.”
And under his gaze, he saw the edges of Anastasia begin to blur.
Eivass’s heart stirred, and he closed his left eye.
There was no darkness—his vision remained bright.
Completely different from the outside world, Eivass’s right eye seemed to have fully recovered its vision within the Elven Kingdom. Or rather, the entire world he saw with his right eye, which could see the power of paths, was exactly the same as what Eivass saw with his naked eyes.
It was likely that this entire world was a phantom world condensed by the power of paths.
Only two places were different.
A large number of runes appeared on Grace’s body—mysterious patterns that looked like tattoos or totems, emitting a yellow-green radiance. Most of them were light green and dark green, with only a small patch of dim yellow circulating within them.
It looked like a large piece of jade adorned with elven skin, with patterns carved onto the skin to reveal the inner glow.
And Anastasia, before Eivass’s eyes, gradually became illusory.
Her form became extremely blurry, like a highly myopic person without glasses, or like ink spreading in water. But only Anastasia was blurred out… nothing else was affected. Eivass watched with a strange expression as a blurred patch of color clung to the tattooed Grace, unable to see her expression clearly.
Eivass looked back again and found that the “little tree” was still in its original place.
—It wasn’t in Grace’s arms at all.
The little tree seemed to sense Eivass’s gaze, and bashfully turned its head away, turning its back so Eivass couldn’t see its face.
Hearing the conversation by his ears abruptly stop, Eivass opened his left eye.
As if putting on glasses—the outline of the maiden-like Anastasia instantly became clear. The tree disappeared without a trace, lost in the bright noon sunlight.
“…Can I call you Mr. Eivass?”
The little girl’s soft, sweet voice came.
Her gaze towards Eivass held caution and a hint of reluctance. If Grace hadn’t extended her hand and placed it encouragingly on her shoulder, she might have turned and run away.
…So that’s how it is, she sensed my gaze.
Eivass suddenly understood.
It was logical.
After all, she was skilled in illusions; she would surely know if her illusions were being seen through… However, Anastasia’s illusions could prevent Eivass, who was at the Fourth Tier, from seeing through them without True Sight. This talent was truly astonishing.
This meant she had reached at least the Fourth Tier—or even the depth of the Fifth Tier.
Although she had accepted the inheritance, it was mainly her bloodline awakening. It was like the legendary dragons.
Unlike the crystallization, which was essentially a psychological issue, petrification was a special phenomenon flowing in the bloodline that occurred randomly. There was no possibility of cure, because it was not a disease at all… but a sublimation.
It was like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, a fundamental promotion of its life form. However, the price was that the caterpillar’s flesh and blood had to melt, serving as nourishment for the new form.
From a certain perspective, this could also be considered a form of abnormal development—from an elf with limbs and a lifespan, to an immortal treant-like Phantom Demon.
“Hello, I’m Eivass.”
Eivass smiled gently, his voice softening. “You don’t need to call me ‘Mister.’ Just call me ‘Brother’.”
He knelt down and gently shook Anastasia’s hand.
It was a soft, warm, and slightly damp hand. The smooth skin felt nothing like bark to the touch, and her palm was sweating from nervousness.
“Brother Eivass, are you here to burn me?”
Anastasia said softly.
“…Why would you think that?”
Eivass was somewhat surprised.
He subconsciously looked back at Grace. “Do your elves have… any other methods of burning heretics?”
“How could they… I think those Merry Sprites told her something.”
Grace shook her head. “Their lifespans are very short, and they actually don’t understand many things, but they just like to talk nonsense. And when the fairies talk, children believe them… after all, the Fairy Kingdom is essentially a world constructed by their collective imagination. In a sense, their nonsense can also come true, making it even harder to distinguish truth from falsehood.”
“But Mother also said that.”
Anastasia retorted, “She said that when I fully turn into a tree, they’ll burn me.”
“That is to ensure that you can ascend to the Dream Realm properly, Aya.”
Grace said softly, seriously and solemnly. “Otherwise, you might remain in the Material Realm.”
“But I just want to stay and accompany Mother.”
“…I want to stay with you too, Aya.”
Grace gave a wry smile and said softly, “But we can’t. You… can’t stand noise now, can you? When you transform further… even if we plant you in the yard, the surrounding noise might wake you up repeatedly.
“You should find the voices of those Merry Sprites noisy already, shouldn’t you?”
Hearing this, Eivass suddenly realized—whether it was Anastasia or Grace, their voices were very soft. It was like the volume used when telling a bedtime story to a child.
He himself wasn’t a noisy person, and the surrounding environment was very quiet. So he hadn’t felt anything before.
But now that he looked…
“Treants dislike… or rather, are afraid of noise.”
Grace turned her head and leaned closer to Eivass, whispering, “Sounds that can wake someone up are unbearable for treants. Treants can be considered to be ‘always sleeping’; even when awake, they can be ‘woken up further.’
“Remember to speak softly, Mr. Eivass.”
(End of this chapter)
