No one was in the mood to laugh or chuckle. No kind of amusement could be felt under these strenuous circumstances. Fortunately, the god didn't seem to care if they found its jokes funny.
Eventually, the god resumed his briefing. "I won't waste your time going through the strategy for the invasion. We won't touch upon the information about Lignum and its inhabitants either. That information will be available in the miscellaneous section of your mark."
"As for the strategy, you will become aware of them when you need to. In the meantime, just do your part on the battlefield according to the tasks you have been assigned to or selected."
"I am an easygoing person. I am as calm as a rock. You can get away with a lot of things with me. But if you cross my limit, I will erupt."
"Currently, my limit is anything that will affect the progress of this expedition. That is where I am drawing the line for now. If you cross that line, then prepare to be buried in my wrath."
"That is all. Let us begin this expedition."
Then it said to the spacecraft, "Yggdrasil, it is time."
The spacecraft hummed and lit up. It engines roared to life and it began to levitate. It closed every port and doors on itself. Then it wrapped itself in a forcefield.
The opaque walls of the hall became transparent so that they could see what was going on outside. It didn't actually become transparent. It is just that what was going on on the outside was being displayed on the inside.
Even the ground beneath them appeared to be transparent. This way, it felt as if they were standing on the air.
The spacecraft flew high until it was halfway between the ground and the fake sky. Then it flew forward above the building where the third division had picked their weapons.
Kelvin and the others saw where they had just been and where they were going to. It was the latter that finally managed to break the decorum that the presence of the god had caused.
He had wanted to ask Wrath if the spacecraft was alive, if it was Yggdrasil, why the god had referred to it as Yggdrasil, what Yggdrasil actually was, and why the 11 versions of Earth had chosen Yggdrasil to be the name of their civilization.
He had a lot of questions on his mind. But he didn't dare to speak in the presence of the god without the express permission to speak. He didn't even want to move his head and stare at what was going on around them too much.
But he saw that colossal tree, and it took his breath away. The sounds of a collective shocked gasp of air filled the back of the hall.
It filled the back because it was the place where the third division was positioned, and they had the most noobs. The soldiers of the second division were in awe of the sight. But they weren't shocked to see it.
As for the soldiers of the first division, their eyes were glazed over as usual. They weren't looking at anything at all. They didn't even move a single muscle throughout the flight. They stood like ugly mannequins packed into a tight space.
The spacecraft approached that large, sky-reaching tree. As they got closer, it got bigger and bigger.
Halfway there, Kelvin realized that the world they were in had the internal space of a hemisphere. The ground was flat, but the sky was curved.
Where they had started from was at the edge of the world. There were many spacecraft at the edge of the world. They were close to where the fake sky met the ground.
At the center of the world was the tree. It was the tallest structure in the whole world. It was green just like any tree. It looked like an oak tree with large, lustrous branches.
That's where the similarities end. As he got closer, he saw that the green leaves of the tree were imprinted with the faces of different people and creatures. Their faces were vivid, so he was able to notice that all the faces were glazed and unemotional like those of the first division.
Wrath saw the weird look on his face and said, "This is the foundation of the Yggdrasil civilization. I dare say that it is our greatest treasure. Every creature that has been enslaved has a backup of their existence in Yggdrasil."
"This way we will never lose our manpower no matter how many wars we engage in. Instead, we will gain more and more slaves and grow stronger with each world we conquer."
"As long as we have energy, we can recreate the bodies of our slaves. With Yggdrasil on our side, it will be very difficult for us to lose any war."
Kelvin was shocked again. He was shocked by the prospect of eternal servitude and the implications of being an enemy that grows stronger with each fight.
This made him shake his head in wonder. But he stopped at that indulgence. He didn't speak to ask more questions. He didn't want to be the first one to break the silence and draw the attention of a god of volcanoes and violence.
He wanted to ask why everything was so big, though. He thought the spacecraft was big enough. By his estimates, there were about six million people within the spacecraft. And yet, the spacecraft was dwarfed by Yggdrasil.
The spacecraft he was in wasn't the only one approaching Yggdrasil. There were many more, but none of them managed to reach Yggdrasil. The branches of the colossal tree always appeared in their path and whisked them away.
The same thing happened to them. Some of the branches of Yggdrasil extended from the tree and appeared ahead in their path. They joined together and twisted to form a large ring.
Within the ring was a swirling vortex of light. Space was twisting and melting until it formed a whirlpool. The spacecraft entered this whirlpool.