The sound of the eggshell cracking, although very quiet, echoed like a massive rock breaking in the heavy silence of the nest.
All four of them remained motionless at that same moment, Lian did not even blink.
His gaze shifted between the white and golden egg and the giant bird that was sleeping on the other side of the nest.
The crack that had appeared on the shell was only a few centimeters long, but in such conditions, that same small crack could be the beginning of a disaster.
The Giant Sky Bird’s breathing became irregular for a few moments.
It took a deeper breath than before, and its massive chest rose. The airflow passed through its black feathers with power and dragged a few loose feathers around the nest across the branch’s surface.
Then one of its claws moved slightly.
Its black and curved nail scraped against the wood and a rough and heavy sound echoed throughout the nest; a sound like a massive blade being dragged on stone.
The three Lacerians held their breath at the same time.
The younger girl involuntarily wrapped her long tail around her legs and tightly closed her six eyes.
The boy slightly moved his body forward, as if even in such conditions, he wanted to place himself between his two sisters and the bird.
Lian just watched, a few seconds passed, the bird did not raise its head, its golden eyes remained closed, and after a few irregular breaths, its breathing became calm and deep again.
The crack on the egg also did not grow larger.
It was clear that the monster could feel any crack on the egg, as if there was some kind of mechanism between the mother and the child.
The air trapped in the three Lacerians’ lungs was slowly released.
Lian waited a few more moments and then, after making sure nothing worse had happened, took his gaze off the egg.
During the previous short conversation, he had learned the names of all three; not because they had formally introduced themselves, but because when they spoke, they called each other by name.
The boy’s name was Ravian.
The older girl, who seemed calmer than the other two and even in the peak of fear tried to remain logical, was named Sera.
The younger girl was Nemi; the same girl who, from the moment she fell into the nest, had shown the most fear and still kept looking at the bird every few seconds.
Lian registered these three names in his mind, if he wanted to get information from them and possibly stay with them for a while, it was better to at least know their names.
"A few moments ago, you said the gate has opened again. Does that mean creatures from outside have entered this world before?" He asked without any extra introduction, with a voice so low that it did not go beyond a few meters.
He needed information, the more information the better, only this way could he get familiar with this small world and find his way.
Ravian did not answer immediately.
His six eyes turned toward Sera for a moment.
That brief look showed that he himself was not sure if he should talk about such a matter with a stranger or not.
They had just seen this stranger and had no knowledge of him, and they had not heard good stories about Otherworldly ones until now.
But the reality was that this same stranger had saved all three of their lives.
A few seconds later, Ravian moved slightly closer to Lian so he would not have to raise his voice.
"We ourselves have never seen anyone who came from outside this world. Even the tribe elders only know stories."
"What stories?" Lian asked.
Ravian gave a brief look at the bird and then carefully continued:
"They say every twenty-five years, for a short time, a gate opens in one of the parts of the world. No one knows where it will appear, who opens it, or why it even opens. The only thing repeated in the legends is that creatures that do not belong to this world can pass through it."
"Some stories say they come from lands beyond the sky," Sera said quietly while keeping her gaze down.
"Places that have different suns and whose people live under skies with unknown colors." She paused for a moment and then added:
"But some other legends say strangers come from dead worlds; worlds whose rivers have dried up, whose cities have collapsed, and only war and monsters remain in them. No one knows which story is true."
Nemi, who had remained silent until then, quietly moved her lips.
"Our grandmother said whenever the gate opens, strangers bring war with them. She said some of them come to save this world and some others come to destroy it."
Ravian immediately gave her a warning look, Nemi understood she had said more than she should and fell silent again.
But Lian was no longer looking at them, only one number was repeating in his mind.
Twenty-five years.
Every Ruined Realm also appeared in their world in twenty-five-year cycles.
From the moment each realm appeared, humans had twenty-five years to complete its main mission, obtain the necessary crystals, and close the path of monster invasion.
If they failed, the wall between the two worlds would collapse, and the monsters of that realm would invade Earth.
And now, the native creatures of this world were also speaking of a gate that opened every twenty-five years.
’This can’t be a coincidence.’ Lian was completely silent for a few moments.
The gate’s opening cycle in this world was exactly the same as the Ruined Realms’ appearance cycle.
But what could that mean? Was every Ruined Realm truly an independent world that temporarily connected to Earth?
Had this realm experienced similar cycles before humans entered?
Or maybe there was something behind all these twenty-five-year cycles; a being, a power, or a law that connected different worlds at specific times.
Lian’s gaze passed over the nest and fell on the endless branches that were lost among the clouds.
He had no answer.
But he considered the possibility that the appearance of realms on Earth was not a natural or accidental disaster.
Maybe something was choosing them.
Maybe something, every twenty-five years, opened specific gates between worlds.
And if that was the case, the main question was not why the Ruined Realms connected to Earth.
The main question was who or what benefited from this connection.
Could it be the work of the system known as The Will? The same system that gave them classes, talents, and skills?
Was its purpose to destroy worlds? Or to save them? These were questions that, after 9 Ruined Realms, still had no answers.
Lian temporarily put these thoughts aside.
The current information was not enough to reach a conclusion, and drowning in guesses, especially in the nest of a Fallen Level 50, was not a wise thing to do.
"You said this place is called the Forest of Giants. How big is this forest?" He asked a few moments later.
Ravian slowly shook his head.
"We don’t know. None of our people have gone to its end. Even the tribe’s most skilled hunters, who have been away from home for weeks, still haven’t been able to find the forest’s border."
"So you have no map of the entire forest?" Lian raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Only of the areas near the tribe. The hunters record the river routes, monster lairs, and the borders of known territories, but the further you go from the tribe, the more incomplete the maps become. Some areas have never been placed on any map, because whoever went there, never returned."
Lian gave a brief look at the Giant Sky Bird, considering what he had seen, the reason for this was not very strange.
If every monster in this forest was that gigantic, it was natural that not everyone could freely explore in such a hell.
The danger level was so high that no sane human would dare to do such a thing, and then he asked.
"And the other two forests?"
"To the south, there is the Emberroot Forest. The soil there is always warm, and some parts of the ground even smoke during rain. The tree roots absorb fire energy, and most of its plants are either poisonous or burn when you touch them."
"The monsters of Emberroot are usually not as large as the giants of this forest, but they are faster and more deadly. Some of them have poisons that our healers don’t even know the names of, and some others can throw fire from a distance."
"And the third forest?" Lian asked, from the description, the southern forest did not seem to be more terrifying and dangerous than the Forest of Giants.
At least he did not have that feeling about it.
"To the east, there is the Glassthorn Forest. Its trees grow from a glass-like material, but harder than ordinary glass." This time Sera spoke.
"Their branches are so sharp they can break bone armor, and if there is a storm, pieces of branches scatter in the air like hundreds of blades."
"At night, the entire forest glows. Mana moves inside the roots and crystals, and from a distance, it looks like the ground is full of stars." Nemi completed the explanation.
For a brief moment, a trace of excitement could be seen in Nemi’s voice, as if she loved that forest, but as soon as the sound of the bird’s breath echoed in the nest again, that excitement disappeared.
"And all three forests get water from the Forgotten Tree?" Lian then went to the main topic.
Which seemed to be the deepest and most central point of this small world.
And in forest areas, according to experiences and recorded information, keys are always in the deepest and most central point, in other words, when he finally wanted to leave this place, he probably had to go there.
Ravian nodded.
"Yes. The main rivers come out from the roots of the Forgotten Tree and then split among the three forests. Some rivers flow on the surface, and some pass under the roots."
"When the flow of the Forgotten Tree’s rivers weakens, all three forests slowly dry up. Hunting decreases, plants die, and monsters come closer to other territories to find food. That is exactly what is happening now."
Lian looked for a moment at the massive tree they were standing on.
Its trunk was so wide that even from this height, he could not see its full curve.
The branch the nest was on was alone several times wider than Base #9’s main streets.
"Is this Forgotten Tree even larger than this tree?" He asked.
All three nodded at almost the same time, and Sera said.
"No. This is only one of the large trees of the Forest of Giants, compared to the Forgotten Tree, it is like a newly born tree..."
"Just one of the large trees?" Lian was silent for a few moments.