Jake thought the trees he had seen on Earth were big, and sure, compared to before the system, they had indeed been utterly massive. However, when he looked at the monstrosity of wood so far away that he couldn’t even begin to guess the distance, he couldn’t help but feel like they were tiny in comparison. Standing before something like that made even Jake feel small.
He wasn’t the only one, either. Nearly all of the people on the vessel were standing in awe as they marveled at the great tree in front of them. No one had to tell them who or what they were looking at either. Despite being out of her range, every person present knew they were laying eyes on Yggdrasil, one of the Primordials and the leader of the Pantheon of Life.
“How far away are we?” Jake asked as he kept staring, asking primarily because the massive tree wasn’t getting much larger despite how fast they were going.
“No idea, but we still got like twenty minutes left till we reach the Great Planet Yggdrasil is on,” Minaga shrugged while obviously enjoying everyone’s reaction.
Chances were that none of the people present – besides the gods and perhaps a few S-grades – had ever visited the inner area of the Pantheon of Life before. This was thus their first time seeing Yggdrasil, and honestly, who could blame them for their reactions?
Looking at Yggdrasil, Jake naturally didn’t know what kind of tree she was, but she looked a lot like an ash tree. The trunk was long and sturdy, with a crown so utterly massive that Jake didn’t doubt entire worlds could be hidden within. The entire tree also looked incredibly healthy, with green leaves everywhere the eye could see if one looked toward the crown.
It was very evident that Records had bled into their recently integrated universe because the tree in front of him looked pretty much exactly like what Jake would expect the World Tree to be. It was close enough that he suspected some entertainment franchises of having actually glimpsed into the first universe to accurately depict the World Tree.
What none of them could have depicted was the sheer aura. Merely by looking at the tree, Jake could feel its overflowing life energy. Currently, the vessel they were on was covered by a powerful barrier to keep them safe during the voyage, but Jake didn’t doubt that the second it was dispelled, overflowing life affinity energy would rush in.
“You know what’s even more impressive?” Minaga said after a minute or so of silence as they all stared at the tree that was rapidly growing in size as they got closer. “Yggdrasil isn’t even the largest creature in the multiverse. She’s close, don’t get me wrong, but the Starseizing Titan is still larger. What’s more... the two of them are both still growing as the eras pass, which does make me and others wonder if one day a Great Planet isn’t enough for Yggdrasil.”
By now, Jake and everyone else couldn’t just see the tree but the even more massive Great Planet she was planted on, and while Yggdrasil was utterly massive, compared to a Great Planet, she still had ways to go. Of course, he had no idea how deep her roots went, though, but he got the feeling she still had a long time to go before she could outgrow her current home.“I don’t think that’s an immediate issue,” Jake muttered.
“Probably not,” Minaga shrugged. “And if it does turn into a problem, I’m sure Yggdrasil can find a solution. Or Nature’s Attendant. By that time, she should also be powerful enough to move entire Great Planets, so worst case, she could just slam a few together and make a... Greater Planet?”
“Ultra Planet. Ultra comes after great,” Jake said in a joking voice.
“And after that, I believe we would have Master Planets,” the Sword Saint chimed in, making Jake stare at the old man with surprise.
“What? I can understand some references, too,” the old man said, as he kept looking at Yggdrasil. “And I must say... this sight is quite inspiring, and I shall certainly fully commit it to memory with hopes of depicting it on the canvas later.”
“Probably good for your Profession. Which does make me wonder what kind of things you could create with a few of those leaves...” Jake muttered, getting a look from Minaga.
“That was pretty heretical of you to say,” the Unique Lifeform commented.
“Not really, I’m just wondering out loud,” Jake shrugged. “You can’t tell me that armorers all over the multiverse haven’t wondered what you could create with scales from the Wyrmgod or the Malefic Viper.”
“Well, sure, but people usually don’t say that kind of thing out loud,” Minaga pointed out. “Could piss off a lot of their followers.”
“That sounds like a them problem and not a me problem,” Jake said unbothered.
“I guess that’s the kind of mentality you need to dare get intimate with gods. A willingness to not care about norms or decorum,” Minaga teased him telepathically, at least having enough sense not to speak that kind of thing out loud.
“Don’t act as if you don’t love that about me,” Jake teased back.
“Guilty as charged,” Minaga smiled and chuckled, returning to speaking out loud after waving his hand and creating a fully transparent sound-isolating barrier around himself, Jake, Sylphie, and the Sword Saint. “Seeing as Nature’s Attendant invited you here despite knowing what kind of guy you are, things should be fine. If not... well, it was nice knowing you.”
Jake just smiled and shook his head as he kept watching the ever-growing tree that filled more and more of his vision as time went on. Their destination truly was the heartlands of the Pantheon of Life as they would land on the Great Planet that was effectively ruled by the faction. Technically speaking, the Pantheon of Life didn’t have full control over it, as a few factions had their own territories that could roughly be equated to countries. And, yes, it was part of all the diplomats’ – especially the gods’ – job to begin talks for the Order of the Malefic Viper to have the same thing.
Minutes passed as they got closer, until soon enough, the ship began to slow down. The surrounding world became distinguishable once more, and all Jake could see filling his vision when he looked downwards was the massive Great Planet that was so huge that, despite floating who-knows-how-far above the surface, it still looked like a flat plane in all directions.
With the ship flying slower, the barrier surrounding it also weakened, and as it did, Jake felt the expected mana in the air rapidly experience change. Nature and life mana rushed in and filled the air all around them, making especially Sylphie perk up.
“Ree, ree?” the hawk screeched, looking around before finally deciding on a direction to stare toward.
“There are?” Jake asked, turning to Minaga for answers.
The Unique Lifeform shrugged in response. “Wouldn’t surprise me if there was. It’s a Great Planet, after all, and those kinds of creatures do tend to like living in life-filled areas.”
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Jake slowly nodded as he couldn’t help but frown. Sylphie had told him that the moment the barrier was down, she could hear the whispers of the wind far louder than before. What’s more, she heard whispers speaking of creatures like her extremely far away.
Seeing as the wind had told Sylphie this and that hybrid beast and elemental creatures weren’t really a thing usually, Jake assumed that what Sylphie was hearing was whispers about her namesake: Sylphs.
Sylphs were all powerful wind elementals of at least A-grade, though many of them were also S-grade. What’s more, all of them were old and possessed high intelligence despite being elementals. In general, they also tended to be gentle, with many Sylphs often being protectors of local areas.
Jake also remembered reading that many Sylphs were proficient in using the nature affinity, so their being on the Great Planet truly did make sense. Despite knowing that Sylphs tended to be nice to others, Jake was still a bit nervous knowing they were there because Sylphie obviously wanted to go visit them.
“Ree?” Sylphie asked just that, looking up at Jake.
“I can’t tell you not to go,” Jake said with a smile.
“She’ll be totally fine,” Minaga said, shaking his head. “Remember, she could use the Dreamy Embrace of the Benevolent Sylph I gave her during Nevermore for beating me up. As someone loved by the wind, there’s no way other Sylphs wouldn’t at least feel positively toward her. Plus, she’s blessed by Stormild. Most Sylphs view Stormild very favorably, with many of them even worshipping the Primordial.”
“I would still ask the Pantheon of Life to provide escorts,” Jake muttered.
“Oh, for sure,” Minaga agreed. “I’m sure they will also know plenty about these Sylphs. If such creatures are living on their Great Planet, they’ll surely know about them and likely even be in regular contact. Especially seeing as it sounds like we have a gathering of them.”
“Yeah, Sylphs definitely don’t sound like regularly encountered creatures,” Jake nodded.
Jake still didn’t feel super comfortable about her going, but he didn’t have much time to ponder on it anymore as the ship was very quickly descending toward the ground, making him walk toward the edge. It didn’t take long before he noticed their landing location, which made his eyes open wide.
“Is that a root?” he asked the S-grade beside him, who had a god clone hidden elsewhere on the ship.
“Yep,” Minaga nodded. “Seems rude when you think about it that we’re gonna land on top of a Primordial...”
Jake wanted to comment, but before he could, a new aura appeared that instantly made all of the people present freeze. It was the aura of a god who had come from within the ship, and a moment later, said god teleported onto the bridge.
It was a god who looked like a beastkin – which meant he could have either been a beastkin or just a beast when a mortal – and Jake guessed he was still an early-tier god. This god appeared right in front of Jake and the others, which made it clear who they were there for.
“Chosen of the Malefic One, you are summoned by the Grand Elder to his chambers,” the god said, not sounding particularly respectful, which was honestly a bit refreshing.
“Alright,” Jake nodded. “Will I return here after, or...?”
“I believe the Grand Elder plans for you to go with us from here on, but you should have time to meet up with your companions later,” the god answered.
“I’m gonna stay here and take care of these two,” Minaga said, trying to sound both reliable and sacrificial.
“You know I am fully aware your other clone is with the gods, right?” Jake asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t see how that has anything to do with me,” the Unique Lifeform said, acting confused. “Anyway, looking forward to seeing you again!”
Jake just sighed as he gave the god a nod. A second later, he was teleported into one of the chambers of the gods, where he found Duskleaf sitting in a chair with all the other gods brought by the Order also present... oh, and a Unique Lifeform who threw Jake a cheeky smile as he entered.
“I have brought the Chosen,” the god who’d teleported Jake said before teleporting again to sit down in his chair. Jake felt like a scrub as he couldn’t just teleport around but had to manually walk toward a chair and sit down himself.
He completely ignored the many gods staring him down as he did this, only addressing them all when he was seated. “You asked for me to be here?”
Jake naturally asked Duskleaf directly, who just nodded in response. “Right... you will go with us to meet the divine delegation of the Pantheon of Life here to welcome us.”
“Grand Elder, are you sure it’s wise for the Chosen to join us? I know that the Malefic Viper treats him uniquely, but he’s still only a mortal,” one of the gods present commented as if Jake wasn’t even there.
Duskleaf looked at the god and tilted his head. “Were you invited here by the Pantheon of Life?”
The god looked confused for a moment before shaking their head.
“Was any of you invited by the Pantheon of Life?” he asked all the other gods, getting no response besides Minaga, who raised a hand as high as he could, but the Grand Elder completely ignored him.
“In fact, I believe only a single person here was directly invited to visit the Pantheon of Life by two influential gods from here, one of them being Nature’s Attendant himself,” Duskleaf said. “His invitation is the impetus for us to visit in the first place. For us not even to bring him with us when we meet the one who invited him would just be needlessly rude. He is a mortal, yes, but in this case, I find that utterly irrelevant, and clearly, Nature’s Attendant does too. I don’t think any of us have the right to tell him who he can and can’t invite.”
Jake had wanted to speak up for himself, but instead, he found himself silently shocked at Duskleaf’s entire demeanor. He seemed so much different than he usually was and even carried an air of authority. Truthfully, Jake had questioned a few times why Villy had decided that Duskleaf would be good at leading the academy, as in Jake’s mind, he was just an alchemy nerd who didn’t care about doing anything else than just in his lab. However, now, he saw that it certainly wasn’t because Duskleaf wasn’t capable. Jake had definitely underestimated the old alchemist, that was for sure.
After Duskleaf spoke, the gods who were opposed to Jake’s presence quickly backed off, and while he felt confident many of them still didn’t approve of his presence there, none of them showed it outwardly.
Duskleaf, after speaking, also looked at Jake as the alchemist’s voice echoed in his head.
“You have the gifts given to you by Master, right? That’s another reason why you need to be with us, but I didn’t want to mention it here,” Duskleaf said.
“Yeah, I got them,” Jake answered. “Also, I must say I’m genuinely impressed. The way you handled-“
“Jake, I hate every second of what’s going on right now and just want to get all this over with so I can begin my work,” Duskleaf cut him off. “This is all such a waste of time, and if it wasn’t because I needed something from here, I wouldn’t have gone...”
“Fair,” Jake just answered, holding back a small smile. Duskleaf was indeed still Duskleaf.
“As it seems like no one has anything else to say, let’s go. Nature’s Attendant already made contact,” Duskleaf spoke after a few seconds of silence as he stood up. “We will arrive directly in the lower outer sections of Yggdrasil’s trunk.”
Jake, who’d barely even sat down, stood up again as Duskleaf lifted a hand. A magic circle appeared beneath them all and slowly began powering up for a few seconds before the teleportation activated, and Jake realized the reason why Duskleaf used this slower method was to give everyone a moment to prepare for what would come next.
The teleportation circle activated, and a moment later, they arrived at their final destination. As they did, Jake felt many things at once. The first thing that struck him was the mana in the air. It was so dense and full of life and nature energy that it was nearly suffocating, and if this energy wasn’t actively being controlled, Jake feared it could have even caused him harm.
Secondly was the presences. So far, they’d all been able to feel they were in Yggdrasil’s domain, but it wasn’t oppressive in any way. Now, however, they were truly in the presence of Yggdrasil. Within the massive wooden hall that they now found themselves in, several figures were waiting for them, with especially two being of note for all the people present.
One of them was a man Jake recognized from Nevermore. It was Nature’s Attendant, who stood with his usual staff and a light smile on his face. At his side was a woman who’d grown out of the ground, her appearance reminding Jake slightly of Dina’s. Her aura was even more powerful than Nature’s Attendant, and instantly, Jake knew she was the Primordial whose body they were currently inside.
After teleporting into the chamber, Jake saw several of the gods present look pressured, though none of them showed it much. Not that he was looking at them overly much, because his attention was on something else.
As everyone was looking at Nature’s Attendant and Yggdrasil, Jake’s eyes wandered elsewhere as he looked toward one of the few dozen gods behind them and locked eyes with a fellow hunter he hadn’t seen since Nevermore.