The Mother Tree. Tree of Life. World Tree. Primordial of Life.
Yggdrasil, like the other Primordials, had many names she went by. Dina wasn’t sure about the Primordial’s true origin, but based on history she had been a tree that had simply just never stopped growing. The entire Great Planet Yggdrasil called her home had her roots piercing deeply toward the core as the crown towered above the planet. The entire tree stood more than a hundredth of the entire Great Planet’s diameter tall, and there were legitimate concerns that even the Great Planet would one day prove too small.
Her crown was a vast network of planets, making the entire crown practically its entire own world. Within the crown, there were even subspaces housing large worlds and small galaxies. Countless beings within, and some even referred to it as its entire own universe. Which wasn’t entirely incorrect… for it was all linked to the Divine Realm of Yggdrasil.
Most Divine Realms existed within the void. Hidden from all those who did not know where it was. However, some were able to directly absorb the realm into themselves and make it a part of their bodies. Yggdrasil was one such being – with the Starseizing Titan being another notable example – making her a living Divine Realm, her body representing the growth of her realm and power. This had some benefits and disadvantages for sure, the biggest disadvantage being that should someone manage to fully destroy Yggdrasil’s body, it would also spell the end for her. Not that many considered that a legitimate possibility.
Dina had naturally seen Yggdrasil many times before. It was impossible not to, and the planet she usually lived on was close enough to the Great Planet that she could see the green glowing crown through space, like a massive star in the sky.
However, she had never interacted with the Primordial. Few people had, especially among mortals. The only notable one was her grandfather, Nature’s Attendant, who acted as the right hand of Yggdrasil, dealing with everything that didn’t directly pertain to her own realm.
As a tree, Yggdrasil did have some drawbacks that came with her Path, such as her inability to move. Even with her massive power, she could not move herself from the Great Planet she had taken root on… though Dina had heard some scary rumors that even if Yggdrasil couldn’t move herself, she could move where she had taken root. The thought of an entire Great Planet getting forcibly moved through space in any way was more than a little scary in its own right.
Either way, Yggdrasil’s limitations meant she very much focused on only her own immediate domain and let Dina’s grandfather handle all the multiversal politics on her behalf. In fact, he handled pretty much everything the Pantheon of Life did, Yggdrasil very rarely taking any actions herself. Yet there was never any doubt who the true leader of the Pantheon of Life was, as when Yggdrasil did let her presence known and directly got involved in a matter, she never hesitated to take decisive action.
To ask for someone to meet her directly wasn’t something that happened often either. The only instances Dina knew it happened was whenever a new god had arisen within the Pantheon of Life or when Yggdrasil decided to get a new Chosen. This matter was definitely not related to making Dina any kind of Chosen, though. If Dina would become the Chosen of anyone, it was her grandfather, and even if she wasn’t, the Chosen of Yggdrasil was still alive last Dina heard.
This meant there was really only one thing this meeting could be about…“Is… is this truly a matter important enough for the Mother Tree to get involved directly?” Dina asked as she traveled with her grandfather and Artemis. “I know Nevermore is important, but…”
“I talked to her after I returned,” her grandfather said in a calm tone. “She was naturally interested, especially when I mentioned some matters related to the new leader of the All-Time Leaderboard. Even so, I was surprised when she said she wanted to see you directly. But don’t worry, you’re not in any trouble.”
“I’m also surprised she asked for me. Is the reason she wants to see me related to… that?” Artemis asked, also sounding a bit concerned.
“To what?” Dina asked, having honestly been a bit confused as to why Artemis was even here, or had been at Nevermore in the first place. Dina didn’t really know Artemis that well, but her best guess had been that she was interested in seeing a hunter take the top spot on the Leaderboards. It wouldn’t be weird for her to take an interest in Jake… but it appeared there was more to it, and she hadn’t taken the kind of interest Dina expected.
Artemis looked at Dina before sighing. “What do you think of the Chosen of the Malefic Viper?”
“He’s peculiar and definitely extremely powerful. He was also a brilliant party member, and I wouldn’t have done as well in Nevermore as I did without him,” Dina said after thinking a bit.
“Not like that,” Artemis waved her off. “What do you think of him as a potential partner or mate? I know you know there were intentions to pair the two of you up.”
Dina was a bit taken aback by the question, and she saw how her grandfather also wasn’t that happy with the question… though he did seem curious about her answer. She was afraid to disappoint him, but she wasn’t going to lie.
“I don’t have any thoughts toward him in that vein at all. I also don’t believe he does toward me,” she quickly shut it down, fully expecting her grandfather and Artemis to be disappointed… and while her grandfather did let out a small sigh, Artemis reacted quite the opposite as she grinned.
“Great, then you won’t complain if I decide to pursue him,” Artemis said, as she seemed uninterested in hiding exactly what “that” was. “You know about my image in the Colosseum of Mortals and how those work, right?”
“I know,” Dina confirmed with a nod.
“Well, my image and the Chosen got, let’s just say, involved during his time in the Challenge Dungeon,” Artemis said. “Very involved, if you catch my meaning.”
“Wh… what?” Dina asked, as her eyes opened wide.
“You know, I’m kinda glad Jake didn’t mention it; very respectful of him,” Artemis said with a smile. “Anyway, that’s why I went to Nevermore to see him for myself, and… let’s just say I hope he takes me up on my invitation for some archery lessons.”
Dina calling herself shocked would be an understatement. Jake had slept with the image of Artemis within the Challenge Dungeon? The images had the full memories of the gods themselves, effectively just making them unlinked avatars… she had never heard about this happening before. Much less with someone like Artemis, who Dina knew was famous for rejecting every potential partner introduced.
“What made you-“
“I think that’s between me and him, wouldn’t you agree?” Artemis threw Dina a glance, making a shiver run down her back as she nodded slowly, dropping the subject as she still mentally mulled over the subject. Upon deeper reflection, wasn’t this great? If Jake formed a closer connection to the Pantheon of Life, it would only benefit the faction as far as Dina was concerned. For gods and mortals to pair up also wasn’t that weird. In fact, it was practically the norm. Seeing as how two gods reproducing was simply too difficult and rare, it was normal for powerful mortals and gods to end up together with the goal of producing children, though it usually only happened when the mortal was S-grade.
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Their group of three remained quiet until they finally reached their destination. On the way, Dina deeply considered the Jake-Artemis matter and only got more on board the more she thought about it. They had traveled this last part toward the base of the utterly massive tree on a wooden barge floating through space. Once they got closer, they entered the trunk through a hole, and the second they were inside, Dina felt the pressure fall upon her.
She saw Artemis buckle a bit while her grandfather remained unaffected. Dina also felt her legs shake, but she managed to remain upright without many issues. They kept floating forward for a few more minutes as Dina looked around what may as well have been a massive cavern. She saw rivers run within the walls, and a vine moved here or there, as the life energy all around them was nearly suffocating. Without Yggdrasil’s presence, elementals or creatures would be born in the millions every single day simply due to the environment.
Soon enough, they reached a ledge, and their barge docked as they got off. DIna followed after her grandfather, who led them through a small hallway before they reached a small hole leading into a large round chamber. There was a bit of furniture in the center, having grown out of the tree itself. To sit on this furniture would be like sitting on a part of Yggdrasil herself, making Dina feel a bit weird.
Even so, her grandfather and Artemis did not hesitate to sit as her grandfather motioned for her to do the same. With apprehension, Dina sat down, as she tried to keep her composure. She and Artemis both suffered from the constant pressure and while Dina found it a bit suffocating, she believed she would soon get used to it.
“You were right, Tonken,” a voice suddenly echoed throughout the chamber. Dina felt the attention on her as she lowered her head a bit. “This is a first, child. You are the first C-grade to come here in many eras… and the first able to do so without a Bloodline or Transcendence allowing you to handle my presence.”
“I will admit that this boon was not part of my initial intentions, and I view it as a happy accident,” her grandfather answered with a smile.
“A happy accident indeed,” the voice echoed again before it suddenly appeared much closer. “Tell me, child, what do you feel right now?”
Dina slowly lifted her head and saw a figure had appeared in front of her, sitting on a chair of wood. The woman looked a bit like Dina herself but didn’t have things like antlers or flowers anywhere. She was nearly entirely green instead. She wore no clothes, with all the important parts covered with either her floor-length hair that looked like grass or small natural growths coming out of her body. Dina naturally knew she was looking at Yggdrasil – or at least the dryad form she had momentarily adopted. As for her question…
“Ne… nervous…” Dina said, looking down again.
“Look up at me,” the Primordial said, Dina not daring to not obey the command. She lifted her head and looked forward, meeting the eyes of the dryad. She saw those endlessly deep green eyes as she felt her consciousness begin to waver for a moment before she had to avert her gaze.
“Intriguing. The soul does not appear mutated, yet it’s clearly changed somehow…” Yggdrasil commented before turning to her grandfather again. “And this is caused by the Chosen of the Malefic Viper?”
“Undoubtedly,” Dina’s grandfather confirmed.
“And she was simply in his presence for an extended period of time for this to happen?” Yggdrasil continued.
“Correct,” her grandfather once more confirmed, Dina also instinctively nodding a bit.
“hm,” Yggdrasil sounded out before looking back at Dina. “That will be all; keep up the good work. I look forward to hearing of your continued growth.”
With those words, Dina disappeared from within the tree, finding herself sitting back at her home in the very next second, sitting there as if she had never left in the first place.
--
Jake took the time while waiting for Meira and Irin to play a bit with his Cradle and check in on the Soulflame progress. He still infused it with his arcane mana intermittently, but he kind of just had to leave it to do its own thing most of the time.
In the world within, the war of the Soulflames continued as they devoured one another constantly. Quite a few powerful Arcane Soulflames had been born by now, but none had reached the top tier yet. In fact, Jake had yet to see even a single pinnacle-tier Soulflame, much less a Supreme Soulflame, during all the time he had owned the mythical item. Checking its description, he had kind of hoped something had changed, but nope. He did take extra notice of one sentence, though.
“Only a single Soulflame can truly be born from the Cradle, the item getting destroyed upon extraction as all others become fuel for the chosen one.”
Reading this, Jake began to think that maybe seeing a Supreme Soulflame wasn’t even possible, and it could only be obtained upon extraction by further empowering a pinnacle-tier Soulflame. Or, he just had to wait long enough for one to actually appear.
This was definitely the most frustrating part of the Cradle of Soul’s Kindling. Jake didn’t truly have any control over when a useful Soulflame would be born. He couldn’t exert any direct control of the internal world. The entire Cradle was more or less just Minaga exploiting the system a bit by making a method to gamble far more efficiently. But it was still gambling.
Jake could get lucky tomorrow that a powerful Arcane Soulflame would appear within the Cradle and devour enough other Soulflames to become a Supreme one. However, he could also be so damn unlucky that he wouldn’t see any Soulflame he considered worth extracting before ascending to godhood.
Of course, there was one option Jake could try: seeing what would happen if he infused some of his Jake Juice. However, Jake wasn’t even sure that would help with anything. As mentioned, he had no control over the internal world, so if he sent in some of his special energy, he couldn’t even ensure his arcane energy within the Cradle merged with it. It would seriously suck if he accidentally empowered a random ice-affinity Soulflame, wasting his time and energy while even risking bricking the Cradle in the process.
No… no, the best choice right now was to simply be patient. There were a lot more Arcane Soulflames within the Cradle now than any other affinity, and with time, they would only dominate more. It was impossible to make his arcane affinity the only affinity in the internal world but to see so many Arcane Soulflames gave him hope. Plus, Jake believed himself a pretty lucky person, so it couldn’t be that long before fortune smiled upon him and blessed him with a banger Soulflame, right?
Putting away the Cradle, he felt a new presence arrive on the lawn outside. Through his sphere, he saw it was Irin, who looked a bit flustered and in a hurry as she made her way to the main mansion. He also saw Meira heading over, no longer in her combat attire but having switched to less bloody and torn clothes. He still didn’t think the change was neccecary, but oh well, who was he to police what kind of clothing people felt comfortable in, especially with his own tendency to wear a mask when around strangers.
Irin entered first as Jake got up from the sofa and went to greet her.
“Hey, Irin,” Jake said with a smile as she entered the living room. As usual, she wore clothing that left little to the imagination, and when she saw him, she had an almost hungry look in her eyes that she quickly suppressed.
“Good to have you back,” she smiled.
“Good to be back,” Jake concurred as he made sure to remember the Crest for once. Taking it out of his spatial storage, he tossed the item to Irin casually. “Catch.”
Irin instinctively did so as she looked at the item Jake had thrown, her eyes opening wide. She looked almost afraid to be holding the Crest. “This… do you even know what this is.”
“According to the Demon Prince, a Crest of some sort that will be useful if I decide to visit the Hells,” Jake shrugged as a thought struck him. “Actually, that got me wondering… I know barely anything about these Hells.”
“You… you said you helped the Demon Prince of the Fourth Hell with a ritual, not even knowing anything about the demon factions?” Irin asked, staring at him. “Tell me you at least signed a liability waiver before you did the ritual.”
“Of course I did,” Jake said in a serious tone.
For some reason, hearing Jake had the Demon Prince sign a waiver made Irin bite her lip before she licked it. She looked like she wanted to pounce on him then and there, but she quickly collected herself when she heard the door open as Meira arrived. Nevertheless, she continued talking. “Alright… I guess a brief lesson in the social and political climate of demon aristocracy is in order, along with a brief introduction to the Nine Hells.”