episode_0054

The Tarun mountain range, stretching long and high in the center of the continent, has the Kingdom to its left and the Empire to its right.

The Tarun mountain range itself is treacherous, and with a deep forest between the Kingdom and the mountains, even reaching it is quite complicated.

Most Kingdom citizens, if they had business in the Tarun mountain range, would usually go around the forest.

Especially in the south, there’s a free trade city useful as a base camp, so it was a better route for adventurers.

Today, the mountain range isn’t important.

It’s in the center of the continent, but it’s a forest unloved by any nation.

Even the Holy Kingdom, located right next door in the highlands of the middle Tarun mountain range in the northern part of the continent, shudders at its very name.

That’s the forest I’m going to. The [Forest of Deception], where one wrong turn means never finding your way out.

The Forest of Deception wasn’t very popular in Acasto either.

The ‘Chaos Forest’ in the northern Empire territory only had powerfully strong monsters; if your skill was sufficient, you could get exponentially more experience and rewards.

The Forest of Deception, however, only had complicated gimmicks and annoying spirits, making the rewards limited compared to the time invested.

That was back when starting in the Kingdom was a standard strategy.

Then a mysterious user appeared and turned the meta upside down.

Using their experience from multiple playthroughs and information gathered from various NPCs, this user cleared the Forest of Deception in a flash.

While their completion post set the community ablaze, it wasn’t enough; they found all the hidden pieces obtainable in the forest and posted a second verification post.

Of course, they omitted the acquisition routes.

The two posts completely flipped the community, and as views skyrocketed with likes and dislikes battling it out fiercely, the rumor spread that the mysterious user enjoyed the fuss itself, drinking to enjoy the comments.

Why do I know so much?

Because it was me.

. . .

Now, here’s the Forest of Deception and a veteran adventurer.

First, let’s place the adventurer at the well-maintained entrance to the Forest of Deception and leave them for an hour or so.

Then, *ta-da!*

The adventurer has already reached the deepest part of the Forest of Deception!

—The forest strategy was easy enough to pull that sort of prank. Nothing had changed since the old days.

Question:

A mysterious user verified clearing the Forest of Deception, but there were no updates after?

Answer: Yes.

They only verified the clear, not the strategy; the admins had no reason to take action.

For a while, there were plenty of obsessive users—no, I mean desperate users—sending comments and messages asking for a strategy.

But even then, it was brushed off casually, just like today.

– Please just upload the strategy, dammit. └Yep~ I’ve told you. └lol └I sent you a message. └I sent you a dick pic~ └Secret comment.

Looking at the comment section was so fun for a while; it’s kind of nostalgic now.

Anyway,

Whether you have to go around which oak tree to reach the deepest part of the Forest of Deception or how many Lumiflora to throw into the pond—it’s not important.

I can access the deepest part of the Forest of Deception, a place where others might lose their lives getting lost or need to use dozens of special magical tools just to get there, like it’s my own house.

*Zzizr*

*Crackle-crackle*

I’m back. I wonder how many years have passed.

The intense smell of grass and the irritating sounds of insects. The deepest part of the forest, where even the wind rarely blows, was as quiet as if I’d fallen into the middle of space.

The dense fog covering the middle levels dissipated, revealing the surrounding scenery.

Thanks to the Lumiflora blooming everywhere, it wasn’t that dark even in the middle of the night.

Actually, whether it’s day or night doesn’t matter. The World Tree in the deepest part of the forest, and the tall trees surrounding it, block out the sunlight or moonlight almost entirely.

Instead, the naturally emitted light from plants like Lumiflora and Lumitree covers the entire forest.

That’s why it’s easy to lose track of time in this place, the Spirit’s Rest. The same brightness is present throughout the day.

Soon, lower-level spirits began to appear one by one.

*Pfyuroong*

The small lights often called wisps. More accurately, they are chunks of mana that shimmer with consciousness.

The ones that fly around in human form like fairies are high-level spirits. The small wisps combine to become mid-level spirits—large wisps (not a pun, they really do grow larger)—and over time, these grow into high-level spirits.

Since spirits themselves are mana lifeforms, some believe they all have self-awareness, but surprisingly, they only develop a firm sense of self as high-level spirits.

That doesn’t mean that the wisps lack consciousness. They’re very small creatures that can sense simple things like good, bad, fun, and boring.

Perhaps that’s why, seeing these wisps always makes me feel like looking at cute creatures like squirrels and hamsters.

*Pfyurooing*

I open my hand and spread my fingers; they dash between them, emitting light in what seems like delight.

It’s probably because it’s been a while since they’ve seen an outsider.

I began to prepare to enter the Spirit’s Rest, removing my [Shadow Armor].

The Forest of Deception itself is practically a defense line protecting this place. At the entrance, it uses a maze-like forest path surrounded by trees to drive away outsiders, and at the middle level, dense fog and monsters serve as a strong warning. That’s why I ran here wearing my [Shadow Armor] until now.

But once you enter the deepest part, there are no such dangerous traps. Those who have overcome the tough traps are faced by the spirits themselves, regardless of whether they harbor ill intent.

Since I want to look like a benevolent person without malice, I think it’s best to remove my equipment.

After checking to ensure my mapping magical tool was working properly—just the one—I walked barefoot into the grass.

*Crackle-crackle*

The Spirit’s Rest is arguably the brightest place in the Forest of Deception.

It’s where mana clumps, spirits possessing consciousness emitting light, are most densely concentrated.

The base of the World Tree, which I soon reached, was, as I remembered, a spectacle of light more beautiful than anything else. No—it went far beyond my memory… it’s not even something I can describe as simply beautiful.

Long ago, while walking through the night sky with Yuri, I saw the essence of this world. The light of mana flowing through nature was a beautiful sight.

But that place was mixed with life that breathes, impurities with physical forms—not implying the existence is impure—it meant it still had the attachment of a physical body; it hadn’t yet moved on to the world of essence.

The Spirit’s Rest, on the other hand, is where all of nature is subtly sublimated from substance into spirit-form.

The mid-level spirits that emanate mana intensely towards me are not simply physical manifestations; they shimmer with feelings of ‘警戒心’—caution—towards outsiders, slowly drifting away.

Lower-level spirits stretch out their hands, brimming with ‘好奇心’—curiosity—and ‘興奮’—excitement— toward the new stimulus, trembling slightly.

In the end, a small wisp breaks the rules, darts out, and plays on my palm. My mana-sensitive body perceives this infant-like movement as a feeling of ‘喜び’—joy—.

Even the small blades of grass crushed under my boots shed their plant form and rise as mana itself, emitting their own green light beyond the dimensions of this world.

This place is a small universe. The boundary separating essence and form is shattered, with mana encompassing all things resonating calmly at the edges of the world.

How could I not call this a new experience—stepping into such a mysterious world?

The memories of mere graphics I’d seen on my computer screen were long swept away by the vortex of brain stimulation.

I felt an inexpressible elation, as if I had touched the secrets of the world with my human body.

I was speechless.

. . .

“You’ve finally come to your senses, huh?”

“Wh- wh—? Uh… yes.”

I, a human, was sitting slumped in front of the World Tree.

How much time had passed? A high-level spirit had silently approached and stood beside me.

“Ex… excuse me, who…?”

“Me? I’m Frida. What’s your name, unusual human?”

The creature, *Pfyuroong*, softly flew over and perched on my shoulder without hesitation.

“My name is Narita Floraine Nifrantz, the fifth princess of the Nifrantz Kingdom. Nice to meet you.”

“Heh heh. Long name. Hard name.”

“…Just call me Narita.”

“Narita… Narita!”

Frida spun around joyously.

“Narita, unusual human!”

“…Why do you keep calling me an unusual human?”

“Narita is transparent, huh.”

The creature moved slightly away from me and stared intently at me, *Ziiii*.

Ah, it must be because of my constitution. Because I innately lack mana in my body, I must appear transparent to spirits who see, read, and feel mana.

“Ziiii… Transparent, huh.”

“Hmm, wait a minute.”

I had removed all my weapons to show I had no intention to harm, but I hadn’t considered that might inconvenience them.

I channeled mana again and activated my [Shadow Armor].

*Sa-rurr*

“Wow! Suddenly— suddenly! Narita, white!”

“Can you see me now?”

“I can see you! White… pretty white!”

Frida spun happily around twice.

Hearing a mana being tell me my mana is pretty felt like a reward for all the hardship spent cultivating my attributeless mana.

So, I stood up and spun three times.

“Narita, pretty human!”

“Thank you, Frida. You’re pretty, too.”

“Heh heh. Thank you, huh.”

I thought spinning more than four times would make me sick, so I grabbed Frida and stated my purpose.

“Is the World Tree alright?”

“Yup yup. Thanks to Narita, I just woke up.”

“…That’s ‘because of’ not ‘thanks to’ you.”

Hmm… Did I cause trouble? Looking at the other wisps flitting around… I realized how much stimulation my presence, an intrusion, caused them in this once still space.

I felt I would really cause trouble if I delayed any longer and hurried the conversation.

“I have something to ask the World Tree. Would you guide me?”

“Okay, huh. Follow me!”

Frida flew across the space, scattering a trail of shimmering light, *Pfyuroing*. I slowly followed after her.

And at that moment,

Thick black fog enveloped the area and my sight darkened.

‘…? What is this—’

The fog I saw in the middle level was white. I’ve never seen this before.

A creepy voice rang out as an unknown sense of unease washed over me.

“Sleep quietly… intruder.”