EU: Chapter 41 | Vault of World Tree Fruits

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Once night set, the Warden left the Elven Prison alongside the Dwarf to head to the Ogre Gate. Hiding right next to the pit that was the Dwarf’s dwelling, hidden in a hole, was Pinaka. He hadn’t left the spot from the start.

A patch of grass tilted to the side and opened the hatch, revealing Pinaka within, standing beside a clone of himself. The clone’s ear canal had extended outside to listen to the discussion between the Pinaka clone and the Dwarf.

The clone in the pit spoke of the contents in the discussion to Pinaka. It was how he came to know what the Dwarf talked to the Warden.

Since the duo had left, Pinaka exited his hiding spot and cleaned up the traces, “Man, I’m adding a lot of manure to the soil in these parts.”

He stared in the direction of the Ogre Gate and noticed a miniature sun, “Yup, I’m not fighting such a monster anytime soon.”

[Spell: Root Glove]

The Warden’s actions illuminated the place even this far away. Therefore, Pinaka had to move through spots where the walls cast shadows. ‘Thankfully, the attention of all these soldiers is on the miniature sun.’

The soldiers were attentive as they had been alerted to be on full guard. However, unless they heard any commotion, most of their focus was on the actions of the Warden. It was for a multitude of reasons, with awe and admiration being two of them.

Pinaka first headed to the entrance of Hexagon 21 and disguised himself as the soldier who brought in dinner for the Elves. He then walked towards the office door and entered it, since it was currently open. The soldiers were actively patrolling the place now, and hence, the door hadn’t been welded shut.

He entered the office, placed the Sun Stone in its original spot and exited the place. He had four more Sun Stones left with him. By the time he leaves the Elven Prison, he would only have three.

Pinaka only intended to carry with him the three Sun Stones present in the Human Gate. During his exit, he intended to return the Sun Stone present in the bike of the Ogre Gate’s messenger back to its place.

He would remove it from the tree it was hidden in and cast it at the side, making it seem like a crash.

‘I don’t know how strong the Level 3 Ogre is as compared to the Warden. But I should proceed with the caution that the fight wouldn’t last long.’ Pinaka thought as he first moved through the shadows and headed towards the World Tree.

Situated closest to it was an office where the robed individuals collecting Healing Potions worked from. Situated next to it was the vault, created specifically to store the World Tree Fruits.

The vault was in the shape of yarn, entirely composed of the World Tree’s roots. A large number of thin tendrils had been joined and clamped together by tough iron bars. It was refined by the Level 3 Dwarf to be strong enough to tie the World Tree’s roots together.

There was only one reason the World Tree’s roots were used here—they couldn’t be manipulated. The Human King’s hottest flames couldn’t singe it, and the Elven King’s Control Authority couldn’t even budge it.

The most the Elven King had been able to do was communicate with the World Tree arbitrarily. Just like every Race Authority, the World Tree couldn’t be harmed by the means of those at Level 3 and below.

Only when one reached the legendary Level 4 could they begin to affect a Race Authority. To date, no one on Gangnea had ever reached that point. Therefore, using the roots of the World Tree to create the vault was the safest bet.

It couldn’t be breached. The only way to enter it was through a tough, metal door, which was heavily guarded within the tunnel network.

Pinaka approached the vault and touched it, feeling a shiver course through his body upon making contact with the World Tree’s roots, ‘This sensation is just like when I first came into contact with a World Tree Fruit, but more familiar.’

He was born out of the World Tree, after all. So to him, it only felt like he was returning home. Just in case, he used his Control Authority but failed to move the roots. He also scoured across its surface in homes to find a gap, no matter how small.

A small gap was enough to push in his spine, which would create a Pinaka Clone. However, the vault was airtight, causing Pinaka to sigh, ‘It seems my only option now is to use the tunnel.’

[Spell: Root Glove]

‘Bur first,’ He scaled to the office’s terrace and placed a Pinaka Clone there, which began to make more clones. Following that, it shot a spine into the fifth floor and made a Pinaka Clone there.

It was the living quarters. And currently, four soldiers were asleep. With a quick swipe, the Pinaka Clone touched them all and knocked them unconscious. It disguised four clones as them to fool any soldiers that might arrive on the floor.

Following that, it filled up the floor with clones, ready to act upon cue. And the cue was a heat rise.

Once the Pinaka Clone was in control of the fifth floor of the office, Pinaka returned to the prison and proceeded through the tunnel taken by the group in charge of creating Healing Potions.

“Why are you here?” A soldier paused as he stared at Pinaka and then eyed the staff in his hand, “And what the heck is that?”

“The Warden told me to transport it somewhere,” Pinaka said as he casually approached the soldier and then touched the latter on the neck. He created a clone of himself and modified it to resemble the soldier. Once the clone wore the soldier’s getup, Pinaka turned the soldier into manure and scattered it into the nearby farm.

“Where are the both of you going?” A soldier asked as he eyed the duo, “There’s only a dead end here. You’re supposed to keep watch of the Elves.”

“Good, you’re here.” Pinaka said as he pointed at his Pronto Staff, “Warden’s orders. I’m supposed to bring it…”

“What the heck? Why are you talking like that?” The soldier seemed puzzled. Unfortunately for him, he was within Pinaka’s Range Factor.

His nail extended and made contact with the soldier, casually poking through the latter. Pinaka lifted his index finger and severed the soldier’s body into two like he was cutting butter. There was no blood, since he had caused the severed portions to form a layer of skin as they were being cut.

Once the disposal was done, there were three people in the group. The number steadily increased to ten by the time Pinaka had reached the welded door, ‘I couldn’t explore past this point before. But, there’s no choice now. I have to take the plunge.’

“Pronto, my dear,” Pinaka said and pointed the Pronto Staff at the weld and unsealed the latter’s eyes. A thin stream of fire flashed and unsealed the weld on the latch.

Opening the latch, Pinaka sauntered into the tunnel, which stretched for a couple kilometres. Soon, he arrived at a junction, from where the path branched. Each path led to one of the prisons. There was a total of six paths extending from the junctions.

Pinaka proceeded forward through the tunnel moving in the direction of the World Tree, walking for another four hundred metres before coming across a welded door. Standing before it were two guards; both were officers.

To their side was another door, which led to an office quarter. This was for the soldiers in charge of collecting Healing Potions from the potion factories of various prisons and the logistics involved with the entire operation.

The moment he came in view of the two officers, Pinaka commanded his group as he gave the Pronto Staff to a Pinaka Clone with two units in Control Factor, “Rush them!”

[Spell: Wood Ski]

As the Pinaka Clone skid forward, Pronto Staff in hand, the rest of the clones grabbed bows and arrows created by Pinaka and launched a hail of arrows.

“What the…an Elf?” Upon noticing the Pinaka Clone skating towards them, the two officers were stunned for a moment before spontaneously releasing a burst of fire.

[Spell: Torch]

The tunnel was filled with a sea of flames, rushing forth like a tide.

“In this moment…” The Pinaka Clone behaved giddily as it extended the Pronto Staff forward, “I am a…”

“Magician!” The tide of fire was absorbed into the Sun Stone in the Pronto Staff the moment they made contact.

“What?” The two officers gasped at the incredulity of the situation. They were still releasing fire, which was all being absorbed by the Elf before them.

“See you,” As the Pinaka Clone uttered, arrows rained from behind it and reached the officers.

“I’ll defend!” One of the officers shouted and created a wall of fire before them. The other officer maintained offensive. But in a matter of seconds, the Pinaka Clone had reached them, making contact with the defensive wall of fire to absorb it into the Sun Stone.

“Ouch!” The Pinaka Clone stumbled as its wooden flooring got burnt. The officers were releasing multiple streams of fire to avoid making contact with the Sun Stone.

It stumbled as its feet were burnt. But a second later, a new clone appeared nearby, now been transferred the authority. It grabbed the Pronto Staff and jumped, pointing forth with its right arm as the arm bone elongated into a spear to touch one of the officers.

Drip!

Toxic fumes were produced while molten bone sludge dripped. However, an extended piece of bone managed to pierce the officer's shoulder, which was enough.

“Gah!” The officer hoped to resist, but couldn’t as his body spasmed and stopped. His ribcage had curved inside and pierced the lungs and heart, resulting in his death.

“Dammit!” The other officer cursed in fear and churned out fire in large swathes. He had already analysed the Sun Stone’s capacity and intended to fill it up. That would prevent the attacker from having the upper hand anymore. ‘I don’t fully understand this situation, but as long as I buy time, I will survive.’

He covered his immediate vicinity with fire and began to dance inside, evading like a boxer. A bone spike stabbed into the fire, intending to touch him, only to miss.

The Pinaka Clone missed multiple attempts at trying to make contact with the officer. It then stepped back and created a wood wall, occupying the entire cross-section of the tunnel. And then, it began to expand in the direction of the officer, reducing the pocket of space the latter was in.

As it expanded, it covered one of the vents, which was the last of its type before the gate. There was less than four metres between it and the gate.

Within a couple seconds, the oxygen supply was cut off, causing the flames to disappear. The officer could still produce flames. But only burnt for an instant before vanishing, lacking the oxygen necessary to maintain their combustion.

“Ah…ahhh!” The officer screamed as he watched a wooden spike jut out of the wood wall and stab him. He had a pretty good head above his shoulders and did what he could at the moment. He glanced between the doors that led into the office and the locker containing the World Tree Fruits.

Without hesitation, he bolted into the office, hoping to seek reinforcements. “We’re being attacked!”

He announced, stunned to see a fellow officer on the other side, currently blasting flames in the direction of a crowd of Elves, “What? How come there are so many?”

“How would I know?” The officer in the office wore a white robe and was in charge of collecting the Healing Potions. He and a few soldiers were the only ones alive. The rest had been riddled by arrows. “They suddenly arrived from the top floor and flooded this place…shit!”

Flooding in from the office’s entrance were Elves, in large numbers, bows poised, launching arrows without mercy, “They’re coming in from here too.”

“Hmm…” Wearing a gas mask filled with grass, Pinaka walked through the tunnel. The mask filtered out the fumes, while the grass provided oxygen. Its efficiency was crap with a lack of sunlight, but it didn’t matter, as every time the grass withered, Pinaka replaced it with a new batch.

It withered every ten steps, which was annoying, but he proceeded with caution. He grabbed the Pronto Staff from the Pinaka Clone and cloned it, uttering, “Pronto, my dear, share half your strength with your clone. I’m sure you can feel it through my authority.”

The Pronto Staff clone was able to emit fire, which meant the sharing was a success as Pinaka embedded a Sun Stone in it. He gave it to the Pinaka Clone and welded the office door shut once the latter walked inside. It would keep making clones to face the two officers. And the Pronto Staff clone would absorb the excess fire in case the two officers decided to burn the place down.

It was an endurance battle until the two officers tire out and die. Since all exits were blocked by a horde of Elves, they didn’t have a way out. While the two sides fought, the Pinaka Clones were busy sealing up every vent and window in the office. Suffocation was the best tactic against powerful officers.

The door to the office was welded shut. Now, nothing stood before Pinaka and the door leading into the vault. There was a Sun Stone embedded on the door, which Pinaka touched with his staff, “Pronto, my dear…”

The metal door opened after a small click as Pinaka entered inside, immediately roaring in laughter, “FINALLY!”

Authors Notes: Gangnea Daily Article 41: Fire can be created endlessly by a Level 2 Human. But to sustain it required oxygen. This was their limitation, unless a Human had the stats to touch a solar flare and not be incinerated by it. They would then be able to create the sun’s fire, a nuclear fusion between hydrogen and oxygen, which was self-sustaining and didn’t need oxygen.

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