Chapter 168: Four Great Ancient Trees

The Star: "If that is the case, then it is indeed due to the excessively high mana concentration. After all, the most important aspect of a constant temperature enchantment is using the mana flow on the clothing to maintain the temperature."

The High Priestess: "Then there is no need to overthink it. Barring any surprises, these occurrences should be directly related to the mana concentration."

The Pope: "Regardless of the reason, as long as everyone is safe, it is fine. However, this topic is quite fascinating."

The Magician: "Indeed. This has actually given me some inspiration. If we could create a zone around our bodies with an elevated mana concentration, wouldn't that mean we could move freely during extreme natural phenomena like a Mana Tide or Mana Turbulence?"

Wheel of Fortune: "It doesn't even need to be a large area. I think covering the body with a thin film or a layer of high-concentration mana, much like clothing, should do the trick."

The Magician: "That makes sense."

The Sun: "I will go test it."

The High Priestess: "I will go try it as well."

Once they found a new train of thought and inspiration, no one cared about how the topic had originally started. The research-minded members of the group all logged off the moment they announced their departures.

This left only The Empress, Justice, The Pope, and The Emperor—those who had little to do with mana research—to continue chatting in the group.

Although Lan Qingyou knew exactly how these people operated, being abruptly left behind still rendered her somewhat speechless.

Forget it, she thought. Just as Pope Nemo had said, as long as she wasn't negatively affected, everything was fine.

With that in mind, Lan Qingyou continued flying toward the stone house.

Whoosh! Crash!

Just as Lan Qingyou arrived at the bottom of the stone-paved ramp, four massive objects suddenly plummeted from the sky, crashing straight into the four corners of the stone house.

One of them slammed into the ground right in front of Lan Qingyou, kicking up a cloud of dust that nearly swallowed her whole.

'Crystal pillars?'

Lan Qingyou abruptly pulled back to put some distance between them while observing the objects. She hadn't expected the crystals from the cavern roof to fall down.

No, they hadn't merely fallen.

'Was this done to prevent me from entering the stone house?'

Lan Qingyou narrowed her eyes as she looked at the four massive crystal pillars of varying colors scattered near and far.

But as she continued to watch them, she realized something was wrong.

It seemed like there was something inside those four crystal pillars.

Lan Qingyou squinted so hard her eyes were practically mere slits, yet due to the glare and the jagged angles of the crystals, she simply couldn't make out what was trapped inside.

However, she didn't need to try and see clearly anymore.

Crack... Crack...

Just as Lan Qingyou was filled with doubt, the crystal in front of her began to fracture.

Startled, Lan Qingyou immediately steered her Magic Broom and flew backward by over a hundred meters, putting a safe distance between herself and the crystals.

The cracks on the crystal spread from a tiny initial fracture into a dense spiderweb in a mere two or three seconds.

As the crystal violently shattered, Lan Qingyou finally got a clear look at exactly what was inside.

It was a colossal tree, towering nearly a hundred meters tall.

The War Treants she had fought before were like toddlers in comparison; there was simply no way to measure them against this entity.

[Ancient Tree of War (?)]

[Health Points: ????]

[Mana Points: ????]

[Skills: (????) (???) (??) (????) (???)]

[Description: ???]

'Good heavens! Ancient trees after the treants?'

'Does this count as beating up the young only to provoke the old?'

'And what in the world is going on with this guy's Health Points and Mana Points?'

'Judging from past experiences and my own status, do four question marks represent a four-digit number? A base stat in the triple digits?'

'And it has so many skills too.'

Based on Lan Qingyou's encounters and the information she had gathered from various sources, the vast majority of monsters only had two skills, without exception.

This fact was perfectly verified by Little Spoon. After all, even an A-rank monster like Little Spoon only possessed two skills.

'Does that mean this Ancient Tree of War is even higher-tiered than an A-rank like Little Spoon?'

'S-rank? SS-rank, SSS-rank? Or maybe SSR-rank?'

Of course, the latter three were just nonsense grades she made up based on video games. With her current level of knowledge, the maximum rank was likely just S-rank.

After all, she had seen one before.

'This Ancient Tree of War couldn't possibly be a World-Class entity, could it?'

At that thought, Lan Qingyou turned her gaze toward the other three zones where massive trees were slowly advancing toward her.

[Ancient Tree of Knowledge (?)]

[Ancient Tree of Life (?)]

[Ancient Tree of Wind (?)]

'Great. It feels like a whole family has come out neatly together just to thrash me.'

Seeing the names of these ancient trees, Lan Qingyou secretly clicked her tongue.

But before she could prepare her next move, the closest Ancient Tree of War launched an attack.

Swish!

The sharp sound of something slicing through the air rushed at her face. Lan Qingyou's expression changed instantly as she pulled up her Magic Broom, narrowly dodging the Ancient Tree of War's strike.

Boom!

The branch of the Ancient Tree of War smashed into the ground, directly shattering a deep gouge into the stone floor. Hovering in the air, Lan Qingyou's mouth twitched at the sight.

'Good thing I reacted quickly. Otherwise, if that hit me, I'd be splattered in scattered pieces.'

Whoosh!

Just as Lan Qingyou breathed a sigh of relief, tiny green shoots unexpectedly sprouted right out of her Magic Broom!

The moment these tender shoots emerged, they grew instantly, behaving like sprawling Vines trying to bind Lan Qingyou tightly.

Seeing this, Lan Qingyou had no time to be shocked. She shifted into third gear while simultaneously severing her mana connection with the Magic Broom, leaping up to hover in the air on her own.

Still reeling from the shock, she turned her head and found the Ancient Tree of Knowledge pointing a short, thick branch directly at her. Hovering at the tip of the branch was something she had never seen before—a complex construct made of various interlocking circles, triangles, and star shapes that strongly resembled an Alchemy Array.

"A magic circle!?"

Lan Qingyou's heart skipped a beat when she saw the glowing formation.

The only reason she recognized the structure was because it had been mentioned in Albert's alchemy journal.

An Alchemy Array was a type of magic circle, and it was the one most frequently utilized by any Alchemist.

However, this was her first time witnessing such a tangible "physical" manifestation of one in the wild.

Compared to a standard Alchemy Array, a true magic circle was far more intricate.

But now was not the time to marvel at such things.

Having lost her Magic Broom, Lan Qingyou was now effectively stripped of her primary propulsion. She could only hang suspended in the air, watching as the four ancient trees slowly converged below her.

When fighting the War Treants earlier, she had needed them to gather together because it made them easier to eliminate in one fell swoop.

But for some inexplicable reason, Lan Qingyou had a sinking feeling in her heart: 'I absolutely cannot let these four ancient trees gather together, or else I will definitely die.'

This was likely her sixth sense acting up.

Though she couldn't articulate exactly why, since her intuition was screaming at her, she had to prevent their convergence at all costs.

At this thought, Lan Qingyou no longer cared about her lack of propulsion.

She pulled her Card out of her satchel, quickly snapped a photo, and then hurled a massive bomb straight at the ramp where the Ancient Tree of War stood.

In reality, keeping these ancient trees apart was quite simple.

All she needed to do was set the ramp ablaze, and it would effectively isolate the Ancient Tree of War from the others.

Boom!

Just as she had calculated, as the massive bomb detonated, the intense shockwave blasted straight outward, sending the airborne Lan Qingyou flying backward.