[SYSTEM]

Obtained: [Branch of the World Tree]

“Branch of the World Tree?”

“…”

He held it in his right hand, examining it thoroughly.

It looked just like a typical tree branch, about 1.5 meters long. However, the color of the bark is unlike he’s ever seen before. It glows and sparkles, ever changing by the second like twinkling stars in the night sky. It was like the stars themselves where pasted into this long twig. No, not pasted, more like trapped inside it.

Looking at the branch felt like he was stargazing with a telescope, reminding him of the various colorful pictures of space taken by NASA.

He looked at it again on the interface and noticed the text color of its name.

“Why is it purple? Is this some sort of a rare item?”

“Err, let’s see. How do I put this in my inventory?”

Just as he says that, the branch he’s clinging on with his right hand fades away into nothingness, which made him panic for a couple of seconds.

However, his panicking was immediately stopped when he opened his inventory and sees it safely stored under the materials tab.

“Oh, ok good. Phew, that scared me a little. Still, materials huh? If I remember correctly, crafting is one of my active skills…”

As he thought of the skill, the gray interface suddenly changed to show him his all of his current skills.

[SYSTEM]

Passive Skills:

[Arcane Crafting 1]

[Charismatic 1]

[Human Ingenuity]

[HP Regeneration 1]

[Piercing Resistance 1]

[Stamina Regeneration 3]

[Stealth 1]

[Wood Crafting 1]

Active Skills:

[Craft]

[Subject]

*Yaaawn*

“Uh, I’m getting sleepy. I guess I’ll just check on it tomorrow.”

As he wiped off the yawn-induced tear in his left eye, he checked the bed once again for any remaining dust and proceeded to lie down on it.

♦ ♦ ♦

“Y-your Majesty!”

The man, who looks to be in his mid-40’s, hurriedly knelt down with one knee in front of the throne.

“I-I’m terribly sorry! Please, just give me one more week and I p-promise I’ll get it done!”

He uttered while stuttering, beads of sweat trickles down his head.

“…”

The crowned person sitting on the throne stares at him with eyes full of contempt.

He took a chalice from the small table next to him and poured a crimson-red fluid onto it from a bottle.

“I gave you two weeks and a thousand men, and you dared come to my sight fruitless?”

The king monotonously says as he drinks.

“B-but sire, the forest is home to dangerous beasts! Just earlier three of our men were eaten by some kind of giant plant! We’re treading on the nest of—”

“SILENCE!!”

He slammed his chalice on the small table, spilling some of the red wine on his hand.

“We need to get that as soon as possible! A storm is brewing that will shatter our realms if we’re caught unprepared! Do you think the dead cares if the forest is dangerous? Do you think those long-eared bastards would sit with us on a negotiation table and listen about how we’re not ready to fight them because we couldn’t enter the forest?”

The king says as he wipe off the wine with a cloth.

Deafening silence pierced the throne room. Everyone was cautious not to make a sound as to not put the attention onto them.

“One week…”

“H-huh?”

“This is your last chance, and I won’t hear any more of your excuses. LOOK AT ME!”

“Hiiiiiih!? Y-yes, I understand, your Majesty! I shall get it done within one week.”

“…And if you don’t?”

The kneeling man gulped as he looked up to his sovereign.

“I-I shall accept any punishment that you may give me, your Majesty…”

“The only punishment is fire.”

The king says with a cruel, contemptuous tone.

“Y-yes…”

♦ ♦ ♦

Dawn breaks and along with it comes the chirping of the birds.

“Uuuhh, shut up!”

The man weakly shouts as he hides behind the covers of the blanket.

Yet the birds didn’t stop.

Accepting his defeat to the forces of nature, the man sat up from the bed, his hair as messy as someone who had just woken up.

He looked at the coverless window, and outside is still the similar creek in the middle of a sea of trees.

His eyebrows furrowed.

“Oh shut up already!”

He shouts to the wilderness.

Perhaps the birds were startled by the sudden shout that the chirpings did indeed stop.

He touched his left shoulder and looked at it to see how the wound was going, only to find out that it has now completely healed! Not even a scar remains of it.

"Huh, I guess my HP regen did its thing while I was asleep."

*Grooowl*

“Ugh, time to find some berries again. Would be useful if there’s some kind of foraging skill that increases the number of fruits I find…”

He started to walk towards the door when he noticed a square white thing placed on top of the table.

It took him two glances to actually realize that it wasn’t there last night.

“Wait, what’s that?”

“…”

“Is that… paper? Hold on, did someone come here while I was asleep? Wait, is someone actually living here and I just barged into their home?”

All these questions immediately flooded inside his head.

“No, that can’t be. It was incredibly dusty and worn-down. Was I just seeing things back then because I was tired? Wait, so does that mean that I stole that item after all?”

“Crap. There’s no use thinking about it now. The die is cast; I’ll just have to improvise.”

He walked closer to the table while carefully examining the white paper.

Looking at it closely, it is just a typical, harmless paper folded in half. He could also faintly see that there are writings inside of it.

He slowly reached unto the paper with his right hand.

“Well, nothing’s happening so far.”

After confirming that nothing’s out of the ordinary, he immediately took the paper and unfolded it. What was written inside surprised him. Not because of what the writings said, but because of the writings itself.

He couldn’t understand them.

“What language is this?”

He thought that it may be some kind of code or something, so he started to flip the paper in different ways, looking for any vague resemblance of understandable message.

“I can’t understand it…”

“Greetings, adventurer.”

Suddenly, a soft voice of a woman was heard coming from behind him.

“! ! !”

The voice startled him and he immediately began to distance himself even before seeing the source of the voice.

“Please don’t be alarmed. I don’t mean to harm you.”

He turned around to see who the first person he’s ever met in this world is, and saw that it was indeed as the voice sounds like, a woman. She’s standing right outside doorway.

However, the woman seems… different.

For one, she doesn’t seem to be wearing any traditional clothes. Instead, her body is covered with foliage. Plants, vines, flowers and other greenery fashioned into something that resembles a robe or a dress.

Furthermore, her ears are extremely long, almost the length of his forearm, and that her hair is green as the leaves and plants covering her body.

Aside from that though, she’s more or less “normal”. Beautiful, even.

“W-who are you?”

The man asks.

The woman chuckles.

He would have found that little laugh cute in any other circumstance. Unfortunately, the situation prevents him from thinking that.

“I should be the one asking you that, no?”

The woman replies.

“So… what’s your name, stranger?”

“My name…? Come to think of it, what IS my name? Should I just use my previous name in my previous life?”

He racked his brain in contemplation.

“Wait, no. That person is dead. I’m a new person now, although I may resemble him, I’ve been reincarnated already.”

“I…”

He paused, not sure of what name he should give.

“This is the perfect opportunity to choose a name for myself that I really like. Let’s see… it should sound cool and awesome but not too over-the-top. It would just be ‘chuuni’ otherwise.”

“Uhm… hello?”

The woman just stands there, confused at what’s taking the man so long.

“You know I could tell if you’re lying or n—“

“Reinhard!”

It took him a while and an awkward silence before he realized what he just said.

“Craaaaaaaaaaaaaap! I accidentally said my in-game name from an MMORPG I’ve been playing.”

“…”

“This is bad, now I just have to hope that name is normal in this world or I would be a laughing-stock by everyone for having a weird name.”

“Uh, huh. Well, you’re not lying… at least.”

The woman replied in confusion.

“Ah, heh, heh, yeah… So uh, who are you?”

Reinhard asks while awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

“Oh, apologies. My name is Fraenis.”

She replies while doing a curtsy with her plant-dress.

“Erm, pleased to meet you then, Fraenis. So are you an elf?”

Reinhard is unsure if he just saw Fraenis’ eyebrows furrow upon asking that.

“The pleasure is all mine, sir Reinhard, and no, I am most. Certainly. Not. An. Elf.”

She said with a wry smile.

“I, along with others of my kind, am a dryad. We’ve been living in this forest since time immemorial. As a matter of fact, elves are the descendants of us dryads. I don’t know if you are aware, but elves have shorter ears than us, and their hair is glittering silver, as opposed to our lush green color. I trust that you would make the correct distinction the next time you see one of us.”

She added after calming down.

“Did I piss her off?”

*Ping!*

[SYSTEM]

Acquired: [Mockery 1] Passive Skill.

“What the hell is this!?”

“…”

“Okaaaay… So uh, so you live here?”

“Oh, no. No one’s lived here for a very, very long time. Or more like, no one can live here. At least that’s what we thought, until you slept in here last night.”

“Huuh? I don’t understand.”

“There’s no need to rush.” She said as the innocently cute smile returns on her face. “Please, come with me.”

“To where?”

“You’ll see.”

Reinhard followed Fraenis outside of the hut where she stopped walking after a few couple of steps.

“We’re here.”

She said as she turns around to face Reinhard.

“Uhm…”

Reinhard looks back to the hut and sees it about four to five meters away. They most certainly have not travelled far.

“So… what’s here?”

He asked as she faced her again.

“Tylla!”

Fraenis shouts seemingly towards nowhere, making Reinhard confused of what’s happening.

“Just a second!”

All of a sudden, a childish voice sounded from… somewhere. Reinhard doesn’t know where it came from, but it was loud enough to discern that it was somewhere near him.

And then, as if the space in front of him dissolves into nothingness, the trees, and all the other plants behind Fraenis appear to warp into something different. They were changing… The trees started to bore holes, some big, some small, and yellow light can be seen glowing from within those walls.

“Are those… houses?”

Petrified by the spectacular and mystical scene unfolding before his eyes, Reinhard did nothing but stand in his place, watching as a small area of the forest get transformed into what looks like a village carved inside various different trees, with dryad children running around and adults going about their daily lives.

“Welcome to Garden.”