“What’s a lich?”

“Reanimated skeleton with its intelligence intact.”

“Oh, then I suppose I’m a lich.”

“Didn’t guess that you were a Necromancer.”

“What’s Necromancer?”

“Really dude?”

“Really.”

“Well, Necromancer is a person who practices necromancy. And Necromancy is a practice of magic involving communication with the deceased – either by summoning their spirit as an apparition or raising them bodily – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge, to bring someone back from the dead, or to use the deceased as a weapon.”

“Oh, then I’m not a Necromancer. I simply transferred my soul into a special container I made out of mana crystal and left it in my skeleton.”

“So, how come you weren’t awake when I come in here first?”

“I was dead until you used my martial art with my bracelets. That worked as trigger for my soul to awaken.”

“Why?”

“I lived here all alone for more than two decades. I wasn’t about to prolong that isolation by reanimating myself. So, I simply put trigger on my soul and that trigger was you performing one of my technique.”

“Hmm, that’s reasonable.”

“So, what’s your name?”

“Don’t you know that you’re supposed to give your name first before asking for someone else’s?”

“Oh, sorry about that. My name is Arcturus.”

“That’s more like it. My name is Alder. Nine years old.”

“Wow, you’re quite big for a nine years old boy.”

“I will take that as a compliment. So, how did you end up here?”

“I was running from some people who wanted me dead and got cornered near The Forest. It either go into The Forest or death. So, I chose The Forest. And my pursuers stopped chasing me thinking I will die anyway in The Forest. After running for almost a month I somehow managed to make it into the inner regions of The Forest and survived. But on the way out I encountered something terrifying and almost died. Tried to find a way to get out but still encountered something as terrifying as the first one or something even more terrifying. Thus, got no other choice but to live my life out here alone.”

“Ooh, can’t see how that can be pleasant.”

“Oh, it was terrible. Why do you think I actually died? I was rank AA wizard when I was alive. I could have broken-through to rank S too. And if I was lucky enough, break the barrier beyond that. But after living here for more than two decades took everything I got. I was on verge of insanity. So, I came up with bold idea. I created a vessel capable of containing my soul from mana crystal and installed that in my body. Then transferred my soul into it with trigger condition to awake me when it was met.”

“Well, I’ve never been through something like that. So, I really can’t comfort you.”

“Oh no, no worries. Your presence here alone comforts me tremendously. Honestly, I wasn’t really hoping for anything when I planted trigger on my soul vessel. I would honestly call it ‘desperate man’s last struggle’.”

“Okay. Good for you.”

“Yes, good for me. So, you managed to pass my dice game and acquire my bracelets and book, huh? How about that. And you said you were only nine. You must be remarkable young man. Especially fact that you’re here in the inner region of The Forest.”

“Well, your dice game was interesting and these bracelets and your original martial art is fascinating. As for making it to the inner region, even I’m not sure about how I made it here.”

“You are right about my magnum opuses. Those bracelets are made out of mana crystals and my martial art is created from my long observation of mana crystals.”

“According to you, these mana crystals seem to be extremely versatile in its conduction capacity.”

“Oh absolutely, these mana crystals are most versatile material I’ve ever seen in my life. They can be used to contain any form of energy after being emptied. Pure energy, mana, qi or any kind of unique energy there is in this world. And how my martial art and bracelets can be fueled by any kind of energy is testament to that.”

“Interesting. So, what about your dice game. Did you make all of it and programmed it like you programmed trigger in your soul container?”

“What does programmed mean?”

“Programming is the process of writing instructions that get executed by anything. The instructions, also known as code, are written in a programming language which the can be understood and used to perform a task or solve a problem.”

“Hmm, that is interesting concept. Well I did program their behavior like you said, but I didn’t make them. I simply used illusion formation to make them appear.”

“No way, they all felt way too realistic to be an illusion. If it was an illusion, believe me I would know.”

“First, it was illusion formation. Second, it wasn’t entirely illusion.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

“It means, it was real. Usually formation I used uses pure energy around it to maintain itself. And all it can do with pure energy is to make an illusion. But since this particular formation was carved on a mana crystal and uses mana to maintain itself it actually can give its illusions a physical form. Thus, it isn’t entirely illusion.”

“So, it was simply matter of fuel, huh?”

“Yes, it is.”

“So, now that you are awake, what are you going to do?”

“Not sure yet. Now that I no longer possess a flesh body, all that disturbing problems are gone. I can feel that I’m finally me again. Now I think I can endure century of isolation, doing my research.”

Alder: “Hey tree, are you there?”

Tree: “I’m here”

Alder: “Good, you never talked to him before?”

Tree: “How can I. Can’t hear me.”

Arcturus: “Mm, excuse me. Who are you talking to.”

I turn around and see Arcturus looking at me strangely. Well, I can’t really blame him. I would look at somebody who is talking to himself like that too.

Alder: “I’m talking to a World Tree who has been observing you for almost two decades you lived here for.”

Arcturus: “What? Are you okay boy? You know humans can’t talk to a tree, right? And even if you can there isn’t a tree nearby to talk to.”

Alder: “I am fine. Thank you very much. Yes, you can talk to certain trees I you have affinity with nature. And this particular tree’s roots extend to almost everywhere around here.”

Tree: “There is no point in explaining it to him. He can’t believe to unless he can hear me talk to him.”

Alder: “So, how can he hear you then?”

Tree: “Just like you. Increase his affinity with nature.”

Alder: “How can he do that then?”

Arcturus is still looking at me strangely while I converse with the tree.

Tree: “Usually there was only one way of doing that. Like I said before how you were raised, where you were raised and what kind of person you are can determine what kind of ability you have. And some people who live in forest for a long time can gain affinity with nature or some are just born with affinity with nature. As for this guy I highly doubt he can do that. At least that was what I believed before you. But after you ate my seed and got my seedling in your Soul Palace you got nature affinity. So, that got me theorizing some ideas. And I think I can try one of them with him.”

Alder: “Well that tree wants to try something with you so that you can hear him. Are you okay with it?”

Arcturus: “What? Well, if it can do that I wouldn’t mind. I’m already dead anyway.”

Alder: “Go ahead.”

Just as I say that I hear a cracking sound coming from the ceiling and see a branch coming out breaking the crystal ceiling coming down. As Arcturus witness this scene I saw something I never thought I witness. I saw surprised expression on skeleton’s face.

After coming down, the branch touches Arcturus’ forehead and I feel something familiar being infused with Arcturus’ very essence. It lasts for almost five minutes before finishing.

Tree: “Can you hear me old friend?”

Arcturus: “What the hell. Who was that?”