I was still on the ground maintaining my spell. My entire body was drenched in sweat. I was near mana exhaustion. The core from the rune was already gone even before the duration it normally lasts. It lasted only a dag and a few hours.

It was exactly two days and 369 spells later.

“What the...”

Skyrith, that demon hag that made me go through all that, came back.

She looked at me with a shocked expression.

“You really held on for two days?”

The last spell which was a fireball finally disappeared after I broke the magic circle.

I took a long and deep breath.

Her words were as follows:

–If you can hold out until I get back then I will skip the process of refining mana and head straight to the last step. Which is quite difficult.

She didn’t mention what I had to do. But that’s better than having to refine my mana core all over again.

It literally took me 14 years just to ascend to the level of 5th grade mana. I was close to 6th grade before all this chaos happened.

“Hmm... your spirit vessel is as I said. Huge. Even as I speak, multiple spirits are entering your core to fill it up.”

Can elves naturally see the spirits? I have to concentrate really hard to see them.

“Can we skip to the last part now? I did what you said, after all.”

“Before that, rest first. You’ll need all the rest you can get for the next step.”

I sighed.

I was indeed tired. Physically and mentally.

I looked up at the skies.

“What are those strange things flying around the World Tree?”

I asked Skyrith and narrowed my eyes as I looked at them.

“Oh, those? They are the troublesome fairies that steal the fruit from our World Tree. They have no respect for our God’s seed. Damn insects.”

‘Fairies huh...’

“But if you hate them so much, why are these little guys here?”

I pointed to the little fairies chasing the bugs. They had been annoying me the entire night.

“It’s not that we hate them. They are simple creatures that only know how to survive. They are unaware of the harm they do to our forests.”

“What harm?”

“They unknowingly suck the mana from our grounds and cause trees to lose their energy and natural form. Since they are crafted by nature, they constantly need energy to sustain themselves. They are also drawn to the delicious taste of the World Tree fruit. We only serve those for our most important guests and yet they pluck them every day.”

Skyrith and I walked down the flight of stairs towards the palace.

“Why don’t you just kill them?”

“Goodness no. Our dryad queen would be sad.”

“Dryad queen?”

“She’s related to that task I mentioned. We’ll need to hear from Zefra what the task will be. The Dryad of the world tree only communicates with the elven royalty after all.” Skyrith held my shoulder and whispered, “ I’ll tell you a secret about our Dryad queen.”

“Yes?”

Her expression turned serious.

“She can unlock someone’s hidden potential using ancient spirit magic.”

“Huh?”

“Do what you will with that information.”

Skyrith patted my shoulder before walking away again.

The Dryad can unlock someone’s potential?

◇◇◇

The next morning.

“How is training coming along?”

Zefra asked with a smile.

We came to the bottom of the World Tree. The tree was at least 1km wide. I could even see its giant roots. Only Skyrith and Zefra accompanied me.

“We barely did anything useful.”

I pouted. All she made me do was sit in the same spot and hold my spells.

“This little brat. How can you say we did nothing!? Didn’t your core recover at least a little bit!?”

“I can barely use the mana from the spirits. It looks like this old elf that has lived for hundreds of years is losing her mind.”

Skyrith threw me with a book against my head.

“Ouch! You old hag!”

“...What did you say...?”

Mana burst out of her body as a magic circle manifested in her hand.

“I-I’m sure there’s a meaning to what she taught you.”

Zefra smiled wryly and tried to calm her down.

“Humph! What can an arrogant brat like him know anyway. What good is having a brain if you don’t use it.”

Skyrith harrumphed and walked ahead of us.

“Tch.”

I’ve barely known her for a week and yet I already find her hard to deal with.

“Regarding your task for our dryad...” Zefra spoke to me, “We need you to get rid of a few undead.”

“Undead?”

“The thing is... Well, we are natural enemies. Undead being the evil brought forth by forbidden magic, they have no desire for the three needs of life. They also live longer than us which could eventually be a threat to us if we don’t stop their numbers from increasing.”

“Our dryad queen told Zefra that there’s an undead army moving towards our world tree from the south. The world tree can provide infinite mana to them which is a bad thing since the litch can infinitely power his forces.”

So the undead army is the task assigned to me, huh.

“But how will I fight them without my core?”

Zefra and Skyrith smiled as I looked at both of them.

“That’s what our Dryad queen, Xantha will help you with.”

We stood in front of a large door.

The door opened revealing a vast garden inside a tree.

‘How is this even possible?’

There were a variety of flowers I haven’t seen before.

The flowers were especially abundant in one certain area.

It was a wooden bed with leaves as its bedding.

And on it?

A beautiful woman with large breasts. Her breasts were even larger than her own head.

–Ah, my children. You’ve come.

She had long green hair similar to vines and a robe made with flowers. Her face was the same as any other human. It’s only by looking at her ears that I could judge that she’s not a human.

Her ears were similar to Zefra and Miya’s ears. Her skin was far paler than that of elves.

““Queen Xantha.””

Even the queen of Elca Kingdom, Zefra kneeled. Skyrith followed suit.

–Hmm~ My little girl, Zefra. You are still so young and full of life. But you should smile more.

“T-Thank you. I will remember it...”

–Skyrith. I hope you are taking your medication. Remember that old age can be a threat to any race. Even if they live long.

“Yes.”

When the woman turned to me, she smiled.

–You must be the one who harbours the will of our King.

“Ah, nice to meet you... um... queen Xantha.”

–Yes.

She walked towards me making her boobs bounce with every step.

She held my face with her hands and spoke. Her eyes glowed with a green light.

–Ah. You do have the will of our king. I can see it in your soul. It’s so clear and filled with purified life force. This might be the purest I’ve ever seen inside any being.

Her breathing sounded hoarse and quick. A red flush appeared on her pale skin as her lips parted. Her green eyes were dazed and unfocused.

I could smell the flowers between her valley of milk.

“Ahem.”

Zefra coughed.

“We are here for the task, my queen.”

–Ah! Yes!

She hurriedly released me.

“...?”

–Ahem. Skyrith must’ve mentioned the task I assigned to you in order for your wish to be fulfilled. I sense that your core was destroyed by an external force. Was it someone else’s doing?

My face scrunched up in anger when I thought about the cause of all this.

Zelda Minerva.

If not for her then I would’ve been at home teaching magic to my sister. That was something I swore to myself since I haven’t bonded with them so much. My mother said that Chloe has the potential to be a mage. As for Jessica, she has a high IQ for a seven year old and also loves to read. She might become a politician or businesswoman one day.

–Ah, I see. I touched a sore spot. I deeply apologize.

“N-No. It’s fine.”

I stopped Xantha when she was about to bow.

It doesn’t feel right to have a queen ranked dryad like her bow to lowly me.

–Do not worry. If you can do what we ask of you then your wish will be granted. It might not be the same as before but your cores will indeed be fixed. I crafted this one especially so your two cores can work separately.

I sighed in relief.

I was worried whether I would be able to fix my core when I arrived at the elven kingdom. Why haven’t they shared this with the humans yet? I guess they don’t have such fondness of my race.

Xantha took my hand and guided me to a pond. Zefra and Skyrith were a few steps behind.

–Look there.

Xantha swirled her finger in the clear water and then an image appeared.

No. It was more like a video.

–That is what we must get rid of.

My eyes widened.

Hundreds upon hundreds of undead were lined up and headed straight for the World Tree.

An undead litch who was larger than the others was in the front. He was riding a large skeletal horse.

The robe he wore was exquisite and had a very expensive design. A pitch black sorcerer staff was floating next to his horse.

–That is the Litch King. He is a powerful magic caster that has lived ever since this kingdom was built.

The video disappeared.

–We don’t know much about him other than that. He has come time and time again to our World Tree. Laura and Eredhel are too busy to handle him this time. Our royal army is also focusing on defence at our forests.

“Huh? Then how come I’m given such a task like wiping out an entire army?”

Xantha smiled.

–Why? It is because you are the vessel for our king. The true ruler of all elements. You have the power to fight against evil.

“No, no. I can’t understand.”

“I’ll explain, Your Majesty.” Skyrith stepped up, “What she means is that you have the potential to use ancient spirit magic. No one besides our dryads can use it. The dryad queen is the last one of their kind since the others died out long ago.”

Xantha nodded with a sad expression.

“She cannot leave the World Tree otherwise her body will be damaged from the lack of mana in the atmosphere.”

–Dryads are bound to the World Tree. We are a part of it.

“That is why only you can use ancient spirit magic.”

She pointed to Zefra’s chest. There was a necklace between her bosom.

“The Spirit Eye can see all. Even the potential of a mortal creature.”

I looked at the rusty necklace in the shape of an eye.

“Our Dryad queen can use all attributes that exist in this world but she cannot leave this place. The only option is to give a piece of her own life force to you. That will allow you to receive a temporary power up. That will be the seed to fixing your cores. After the seed has been planted and you come back then the real process of restoring your core will commence.”

–It will be an honour to sacrifice my life force energy to strengthen the son of our king. Once you fulfil the task we ask you to do then I will gladly heal your injuries.

Xantha knelt and placed her hand over her chest.

“Clyde. No one in this world knows other than our race. They are forbidden to speak of the powers Dryads have. Nothing would stop the Magic Empire from tearing apart the World Tree and discovering the secrets our race hold...”