"Before we enter the city and report our sides of the events," Thomas says as we exit the forest. "Max, Colton, Aaron, Cyrus, and Nicholas, there is something I want to show you."

If it was just for me, I'd be nervous about what he's planning and have a [Stone Knife] ready to cut things off. He included Colt and Colt's friends for this, though, and I know he has no intention of harming them. That makes me a little bit more relaxed.

I still move one of my invisible [Flashbang Bomb]s between us, though.

"Yesterday," Thomas says. "I told you boys about the World Tree and how it has roots spread throughout the world, flooding the world with Mana. There was more that I didn't tell you then, as it was better if we waited until we returned here. In some places, the roots of the World Tree can be seen above the ground. In others, they're buried deep below. And in some, they're only a little below the surface. Notice how we must go down a hill to reach the city?"

The city is in a valley, with the forest atop a bit of an incline to the north, the hills leading to our neighboring lands (the hills with the watchtowers) to the east, and the foothills of the mountains to the west. I'm not sure what's to the south beyond more kingdoms, but the area's always been called a valley. It's probably a really huge valley, to fit half a dozen kingdoms in it.

Thomas also led us out of the forest near where the eastern hills are.

"I've always wondered about that," Colt says. "The entire valley of the seven kingdoms is surrounded by hills, and it stretches almost a hundred miles in length and reaches fifty miles at its widest, down south."

"Come this way," Thomas says.

He leads us over to the eastern hills, and he actually takes us past the watch towers. I'd noticed before, but there aren't any slimes on the hills after about fifty feet up, and that continues once we're on top of them. There's not a single slime here.

The tops of the hills are a flat space only around fifty yards in width. The moment we're on them, I can see a vast wilderness to our east, though Thomas takes us all the way to the eastern edge of the top of the hill.

The wilderness is mostly hills, though I can see some forests to the north and a small one a little bit south in the distance. Trees and boulders are scattered about, some of which look ruined. There are a few spots that look like mud pits, a few spots with geysers, and monsters everywhere.

At the horizon, I can see a beast taller than life. Though it looks kind of small from here, it's on the horizon. That beast must be absolutely massive.

Thomas gathers our attention to him, then gestures with his hands for a few moments before raising them. As he does, a chunk of the ground thirty feet in diameter rises out of the hill. Thomas raises it up and up and up until it's fully-out of the ground, almost thirty feet thick, and he shifts it to the side.

"Send light down there," Thomas instructs, and Colt and I both send [Light Orb]s down. "What do you see, boys?"

"Is that a root?" Colt asks.

The father of all roots, too. Thomas pulled all of the ground off of that section of root, which takes up the entire space. It could be something else, but that definitely looks like a root. I can feel an immense amount of Mana flowing out of it, too.

"That it is," Thomas answers. "That is a root of the World Tree. This one is three hundred feet in width. And do you notice anything unusual?"

"Um," the other boys all try to think.

"Why is the land outside of it wilderness?" I ask. "Like, it looks even worse than the Great Northern Forest does, and that is on a hill, too. And the forest stops at the hill. Only its hill is one-sloped?"

The Great Northern Forest doesn't dip back down after entering it. Once we go up the incline, we're up. Its land is mostly level, though there are a few spots I've encountered where it goes up or down a little.

I always thought that the forest stopping at the top of the hill was weird, but this makes it seem even weirder. This hill goes back down soon after.

"Is it connected to the roots?" Nicholas and I ask at the same time.

"It is," Thomas lowers the excavated soil back into the ground. "The roots of the World Tree do more than just flood the air with Mana – they create barriers as well. This is only true in some areas, however. The valley with the seven kingdoms is surrounded by roots like this one we're standing above. Mana is more stable in the valley and monsters are less prone to suddenly appearing or mutating. They can move in and invade from other areas, however."

"Like the goblins," I say.

"Like the goblins," Thomas confirms.

"But the Great Northern Forest isn't like this," Colt gestures to the wilderness. "Those monsters… there are way more of them than we've encountered in all our hunts, and some of those are… they're terrifying-looking! And what is that in the distance?"

"A behemoth," Thomas answers. "If you ever travel into the wilderness, avoid them. They are massive, they are resilient, and they are powerful. The weakest behemoth known to us has over 2,000 Constitution. Trorolk, the behemoth you see in the distance there, is estimated to have around 3,000 Constitution. You can look up more information on him if you want once we return to the city, but Trorolk is a turtle-type behemoth, his shell made of a rare mineral that has magic crystals infused throughout. His body is supported by enhancement magics, the only way for it to be able to move. He mainly uses fire, lightning, and light magics, though he's known to use any element."

A beast with around 3,000 Constitution is just walking around mere miles from the valley. If I remember correctly, we can only see two or three miles away from here.

"And though you can only see around two miles to the horizon when on ground-level," Thomas says. "You can see around sixteen from here since the wilderness you see is lower than we are. That should tell you just how large Trorolk is."

We can see how far from here? We're only around a hundred and fifty feet up, the distance we can see increases that much?

Trorolk really is immense.

"I don't understand," I say. "If the roots only prevent them from forming or whatever, how come the ones from here don't just invade us? This land looks… terrible."

"It is terrible," Thomas nods. "These watchtowers? They're keeping an eye on the monsters and attack any that draw close. It helps deter things. If a particularly strong monster approaches or a horde approaches, they'll send up a signal and stronger hunters will come out to assist.

"For the most part, however," he continues. "It's not too much of an issue. The roots are not just a barrier that prevents their spawning, it also deters them away. Something strong would need to encourage them to cross it."

Like the Goblin Kings wanting to attack Kedridal.

"To answer Colton's other question," Thomas continues. "The roots provide varying levels of the reduction. The root that we're standing on provides a high level of protection. The root that separates the forest from the valley, however, only creates a weaker barrier, so monsters of certain grades can spawn and thrive in it. Further north is another root with the same effect as this one, and beyond that is a forest wilderness with this. A behemoth known to wander that forest had around 2,700 Constitution the last time it was estimated."

If I can kill a behemoth, then I can probably handle anything on my travels. I'll need to be a really high Level for that, though, and I don't think I'll wait that long to go off on my adventures seeking out wonders. At least I know to avoid the behemoths until I'm that powerful, though.

Well, if Thomas is being honest. I'll see if I can look it up to verify. But unless he plans on correcting misinformation he gave to those four when I'm not around, then he's being honest. While I'm not an expert, I do know that bodyguards and teachers aren't supposed to intentionally lie to the children of nobles, even if they plan on correcting said misinformation later.

"So if I'm understanding this correctly," Aaron says. "The roots create 'zones' that determine how powerful of monsters can appear in an area?"

"Correct," Thomas nods. "And the terrain of the zone has some influence on which monsters appear, but is also influenced by the roots. That's why the forest stops at the root line. The Great Wilderness before us is a zone with no influence. What that means is that the roots do not influence what monsters appear, nor do they influence the terrain that appears.

"Max," Thomas says. "When you are seeking out wonders, if you do continue with your plans to do so, you will need to learn to identify where possible safe zones are. We have maps of some areas, but once monsters reach a certain level of power, we turn back, so you'll be traveling blind then. Knowing how to identify when you're drawing near a safe zone will be important."

"Safe zones?" I ask.

"Yes," Thomas points off toward the horizon, a little north. "You might be able to make it out, can you see a cluster of rocks that looks like it has steam rising out of it?"

"Um…" I try to see what he's talking about, barely making it out. "Yeah."

"A little bit past that is a safe zone," he informs me. "Most of us who travel into the Great Wilderness use it."

"But if that's only about sixteen miles away-"

"Some things to know about traveling in the wilderness," Thomas tells me. "Do not fly unless it's an emergency. Have you learned it yet?"

"I've figured out how to but I haven't actually bothered to use it yet, so I don't have the spell."

"Okay," Thomas says. "The more you're carrying, the faster you're flying, the more Mana it will cost. Lydia was able to fly your group back that time because she has a sufficiently high Level in the spell, trained up for the explicit purpose of flying groups and loot.

"Even that won't help in the Great Wilderness," Thomas says. "In the Great Wilderness, even the air is infused with high concentrations of magic. Flight magic uses the air that's already there, which is more difficult to manipulate the more natural magic it has. It costs more Mana. Only a handful of people in the kingdom would make it to the safe zone before running out of Mana, and that's only seventeen miles from here."

When combined with their Mana Regen, that really means it's exhausting. It would also leave them rather low on Mana for combat, too. What if Trorolk decides to attack them while they're traveling?

Well, they would probably die in an instant, but if something else that's powerful attacked?

Wait!

"What?" Colt asks me.

"What?" I ask.

"You looked like you realized something."

"Yeah," I look at Thomas. "That's why it's such a big deal there was a Crystal Beast there, ain't it? Because the forest can't normally have that, can it? The zone is wrong for it."

"Correct," Thomas answers. "A Crystal Beast cannot naturally appear there, it has to move in. Benjamin investigated, but was unable to figure out where it came from or how it got there. There should have been a trail if it had traveled, but there wasn't. Benjamin said he's going to investigate more over the next week to see if he can figure it out."

I look out across the wilderness, my gaze settling on the small figure of Trorolk in the distance. That behemoth no doubt has enough resources on and within its body to be worth more than all of Kedridal. The issue would be transporting said resources back here, but killing that would make me the wealthiest person in the seven kingdoms.

There's no doubt in my mind about that.

"Why don't the Goblin Kings just destroy the roots?" Cyrus asks in a rare bit of speaking. "The ones separating the valley from the forest? Couldn't they do that so that monsters start appearing here and traveling here? If they attacked quickly, we wouldn't be able to counter them."

"It's not possible," I say.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"Just a feeling," I say. "But the roots are indestructible, ain't they?"

"They are," Thomas nods. "There have been reports of dragon's breath doing nothing to a root of the World Tree. The World Tree is a force beyond our comprehension, and it is said that the being who created it designed it so that even the gods themselves could not damage it. Rumor has it that even the leaves of the World Tree cannot be damaged."

Though that might be just a rumor, I have a feeling it's true. Now that I've heard more stories of the World Tree, I want to see it, too. At least, see if it's real.

"If there are no further questions," Thomas says. "Let us return to the city now. Answering questions about what happened earlier will take some time."

"I's better off grindin' for Levels in the Great Wilderness than in the Great Northern Forest, ain't I?"