“Hah!” I jerked awake from my sleep and looked around. I was still in the tree hollow and the sky now was turning dark with a red-orange tint.

“Ughh…” As I got up, a few joints popped. “How long was I out?”

Heaving a sigh, I went to the entrance of the tree hollow and saw that the sun was just above the horizon.

“Probably about five hours at least,” I muttered.

But who cares how long I passed out?

Not me!

Not when I have actually acquired it!

Extending out my arm, I focused the mana in my surrounding to gather around my palm, then once the feeling is right, I conjured a ball that fitted perfectly into my palm.

“Hmm? It changed colors…” When I first used , the constructs I conjured were red in color, but now it’s orange.

What’s more, it barely has that crackle.

It’s something that I just now realized after I cooled my head.

“It must be an aftereffect of me completely acquiring it.”

Well, it was the original color of it anyway in the novel, so it’s another proof that I had successfully acquired it.

With the ball in my hand, I played with it as I tossed it around, sometimes throwing it to the wall as hard as I can and even stomping on it to test its durability.

Surprisingly, it was highly durable for its size.

After a while, I got bored and dispersed the construct.

“I should get going now.” I went to grab the harness, which had somehow changed positions, but it was now torn apart.

My kitsune mask, though, was fine, as expected of the dwarf race.

I looked at my wristband, hoping that it somehow was still functional, but it was no longer around my wrist; in fact, it was no longer in the room.

“Shit…” Climbing up was far easier than climbing down, much less without a harness. So without the wristband, I wouldn’t be able to call for support.

Fortunately, my wallet and phone were still safe, though my clothes were tattered and had a few burns.

With my phone in my hand, I called out, “MERLIN.”

[Ye… s…re..?]

Sigh, great, barely any signal here. It’s not that the signal doesn’t reach here, after all, it’s only at least 500 meters away, but it should be because of the World Tree interfering with the signal.

It’s also the reason why they have a special wristband for calling for help when climbing.

I could intercept the signal that is used by the wristbands, but it’s not possible with simply my phone.

Note to self: improve the servers of MERLIN to be more accessible, even in secluded areas like this.

“Sigh, guess I would be using sooner than I expected.” With that said, I cast , creating orange sparks, then transformed it into ropes with spearheads on the end.

Planting them on the ground, I made sure that they were firmly attached.

Then, I grabbed my mask and wore it before slowly walking down on the surface of the trunk.

*****

***

*

About 20 minutes should have passed by now, and I’m close to the 4th checkpoint since I took my sweet time climbing down. After all, there was no need to rush.

Luckily, I could easily extend the rope as I go down with relative ease.

After a few more minutes, I reached the 4th checkpoint platform.

I dematerialize the rope, causing it to dissolve into countless particles in the sky, then I lay down to rest.

The sun had long set, so the cities were lit up, illuminating the night sky.

“It’s beautiful…” There was no light pollution, so the sky was clearly crowded with countless stars, and there was a distinct river of stars which should be the galaxy Vanteer resides in.

And the beautiful moon of Vanteer in the night sky was roughly the same size as the moon on Earth, but it shined more brightly.

With the faint rustling of leaves and the cool breeze brushing against my skin, it was like I didn’t have to worry about anything; it felt peaceful...

“Maybe I should just live here?” I thoughtlessly said. “It would be nice…”

After relishing the sight for a few minutes, I shook my head, “Yeah, right. If only things would be that easy...”

With the way I have written my novel, there’ll be no time to rest.

Besides, there are still countless things I should do before I can actually take a break. But my first priority should be getting the All-stone, otherwise, it will all be for nothing.

I stretch my back and as I was preparing to continue climbing back down, an ear-piercing screech came from the distance.

—Screeeeeeech!

It was so loud that I had to cover my ears. After the noise stop, just when I thought it was over, I suddenly lost balance as pain assaulted my head.

"Aargh!” I quickly grab hold of the railing before I could fall and stabilized myself.

I looked around for the source of the sound, but I saw nothing even with the lights that illuminated the night sky.

No… there was something…

There was something in the sky that distorted the area behind it as it moved around.

Focusing on it, it vaguely resembles some type of bird.

With its hooked beak, fan-like tail, and long and wide wings, it’s probably an eagle of some kind.

I say somehow since it’s too fast for me to analyze properly.

Besides, even if it is an eagle, it shouldn’t be distorting the space behind it as it moved, nor should it have made me dizzy.

“Hmmm.” I looked back in my memory if I have written a creature similar to this, but there was none even remotely close to this.

“Sigh, this means that it’s another detail added to fill in the world.”

I took out my phone again to ask MERLIN what kind of creature is it, but there was still barely any signal up here.

—Screeeeeech!

Another ear-piercing screech resounded, making me lose balance once again.

“Damn it!” I cursed as I held on to the railings.

I looked up once again, just in time to see that the unknown bird had split up into countless small little birds.

“Oh… shit!” I quickly regained my footing and conjured rope and firmly impaled it on the trunk, because the small birds were quickly coming towards me!

In order to get down faster, instead of doing things slowly, I decided to risk things and just jump my way down.

*****

***

*

With me jumping down, it only took me less than two minutes to be at almost ground level; about 190 meters left.

It seems that those little birds had long left since they didn’t do anything after they had charged toward me.

As I jumped, the rope suddenly jerked, making me lose control and pummel into the trunk.

“Oof! What the hell?” I looked up, only to see that the area around the rope was distorted as it slowly got eaten away.

“Seriously?! But it’s made of mana! Unless…” Unless it’s the kind of creature that replenishes itself using mana, which would make sense for it to be here.

Before I could stick to the surface of the trunk, the rope snapped.

—Snap!

“Shit!” I was plummeting to the ground.

With my body facing toward the ground, I extended out my arms and tried to conjure a soft landing pad on the ground.

Orange sparks came from the ground, but it was still hard for me to conjure something way out of my reach, so they immediately dispersed.

“Damn it!” So instead, I conjured a huge cushion on my arms and hope that it was enough to break the impact.

“Ugh!” In a transverse lie position, I came crashing to the ground with the cushion barely breaking my fall.

“My back… no, everything hurts like hell…”

Everything in my body was sore and had suffered a few broken bones.

I shakily got up, but as I stretched my back, pain immediately assaulted me.

“Ouch… haa…damn it…”

It really hurts like hell…

It’s like being pricked by countless needles, even if I slightly move a single muscle.

…Well, it’s better than being dead, I guess.

With shaky footsteps and a hand behind my lower back, like an old man, I walked back to my room.

*****

***

*

Three days have passed since the unfortunate incident, and, surprisingly, I am more or less alright.

As a matter of fact, after I had gone into my room, I immediately dropped to my bed and slept for over 24 hours, and after I had woken up, I still felt sour, but it was manageable.

So, for the past hours, I simply focused on healing myself while increasing my proficiency in , which must be the reason why I healed so quickly. After all, mana is also called life energy.

Anyway, with me accomplishing what I was here for, it was time for me to head back.