Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 224: When the time comes, will the memory be resolved?
Trees have been growing since long ago, and their stubborn and unyielding postures can be seen in deep and lush forests, in winding and hidden canyons, beside clear and quiet lakes, on steep and rugged cliffs... Today, another tree has reached the moment of growth.

After absorbing all the memories and emotions of an old man over a long period of time, the Holy Dagger - Grass and Tree Scourge released a bright red light. Those strands of light seemed to have boiled and burned in people's blood vessels, stirring up the surging vitality. At this time, they gathered together, intertwined and entangled, and gradually formed the shape of a seed. The seed slowly floated in front of Ovira. When the princess raised her head, she saw its appearance, with mottled tears in the corners of her eyes.

Slowly reaching out her hand to catch the seed, feeling the warmth it exuded as it rested in her palm, Olvera's eyes were blank and sad, as if she had realized that this was the last thing her teacher had left for her. Her companions in the void looked at her worriedly, fearing that she would be devastated by Mrs. Tree's self-sacrifice and lose the courage to move forward.

But such worries seemed unnecessary, because soon, Avella regained consciousness from her unconsciousness. She raised her hand and rubbed her eyes vigorously, wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and her eyes became firm again.

"thank you teacher."

She spoke softly to the seed in her palm, as if that person could still hear her words, thanking her for her care and concern, and thanking her for always appearing to help when she needed it most.

If in the past, when Princess Beman was tortured by the curse and was almost in despair, no teacher had stood up and told everyone in an unquestionable tone that it was a disease, not a curse, perhaps her dark childhood would not have received any brief but warm comfort; if now, when Olvera, who has lost all her companions, is about to face those vicious and powerful enemies again, no teacher has suddenly appeared and brought her this dagger and this seed, then her resistance would only be a desperate struggle, futile.

The princess had thought that she had become accustomed to loneliness over the long years, but only now did she realize that she had never been truly alone.

She gently loosened her grip, letting the blood-red seed fall from her palm and onto the cold stone floor. In that instant, it melted and disappeared like a snowflake falling into the depths of the bright sunshine. But Olvera knew that it had not disappeared, but was just waiting for the moment to sprout.

Thump—thump—

At the same time, the tree roots absorbed the majestic life force and nurtured a huge root network, penetrating deep into the bottom of the castle. They either climbed the wall and floor, moving like snakes, easily lifted the covering bricks, and plowed horrible scars in the hard and solid mud and stone layer; or slapped all obstacles in front of them rudely and unreasonably. The castle that stood for a thousand years without collapsing was like a model built by a child with mud in front of these roots, so fragile that it could not withstand a single blow, and was easily pierced by the sharp roots with thousands of shocking holes.

Is that the sound of a heartbeat? Perhaps it is the sound of a seed absorbing nutrients and hitting its shell. It does not absorb nutrients from the soil and sunlight, but absorbs the memory and emotions of life to grow. Therefore, it has the same beat as Ovilla's heartbeat. Every pulsation and relaxation will stimulate pure and majestic vitality, which gradually spreads in the corridor.

The castle is the main body of the tree, with a solid and steep trunk like a mountain. The thick branches crisscross like thousands of giant pythons, extending to the endless sky. Even if the way forward is blocked by the ceiling made of obsidian, it has no intention of stopping. Instead, it supports itself more firmly, relying on the unstoppable power inherent in life to break through those solid mud and stone structures, and after breaking open the ceiling, it continues to break open the encircling walls, towering towers and closed spires, smashing every hard brick and tile into fragments all over the sky, and reaching out to the gloomy sky covering the castle, just like a giant on the ground stretching out thousands of huge arms to forcefully tear apart those heavy and accumulated dark clouds.

Countless emerald green leaves grew along the direction of the branches. Each leaf was as big as a tower, but seemed to be light and weightless. When blown by the strong wind from the sky, they rustled and set off spectacular waves of leaves. Under the lush umbrella-shaped trunk, the surging tides roared past one after another, as if hitting the barrier at the edge of the world, making a mighty echo and swallowing up the ancient reefs covered with seaweed and moss.

Finally, at a certain moment, the seed sprouted, broke through the soil, and began to grow rapidly, branching, expanding, and finally forming a towering appearance.

The winding roots rushed through the hole, crawling towards the ground by instinct, so fast that it looked like a brown wave rushing before your eyes. Along the way, they broke through countless floors and ceilings, shattered countless rooms that existed but could not be entered, and finally expanded into the territory of the guardians, incorporating the twelve arched stone columns raised from the ground, the hundreds of towers standing under the sea of ​​stars, the surging dark ocean, and even the surging fire arena into this huge root network, becoming part of the towering tree.

At this time, if you look from the outside world to the high cliff where the ancient castle stands, you will definitely see a towering sacred tree that penetrates the earth and the sky. Its surface is gray-black like a rock, and its thick branches extend upward like thousands of giant hands, tearing the dark and gloomy sky into pieces. The huge umbrella-shaped canopy has raised an endless wave of leaves. In the gaps between the leaves, the remaining clouds disintegrate and disperse, and a cold lead gray color is revealed in the depths; the dense roots expand downward and penetrate deeply into the steep and dangerous cliffs, like a spectacular root network version, firmly gathering together the loose mudstone, the faults that are about to peel off, and even the internal rock structure that is on the verge of breaking, and reconstructing it into a whole.

As for the trunk, which is the main part, it is an old and dilapidated castle, huge in scale but gloomy in atmosphere. Its garden, walls, towers and spires... all look like rough rocks, unpolished. After the tree grows, only cracks and gaps after the turmoil remain. The walls and towers are broken and collapsed, the garden is in a mess, and the cracks between bricks and stones are pierced by thinner and smaller vines... It seems to be on the verge of collapse, and it must rely on this giant tree to support it in order to avoid the end of destruction. From germination, growth, branching, extension of branches, expansion of roots, and finally growing into a towering tree in front of her, it took less than a breath in Olvera's eyes. The journey from tree to man may not be enough for a thousand years; but does it only take such a short time for a seed to grow into a magnificent sacred tree? Where is the difference between trees and people? Is it in the story that the teacher once told her about how trees should grow and how people should fight loneliness?
Olvera stared blankly at the giant tree that passed through the entire castle and supported the entire view. She saw that it had rough gray-black bark, as if it had been worn by wind, frost, rain and snow countless times, and the wrinkles on it were far deeper than the ravines of time.

She unconsciously reached out her hand and gently stroked the rough and mottled trunk, and it was as if a force from outside was injected into it. Olvera vaguely heard an ancient low hum, and then a trembling feeling came from the palm of her hand. The still intact floor under her feet was also shaking violently, as if the whole castle had reacted to the movement of the giant tree. The next moment, from a distant direction, at the end of the fifth-floor corridor, a long wolf howl came.

The silver giant wolf left the rulers, which were already filled with thick roots, and walked in front of the princess at an unhurried pace. The latter subconsciously raised her vigilance, raised the only holy dagger in her hand - the Star of Grass and Trees, and prepared for battle. However, the giant wolf only glanced at her, did not launch an attack, and continued to move towards the trunk of the giant tree, came to the towering and lush branches, and looked up at the tree canopy that pierced through the highest dome of the city wall and covered it like an umbrella.

Olvera was surprised by its sudden and inexplicable behavior. What surprised her even more was that she caught a glimpse of other guardians out of the corner of her eye: on the fourth floor, a dark magician was standing on an extended branch, bowing his head in silence; on the third floor, a bone tree with an old face was lingering under a certain root with pale roots as its feet, like an inconspicuous grass; even on the second floor, the Martial God Emperor Karna, who was extremely brave and skilled in martial arts, appeared, holding three red-gold giant swords, standing in front of the tree trunk, staring at the giant tree with eyes that looked both deep and full of admiration and regret.

Except for the ruler on the lowest level, the guardians of other levels all appeared under the tree at this moment.

The princess looked at his back and was about to say something, but she was shocked to see that all the guardians turned into bright beams of light at this moment: silver moonlight, bright starlight, pale tree light, and red-gold passionate firelight... Each ray of light flew upwards, leaving a winding and intertwining trajectory in the field of vision, and finally merged into the tree canopy that covered the sky, transforming its own power into the power of the tree, and then producing sacred fruit.

The guardians are all phantoms created by Olvera's memories, and Lady Tree has given new meaning to these memories with her own sacrifice.

The sacred fruit formed by all memories swayed gently and broke away from the tree canopy, turning into a sky full of light points floating towards the princess and merging into her body. The power born from memories also naturally merged into her soul.

Thus, the attribute panel that had been blank due to the game rollback reappeared again.

[Hero: Olvera]

【HP:∞/∞】

【MP：∞/∞】

【ATP：∞/∞】

【CTP：∞/∞】

[Awakened weapon: Holy Dagger - Grass and Tree Disaster]

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)