At the final moment of crystallization, Raine heard a song.
It was neither the chant of the elves nor the war song of the dwarves, but a melody more ancient and primal—like the resonance of ley lines and the turning of the stellar tracks, yet also like the sighs of countless lives from birth to death. Within this song, he felt himself being broken down into the most fundamental energy particles, flowing with the golden light runes into every root of the Mother Tree, every leaf, every fruit that was being reborn.
The pain disappeared, replaced by a vast tranquility. The emerald vision expanded infinitely, and he saw the entirety of the Elven Forest: to the east, the burning corpses of corrupted Titans were being entwined and consumed by suddenly rampant vines; to the west, the "Mother" Avatar in the sky dissipated like a bubble; and deep within the Mother Tree cavern, the temporarily sealed "Gate" returned to silence, its base's flesh and mechanical fibers slowly reverting to ordinary rock.
The most wondrous thing was the Mother Tree itself—the mechanized portions did not reverse, but reached a subtle balance with the new growth. Metallic veins coexisted harmoniously with emerald vascular tissue, and some branches even bore semi-mechanized fruits, polished metal on the outside yet pulsing with the light of life inside.
"Raine?"
Ravenna's voice sounded as if from far underwater. Raine wanted to respond, but found he had no mouth—more precisely, he had temporarily lost all human organs; his entire consciousness was dispersed within the Mother Tree network. Through one of the newly borne fruits, he saw the purple-gold girl manually prying apart fragments of the golden light barrier, her fingertips cut and bleeding, yet she seemed utterly unaware.
"He… has merged with the Mother Tree." Gamma's silver-blue cyber-eye constantly adjusted its focus, finally locking onto that special fruit atop the branch. "Life signs remain, but the fluctuations of consciousness are very weak…"
Ironbeard used his damaged steam hammer to support his body: "Can we get him out? Like the Twin Fruit last time?"
Elondir's white beard was streaked with blood; the old elf trembled as he touched the Mother Tree trunk: "This time it's different. He's not just an energy crystallization, he is…" Suddenly, he began coughing violently. "…the new consciousness core of the Mother Tree."
Ravenna's purple-gold patterns suddenly flared brightly. She slammed her fist onto the trunk, shaking the leaves: "Wake up! You bastard!" Her voice carried rare choking emotion. "Don't think that becoming a tree lets you escape…"
Inside the fruit, Raine wanted to embrace her, but could only let a few leaves gently brush her cheeks. This sense of helplessness was more torturous than any pain—he could perceive everything, yet could not communicate, could not touch, like a living corpse trapped in a transparent coffin.
"Ravenna… sis…" Gamma timidly extended a glowing crystal, "I found a similar case in Old Nick's notes…"
The notes projected a fuzzy record: [When a living being merges with an ancient tree, consciousness can be awakened through ley line resonance. Three elements are required: Emotional anchor (strong memory), Energy resonance (homologous wave), and Physical carrier (remnant of the original body)].
Ravenna's mechanical eye quickly scanned the text: "Emotional anchor…" She suddenly pulled open her collar, revealing the purple-gold tattoo beneath her clavicle—a jade leaf outline, the very token Raine had left her on the airship. "Does this count?"
Before Gamma could answer, the Mother Tree stirred without wind. All the fruits glowed simultaneously, and the brightest one fell directly into Ravenna's palm. She was surprised to see its shell automatically split open, revealing flowing golden-green energy inside—the same power that had been within Raine's body.
"Energy resonance is achieved too." Ironbeard scratched his beard. "But the physical carrier…"
Elondir retrieved a crystal vial from his bosom, inside which floated a few blood-stained cloth strips. "During the battle just now, I collected fragments of his flesh and blood."
The three of them exchanged a glance and acted immediately. Gamma used alchemy to construct a miniature ley line model; Ironbeard contributed the final steam core as an energy source; Elondir led the elves in chanting an ancient awakening spell; and Ravenna—she dripped Raine's blood onto the fruit, then pressed it tightly against her purple-gold tattoo.
"Listen, you bastard," she whispered, "remember the first time we met? You caught me stealing your coin pouch at the tavern…"
The fruit trembled slightly. Ravenna felt a familiar warmth at her tattoo and continued, "I said we should split the money fifty-fifty, but you insisted on handing me over to the guards…"
Memories surged like a tide. In the chaos, Raine saw light—not metaphorical light, but a real river of light. Countless fragments of memory floated within it: Ravenna's sly wink when feigning surrender; Gamma's first successful alchemical experiment and the joy it brought; Ironbeard drunkenly jumping on a table and singing a dwarf war song; Elondir recounting ancient elven legends under the moonlight…
These points of light converged into a bridge, guiding his consciousness from the depths of the Mother Tree toward the fruit. But just as success seemed imminent, a powerful resistance appeared—the consciousness of the Mother Tree itself did not wish to release this newly-formed "core."
[Stay…] The ancient tree's voice whispered like thousands of leaves, [You belong here…]
Raine's consciousness struggled violently. He saw visions from the Mother Tree's memory: in ancient times, twelve World Trees encircled the continent, and the elves were only guardians of one; after the Great Cataclysm, the other ancient trees withered one by one, leaving only the elven Mother Tree surviving, though it gradually weakened; the Council chose this place for opening the "Gate" precisely because of this…
[I need you…] The tree's consciousness carried the weight of ancient exhaustion. [Without a core… I will be corrupted again…]
The contradiction tore at Raine. If he stayed, he would forever become part of the Mother Tree, ensuring the "Gate" would never open again; if he left, the tree might repeat its fate, and he would lose this once-in-millennia balance—the perfect harmony of the four forces within the ancient tree network.
In the real world, Ravenna suddenly felt the fruit's temperature plummet. Gamma's instruments blared a piercing alarm: "Consciousness transfer interrupted! The Mother Tree is obstructing!"
"Damn rotten tree!" The purple-gold girl erupted in fury, thrusting her right hand into a gap in the trunk. "Give him back to me!" Purple-gold energy poured in like a flood, violently assaulting the ancient tree network.
This reckless action should have caused serious damage, yet unexpectedly, a strange effect occurred—the residual purple-gold energy within Raine resonated with the external input, forming an independent channel in the Mother Tree network. Using this "smuggling path," fragments of his consciousness began to quietly transfer.
"Keep talking!" Gamma suddenly realized something. "The emotional anchor must be continuously stimulated!"
Biting her lip, Ravenna leaned close to the fruit, her voice so soft only it could hear: "Remember the day of the twin fruit? When you were unconscious, I held your hand the whole time…" Her fingertips traced the fruit's contours. "Actually, back then I secretly…"
The Mother Tree shuddered violently! The newly-grown mechanical branches shot toward Ravenna like spears, but Ironbeard's warhammer and Elondir's magical barrier blocked them. Gamma seized the moment to sprinkle Raine's blood and flesh fragments onto the fruit. The alchemical solution instantly vaporized on contact, forming a humanoid outline.
"Physical carrier in place!" The girl screamed as she adjusted the parameters. "Energy resonance reaching its peak!"
The fruit's shell suddenly exploded, golden-green energy surging into the humanoid outline. Blood and flesh, memories, and energy—trinity in one—began to reshape the body. But the process was far more dangerous than imagined—the Mother Tree was unwilling to lose its core and forcibly attempted to siphon Raine's vital energy; the dragon blood within him went into overdrive due to overconsumption; and worse, the Holy Alliance's seal detected the weakness and began to strike back!
The humanoid outline flickered between solid and spectral, sometimes showing elven features, sometimes glinting with dragon scales, and occasionally flashing the seals of the Holy Alliance. Ravenna, ignoring the dangers of the energy turbulence, directly embraced the unstable form. Purple-gold energy wrapped it in a protective cocoon.
"Choose… human form…" she whispered in his ear. "Just like you once chose to save me instead of killing me…"
As if responding to her words, the outline suddenly stabilized. Golden light retracted, jade patterns emerged on the skin, and silver-blue aurora energy coursed subtly like veins. When the last trace of energy settled, Raine Hawk—restored to his most primitive human form—opened his eyes.
"You… kissed me first." His first words, hoarse as if he hadn't spoken in centuries.
Ravenna's fist hung midair, then gently fell on his chest. "Idiot."
The Mother Tree's rebellion abruptly ceased. All mechanical branches drooped lifelessly, as if suddenly drained of power. Even stranger, the semi-mechanical fruits on the canopy began falling automatically, rolling around Raine to form a ritualistic circle.
"It… accepted him." Elondir looked on in awe. "The Mother Tree voluntarily relinquished its core."
Gamma's cybernetic eye detected the flow of energy: "It's not abandoning! It's transferring!" She pointed to Raine's chest—where a brand-new mark appeared, resembling a simplified outline of the Mother Tree. "It delegated the core functions to Big Brother Raine!"
Ironbeard whistled. "So now this kid's half a tree?"
Raine tried to stand, but nearly fell from weakness. Ravenna's arms became his most reliable support, her purple-gold energy still flowing steadily into him, helping stabilize his chaotic internal system.
"The Council…" he rasped, struggling to speak, "their main force…"
"Has retreated." Elondir pointed to the eastern sky, where dark red clouds were dissipating. "However, reconnaissance reports indicate they took a large number of mechanized Mother Tree components with them."
Gamma brought up the recorded footage from her cyber-eye: dozens of black airships carried metal branches and tumor-like remnants speeding northeast. Zooming in revealed a figure in a white robe standing on each ship—not a parasitic host, but purely mechanized constructs.
"Second-generation bishops." Ravenna narrowed her eyes. "The Council finally dropped the disguise."
Raine's jade vision activated automatically. Though its range had shrunk significantly, the clarity had improved. He noticed that the red-line network of the Mother Tree roots had not entirely vanished, but transformed into silver-blue, resembling a monitoring system scanning the ley lines.
"The Mother Tree granted me partial authority." He touched the mark on his chest. "I can sense anomalies in the ley lines…" Suddenly, he frowned. "Wait, there's something near the Aurora Tower!"
The view shifted to the far north: seven mages' stellar interferometers had successfully sealed the Gear Moon's surface, but at the cost of crystallizing all participants. Even more troubling, the cracks on the moon no longer leaked black slime, but a silvery-white metallic fluid that self-assembled mid-fall into structures resembling flying vehicles.
"The Council has changed tactics." Gamma said, uneasily. "They're learning to exploit the energy characteristics of the Aurora Tower."
Ironbeard patted the communicator at his waist. "I just got news from Furnace City. The dwarves purified the ley lines, but…" His usually gruff voice grew rare and heavy. "The Heart of the Furnace is permanently damaged. No more artifacts can be forged."
A mournful silence fell over the group. Raine looked at the still-unconscious Nissea, the elven girl laid upon the thickest root of the Mother Tree. The leaf-shaped imprint on her face had faded almost entirely.
"And the other sanctuaries?"
"The orc tribes lost two-thirds of their shamans but preserved their ancestral totems." Elondir reviewed the intelligence. "The human city-states fared worst. After the Holy Alliance collapsed, civil war broke out. The Council took advantage and now controls the eastern three provinces."
Ravenna sneered. "Those white-robed bastards finally stopped pretending." Her mechanical eye glinted red. "Do we know the exact location of their stronghold?"
"Northeast, the Obsidian Mountains." Gamma pulled up a map. "But energy scans show it's now covered by a [Phase-Reversal Barrier]. Conventional methods won't work…"
Her words were cut short by a sudden tremor from the Mother Tree. All the semi-mechanical fruits simultaneously pointed in one direction, metallic branches forming an arrow. Raine's chest mark warmed slightly. In his jade vision, a hidden ley-line branch appeared—running straight from the Mother Tree roots to the northeast, bypassing all major nodes along the way, like an emergency escape route.
"The Mother Tree is guiding us," Raine tried to interpret. "This path can bypass the Council's surveillance…"
"Straight to the back door of their lair!" Ironbeard pounded his palm in excitement. "Shall we call the allied forces?"
Elondir shook his head. "The more people, the easier we are to detect. And…" He glanced at Raine's still-unstable energy field. "Some of us need time to recover."
Ravenna had already stood. Purple-gold energy condensed in her palm into a dagger shape. "Gamma and I will scout first. The rest of you, the useless gardeners, stay behind and heal."
"No." Raine grabbed her wrist firmly. The motion tugged at his wound, making him grit his teeth in pain. "The Council's prime target right now is the two of you—the hosts of the Mechanical Seed and the Life Seed."
The previously silent Mother Tree suddenly moved. Three special branches descended, each bearing a unique fruit: one resembling a longan, restrained with golden light; one like jade, full of vitality; and the last purple-gold, its surface flowing with alchemical runes.
"This is…" Gamma curiously touched the purple-gold fruit. It immediately fell off and transformed into a bracelet around her wrist.
Elondir drew in a sharp breath. "The Mother Tree's Blessing Fruit! Ancient texts record that only a recognized Watcher may receive it!"
Ironbeard looked hungrily at the golden fruit. "Can a dwarf take it?"
"Sadly, no." The old elf smiled wryly. "They're obviously meant for…"
The fruits were already automatically assigned: the golden one merged with Raine's chest mark, the jade one flew to the unconscious Nissea, and the purple-gold one—aside from Gamma's bracelet—dissolved into a flow of light that entered Ravenna's tattoo.
"A portable energy source." Ravenna flexed her fingers, feeling the purple-gold energy flow more smoothly than ever. "Thanks, rotten tree."
The Mother Tree rustled as if in reply. Raine felt the Dragonheart in his chest stabilize once more, achieving a delicate balance with the Life Seed. He looked northeast; in his jade vision, the hidden path was now clearly visible.
"Three days," he suddenly said. "Once Nissea wakes, we leave immediately."
Gamma was checking the bracelet's functions. "Why three days?"
"Lunar cycle." Raine pointed at the healing Gear Moon. "At the next full moon, the [Phase-Reversal Barrier] will fluctuate briefly."
Ravenna raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"
"The Mother Tree told me." He lightly touched the mark on his chest. "It also said more… about the true purpose of the 'Gate.'"
Everyone waited for him to continue, but Raine only shook his head. Some truths were too heavy; until he had solid proof, he didn't want to cause unnecessary panic. Especially the most terrifying suspicion—the so-called 'Gate' might never have been a passage to the Abyss, but rather…
The lid of a seal.
When the others dispersed to rest, Raine remained alone beneath the Mother Tree. He ran his hand along the rough bark, sensing the silver-blue energy flowing inside. Deep in his consciousness, the Mother Tree showed him the final memory fragments: the twelve World Trees did not form a garden, but a prison; the Watchers guarded not sanctuaries, but cages; and the Life Seed, Mechanical Seed, and Dragonheart—their original purpose—was to maintain the balance of the seal.
"So what the Council intends to do…" he murmured, "is actually… to release the prisoners ahead of schedule?"
The Mother Tree responded with a sorrowful rustle. The night wind swept through the Elven Forest, carrying a mix of scorched earth and fresh sprouts. Deep within the ley lines invisible to the naked eye, the silver-blue energy continued its subtle, ongoing struggle against the remnants of the dark-red corruption. This war was far from over—it had only entered a new phase.
Raine's chest mark throbbed faintly, reminding him of his new identity and responsibility as the "core." He looked at his sleeping companions—Ravenna still clutched her dagger in her sleep; Gamma's artificial eye flickered with the faint glow of data analysis; Ironbeard's snores were as loud as his warhammer; and Nissea, whose chest now began to show a mark similar to Raine's, though more jade-hued.
In three days, they would set out to strike straight at the Council's lair. But before that…
Raine closed his eyes, letting the Mother Tree's consciousness guide him into the jade dreamscape. There, another Watcher awaited awakening.