Supreme Magus

Chapter 3474 Just Different (Part 1)

"That the fragments won't be just in Garlen. The Saplings are spread throughout Mogar." Lith replied. "How good are your connections with the plant representatives of the other continents?"

***

With each fragment they collected, the hunt became faster and easier. After gaining the third piece in the Empire, the coalesced essence of the World Tree turned into a shining beam of light that provided Lith with almost pinpoint coordinates of all the fragments within its perception range.

Lith could now choose his next target and plan ahead instead of blindly heading toward the closest fragments.

"Let's start from the Blood Desert. The rest will come easy" Lith said and the others nodded.

The fragments of the World Tree wanted to be reunited. When Lith had met the holder of the third shard, the Sapling had begged him to take it away. The fragment held knowledge the Sapling had no use for and just brought them madness and anger. On top of that, the fragment itself pushed the Sapling to let it go. A second practice session of Dread Flames made both parties happy.

Once in the Blood Desert, Lith recruited Salaark for the job.

"Think about it, Grandma. If the Saplings put the knowledge they acquired from the World Tree to bad use, they will mess up with your turf. Your Phoenixes and people will suffer and die.

"If you come with me, instead, we'll uproot the problem before it sprouts. Pun intended."

"Good point." She nodded. "Let's be quick. I have to prepare a snack for Shargein in an hour"

"With all due respect, Overlord, how do we know you won't take the fruits of our work for yourself?" Lotho asked right before realizing Salaark had Warped them straight to their destination.

"Easy!" She shrugged. "If I wanted to take anything from you, even your life, there would be nothing you could do to stop me."

The coldness in her voice made the sap in his vines run cold.

"Rest easy, seedling. If I ever had a thirst for knowledge, I would just ask the old lizard. It's faster and safer. If a Guardian like me were to merge with the World Tree's essence, there's no telling what might happen.

"I could take on the responsibilities of the Yogdrasill bloodline. lose my status as a

Divine Beast, and most of all, I would have to keep accumulating knowledge or the records about Mogar's history would end.

"People like you might see the fragments as an opportunity but to me, they are just more work and responsibilities. I have already enough on my plate and too little free time."

"Yours are wise words." Feela gave the Overlord a bow, dismissing the idea of bargaining with Lith for the fragments. Just the thought of becoming a beast-plant hybrid gave her the creeps. "You must be proud of your grandson."

"Which one?" Salaark cocked her head in a bird-like manner.

"I was talking about Lith, of course." The Behemoth nodded at him. "Today I had the honor of witnessing high tier Void Magic. It's an amazing discipline."

Feela was fawning over the Guardian but was also telling the truth. Having no idea what Domination was, Feela believed Void Magic could snatch control of an enemy spell.

"It is." Salaark sighed. "Too bad he's sharing it with fake mages first. I don't get why Lith is so shy. He should be proud of his work. I bet he didn't even show you this."

The Overlord conjured a small flame floating over her index finger. Then she split the fire into heat and light, switching them both. A blot of darkness and a frozen droplet of water replaced the fire, leaving the Council members flabbergasted.

"Two elements from one spell?" Lotho asked.

"Lith taught me that all elements are connected through the world energy" Salaark nodded. "I can't wait for the day he'll bring his Void Magic to completion."

Lith nodded to her in acknowledgment of her praise and the practical demonstration the Overlord had given him of what he had only theorized yet.

"If you have already learned the basics, why haven't you developed all tiers of Void Magic on your own, Overlord?" Lotho pondered.

"I'm not a thief and again, I have too much on my plate already, seedling." Salaark furrowed her brows, not liking the suggestion one bit. "Now shut up and move."

Lotho wanted to ask her who Shargein was, but the Guardian's glare brooked no discussion.

'Have you seen that?' Solus asked in amazement. 'Grandma confirmed what we suspected. It is really possible to generate multiple elements with Void Magic. It opens the possibility of weaving three-elemental tier five spells!"

'I sure did.'Lith inwardly nodded. 'We could call it lesser Tower Tier spells, but I think it's best to leave that for later. Our priority is completing tier five magic. After that, we'd better develop three-elemental spells as a different branch of Void Magic.

"The discipline is already complex as it is. Adding lesser Tower Tier snells would make

it a nightmare for any fourth year student.'

Solus and Lith put their excitement aside and focused on the task at hand. With the presence of Salaark, no World Sapling dared refuse to let go of their fragment. No matter what race one belonged, if they lived in the Blood Desert, the Overlord's word

was law.

On top of that, after collecting the fifth fragment, the Saplings couldn't hold on to the shards of World Tree essence even if they wanted. The purified collected essence exerted such a strong pull that the fragments abandoned their current host of their own will.

Lith had no need to use Body Sculpting anymore, only to purify the memories and madness from the late World Tree plaguing the fragments before merging them with

the others.

"This was quick." Zoreth checked her watch and scouring the Desert had taken them way less than an hour. "What's our next stop?"

"That way." Lith opened his hand and the light pointed towards the open ocean.

"Zima?" Feela looked at him in confusion. "Why not collecting the fragments on Garlen

first?"

"Because the Guardians here are on my side." Lith replied. "I don't know the Guardians of the other continents and I don't want to risk them or the local Councils getting greedy once I'm close finishing the job."

"You don't have to worry about Verendi either, little brother." Zoreth said. "Their Guardians won't dare stand against the Organization."

Salaark frowned but said nothing, making Lith, Feela, and Lotho understand how

powerful the Eldritches had become.

"Let me give you a hand, then." A wave of the Overlord's hand Warped the group to the borders of her turf, hundreds of kilometers in open waters.

"Get on my back." Zoreth shapeshifted into her Shadow Dragon form. "There's no

speed like Dragonspeed."

***

Crossing the ocean took them a bit more than two hours thanks to Dragonspeed and

Warp Steps.

The first differences between Garlen and Zima that Lith noticed were the humid climate and lush vegetation. He had no time or inclination to tour the continent but it was clear that less than half of Zima had been colonized by humans. Cities were sparse and isolated but much bigger than those he had seen in Garlen.