Phoenix's Embrace

"Correct! You've passed the test, Lucas Morningstar." The talking tree announced. "Now tell me, what is it that you desire?"

"I don't desire anything."

No, I'm not stupid. 

I purposefully denied taking any rewards. 

Why? Because this question was another test. 

As I said, not many know about this human-faced tree.

But those who do know about it have tried to get the treasure that this tree possessed. 

Needless to say, all of them failed. 

No one except a handful of people were able to answer all three riddles.

And even those who did pass the riddle test failed the second test– the test of greed.

All except the protagonist.

At the start of the 3rd volume, the protagonist came here to this forest to find some peace of mind after a fight with the main heroine.

And by sheer luck, he stumbled upon this talking tree.

Cough! Forced Plot. Cough!

So when he answered all the riddles, he was asked what he would want as his prize.

Being the thick-headed dumb protagonist he was, the boy denied accepting any rewards. 

He wanted to grow stronger on his own without being indebted to anyone. Not even to a tree.

Although he still got a reward in the end because he unintentionally did clear the trial, the prize that he got was useless to him…

Why? Because he already had a similar relic to the one he received here.

"You don't want anything? Are you sure, Lucas?" The human-faced tree asked to confirm my choice.

If it had a face, it would be frowning right now. Oh wait, it did have a face, and it was indeed frowning.

"I can give you an unimaginable strength, the lost treasure of kings, beautiful women, unreachable fame, and glory! Anything that you seek is just a wish away!"

Hah! As if.

I knew that the tree was just testing my will. 

In truth, he was bullshitting me.

The tree didn't have the power to give me all the things that it claimed. It was just bluffing.

Even though this tree was known as [The Tree Of Desires] it can't grant just any desire of the wisher.

In reality, this tree was a dwarven blacksmith in his previous life—a very well-known blacksmith, at that.

He forged many relics throughout his life.

Relics are objects that possess blessings. Blessings are special powers granted to only a few individuals by the heavens.

Lucas had one too. It was named [Mana Burst] in the novel, if I remember correctly.

Blessings may vary from the simple stuff like casting magic with speed to something big like having absolute immunity to magic.

These blessings could be transferred to objects by a blacksmith after the death of the individual who possessed them.

In short, some very skilled blacksmiths could extract these blessings after a person's death and transfer them to objects.

But transferring blessings is no easy task. 

Even the most skilled blacksmith could transfer only about 75% percent of the original blessings to an object.

In spite of that, there once lived a dwarven blacksmith capable of raising that number to 89%. 

He was truly a legendary blacksmith.

But due to some circumstances, he was reduced to this tree-like state after his death.

Now this tree, who was once a famous blacksmith, only had one wish— give out all the relics he forged during his lifetime to the people who deserve them.

Only after giving out all his creations will he be able to find peace.

Although to get his treasure, one first has to show that they don't possess any greed.

"No, I don't want anything. I want to grow strong with my own efforts." I won't lie. I cringed a few times while blurting out this sentence.

Grow stronger with my own efforts? I would rather eat dirt and do a backflip, thank you.

"Is that so? Then why did you come here seeking me?" The tree questioned me.

"Honestly, I just wanted to confirm if the legend about you is true or not," I answered confidently.

"I see. I'm impressed, Lucas. Not only are you wise, but you are also pure-hearted. My question was a test to see if you possess greed. And you do not."

Yes, I do, you dumb tree. 

Everyone possesses greed. 

Everyone has a hidden side. Even the kind protagonist of this story has a dark side to him.

"If you had asked me to grant you a wish, I would've taken your life on the spot! But you did not!" The tree said.

"You're the first person to pass my test. I can't give you unimaginable power, but I will give you unrivaled protection." 

As soon as I heard those words, my eyes glimmered with anticipation.

"I will grant you the armor and earrings that hold the blessing of the Knight Of The Sunlight! Its name is ‹Phoenix's Embrace›!" With a loud and powerful voice, the tree announced.

That Sun Saint guy must be the person whose blessing was transferred to forge the relic that I was going to receive.

Honestly, I didn't care much about that. Since he wasn't mentioned in the novel, I concluded he would be irrelevant.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on a relic so early in the story. With this, I would almost be invincible!

"Kneel, Lucas."

At that command, I bent my back and kneeled on the ground.

"Remember, this armor is a Semi-Divine rank relic. If you shed this armor, you'll be given one extra life and a massive boost in all stats. 

"But if you lose that extra life, you will also lose your protection forever. 

"As long as you don't die after shedding this armor, you will be able to summon it back and your stats will be reversed to normal."

After explaining the things that I already knew, the human-faced tree slowly started widening its mouth.

As it did so, the crumbles of the tree's trunk fell to the ground and in the next moment, the tree's mouth was opened so wide that now it looked more like a cave.

A dark cave. But in that dark cave, something was glimmering with a golden shine.

Seeing that, I reached my hand toward it, intending to grab it. 

But before I could reach it, much less grab it, the golden glow itself started moving toward me.

No… it wasn't moving toward me! The golden glow was getting bigger and brighter!

Before I knew it, the golden glow became so bright that I had to narrow my eyes in discomfort before closing them.

But I didn't feel like I was in danger. 

Instead, I found the golden glow to be quite warm, like a bright sun on a winter's morning.

Not until after a few seconds passed did I open my eyes again. But to my surprise, the tree in front of me had disappeared! 

"Huh?" Confused, I started swinging my neck left and right to look for the tree with a confused frown on my face.

And only when I started swinging my neck did I notice some weight on my ears.

Frowning deeper, I placed a hand on my ear and found that I was wearing earrings.

Instantly I looked down and placed a hand on the middle of my chest. But I didn't feel my flesh. Instead, I felt like I was touching a rock-hard surface.

Quickly unbuttoning the shirt that I was wearing, I found a circular red ruby embedded in my chest.

There was no armor. Just a round fist-sized red ruby fused in my chest.

A wide grin flashed on my face for a few seconds before I looked around me and hastily buttoned my shirt.

Immediately after, I got up and patted my clothes before trailing toward the forest exit in quick steps.

After a short walk of a few minutes, I reached the forest exit, where the chubby guard was still standing on duty. 

The sun was about to set, and the guard was ready to close the gate anytime now.

"Done with your business, sir?" The guard asked as I walked past him.

Without bothering to wait and reply, I just nodded my head and kept walking.

"Yes, my business is done." I quietly murmured. "Now let the fun begin~"

I may be just a minor villain but I don't fear the protagonist now! 

Muahahaha!

Ahem…