Chapter 12: 2-4: Go Away, No Lemons Here

I landed gently on the mountaintop, easily settling into the groove I had worn into the rock. The sun was setting, the last rays tinging the horizon a beautiful violet.

Cure-Elim exited the cave a short time later, almost seeming to ooze out of the shadows. His baleful red eyes scanned me, glanced about, then lost their violent edge as he reassured himself I was alone.

I wasn't, obviously, but Innocence was a Divination expert. No matter what Cure-Elim was using, it wouldn't penetrate the Tenth-Tier [Mirror World] Innocence hid beneath.

"Ancient One." He greeted, bass voice bouncing off the craggy peaks. "A pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine." I replied in kind. "Might I come in? I believe we have much to discuss."

He nodded, eyes glowing in the growing darkness. "I somehow doubt anything of mine would interest you, but I still must ask that you not take anything."

I laughed, a booming sound that echoed across the silent rock. "Little One, anything you have would be a trifle for me to replicate. Nevertheless, you have my word."

He didn't respond, instead turning and leading me into his cave. My form shrunk as I repeatedly cast [Size Down] on myself, slowly making me small enough to fit inside. If the Dragon Lord was planning on a fight, he would find that my scales were just as dense as when I was full size and my Agility had grown enough to dart forward and snap his neck before he had time to process my movement.

Any normal Player would be wary walking through the tunnels of the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord's home, lined as they were with countless Undead. One got the distinct feeling that anyone entering would never leave. I didn't care, though, seeing as I could burn the place to the ground in less than an instant. Innocence was Plan Z, Plans A through Y were basically 'nuke the lizards'. If by some miracle he managed to escape, then Innocence would gank him. He was only valuable as a willing ally, after all.

My view on other people with power was rather simple, whether they be an evil Dragon or an old friend like Momonga. If they remain on my side, I'll do my best to help them to the top, spending my own time and resources to do so. But I was constantly prepared for any one of them to betray me—hence why I set up Nazarick to function even without Momonga if the need ever arose. I was making changes to this World, changes I knew my friend wouldn't like. If he ever turned on me, he would be summarily removed from my paradise.

I do enjoy friendships, but there comes a point where caution becomes the best option.

To be honest, I doubted my relationship with Cure-Elim would ever be called friends. I was hoping to become a mentor of sorts to him, a respected figure rather than an equal. People like Cure-Elim didn't believe in friendship, and placing yourself on their level is an invitation for betrayal. But if I set myself up as an insurmountable goal, beyond any hope he could ever have of surpassing, the chances of him selling me out diminished to near zero.

Cure-Elim valued few things in this world. Power, knowledge, and anonymity. I was a monolith to everything he valued, and I was more than willing to share what I knew with him. Not everything, of course, and only enough to keep him interested in furthering his own agendas. But if I set myself up as a veritable vault of secrets too dangerous for the uninspired to be trusted with, the Undead would likely rather die than give up anything I told him in confidence.

So why was I using him instead of just killing him off?

For the same reason Ainz went out of his way to save Nfirea in the original story.

See, Cure-Elim is a researcher. Someone who dedicated centuries of his life to studying a single topic. The only Dragon in the New World ever to discover how to use Tier Magic while still maintaining his Wild Magic. He's cunning, he's patient, and he stands to have nothing to lose and everything to gain from sharing the results of his research with me.

I gave him a Seed of the First Tree because it was a meaningless show of aid—the Tree had little to no use save for converting one type of Magic into another. He couldn't even use the Tree's branches as tools because Necrotic Energy doesn't work well with wood. But it would allow him to practice his Wild Magic without burning his stock of souls or having to go out to gather more, meaning that it was a highly effective means of making sure he stayed exactly where I wanted him.

Not to mention my 'edits' to the Seed... if that plan works, I will have created a gaping hole in his proverbial armor. An exploitable weakness in the form of a girl he somehow can't say no to. Like Accelerator with Last Order or, well, pretty much any anime protagonist. With any luck I'll never have to push that button, but it's always nice to know where your enemies keep their hearts.

And the best part of it all? He would have no reason to object to my plan if he knew of it. It gave him the opportunity to grow more and more powerful, even if I intended to never let him get anywhere close to my level. I was giving him everything he wanted, only asking for a bit of knowledge in return.

Plans within plans within plans… on one hand, it seemed redundant to be thinking circles around myself for an answer that might not exist. On the other… complex plans are at the core of Overlord, are they not? I make a plan, something goes wrong, and I'm forced to improvise. Except, I hate improvising, so I deploy one of the other plans I have prepared, which makes my enemy change their strategy…

Ah, well. Let's just hope that it never comes to that level of bullshit. Cure-Elim is simple to break down, he doesn't exactly hide his character motivations. If he's just as straightforward as in the Side Story, then this should all be a piece of cake.

"We're here." The Undead finally growled. "Take care to step only where I step."

I made a show of wincing at that. Even shrunk down, I was still slightly bigger than he was. I could shrink further, but establishing a few limits to my powers was the first step in making me seem like a real being rather than an impossibility. "My apologies, my shrinking Spell only works to allow me to shrink to fit into the available space…"

"Fine. Just be careful then." He ducked beneath a low-hanging part of the ceiling, vanishing from sight.

I followed behind, scaled eyebrows rising as I caught sight of the cavern within. It was a place of flawless crystal, an area so warm that any human daring to enter would die within minutes. Water dripped from above, which told me the crystals were still forming even now. The area was perfect for an Undead—especially one like a Dragon. Without the 'fire' of life within them, Dragons become giant lizards, really, meaning that Cure-Elim would either have to constantly burn mana for Heating Spells or find a nice warm cavern such as this one in order to keep their minds about them.

I stepped generally wherever my companion stepped, though I mis-stepped a few times just to act unaware as my scales utterly no-selled the defensive measure that triggered.

…Okay, that was mostly me just trolling the guy. So sue me, his defenses sucked.

Finally, we reached the center of the cave. I spotted a few golden trinkets lying around, as well as a couple arcane scrolls protected by waterproofing magics. My gaze didn't linger on those, though. Instead it was drawn to the small Sapling sprouting from a rocky outcropping. Its branches were a deep black, and its leaves were a dull brown.

[Necrotic Tree Sapling]

Starting out a Sapling of the World Tree, this Tree gradually adapted the ability to survive and thrive off Necrotic Energy rather than sunlight or Natural Energy. Despite this change, it still outputs raw Life, just as all World Trees do.

Spirit: Dormant [01:22:19]

Empathy Link progress: 43%

I glanced over the information, nodding to myself. A diet of Necrotic Energy would prevent it from being able to access the World itself like Noa could, meaning the chances of it being a threat would be slim to none. I didn't specifically say that it would gain the powers of the previous Tree if it died, so if Noa ever perished this little sprout wouldn't so much as touch her abilities.

"It looks dead." The Undead stated drily.

I shook my head. "There's no chlorophyll in the leaves, no, and it has a greatly increased amount of tannins in the bark. But do bear in mind that you planted it underground, where there's no sunlight to need chlorophyll. It even developed more tannins to harden its bark, making it more resilient to this environment."

"Then it's supposed to look like that?" The Dragon beside me checked. "I didn't destroy it?"

"No, no." I chuckled. "World Trees are capable of adapting to any environment, taking in whatever type of energy is most prevalent. The First Tree fed on Void or Dimensional Energy, the Second feeds on Nature Energy, and yours feeds off Necrotic Energy. Its Spirit is gradually forming, though it is greatly sped up by the tremendous amount of Energy to pull from."

"Spirit?" Cure-Elim repeated.

"Ah." I winced, sitting back and sighing. "That… is an incredibly long story. It would be best if I just started at the beginning and worked from there."

"That would be good, yes." The Undead Dragon agreed, circling the room to put the Tree between us. "Information is the most valuable resource in the world, after all."

"True enough." I agreed ruefully. "Get comfortable, this story is as long as history allows. Not quite the very beginning of my story, but that's something for another time."

I waited for him to settle down, still watching me like I was a bomb about to go off. I wasn't kidding about the length of my story, I had spun the tale off game lore and pure bullshit to be the most accurately deceiving narrative of the World Trees possible.

"It all began long ago." My voice lowered slightly, taking on a wistful tone. "Before the stars burned, before the lands were warmed by their light. Magic ran wild, and without the binding rules we enjoy today, anything was possible. For good and for ill. The First Ones, they called themselves, for they were indeed the first. Each one used their power to create themselves a physical form, suited to their tastes and designed to help them more fully enjoy what they loved best. But as Magic gradually settled from its chaotic wildness, the beings realized they had all lost something of what they once had."

I extended a paw, watching the faint light from the Tree send aqua shimmers off my scales. "I'll skip over the details of what happened next, but suffice it to say that they became the first members of their respective Races. Templates, if you will, of what was to come. They died off over the years, but the ones who were the most durable remained."

"One Race, those of the First Ones who had chosen to remain as immaterial beings, became the first Gods. They called themselves the Developers, and they formed the rules of the First World. They planted a seed, one that would take in the hopes and dreams of the Races in order to create for them the homes they needed. The Developers were only so powerful, however, as they had no forms to tie them to the new realm. So as Yggdrasil grew in strength, a great many of them grouped together and fed it with the last of their own power. Only a select few remained, watching over the Worlds the World Tree grew."

I laughed softly, breaking my narrative. "You should've seen it then. Each Leaf of the Tree was a different World, a different time. Every Race had its own territory, and new Worlds lived and died like the seasons to those of us patient enough to watch the Leaves fall. There was little conflict between them, since anything they needed could just be taken from an empty World rather than bothering to travel to a well-defended one. That was the System as it was originally meant to be—a haven for everyone who needed it."

"I take it the paradise didn't last." Cure-Elim's dry tone cut in.

"Of course not." I agreed. "It never does, and this one was no exception. For you see, as eternity wore on, creatures began dwelling in the Tree's branches and roots. With their arrival, the Tree's very own parasite began to grow. It fed on the Life the Tree gave, fed and fed and fed until the Tree began to struggle for life. It began to consume the Leaves, spreading like fire from branch to branch. The Developers, horrified, fought back, eventually managing to seal away the parasite within the burrow of a large squirrel."

"Pardon." A bemused voice spoke up. "A squirrel?"

"Aye." I looked him in the eye. "A creature who had burrowed into the trunk of the Tree and was harvesting the fruits that fell from the branches to gorge itself. The closest word in this tongue is 'squirrel'."

"Fair enough. Go on."

I nodded. "Anyway. The Tree was slowly dying, the parasite killing it even from within. It took control of the squirrel, making it dart up and down the Tree to enrage the creatures above and below it. In the space above, vicious birds would tear at the branches. From below, snakes would gnaw at the roots. The Leaves fell, one by one, until only a few remained. The Developers poured all their remaining power into these Leaves, these Worlds, keeping them alive indefinitely. But they were scarred by the War of the Thousand Worlds—long story—and they had no way of fighting back the hordes of monsters that began to slip through the cracks of reality itself."

I smiled grimly. "And this… is where the story of the Players begins."

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