Rom Mathew And the 100,000-years-old Wisdom Tree

"Where am I? This is not where I am a second ago."

The confused young man asked. He was just walking along the side of the road when suddenly his surroundings changed.

He furrowed at the sudden change in his surroundings. He was certain it was night just now; however, how it suddenly become bright like it was morning?

The young man noticed that he was lying on the grass, facing the sky. He got up and looked around. He realized that he seemed to be in the middle of an open space inside what seemed like a forest.

He tried to search for an answer deep within his memory, but he could not find any. He had no recollection where this place was. He began to feel unease.

"What's happening here?" He asked with trembling eyes.

The place he was in was unfamiliar to him. And his coming here is a big question as well. He knitted his brows as he wondered what he was going to do.

"Wait. First, I need to calm myself. Freaking out in this situation is not good and won't give me the answers I seek," he muttered.

He took a deep breath three times. Breathing deeply to calm oneself is something most people know. After he took three deep breaths, he realized that it wasn't enough to calm himself, so he continued to breathe deeply until he felt a little better.

He turned his attention back to the current situation. Calm or not, it didn't change his situation. He was still standing, surrounded by trees in an unfamiliar place.

He immediately began to summarize what had happened earlier. But before that, he first needs to check his mental status. Perhaps he suddenly became crazy or maybe he was just hallucinating at the moment.

If anything, he wanted to make sure his mind was clear. He immediately began to recall important information about himself.

"My name is Rom Mathew. I'm a third-year high-school student. I'll be fifteen years old this coming April 20. There are still two months before that…"

"Going forward, I live in a boarding house near our school. I chose the closest one to save on travel expenses. I can walk to our school from my boarding house in just 7-10 minutes every school day. Since I can walk the distance, hence I don't have to spend on bus rides…"

"My family... um, my mother works abroad but we don't have news about her. There are gossips about her having remarried and having a new family. We tried every means to contact her, but we could not get through even until now. My father passed away when I was only seven years old. So I have to raise my younger sister using the little money I received from my part time job. My sister currently lives with our grandmother in our real house. Every month, I have to send money to them…"

After remembering those things, Rom realized that there was no problem with his mental state. He was still able to think correctly and clearly.

Rom remembers he borrowed a book from the school library. The book has a fantasy-like element. Their teacher made them create a unique story, so he wanted to get ideas out of it.

Their score depends on the goodness of the story. That news— is a bad news for him. His marks were initially not high. If he got a low score in this assignment, it could be the reason for his failure to graduate in high school. If he could not pass this school year, his life would be s*ck in the coming years.

The pressure he felt was too heavy.

When he got home to his boarding house he immediately worked his homework. He also read the borrowed book from library so he could get a good idea for his story assignment.

But, alas, it's not that easy to make a story. Rom finds it difficult to continue what he had started. There were many things he finds difficult to emphasize. Like how the world works in his story. He also finds it difficult to show how everyone feels in such a situation. Although he has a lot of experience reading different kinds of novels, he is not a seasoned writer and he does not have even the slightest experience in writing.

However, he cannot fail this time. He has to finish it no matter what happens. His ascending to a university depends on this assignment.

But, in the end, after re-reading the story he wrote, he thinks the story was still lacking. He was not satisfied with it. As he read it, he felt no excitement.

*Sigh!*

A deep sigh left his mouth.

The characters lack emotion and real feelings. He thought maybe it would be better if he was right there in the story. To see and feel every detail there.

Rom rested for a moment when he felt tired. He also noticed that it was already late at night. On top of that, his stomach which he had previously ignored was furiously complaining.

When he looked at his food storage he saw that it was empty. Rom remembers that he forgot to buy at the grocery store he passed when he walked home this afternoon.

He just went straight to his place of residence because for a reason that it was still early. And that he still has plenty of time to buy, so maybe he would just buy it later.

He never thought he would forget the time. But, that was a lie. He truly thought it might happen, but he still followed the habit of just leaving what can be done now for later because he still had time. Because of that mindset, he was now bothered. So, in the end, he had to go out to buy groceries because he could do nothing else.

Fortunately, there was a shop that was open 24/7. Wearing his blue tracksuits with yellow on some areas, he went outside. The tracksuits was paired with a pair of ordinary slippers only.

Taking a walk at night was actually convenient to him. The surroundings were calm. Not as much noise as in the morning. The surroundings were also quite cold, giving him chill and a little comfort. Because he only focused on his laptop from afternoon to midnight with no acceptable result in his hard work, he was a bit depressed and stressed at the moment, so he was a bit looking for self-comfort.

"Hah~"

He let out a big sigh again.

"Writing a story is hard for a newbie," Rom said in a dispirited tone.

At that moment, when he passed by a dying street lamp, suddenly, in an inexplicable situation, he arrived at his current situation.

Like magic, he found himself surrounded by trees. Those trees were like pine trees. But they also look different. If you look closely you would see a big difference.

In particular, they have no thin, sharp leaves like the pine trees. Their leaves are thick and round. Among those trees, there was one that looked more different from the others.

Although the shape was similar to the others, it could be seen to be taller and larger than the others. And it would also be noticed that it seems to shine a little.

'What kind of tree is that?' Rom asked in his mind as he caught sight of it.

Maybe because he was curious about it, he approached it. It was only a few steps away from where he was standing so he reached it quickly.

When he stood in front of it he was even more amazed at the size and height of the tree. He also felt a strange feeling. His body hair stands on end.

"What kind of tree is this? And why am I feeling this?" He asked again. But this time the words came out of his mouth. Rom's eyebrows suddenly furrowed at that moment. He noticed that his voice sounded different. He also felt some pains in some parts of his body. There was also a taste of blood in his mouth.

He wanted to find out more about why his situation was like that. But, all of a sudden, he suddenly heard a voice.

"What!? You're still alive?" The voice sounded surprised. But there's a problem. He could not understand it.

"Wha!" Rom freaked out.

He quickly turned around and back. But he did not spot anyone around him who could be the source of the voice.

The voice seemed to be from the tired old person. Rom couldn't figure out the gender because the voice was a bit mysterious.

"Who's talking?" He asked.

But no one responded to him.

Since he couldn't see anyone else around, he thought that maybe he was just imagining it. Rom felt the movement of the mysterious tree so he looked back at it. He also felt a slight shaking of the ground.

He saw that something seemed to be opening in its trunk.

Rom's eyes widened as he stared at the tree. He saw that slowly there was a forming image in its trunk.

'A human's face!?' Rom cried out in shock.

Now it has a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Rom felt so scared. He wanted to run away but he couldn't for some inexplicable reason.

As the mouth of the mysterious tree opened he again heard the mysterious voice earlier. "I see. I seem to underestimate your resolve…"

He could not be wrong. It was the same voice he had heard just a while ago.

"That's the one who spoke earlier?" With widened eyes, Rom said to himself when he realized the source of it. However, just as he expected. He could not understand its language.

The tree continued saying, "But, as I say, you can't match my wisdom. There's no hope you'll get the Spiritual Sapling of a 100,000-years-old Wisdom Tree. Just come back after a hundred thousand years, child!" The voice sounded so haughty, albeit he could not understand what it was saying.

"Eh?"

Rom looked stunned. But a second later, he started exclaiming.

"100,000-years-old Wisdom Tree?"

"Spiritual Sapling?"

"This sounds like straight from a cultivation-type novel!"

At that moment, he heard a strange noise from the tree.

"Buwah!"

The tree seemed to have been struck by strong lightning as if it had experienced a sudden tribulation.

Rom blinked his eyes in wonder.

"Wha— what kind of language is this?!" The tree exclaimed with a visible nosebleed.