The Sapling

Snow stood in place for a while, watching the people run around with heavy materials in hand. They were like water, flowing around her smoothly amid chaos.

Dairen walked through with paper in hand. He glanced up and saw Snow standing in the hallway, looking lost.

"Snow?" Dairen walked over, glad to see that she was doing okay. "You're finally up."

"Yea." Snow was finally able to usher up some words. She came back to her senses. She was still shocked by the information that she was given by Falcon.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you." She stuttered.

"Good." The stress around Dairen was uplifted, and a smile dashed across his face.

For some reason, Snow felt uncomfortable by his gaze and smile, making her cheek slightly red. Even her heart palpitated, making her wonder if she had a fever.

"I want to show you something."

Dairen grabbed Snow's hand.

A shockwave of electricity erupted in her hand, causing her to want to take her hand back but stopped herself. He was holding on tightly a lot more than she expected.

They entered into an elevator as Dairen reached to press the topmost button. Alone and silent, Snow was having difficultly with the warmth that she felt on her hand. Throughout the ride, Dairen wouldn't let her hand go, nor did Snow even attempt to pull away. She just stood there still like a rock, staring in front of her as if she could bore a hole in the wall.

The door opened, allowing them to step out. Dairen took a step first, gently pulling her forward. They walked through a few doors. They arrived at the top floor, which Snow remembered as empty since they bought the building. It was completely empty from her last remembrance.

The final door was pushed open.

A glamorous ray of sunshine entered the room. It wasn't a small area; she didn't expect it to be so large. The last floor and the floor below was reconstructed into something completely different. At first, Snow was bedazzled by the amount of effort they have made to create such an extravagant place.

Gothic archways were present as the windows were changed into colorful speckled gems of glasses—each one decorated with extravagant pictures of different creatures. The center of the room was a dazzling clear pool connected to the very end, where a waterfall drizzled down on the wall.

In the middle of the pool was a barren white tree that Snow couldn't help but gape in wonder blazing with a black aura of death. Goosebump littered Snow's arm, making her wary of the tree before her. Something was wrong, she didn't know why such a tree was so dangerous, but her instincts were telling her that she needed to be careful.

It was completely drastic from death that was present, where living Small koi fish swam around the base of its roots, beautiful aquatic plants were neatly arranged. Even the pond's exterior was a handful of benches lined perfectly along with the foliage, creating a serene feel.

"Is this a Yggdrasil sapling?" Snow was dumbstruck at what she was seeing. To see a legendary tree growing on the top floor of a building was unheard of. But she had never seen the Yggdrasil tree burning black with dark energy. Why was that? "Where did you guys even get this? No, how?"

Dairen nodded his head, reassuring her of it. "At the last dungeon. It was one of the prizes from defeating the dungeon core."

Walking forward, Snow raised up her hand to touch the tree. She stopped halfway, wondering if she would harm the tree if she even dared to touch it. It was as if she was called to handle it, and she didn't want to say no.

"We planted it the moment we came back." Dairen continued onwards, "We even brought a special water for the tree to grow in. That pond is actually filled with mana."

Snow had reached up and touched a branch of the tree. The black energy that swayed around the tree became a fluttering excitement. It came out, wrapping around her hand. She felt a shocking dizzying effect as the magic from her body was spilling into the tree itself. It took a bit of effort to pull away. A bit drained and tired, she turned her head towards Dairen.

"This tree eats magic to grow, how are you feeding it?" Snow held her hand close to her chest. She had heard rumors that the Yggdrasil tree saplings were a voracious eater of magic when it was a sapling. After that, they would bloom to the point where they don't need magic and produce their own.

Dairen had come over to check up on her. "Simple," He rummaged through his pocket, pulling out a large monster core. With a flick of his finger, the core splashed into the water.

A soft blue glow of light erupted outwards, bringing with an aura around it. The monster core sizzled and bubbled, disappearing into the very tree itself.

"That's an expensive feed." Snow spoke out unconsciously. The one he had thrown was possibly an A-class monster core, and such high-level monster cores were known to be used to create strong weapons and armors.

"Yea. At first, we threw in the lower cores, but more and more higher-level cores were needed after it stopped absorbing it. At this rate, the A level monster cores would be useless, and it's going to need something stronger."

Snow couldn't help but gulp at the thought of how many cores that they have just thrown in the pool for the Yggdrasil tree to devour. Anything higher than an A was considered a mythical class of cores, and those weren't easy to find. Throwing such valuable cores into the same pond to feed Yggdrasil sounded crazy for anyone who understood those cores' value.

She could already hear Falcon's cursing at Dairen's thought throwing in the core for Yggdrasil to feed on.

"Why did you guys plant the tree here?" Snow asked the amount of soil and energy they need to keep Yggdrasil happy was pitiable here.

"Well, we got a quest actually to plant the seed here on the highest floor. I don't know why here, but it's what it wanted."

"That is a strange request."

"Yea, I thought so too. We tried at first planting into the soil, but it wouldn't grow…" Something about the way he said it seemed as if he was hiding something. She didn't know what, but she didn't push it any further. "We specially built this place for the tree and have been feeding it since then."

"So, it grew this quickly in a short amount of time?"

"Yea. It surprised me."

Snow was wondering why this was so. She sat down on the grassy floor. Taking a look as she was trying to decipher why this was happening.

Taking a seat next to her, Dairen crossed his legs.

"Mike tried pouring magic into the tree ourselves, but it wouldn't take it. I'm honestly surprised it took yours."

Snow snapped her head towards him. "Wait, I'm the only one which it took energy from?"

"Yes."

She believed him. It was the first thing she had to do when she pulled away from the tree itself. Now, she still felt the draw from the tree, which called to her to give it more magic. It was a subtle feeling, almost a demand in her mind.

For a while, she struggled. Struggled to fight against the draw of the magic that wanted to leave. She had to filter out the amount that she was willing to give, making her control even more precise than before.

It took a while as she sat down silently, closing her eyes and fighting against the voice. The tree didn't want her to fight back and was being much more pervasive than before. Finally, with great effort, the voices were quelled.

Snow opened up her eyes. The sunlight had gone down, bringing with it a moonlight that decorated the same tree, giving it a completely different feel. Something about it gave it a holy and ethereal look, making Snow wonder if the dark energy that she felt in the daylight was just a farce.

Now, she was swamped with divine energy that was healing her exponentially. It was as if it was a completely different tree. White leaves don the very barren tree, giving it a majesty look. Golden fireflies that Snow

Though, when she saw Dairen, he was shaking as he breathed in a bit of difficulty. He tried to keep himself calm. The dark energy in his body was being filtered out and being drawn into the Yggdrasil tree.

Startled at what she was seeing, she realized that the tree took more and more of his energy. He was turning pale, shaking, and sweating, trying to keep his magic in check. But as the seconds tick by, the worse it has gotten.

Without thinking, Snow's magical energy shot out from her. It hovered around Darien, creating a soft shield that helped damper out the energy that Yggdrasil was feeding.

Dairen's chest slumped forward with a soft sigh, allowing him to breathe a bit more easily.

The dark energy that was being siphoned away eventually disconnected, leaving Dairen with relief.

Snow couldn't help but feel a bit more at ease. The Yggdrasil tree was a magic eating machine, especially in its sapling stage. Her memory of her history resurfaces, finally remembering that the young sapling will take different magical powers during the different stages of the day.

She was unlucky to be drawn in this stage, but in exchange for meditating here at night, she felt a sharp increase in her magical control and even a bit of a boost of her own well of magic.

"Snow, could you break the barrier for a while. I would like to continue training."

With a nod, she understood what he was trying to do. With a pop, she allowed the barrier to break and allowed him to practice again.