Part IV Huanlong and Tree of World

Lazuro felt a gentle breeze caress his face. Warm sunlight filtered through his eyelids and woke the black-haired boy from sleep. When opened eyes, Lazuro found himself lying on the lap of a green-haired girl. The girl seemed to be stroking Lazuro hair with a smile.

"Who are you?" Lazuro Asked.

“We finally meet,” said the girl softly.

The girl's voice made Lazuro stand up immediately.

""That voice... are you the girl who spoke to me when I was near death? Wait, does that mean I'm dead? What happened actually?

The girl smiled but did not answer Lazuro's question; instead, she floated away. She gently touched Lazuro's face while making a sad expression. On closer inspection, she revealed a beauty that Lazuro had never seen before.

"Son of Adam, you have consumed the power of the forbidden tree. After that, there will only be suffering for you. However, you will gain everything if you overcome it. So what do you want to do with that power? Do you want to become a ruler or the saviour of mankind?" The Girl Asked.

“I don’t understand what you mean. If you ask what I want most is…”

Lazuro opened his eyes and found himself lying in a woven fur blanket inside the tent. Lazuro groaned and felt a strong dizziness in his head. He stood up and realised that Tristan and Aicelia were sit next to him.

“Lazuro!” Aicelia immediately hugged Lazuro.

“What happened, Aicelia?” Lazuro asked.

“You don’t remember?” Tristan asked.

 Lazuro had just realised that Aicelia had now hugged him. His face turned red and he reflexively pushed Aicelia away.

“I ... I’m sorry.” Lazuro lowered his head.

“No, I was the one who wrong hugged you first.” Aicelia’s face flushed.

“What is this? Am I watching a romantic opera? Aren’t you two a bit too close?” Tristan furrowed his brow.

“It’s not time to worry about that. More importantly, I didn’t expect you to have a Mythbreaker.” Aicelia looked interested.

“Mythbreaker?” Lazuro tilted his head.

“Yes,” Aicelia handing Lazuro the staff.  “You were incredible last night. You killed the burning T-Rex with single blow.”

“That’s right,” Tristan interrupted. “What the hell is this power you have? Where did you get that weird mythbreaker anyway?”

Lazuro stared at the cursed staff, his mind racing back to the events of last night. He immediately grabbed his left chest and back and then realized that all the wounds on his body had disappeared. Lazuro looked at Tristan and Aicelia, who were still waiting for the answer.

“I don’t know; I didn’t know this staff was a mythbreaker. I don’t even know how my wounds healed.” Lazuro bowed his head.

“Never mind ... never mind ... don’t think too much about it. You’re the hero who saved us. Now get up, because Uncle James and Paul have ordered us to call you when you wake up!”

Lazuro finally got up, and after changing clothes, he walked to the main tent where Paul and James were waiting. Inside the tent, Paul and James seemed to be discussing something. However, they fell silent as Lazuro and the others entered the tent.

“Tristan, Aicelia, you two wait outside the tent! We want to talk to Lazuro in private.”

Tristan and Aicelia left the tent, leaving Lazuro alone. Paul stood up and bit his thumb, then took a feathered bow from the table and smeared it with blood. A hairy tendril of flesh grew from the front of the bow and pierced Paul’s neck. James did the same with the shield he was holding, and a hairy tendril also pierced James’ neck.

“What are you doing?” Lazuro backed away fearfully.

“Don’t worry, kid. We won’t do anything if you cooperate.” James stood behind Lazuro and blocked his exit from the tent.

“Wha ... did I do something wrong? Why did you have to do this?” Lazuro raised his mythbreaker.

“You better put your Mythbreaker away, or we’ll have to do something unnecessary. Actually, we’d like to take it, but my daughter is ... never mind. Just put it down and answer our question. Are you friend or foe?” Paul created an arrow out of ice and pointed it at Lazuro.

“Friend or foe—”

A cold ice arrow grazed Lazuro's neck, drawing blood. Lazuro knelt down, clutching his bleeding neck, groaning in pain. His cursed staff rolled toward James. James didn't waste the opportunity to step on Lazuro's staff.

“W—why, what did I do wrong?” Lazuro asked with a hoarse voice.

“No, you're not. In fact, we're grateful for your help in killing the Burning T-rex, which should only be defeated by a party of five adults. Therefore, please explain your origins and the strange plant mythbreaker you're holding!” James asked again.

Lazuro swallowed, looking at James and Paul in turn. Seeing their expressions, Lazuro immediately knew that he would surely be killed if he gave a careless answer. Lazuro took a deep breath and then exhaled.

“Actually, I’m not from this world. My world is practically another place, a place different from yours. There are no monsters there, and humans live peacefully. We even abandoned hunting and live by farming and raising livestock.”

Paul fired another ice arrow, but this time it missed, and the arrow stuck in the ground.

“Please, I’m not lying. I don’t know why I’m here either. It’s all those three bastards’ fault. If only they hadn’t bullied me… if only they… please, I just want to go home.” Lazuro knelt down, tears welling in his eyes.

Seeing Lazuro kneeling desperately, James and Paul exchanged glances and nodded.

“Stand up!” James shouted.

Shakily, Lazuro stood up, staring at the two men with very serious expressions on their faces.

“What do you think, Paul?” James asked.

“I don’t know, James. I don’t think this kid is lying. But… that other world is a bit…”

“Looks like we’ll have to take him and discuss this with the king. For now, we’ll let you go. But we’ll confiscate your Mythbreaker for the time being.” James approached Lazuro, placing his strong arm around Lazuro’s shoulders. “And if you mess around, we’ll kill you on the spot!”

Lazuro's body trembled violently, filled with fear. Lazuro could only nod, indicating that he understood James' threat.

"Okay, you can go out! Tell Aicelia that we're going to Huanlong because our hunting quota has been met."

As soon as Lazuro left the tent, he found everyone already prepared. Besides taking down the tent and making food before leaving, Lazuro could see the burning T-rex corpse already in a large cage. Aaron was staring intently at the Burning T-rex's cage. Lazuro stared at the burning T-rex's halved corpse, still in disbelief that he had done this. He stepped toward the cage, and Aaron, noticing Lazuro's presence, immediately stepped away.

"Did I really do this?" Lazuro touched the cage.

"You're quite the scrawny guy," Aaron said suddenly.

Lazuro stepped back, remembering Aaron's unpleasant treatment yesterday.

“Why are you so scared? You even split this creature in half. You must know me. I’m Aaron Dirk. With your powers, we could make a great team.” Aaron held out his hand.

“That…” Lazuro awkwardly grasped Aaron’s hand. “Please help me.”

“Good, you should choose who you befriend. Instead of wasting time with losers who don’t have a Mythbreaker, you’d be better off with me and my group.”

“What do you mean, Tritan?” Lazuro asked, confirming.

“Yes, he’s just a stupid, useless noble who wasn’t even chosen by the Mythbreakers.” Aaron burst out laughing.

Lazuro immediately released his grip. For some reason, Lazuro’s heart was boiling with anger. After all, Lazuro had seen and been moved by Tristan’s courage.

“Can you stop your stupid laughter?” Lazuro stared at Aaron.

“What did you say?”

Despite his anger, Aaron somehow retreated after seeing Lazuro's sharp gaze.

“Tristan is the bravest man I've ever seen. I know you also bravely faced that burning T-rex. But Tristan… even though he doesn't have a mythbreaker, he still charges forward fearlessly. He's no less than you!”

“You loser, you'll definitely regret rejecting my offer.” Aaron spat on the ground and left.

Lazuro sighed in relief and turned around. Behind him stood Aicelia and Tristan, their faces flushed. As soon as they met, Lazuro and Tristan immediately looked away awkwardly. Aicelia held her cheek and smiled, happy to have witnessed this amusing scene.

***

After riding for about two hours, the hunting party Lazuro was with finally reached the shore. The horse-drawn carriage stopped, and James was seen talking with several people there. Lazuro looked out from the carriage and saw a sight that nearly made his jaw drop.

"M—monster, are we going to fight a monster that big?" Lazuro swallowed hard.

Lazuro couldn't quite make out the monster's appearance in front of the carriage. He could only make out a sturdy, triangular-finned tail. The monster itself was enormous, its body the size of Mount Everest.

"What do you mean fight? It's Huanlong, the patron god of us 'turtelians,'" Tristan explained.

"Protector god?" Lazuro tried to confirm.

"That's right; legend says that humanity was nearly wiped out by the beasts. That's when the hero, Lord Alaire Ignis, came to share his knowledge of the Mythbreaker and invite the remaining humans to live under the guardian god Huanlong. It's said that the knowledge of the Mythbreaker was passed down directly to Lord Alaire from the god Huanlong.”

Lazuro gave him a serious look, as if questioning Tristan's seriousness.

“I'm completely serious. If you don't believe me, just ask Aicelia.”

Aicelia nodded, and at that moment, Lazuro fell down like a liquid.

“Don't worry, there's something even more amazing than this, and I want to show it to you.”

The carriage started again, and out of curiosity, Lazuro poked his head out of the carriage again. He saw the carriage treading on a wooden bridge and landing on its tail, its skin textured with golden hues.

“This is absolutely insane.”

“Then… what about your own home? Is the underworld so amazing?” Tristan asked suddenly.

“Well… I'm not actually from the underworld. My place of origin…”

Lazuro finally told us everything about Japan, from delicious curry to cars, planes, computers, and the newly developed AI technology. Halfway through, Tristan interrupted and pointed outside. Lazuro looked in the direction Tristan was pointing and couldn't believe what he saw.

"What the hell is that!"

A large tree towered so high that its top was hidden.

"You see, we're now at the edge of the world. That tree is located in the center of the world, and we call it the World Tree. Legend has it that the gods reside there, and those who can reach the World Tree will have all their wishes granted," Tristan explained.

Lazuro looked at the cursed staff he was carrying, then at the World Tree. The young man finally remembered his dream from that morning. Perhaps the cursed staff and his dream about the woman and the World Tree were connected.

"The fruit of the forbidden tree. Yes, that's what the woman said. Maybe if I go there... I want to go there." Lazuro looked at Tristan.

"Amazing, I knew you were brave. No one tries to go there because the deeper you go, the stronger the beasts become. My dream is to become stronger and go to the world tree. Someday, I will definitely do it."

Lazuro and Tristan gazed at the world tree together with strong determination in their hearts.