Chapter 39
After traveling for quite some time while being carried by Baek Cheon-myeong,
Kang Ha-min left the Heavenly Spirit Medicinal Forest for the first time.
An unexpected sight appeared.
"It's white?"
An endlessly white space stretched before them,
just like the place they had first entered.
"It seems the Heavenly Spirit Medicinal Forest recreated from my memories only extended that far."
So Baek Cheon-myeong's entire world hadn't been recreated.
Kang Ha-min was once again reminded how strange this place truly was.
"Still, this seems suitable for planting the seed."
"It doesn't look like there's any nutrition in the soil. Will it really be okay?"
"It's an item given by the Tower."
"If it required additional conditions, the Tower would have given those as well."
Baek Cheon-myeong was practically an expert when it came to the Tower.
Kang Ha-min trusted him
and landed in a suitable area.
The ground was as white as snow.
Baek Cheon-myeong dug into it with his wooden sword.
The ground crumbled apart like sand.
They buried the Seed of the Cassia Tree there.
"Grow well."
Kang Ha-min had no idea what it would become,
but he hoped it would be useful.
As expected,
nothing immediately happened after they buried it.
Rumble.
Uh.
Never mind.
At first,
it was only a small tremor.
But soon,
the entire ground began shaking violently.
CRAAAAAAAAASH!
Before Kang Ha-min could react,
Baek Cheon-myeong grabbed him and flew into the sky.
"Whoa!"
Once Kang Ha-min finally stabilized his violently shaking vision,
he saw an enormous tree shooting upward from below.
Calling it simply "growing" wasn't enough.
It rose violently,
as though an enormous lifeform had finally awakened from sleep.
The ground split.
The surface shattered beneath the pressure of its roots.
Thick roots dug underground
and instantly stretched hundreds of meters,
then kilometers away.
The same thing happened above ground.
Every time the bark split,
new trunks burst outward.
Those trunks became branches.
Those branches divided into thousands more.
WHOOSH!
Then leaves appeared.
Tens of thousands of leaves bloomed like a storm
and covered the sky.
The enormous crown of the tree expanded
as though it could swallow an entire city.
Finally,
the growth stopped.
At the center of the Tower's hidden space,
an unimaginably massive tree stood.
[World Tree (世界樹)]
A tree whose size truly deserved that name.
"It's still quite small."
"That's small?!"
"Yes. It'll continue growing."
Baek Cheon-myeong landed on the ground.
The roots now covered the surface.
Each one was hundreds of times larger than a person.
Perhaps because it was too huge,
it actually felt less real.
Kang Ha-min stood blankly looking up at the World Tree.
Then he saw Ha Cheol-ryong running toward them from far away.
"Mr. Kang Ha-min! Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong!"
Kang Ha-min quickly pulled his mask on while still hidden within the shadow.
He still didn't want to show his face.
"Woof!"
Ha Cheol-ryong arrived together with Aji.
But there was also a strange child in his arms.
Was she a Returnee's child?
That was Kang Ha-min's first thought.
But she wasn't a newborn baby.
She looked around ten years old.
She was also wearing clothes he had never seen before.
"...A child?"
The moment Kang Ha-min questioned it,
his eyes slowly widened.
Could she be...
"...Dimensional Invitation Ticket?"
The reward he had received from the Ninth Floor.
It seemed its effect had finally activated.
The girl in Ha Cheol-ryong's arms
looked extremely noble.
Her pale golden hair fell to her waist.
A soft pink color tinted the ends,
reminding Kang Ha-min of ripe peach flesh.
Her pale skin was perfectly clean.
Because of her young age,
her facial features were small and soft.
She wore a pure white dress.
Golden thread formed detailed symbols across the chest and sleeves.
The skirt was made from several layers of thin silk.
A pure white cloak covered her shoulders.
A golden brooch shaped like a crown fastened the cloak around her neck.
"After that huge vibration, she suddenly fell from the sky."
According to Ha Cheol-ryong,
the girl had literally fallen out of the sky.
He had rushed over to report it.
A girl suddenly falling from the sky.
There was no doubt.
The Dimensional Invitation Ticket.
The ticket obtained as the Ninth Floor reward had finally activated.
"...More importantly, this is..."
Ha Cheol-ryong stared blankly at the World Tree.
Naturally,
he had never seen a tree this enormous before.
"Mr. Ha Cheol-ryong, the other Returnees are safe, right?"
"Ah, yes. Other than being startled by the shaking, everyone is fine."
"Sorry for surprising you. It should be fine now."
"No, no. If it's something you're doing, Mr. Kang Ha-min, how could us being surprised possibly matter?"
"Don't worry about us!"
After living in the Heavenly Spirit Medicinal Forest,
Ha Cheol-ryong had become extremely loyal to Kang Ha-min.
To him,
Kang Ha-min was the person who had given them a place to live.
Naturally,
he treated him with deep respect.
"So what should we do with this child?"
Kang Ha-min looked at the girl,
who seemed around ten years old,
and thought for a moment.
"Good question."
Honestly,
he had no idea.
A random child had suddenly fallen from the sky
as the reward from a Dimensional Invitation Ticket.
Of course he was confused.
Beside Kang Ha-min,
Baek Cheon-myeong also watched the girl.
"She feels strange."
"Feels strange?"
Baek Cheon-myeong's instincts were never ordinary.
If he said she felt strange,
