Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 699: World Tree, Invincible Within The Domain Of Florathi

Isaac could not believe his eyes. He had a hard time understanding what he was seeing because no matter how many times he looked at it, his mind still struggled to accept what was in front of him.

There was a city ahead of them. That much was obvious, but the strange part was that the entire city had been built on a branch. The branch was so thick that it almost looked like a mountain, making it difficult for Isaac to even call it a branch without feeling that the word was inadequate.

Beyond the massive branch stood the World Tree, along with countless other branches extending from it. However, except for the branch directly in front of them, Isaac could not see the rest of the tree clearly because everything beyond it appeared blurred and distorted.

The strangest part was how the city appeared to exist directly in front of him despite being incredibly high above the ground. Isaac knew that it had to be somewhere far above them, yet when he looked toward the city gates, it felt as though he could simply walk forward and reach them without having to climb anything.

He tried looking toward the lower branches and the base of the tree, but he could not see them at all. The distorted space made it impossible for him to properly understand the distance or height involved, and the effect was dizzying even with his spatial perception.

Yet despite all of this, a sense of amazement filled his heart. He had never thought he would see something as beautiful as this.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?" Althea asked with a smile. Isaac could not tell if he was imagining it, but there seemed to be a hint of smugness in her voice, as though she had been waiting for him to finally be surprised by something.

"The tree you can sense is the World Tree. The reason the city appears to be directly in front of us, despite being on one of its branches, is because the World Tree can warp space, and in fact, all the cities in Florathi Kingdom are built on its branches," Althea explained as they continued walking forward.

Isaac kept walking while listening to her explanation. Alice seemed fascinated by the strange surroundings, while Celia looked almost as though her eyes were shining from excitement, but Emily was having a much harder time dealing with the warped space and gradually moved closer until she was holding onto Isaac’s hand.

"I-Isaac," Emily said as she tightened her grip. Her voice carried a little tension, and Isaac could tell that the distortion was making it difficult for her to maintain her usual sense of balance.

Isaac smiled and gently patted her head before allowing her to continue holding onto him. He then looked toward Althea and asked, "How do the entrances to the cities in Florathi Kingdom work? I mean, how does the warped space affect them, and wouldn’t the Red Rain be a problem when the World Tree is this large?"

"The entrances to each city can only be accessed through several points of weakened space that the World Tree has created. It is also said that the World Tree can open and close those entrances whenever it wants, so if it decides to make the warped space difficult to cross, approaching a city can become extremely difficult," Althea explained.

She continued speaking as they walked, giving Isaac a better understanding of how the cities were protected. "Unless you are powerful enough to shatter space itself, like a powerful Awakener or a monster of sufficient strength, you cannot simply force your way through the warped space and reach a city. As for the World Tree, it is obviously very large because it can support the entire Florathi Kingdom. However, it is not actually large enough for a dozen cities to be within ordinary viewing distance of one another, and the warped space simply makes the World Tree appear much larger than it really is."

She added, "Since the actual World Tree is not excessively large, the devices left behind by our ancestors are capable of protecting it from the Red Rain. Those devices have been maintained for generations, so the Red Rain has not been able to cause any serious problems for the tree."

Isaac smiled wryly when she described the World Tree as not excessively large. The damn thing could hold an entire city on one of its branches, and that alone was enough to make him question what Florathi considered to be large.

Moreover, each city in Florathi Kingdom was fused with three Tier 1 Cities and four Tier 2 Cities, meaning that every individual city was already enormous. Thinking about all of those cities existing across the branches of a single tree made Isaac realize just how different Florathi Kingdom was from anywhere he had previously visited.

The group continued moving forward, and Isaac could clearly sense that they were traveling through a warped section of space. His spatial perception allowed him to notice the distortions around them, although even that ability could not completely make sense of what the World Tree was doing to their surroundings.

Emily stayed close to him as they continued walking. She normally floated around on her own, but her flight had become unstable inside the warped space, so Isaac decided that it would be better to help her rather than allow her to struggle with maintaining her balance.

He used Telekinesis and strengthened it with Aura before gently wrapping the power around her body. The invisible force acted like a cocoon around Emily, supporting her movements without restricting them and allowing her to remain stable despite the strange distortions.

"Thank you," Emily said, looking somewhat relieved now that she no longer had to fight against the warped space. Isaac simply smiled at her and gave her head another gentle pat.

"Don’t mind it," Isaac replied before turning his attention back toward the path ahead. Emily remained close to him, seemingly content to let him handle the strange effects of the World Tree.

Suddenly, the space around them twisted. Isaac’s body tensed slightly as the surroundings shifted, but there was no violent impact, and before he could fully understand what had happened, the group was standing on a massive branch.

Isaac looked around with some surprise. The branch beneath their feet was so wide that it could almost be mistaken for a plain, and the city entrance was now only about a hundred meters away from them.

"Mhm?" Althea tilted her head as she looked around. Her expression showed that she was just as confused by their sudden arrival as Isaac was.

"Is there some problem?" Isaac asked while observing her reaction. He could sense that something about their arrival had caught her attention.

"We appeared here quite quickly," Althea said, her confusion deepening as she looked toward the surrounding space. "Did the World Tree stabilize the space for us? No, that cannot be right because there are far too many entrances for the World Tree to pay attention to a specific one."

Althea’s words gradually turned into a mutter as she tried to figure out what had happened. Isaac was about to ask her another question when a faint green glow suddenly emerged from the ground beneath him.

Isaac immediately became alert. The green light rose around his body and gently twisted through the air, and although it did not feel particularly threatening, he instinctively prepared himself in case something unexpected happened.

Before Isaac could move, the green light suddenly gathered in front of him. A soft popping sound followed, and a small figure appeared directly in his path.

Isaac stared at the creature in silence. It had yellowish skin, two bat-like wings but yellow in color, four limbs, and an underbelly covered in green scales, while its large green eyes made it look more curious than dangerous.

It resembled some kind of dragon descendant, although there was something strangely cute about it that made the comparison difficult to take seriously. Two tiny horns, similar to those of a young deer, rested on its head, and the entire creature was only about as large as Isaac’s abdomen.

"Greetings, Isaac Hargraves. I’m Eloy Mirano, the Second Priest," the small figure said in a gentle voice.

"Greetings, Second Priest. I’m Isaac Hargraves, pleased to meet you," Isaac replied, keeping his expression calm as he studied the strange creature in front of him.

"Haha, I’ve heard your name many times, and I’ve wanted to meet you for quite a while. Please come inside. This is not our main city, but we will still do our best to show you our hospitality, and there is no need to worry about the energy surrounding you. That energy is the blessing of the World Tree. It will protect you from various forms of harm and grant you unmatched strength while you are within our Florathi Domain. Because of what happened with the Third Priest, there may be people who try to harm you, so the World Tree has decided to give you its protection," Eloy said with an easy smile.