Re-Awakening: I Became a Pay To Win Boss Monster

Chapter 978: Apple Tree

The moment Rael got out of the portal Gaia made, he was surprised to see the village before him. It was oddly familiar, and yet, with so many structures made primarily out of wood and carved into trees, it also felt very distant.

After all, he had never seen such thick trees before. Just imagining how many houses he could build from even one of these trees was enough for Rael’s kingdom-building mentality to get a boner.

As for Gaia though, who had been reading his thoughts patiently, she merely let out a chuckle. Truth be told, the only reason she even thought of this place to begin with was because of what had happened when she was trying to regain her memories.

Some of her memories showed the future, while some showed a distant past. But in one of the memories, she saw herself sleeping with Rael, and it was in this exact elven village.

Naive she may be in the harrows of love, she was a bit expectant. Maybe all he needed was a little nudge to be a bit more romantic? It was stupid, she knew that, but deep down, she was indeed interested in romance.

And so, if this little hint was enough to set him on the right track and make her fall for him, then she was ready. Alas, as she glanced at him, noticing his critiquing look on the architecture of this place, Gaia felt like the only thing she could really interest him with was the history of this place.

"Ahem. You don’t seem very pleased," Gaia pointed out.

Rael shrugged, turning to her. "To be honest, this place reminds me of the one place where we hooked up."

"Really..." Gaia rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe it is? Who knows? Speaking of places where we hooked up, this is actually the place where I planted my first ever tree. It may be silly, but before I became Gaia, I wasn’t that special."

Rael raised a brow. "You keep telling me different stories every time I ask. So which one is the real you?"

Pondering over it for a moment, Gaia replied:

"The real me is someone who saw power, took it, and didn’t regret it for a moment. You see, such power was handed to me from a being who was on the verge of death, and I, as his lone successor, took up the mantle, as well as Yggdrasil."

She paused. "Well... That’s not really accurate. He was Yggdrasil, but after he passed, I became Yggdrasil. In a way, it is a weak spot. If anyone ever destroys Yggdrasil, I will die."

Rael nodded slowly. "My condolences. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t die, because I’ll also make sure that no one can even get close to Yggdrasil."

Of course, he was dead-set on making sure everyone was okay. Even now... Though Rael couldn’t feel it much, he knew that the form he took, the one that granted him such immense power and control, was now passively on at the same time.

If he were to dissociate for even a moment, he could tap into that power and do whatever he wanted, except... Since he was the only one left out of thousands, that power was further enhanced several millionfold.

So by now, due to some random coincidences, Rael became the strongest being in all of reality. And of course, as the strongest being in reality, if he couldn’t protect his own interests, then what kind of person was he?

Speaking of good people though... Rael did forget to unfreeze the time of Uriel’s world. He said he’d do it... Oh well, better late than never.

With a single thought, Uriel’s time resumed, and now, tomorrow’s dinner was still tomorrow. So if he forgot it now, it’d be a little...

"For someone so powerful, you sure are absent-minded," Gaia said.

Rael sighed. "My bad. And I do intend to keep my promises. Oh, and sorry for thinking of this place as... well, not that good. It’d explain why the trees are so impressive if you were the one who planted them."

Gaia smiled. "Nope. I didn’t do any of that. These trees grow with time, and they even become thicker. All I did was plant that."

She pointed at one tree in particular, and comparing that tree to what was around it felt a little bit odd. After all, it was just some ordinary apple tree, surrounded by a fence and guarded tightly by several dozen guards.

On one side, they respected the person who planted this tree. On another, when Rael focused on the apples that grew on that tree, he realized that they had some odd effect of increasing vitality.

Only then did Rael kind of understand one thing. Elves lived long, but some lived longer than others. These elves in particular seemed like some who could live for ages. Actually, Rael could just directly check by glancing at the biological data that was within their bodies.

But for starters, he decided to do it old-school style. And just by getting a rough estimate, the average age was 4,500 years old. And those at that age looked in their early 20s. He couldn’t see many of the old people, but those that had gray hair or a wrinkle were in their late 20,000s.

So yeah, judging by that, their lifespan was well above 50,000 years old. Finally, he decided to check with his new powers, and to his surprise, he was way, way off.

<Nature Elf - Average Lifespan: 195,205 years.>

<Nature Elf - Lifespan Potential: 275,000 years.>

Yeah...

This guy with a wrinkle should probably see a therapist. This was akin to getting a beard as a toddler. No way should something like that happen.

Rael shook his head in disappointment, then turned back to Gaia, who was confidently admiring her apple tree.

He felt bad, realizing that he had only just been meandering and not paying her any attention.

But then, he decided to change that.