By the time the twentieth revolution around the Sun, I finally saw a second emotion on Mimi’s face, different from the pity she showed towards me earlier. It was surprise! I guess I was right given that now, the plant-life on Midgard was evolving at a stupidly fast pace.
Judging by how things were going, we were on the right path for sure. Why so certain? Because, just like E pointed out, the outer film covering Midgard was now a sky-blue instead of the light color from before. That meant that the quality of the atmosphere, as well as the oxygen levels were stabilizing and improving alongside the vegetation.
However…
“Mia, isn’t the oxygen level increasing a bit too fast?”
[It is master… I ran the simulations and by the time we reach the biomass goal, the atmosphere will be toxic for animals and humans alike…](Mia)
“Shit!”
“Well great… Now the end can arrive even faster!”
[This shouldn’t happen… There must be a way out of this. After all, something similar happened to Earth, right Mia?](E)
[…](Mia)
[Why is this child ignoring me again!?](E)
“Wait E! I don’t think that’s what she’s doing this time… Mia, what’s wrong?”
Leaving aside the snowballing growth of the World Tree, it confused me to see Mia ignore me as well. Something must’ve happened to make this child so unfocused… Also, why is the atmosphere reversing back to the right type of color?
“MIA!” – I shouted
[…yes master?](Mia)
“Are you okay love? What happened? The atmosphere was green a second ago and now is going back to blue slowly… What’s going on?”
[I… I don’t know master…](Mia)
“Eh!?”
Both me and Eternity were utterly stupefied by the answer. I mean, you wouldn’t expect for an all knowing AI to give back THAT reply…
Leaving aside the fact that I was officially scared shitless, I realized why she was so confused. Having knowledge of everything that happened on Earth and seeing these changes occur, but not knowing why, must’ve surprised her quite a bit as well.
Huh!? Wait… the changes that occurred on Earth?
“Of course! How could I have missed that? I should’ve known the moment that word was mentioned. Take a look you two!”
I brought up the Oxygen description interface and had the girls look at it. With one glance, one could tell that it was a horribly bad situation
[And what exactly are we looking at? The fact that it’s almost twice the time of the required target?](E)
[I’m sorry master… I don’t understand how this happened. All my calculations…](Mia)
“Ugh… both of you just keep quiet for a moment and watch the growth!”
After another day passed, the Growth decreased by one unit. It might not be a lot, however the fact that it was decreasing was more important than anything.
[???](E)
[Master, what did you do?](Mia)
“It’s not me… It’s the World Tree. There’s a reason why this was something Mia couldn’t foresee: mana!”
[What about it?](E)
“Think! There was no mana involved in the creation or evolution of Earth! No World Tree either! So…”
[…so, of course she won’t know about it. But Michael, if your world had mana, it would’ve certainly evolved already. That much I know for certain and it hasn’t done anything of sorts…](E)
“That’s because it’s not Midgard’s mana that’s affecting Mia’s calculations. It’s the World Tree’s!”
[I must admit that I don’t get it…](E)
[Me neither master…](Mia)
“It’s kind of hard to explain, but you know how in the description of it, it says that the tree ‘controls’ mana?”
[Yes…](both)
“But it didn’t have that to begin with once it was planted. It acquired it once it grew! Meaning that it did improve and that function was added…”
“See? Look! Exactly like I was saying, it acquired that option with its growth and it keeps improving it. Think about it! It’s the World Tree! The tree that controls over all forms of life in the world, not just plants! That means that…”
“…that it also controls and regulates everything else! Is like a natural control tower for airborne traffic. It directs all things according to the planet’s evolutionary path that we select.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[So, when master focused on oxygen and pressure to create the atmosphere of Midgard, even if it was planted afterwards, the world was already developing in that direction, so the tree naturally followed. Is that the case master?](Mia)
“Correct!”
Oh! It feels quite nice to be the smartest one in the room (or divine domain) for a change! Hehe…
[And now that it sees that the atmosphere became poisonous to the plants as well, it developed a way to combat that?](E)
“Not exactly combat it. It’s more like, use it… First off, the oxygen was boosted greatly and its concentration went ridiculously high, as you can see, therefore it means that the plants thrived by using it as food, further developing. Secondly, it spread its own ‘influence’ across the planet, in order to regain control over the wild and rampaging vegetation, all in order to limit and consume the excess oxygen.”
[So, what? Will it continue to devour the oxygen until it goes back to normal levels?](E)
“Yes and no! I’m not entirely sure at this point and it’s more of a theory to be honest, but I might be able to confirm it after another 40 years pass on Midgard. Mia?”
[Acknowledged! Fast-forwarding 40 years…](Mia)
It might’ve been only a theory at this point, however it did make sense for me. Why? Because, in every game I played and every novel I’ve read, mana was a force that can be gathered from the air around one’s body, earth, etc, etc… So, what if the World Tree’s function is not only to control, but also to create or convert?
What if it could either by itself, or by using the rest of the world’s plants and vegetation, could convert oxygen into mana? Would it be harder to imagine mana as being an actual gas created because of the oxygen concentration being too high and chemical reactions with the other gases, rather than some mystic stuff?
And now since the control has been perfected, it’s time to see what’s above it. This would either prove or disapprove my theory, both cases working just fine.
All that matters is to find a path to navigate through these unsailed waters.
Patience is the key… Also, the oxygen growth plummeted to almost zero. This is looking good!
“Come on... make it happen!”
“BOOYAH! Take that! Hahahahah! Can’t believe I was actually right about it!”
[Dear me! It’s actually like you’ve said… I might fall behind you a little once the game starts, but getting mana in less than 100 years without buying anything from the store, making it a huge impact on my world’s development. Thank you for the gift!](E)
[Congratulations master!](Mia)
“What do you mean Mia?” –I asked confused
“…oh…”
[Wow… is getting hard to watch without getting jealous. What’s the achievement about?](E)
I think I could understand her a little. I mean, I get that the other Gods didn’t want to spend a ton of time dealing with the creation of a world from scratch, given that they could just buy it outright. However, I’m willing to bet my newly gained mana that if they knew what they lost, they’d surely fly into a rage!
Not to mention that…
“Kind of self-explanatory. By the looks of it, you will be the second to get that E.”
[Thanks to you! Take a look at the ‘mana’ entry. It will help both you and this child understand better how it works.](E)
That was rather cryptic and it implied the fact that she already does. Weren’t her powers to see into the future supposed to be sealed? How much did she ‘see’, before the game began?
But she’s right about one thing at least: from here onward is pretty much uncharted territory for both myself and Mia. Yeah, I might’ve played a couple of games, read a couple of novels and as result I got lucky about figuring out the whole mana-World Tree situation. But all that doesn’t give nearly enough to work with.
“Let’s take a look, shall we?”
[Eh!?](E)
“Huh!? What's wrong Eternity?”
[…it’s different!](E)
“What’s different? What do you mean?”
[It’s different from what I remember from the future! Is not possible to have dungeons naturally appear like fruits on a tree… You literally had to buy them. Also, you had to select and buy the monsters within as well…](E)
“Okay… maybe is because of the World Tree?”
[Not the case! There were at least 150 players that owned a World Tree by the time the Auction House store was opened. It’s more like, the future itself is changing… I think it’s different than before because the strings are intermixed. Haah…Who knew your title would be so appropriate…](E)
“I’m sorry? My title?”
[As a God of Chaos! Michael, your presence in the game changed everything!](E)
“What do you mean E? Wasn’t I there before as well?”
[Don’t you get it? You weren’t in the future I saw! That’s why I was surprised to see you! Didn’t the administrator send you back in time?](E)
“Yeah…”
[Now, think of that future you came from as a string. The present is another…](E)
“You mean that…”
[We’re walking a different path already! I should’ve noticed sooner since I already decided to go with demons instead of humans. Previously I had only humans, but I blamed the sudden change of heart on me just playing along with you. Now I know that the administrator made some changes once he sent you here… I know that you decided to begin an alliance with me because of my knowledge of the future Michael…](E)
“Aethernithas, it’s not…”
[Is okay Michael, I don’t mind. If I wouldn’t want that, I wouldn’t be here anymore. However, the fact that so many things might change, I don’t know how useful I can be to you. Plus that I already decided to go with demons…](E)
“Is that a bad thing? Going with demons?”
[Bad? No! It’s excellent! Not only is it fair for you since the others have no idea of the change, but it’s fair for me as well since I have some knowledge, but no idea what will happen next! The game won’t be scale tilted! I can’t see the future anymore because you keep playing with probabilities! Unconsciously, of course, but the result is still the same!]
Leaving aside the fact that my future ally might be a bit wrong in the head, the fact just my presence altered the game entirely, doesn’t sit right with me.
If I’m sure of one thing, is that my Chaos-senses are reacting to what she said. That means that there’s more to this than what she mentioned. I mean yeah, a new player entirely in the game might affect the flow and send it into a different direction.
However, just with me alone picking the Manual Mode and getting these kind of rewards out of a total of 1000 players and not any type of players, but actual Gods? That smells like foul play to me. I’m certain that there’s something the Reaper did… however if what Aethernithas said it’s true, then it certainly means that he has a reason for doing this. And that, I dislike even more since he basically used me…
