The Druid Who Devoured the Great Nature

“This path is one our elves have preserved.”

Amelia’s steps were bouncy as she led the way. Like an adult returning to their hometown after a long time, each step was filled with reminiscence.

“Before the cities were divided, that is, in the era I remember, this was the path used to communicate with the World Tree.”

“For such a meaningful path, it doesn’t look like it has been managed at all.”

“That’s what it was like back then. Now… if you ask the elders, most of them probably don’t even know it exists.”

After losing the World Tree, the elves chose to enjoy wealth and glory by colluding with the powers of the city. One couldn’t say that was wrong. The World Tree, before I awakened as a druid, was considered extinct for a long time, with so little information remaining that it was treated like a legend. It could be seen as a choice made to adapt to change.

However, for someone who remembered the old days, it must have been a bitter pill to swallow.

“So there won’t be any pursuers to follow me. I’m following the right direction by retracing my memories, but it’s complicated for someone who doesn’t know the way to find it.”

Amelia had introduced it as a safe path to the continent’s edge, but that was only relatively speaking. It was still a route that passed through the city’s borders, a region of extreme environments. Perhaps because we had left the most modernly developed Gellerg City, the desolation of the unpopulated area felt even more vivid.

“…”

However, when I looked back, the scenery of the path we had walked was changing. Around my footprints left on the ground, blades of grass and trees began to sprout. The gloomy sunlight also began to sparkle, as if a filter had been changed.

The phenomenon that occurred after the spirit cocoons hatched was unfolding with every step I took. It was a side effect of sorts that occurred after I had recovered all the spirit cocoons. My body was already half-human.

“It’s amazing no matter how many times I see it. To the eye, you’re a person, but to the senses, you’re completely the World Tree.”

So said the elven princess. I was now moving my body with the same sense I used to handle the World Tree. It felt like I had become a plant in human form.

I remembered worrying about what would happen to my body as the World Tree grew in its early stages. I was now vividly experiencing the answer to that question with my own body.

‘It’s not as uncomfortable as I thought.’

It wasn’t as grotesque as I had worried. In a world where there were plenty of humans who replaced their perfectly fine bodies with machines, this could be considered a unique trait.

If there was a part that concerned me, it was what would happen after arriving at the continent’s edge.

“What do you think will happen to my body when the World Tree regains its role as a barrier?”

“Well… there were druids like you who carried the World Tree in their bodies before.”

I recalled the corpse of the druid I found in the ruins. It meant there was a precedent like me.

“But that was more like carrying a clone of the World Tree in your body. The main body was still at the continent’s edge, where it should be.”

Was the druid used as a sort of terminal? Well, if the main body shared its fate with the druid, it would be too short a life. A human’s life is easily lost. It would be a catastrophe if a druid were to suddenly lose their life in an unfortunate accident.

“Your situation is a bit… unique to apply the same case. In the first place, there has never been a case of someone assimilating with the World Tree as much as you have now. I think we’ll only know the answer after you experience it directly, rather than me guessing what might happen.”

Amelia seemed to be choosing her words carefully. I could understand her feelings.

‘It means my life could be sacrificed in this.’

It was a story about what would happen when the World Tree regained its original role and separated from me. When something that has become one is forcibly torn apart, can it truly return to how it was before?

In the first place, the reason my humble factory worker’s body had changed so much was thanks to the World Tree taking root. It could be seen that the World Tree had prolonged my life.

A sacrifice for the world. It was a noble cause, but few could carry it out. That is why they are called great people. From Amelia’s perspective, it was hard to rule out the possibility that I, having realized the risk, might change my mind.

‘Or my consciousness could assimilate with the World Tree.’

My body had assimilated with the World Tree to the point where Amelia felt I was the World Tree, not a person. There was also the possibility that the World Tree and I would not separate at all. Then, I would truly transcend being human.

‘Whatever happens, I have no intention of turning back.’

The grand cause of saving the world from ruin was none of my business.

「You are a druid!」

「As the last druid, revive nature!」

I had run all this way for this one thing alone. Even the reason I started the game FP was for that. Whether it turned out good or bad, now that I’ve come this far, I had to see it to the end.

“Let’s move a little faster.”

The surrounding environment was a mess, but enemies like the Corrupted of the great plains or the magical bandits running rampant in the land of quicksand did not appear. It meant there was no need to be cautious and conserve stamina as we advanced.

“Okay.”

Amelia, agreeing with my opinion, powerfully kicked off the ground and picked up her speed.

***

How many days and nights had we traveled? I felt my sense of time fading. The closer we got to the continent’s edge, the more ambiguous and blurred the concept of time became. According to Amelia’s explanation, it was originally a place like that.

A space where dimensions meet. Truth, common sense, and laws did not apply. It was a miracle that we were heading in the right direction amidst all that.

“…”

I wasn’t with Amelia. Since when? When I realized it, she had left the party, and I was walking alone.

I had a rough idea of why this had happened. A place where the concept of space was as jumbled as the sense of time had become strange. Even if she had been walking right in front of me, in reality, she could have been far away.

‘In fact, just by breaking through the borderlands quickly, she had already done all the guiding.’

After entering the continent’s edge, I didn’t need Amelia’s help to find the way. The World Tree itself was guiding me. The fact that my senses were becoming more and more confused meant that I was heading into a deeper place.

‘I see why Taser Gale went mad when he described the continent’s edge during his interrogation.’

My senses were going haywire, and in the air, various landscapes unfolded within what looked like shards of broken glass. It was a scenery I had never seen on this continent.

Lush forests, splendid flower fields, the golden waves of ripe grain bowing their heads, clear streams, red mountain ranges colored by autumn leaves, and clouds adorning the blue sky.

Could it be the scenery from the distant past when the World Tree was alive? Comparing it, I realized anew just how barren this world had become. There was not a single lie in Katarina’s statement that the end was coming.

「The World Tree urges you to hurry.」

With Amelia gone, the World Tree was now full of vitality. I felt a similar emotion to the one she must have felt while walking this path. Was it like a memory inherent in the World Tree, similar to an animal’s homing instinct?

It was after traveling for some time like that.

“…Colin?”

A familiar face was sprawled on the ground. He was unconscious. He said he had urgent business and didn’t show his face once, was he here? He wouldn’t have been trying to challenge transcendence.

If so…

Slither!

I lifted the fallen Colin with vines and moved him far away. Then his figure quickly receded and disappeared somewhere. He had probably escaped this place. If Amelia hadn’t left, she would be able to meet him.

It was the best I could do for now.

As I started walking again, it wasn’t long before I found an old man this time.

“Mage Tower Master.”

I hadn’t met him directly, but I recognized his face from memory. Unlike Colin, the Mage Tower Master had passed away. His entire body bore the clear marks of a fierce battle.

Although the Mage Tower Master was of retirement age, his skills were still intact. If he had lost his life at the end of a battle, it was obvious who his opponent was.

I felt that the end of this strange journey was not far off. I silently moved forward.

***

“I obscured the attention of each city, but I never thought the Mage Tower Master would be guarding this place.”

The scenery of the distant past blurred, and now a familiar and nostalgic landscape unfolded in the air. A heartwarming sight, similar to Gellerg City with its rows of skyscrapers, yet different. It was the image of my hometown.

“I wasted unnecessary power. Transcendence has failed.”

In front of me, a strange space dyed in a murky gray blocked the way. Various landscapes overlapped and mixed, and just looking at it made my mind dizzy and my brain feel contaminated.

A man was half-draped in that bizarre space. And he was slowly blending into it.

“No, it would have been impossible even if my body were intact in the first place. Transcendence is an impossible feat for the humans of this world. Go back. Well, if you’ve come this far, you won’t listen to me anyway.”

The man, leaving his last words, lost even the human form that had been half-remaining. He must have been the boss of Madhouse.

Contrary to my worries, even he had failed at transcendence. But my hurried movements had not been an overreaction.

Rumble!

It was collapsing. The dimensional boundary trembled, as if the Madhouse boss’s direct challenge to transcendence had acted as a trigger. If I had been a little later, I wouldn’t have been able to stop this collapse.

Fortunately, it was still okay.

「The World Tree manifests!」

The moment I touched the rippling space. My body was sucked into the void. There was no pain or discomfort. Rather, I felt a sense of comfort, as if I had finally found my rightful place.

Into the broken space, the collapsing boundary, the stems of the World Tree extended. My consciousness expanded, and my vision widened. The continent’s edge, the borderlands, the cities, and finally to the end of the horizon. The sense of omnipotence that had been confined to my domain was now felt across the entire continent.

…I instinctively realized I had a choice. If I wanted to stay, I could continue to live in this world as a terminal of the World Tree. I could enjoy wealth and glory, maintaining the fame and fortune I had built under the name of the contractor Allen.

But my decision had not changed. The place I belonged was not this world. I had finished everything I had to do in this world.

The World Tree, which surrounded the continent like a barrier, read my will and opened a space on one side. It was the path to transcendence, a passage to beyond the dimensional boundary.

「The World Tree bids you farewell.」

I nodded and bade farewell in my heart. It was the end of a long journey.

***

“…”

I suddenly opened my eyes. Blink, blink. As I closed and opened my eyes repeatedly, my blurred vision became clear. What came into view was the ceiling.

The ceiling of a small, 10-pyeong studio apartment, with mold growing and the wallpaper peeling due to a leak from the air conditioner.

“…Home.”

I stared blankly, then suddenly realized.

“My home.”

Not the house I bought in Gellerg City, the city in the game, but my home in my hometown.

I shot up and ran, heart pounding, to the bathroom to check the mirror.

“My face… it’s me.”

There, I could finally be sure that I had returned. My face wasn’t strikingly handsome like Allen’s.

“Hmm.”

A sense of disappointment washed over me. …Well, I shouldn’t say ‘a sense of.’ It was right to be disappointed about losing a handsome appearance. If there was one thing I liked about that harsh life, it was Allen’s face.

Still, I was glad to be back. If I had to put it in a ratio, it was 9 parts joy and 1 part disappointment.

I suppressed the joy that made me want to jump around deep in my chest. I didn’t want to get an earful from the person downstairs about the noise. It was in these small details that I realized I was back.

I then checked the official FP website. A notice of the game’s service termination was posted. Calculating the time, it must have been posted the moment I collapsed.

“Was it something like a dream? Or a hallucination?”

…It was a plausible explanation. It was more realistic that I had fainted and dreamed than that I had been possessed in a game. It was the kind of story that, if I told anyone, would get me scolded for having a wild dream or sent to a psychiatrist.

“…”

Of course, to think of it that way, the experience was too vivid. But what would change whether it was fake or real? What influence did that experience have on my present self?

It wasn’t like I had any money left, or the druid’s abilities…

Twinkle, twinkle!

Suddenly, I noticed a cluster of sparkling lights in the air. It was among the flowerpots I had put out on the veranda. In the spot where the light had scattered, like a playful child running around, plants were growing vigorously.

“A spirit?”

The moment I muttered, the cluster of light approached me like a puppy whose name had been called. It was a spirit.

“Why are they here?”

Did they cross over with me? No, rather… I must have gained the sight to see spirits. If I could see a status window, a stat called ‘Nature Affinity’ would probably have been created.

It wasn’t a dream. The experiences I had as Allen were all real. And this was also a reward for my desperation.

“…Should I go back to the countryside and live as a farmer?”

What was the reason I started the game FP? It was to experience in a game what I couldn’t in reality. A life surrounded by the green of vegetation.

With the spirits, it was no longer a dream.

<The End>