“You’re saying you’re siblings with the leader of Inferno. That makes me trust you even less.”

“As I said, he doesn’t think of me as a brother. So if he finds me, he’ll kill me without hesitation. Besides, I’m not a Vestalis who could evoke even a shred of sympathy from him. I’m a druid, whom he despises. So please spare me.”

The guild members insisted I shouldn’t trust him. But I needed him.

“Is the leader of Inferno still outside the terrarium?”

“Since the news that the first terrarium is moving reached him, it’s highly likely he’s also left his position. Even if he is uncontrollable, he’d think it’s not yet time for Inferno to surface, so he’ll avoid the spotlight and slip away. To move covertly, it’s best when the organization remains hidden. If they recklessly attract attention and wage a full-scale war against the large terrariums, the organization could be annihilated. A fire-worshipping organization—anyone can see it’s suspicious and hard to gain a good impression, right?”

“So being exiled doesn’t mean you’ll die immediately, does it?”

Papillion shook his wallet.

“Those deeply involved in the organization all have trackers planted in their wallets. If you take this out, he’ll detect you immediately.”

Earning said he got rid of his wallet. It was to avoid being tracked, he claimed. I know well how deeply integrated wallets are in life here. They’re where diamonds accumulate and allow for so many things. So then, can’t he just throw away a wallet that’s been bugged and get a new one, like buying a new phone? It’s not that simple…?

“Alright. I understand that I need your help to immediately become the official administrative manager of the 16th Terrarium.”

“Jae, do you really intend to trust that person?”

“Master, are you sure you haven’t been swayed by his face?”

“Even if Jae does have a thing for handsome faces, she’d still separate public and private matters!”

Zephyr’s playful remark stung my conscience a bit, but I had also thought it through thoroughly. The idea of using him was strong.

“In that case, I’ll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t pull any tricks.”

If things go wrong, there’s also the withered one. Inside the 16th Terrarium, which is practically my artifact, they wouldn’t dare attack me with a dryad that has guts.

“Then pay the advance first. Pass on the gardening skill to me first.”

“My dear Black Lily, won’t you remove this branch so I can approach you?”

“Don’t even call me Black Lily.”

When I raised my left arm, the pattern embedded like a tattoo floated up. Then the branches that had trapped Papillion like a cage slowly lowered.

As he walked out, I could see the dazed black dryads flinch in reaction. If they might act out at any moment, they could do it right now.

Even though those living, moving black dryads were once enemies, I wasn’t keen on killing them all. Herma and Notos, realizing what I intended to do, quietly sent their dryads back into the artifacts.

The Papillion that had boldly approached me reached out a hand. At the same time, Siedling slapped his hand away with a sharp sound.

“You don’t need to be so wary. We need to stay in close contact for the transmission.”

This time, he reached out his hand instead, waiting for me to take it. Not willing but about to extend my hand, he tells me to take off my gloves. Annoying. His hand was much larger than mine, with long fingers.

As I placed my hand on his, a long blade suddenly came under Papillion’s chin. It was Siedling’s sword. Like a baring-teethed hunting dog, it seemed to threaten that if he made a wrong move, he would slash him immediately.

“I can no longer use this Gardening skill now. Once you grasp the feeling, you’ll be able to use it right away. It is the soul of a Druid that can condense the World Tree’s blessing. Since a soul can’t be fragmented, you must fragment the life force contained in the soul and use it as a medium to hold the blessing.”

“Wait. So you’re saying that to create artifacts for all those Dryads, I would have to consume an immense amount of my life force?”“

Are you saying I’ll die? In terms of consuming life force, it seemed no different from the Graft with the Dryad. But when I controlled the World Tree’s branch as I wished, I didn’t feel my life force being consumed or any fatigue.

“Don’t be greedy and try to contain them all at once; take it step by step. However, since we don’t know when the Central Administrative Department will arrive, there is a time limit.”

A tingling sensation rose from the hand touching his, as if static electricity had sparked. After that, as if his memories were being transmitted intact, I learned how to condense the World Tree’s blessing bit by bit. Like the dew that forms on blades of grass from the blessing of the World Tree filling the Terrarium and floating in the air.

But the Graft I used with the Elder consumed Diamonds, not my life force. When Dandelion condensed Panacea’s power, she also used a bottle crafted from Diamond by an alchemist so the power wouldn’t scatter.

If I could consume Diamonds instead of life force… and if I could store the blessing’s power in Diamonds so it wouldn’t scatter.

But when I used the Graft with the Elder, the Diamonds were consumed automatically. Trying to do it myself, I had no idea what to do or how.

Accepting the blessing filling the Terrarium with my whole body… If the blessing trapped in my body is wrapped in life force and seeps out… But something was different. I intended to accept the blessing, but it felt like the blessing was gathering not into my body but into my phone.

No, it wasn’t a delusion. The phone was truly glowing gold.

Just as I realized the Gardening skill and a strange pattern appeared on my arm, the phone began to be enveloped in a golden pattern as if it were wearing a case.

Oh, a special edition. But the pattern was slightly different from before. It was a majestic, sprawling branch-shaped tattoo, now adorned with a few leaves. The pattern on my arm had also changed to match the phone’s design, like a late-autumn branch that had shed most of its leaves yet still held onto a few.

And the phone, enveloped in a golden pattern as it absorbed the World Tree’s blessing, soon brought about a change.

Transparent, bubble-like orbs with a blue tint burst forth from the phone. They floated slowly toward the black dryads lined up on the field. As the transparent orbs touched the dryads, they instantly swelled in size.

And astonishingly… from that spot, a blue-tinged fountain burst forth, as if hot spring water were gushing out. Compared to what I had seen in the 28th terrarium, the water stream was relatively thin. The stream moistened the transparent hemisphere, as if supplying moisture to an artifact.

“A fountain burst out…? Could it be a diamond fountain, the kind that only exists in single-digit terrariums…?”

Someone exclaimed with a voice full of amazement.

The blue-tinged transparent hemisphere enveloped them like an overturned fishbowl. Its color was different from those created by Papillion. The vessel, which condensed the World Tree’s blessing, was undoubtedly a diamond, just as I had intended.

In an instant, life filled the blank eyes of the black dryads.

And from the dryads enveloped in the virtual artifact came a sound of something cracking, ‘tuk-tuk.’ Black powder fell from their black hair, equipment, wings, and the flowers adorning them.

What began as falling powder gradually became larger pieces of black shell. They had become black dryads because lightning had struck their parent tree in an attempt to reach the World Tree’s blessing. The lightning scorched the parent tree black, and those who survived the strike without being burned to death could become dryads.

The power of the World Tree’s blessing, condensed into diamonds, was purifying and healing their blackened, scorched areas. As the blackened parts were shed, like newly reborn flowers, their own unique, colorful petal colors began to return.

I didn’t know the virtual artifact I had created possessed such power.

The dark, gloomy black dryads, like storm clouds, had now become vibrant, colorful dryads, like a rainbow in a clear sky. The sight of so many colorful dryads was incredibly beautiful. The dryads within the virtual artifact all bowed their heads to me, as if recognizing me as their master.

And they disappeared one by one. As the dryads vanished, the fountain’s water streams also stopped. Just as they had appeared suddenly when Papillion summoned them, their disappearance was equally abrupt.

“What, where did everyone go?”

The answer to my question could be found through the glowing terrarium artifact strapped to my wrist. Inside the 28th terrarium, which I peered into through the artifact, countless transparent spheres containing dryads were gently falling down.

Not only that, but beyond the visible boundaries of the terrarium, transparent spheres were also falling—only from one direction. It was the path leading to the 16th terrarium.

Within the range connected by the 28th World Tree branch and the 16th World Tree branch, your dryad can move freely without being limited by distance from the druid.

I had no idea that this would refer not only to the dryads bound to my soul but also to those I had harvested with the virtual artifact.

Where the virtual artifact containing the dryads had settled, another fountain stream burst forth.