Elemental Magnetic Star

Chapter 73 Terra Grove Forest

"Raina Grace, Raina Grace?" 

"Don't disturb my sleep." 

"But now is not the time to sleep."

 "What's wrong?" Raina Grace finally opened her eyes to see WeeStick hovering above her. 

"You scared me to death, and you're still sleeping?" WeeStick was very dissatisfied. "And how can you sleep floating on the water surface?"

"What?" Raina Grace hadn't realized until WeeStick mentioned it and noticed that she was indeed lying on the water. "Ah!" She was startled, lost her balance, and sank into the water.

Resurfacing, Raina Grace complained to WeeStick, "Why did you frighten me, causing me to sink? Isn't this your Terra Grove heart's Dormant Pool? If you can sleep here, why can't I?"

If WeeStick had eyes, it would have rolled them. "We are dormant, you are sleeping. How can it be the same? Besides, we sink into the pool to rest, but you lying on top of the water is weird. I thought something happened to you. In the wild, we see dead fish floating on the water."

Raina Grace was taken aback. She remembered the scenes they had seen together in the streams of the Verdant Thistle Forest. She had told WeeStick that those floating on the water's surface were dead, and only those who sank were alive.

The real issue wasn't whether she was floating or sinking, but how she ended up sleeping in the Dormant Pool. Raina Grace slowly recalled the events: WeeStick threw her into the water, she struggled against the waves, saw many visions in the water, and the Ancestral Tree spoke to her...

"Did you throw me in here?" Raina Grace finally remembered to ask the culprit.

"No!" WeeStick immediately denied. "I couldn't control myself. You don't know how worried I was seeing you fall into the pool, but I couldn't do anything."

"Was it the Ancestral Tree?" Raina Grace asked, "Did It control your actions?"

WeeStick silently nodded. "I didn't know It would do that. If I had known, I would never have brought you here."

Raina Grace understood the Ancestral Tree's intentions. It must have been testing her, to see if she had the ability to help the Terra Grove. But what about the visions It showed her? The origins and evolution of Terra Grove and other spirits? Did It hope she could extract some information to help Terra Grove rejuvenate?

Ah! She forgot to ask the Ancestral Tree about Ocean Bloom! Or rather, she didn't have the chance to ask.

Right, she seemed to have communicated with the Ancestral Tree, but it seemed not to be herself, but another person controlled by the Ancestral Tree, a "self" unfamiliar to her?

Raina Grace was confused by her own thoughts.

"You're okay now, right?" WeeStick saw Raina Grace lost in thought and worried if she was injured, "Can you leave now?"

Leave? Yes, she should leave now.

Although her last sleep in the sacred pool left her feeling refreshed, the Ancestral Tree's actions were still dubious. At least it made her realize that it wasn't a power she could contend with or even understand. What she knew was only what the Ancestral Tree allowed her to know; the rest was beyond her current reach.

Since WeeStick could take her away, it must also be the Ancestral Tree's arrangement. "Let's go," she said to WeeStick.

People - or rather, Terra Grove tribe members - had gathered around the sacred ground. Qin Jie, who led them, had a complex expression seeing Raina Grace emerge unharmed. "The Ancestral Tree instructed that if you come out successfully, I should take you to the growing areas of the Terra Grove trees and Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees. Let's go now."

Raina Grace was still a bit dazed, not fully recovered from the events in the sacred ground, and now she was to visit the Terra Grove and Elemental Ancestor Fruit growing areas. Why? And what did "if you come out successfully" mean? Did she just unknowingly survive a perilous adventure?

"Wait, you wait," she called out to Qin Jie, "If you don't explain, I won't go. Why should I?"

"Why? Isn't this what you asked for?" Qin Jie replied impatiently, "If it weren't for the Ancestral Tree's instruction, do you think anyone could go there?"

The Ancestral Tree had instructed her to visit the growing areas of the Terra Grove trees and Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees? White Lightning had mentioned that humans were not allowed near there, so they had no idea about the Terra Grove tribe's modification of the Elemental Ancestor Fruits. Now, with the Ancestral Tree's recognition, did she have the opportunity to understand? But she didn't want to deal with the grim-faced Qin Jie or be led around by others. "Let WeeStick take me, and if there are questions it can't answer, I'll ask you. If you don't know, I'll directly ask the Ancestral Tree."

Qin Jie's disdainful expression changed when Raina Grace mentioned the Ancestral Tree, and he reluctantly instructed WeeStick to take her.

WeeStick had mentioned that Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees were Terra Grove trees that had lost their sentience, described as having only the tree's shell without the Terra Grove heart.

Over time, Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees had gradually changed in appearance, becoming shorter and sturdier, even starting to flower and bear fruit, indistinguishable from ordinary trees.

Only the Elemental Ancestor Fruits still contained a trace of the Terra Grove essence, but like natural metabolism, each generation of fruits had less and less of the Terra Grove component, and their influence on the elemental magnetic power decreased.

"One day, the Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees will no longer bear any resemblance to Terra Grove trees, and we'll be completely different species," WeeStick said, then remembered something, "But maybe by then, there will be no Terra Grove trees left in the world, only Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees."

"And Elemental Ancestor Fruits that can't decompose elemental magnetic power won't be called 'Elemental Ancestor Fruits' anymore, right?" Raina Grace added.

"Yes, by then, they'll just be ordinary fruits. Your humans won't care for them anymore." WeeStick was a bit angry that Raina Grace didn't comfort it. She wanted to help the Terra Grove tribe reproduce, but now, listening to it talk about the extinction of Terra Grove trees and the degradation of Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees, she seemed indifferent.

"Maybe by then, humans will coexist with elemental magnetic power, as natural as air, unaffected by it and not benefiting from it," Raina Grace began to speculate, "What would it be like if all species on the Elemental Magnetic Star were ordinary, each content in their own habitat, or coexisting and intermingling? What would that be like?"

WeeStick was stunned. Yes, what would it be like if everyone were not special? It sounded not bad!

"That's a Terra Grove tree, right?" Raina Grace pointed to a tall forest not far away.

"Yes, Terra Grove trees are beautiful, right?" WeeStick said proudly.

Actually, finding Terra Grove trees in a forest of Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees was easy. Although Terra Grove trees were far fewer in number, scattered among the fruit trees, their tall, straight, and sky-reaching posture was something Elemental Ancestor Fruit trees could not match, making them very conspicuous.

"Yes, very beautiful," Raina Grace admired. "Your tree is still a Terra Grove tree, right?"

"Of course, as long as the heart is there, no matter where, whether possessed or free like me, Terra Grove trees maintain their original form. Come, I'll show you!" WeeStick was eager to see its tree, hurrying towards it.