Days flowed into weeks.
Weeks blurred into months.
With every passing day, Ieros climbed closer to the branch where Elle sat waiting. Yet the higher he climbed, the greater the pressure became, slowing his progress to a crawl. By the time he reached the halfway point, his Speed and Dexterity had each increased by five points, while his Strength and Mana had risen by four and two points respectively.
His destination seemed closer than ever.
Yet it had never felt farther away.
As the months dragged on, another problem began catching up to him.
Food.
The ape regularly brought him fruits from the forest, allowing him to survive without descending the tree. Sleeping, however, was an entirely different matter.
His sleeping schedule had unknowingly synchronized with the ape's. Whenever the giant guardian entered one of its long slumbers, Ieros found himself remaining awake for extended periods, relying on mana to rejuvenate both his mind and body. It worked...
To an extent.
But it was far from reliable.
Whenever he wasn't meditating, Elle would relentlessly pester him.
She constantly complained about how painfully slow he was, insisting she had grown tired of sitting on the same branch for months waiting for him to arrive. Whether she was genuinely bored or simply enjoyed teasing him remained a mystery.
Nearly six months after beginning his climb, an even greater obstacle presented itself.
The tree's appetite had grown.
It no longer absorbed his mana at the same leisurely pace. With every step upward, the rate increased, forcing him to spend more mana simply maintaining his grip against the bark.
Eventually, moving a single step became an achievement.
He would often remain in the same position for weeks, meditating solely to replenish enough mana to advance another foot.
"Elle."
Ieros's voice suddenly rang out just as he prepared to take what would likely be his only step for the week.
The slightly dazed elf tilted her head toward him.
Over the past several months, Ieros had often wondered whether Elle was genuinely as simple-minded as she appeared or whether she was deliberately acting that way.
He preferred believing the latter.
If someone possessing such terrifying strength truly had the mentality of a child...
Entire kingdoms could disappear because of a passing whim.
Shaking the thought from his mind, he focused on his far more immediate problem.
Namely—
The tree he was currently clinging to.
"This is the second time this week you've taken a step," Elle said with genuine amusement.
Ieros simply shook his head.
"I have a question."
He didn't wait for her response.
Time had become meaningless during his prolonged meditations. Days slipped past without his notice, and months felt no different from hours.
Ordinarily, that would have been dangerous.
But to Awakeners, time held a different meaning.
As one's strength increased, so too did one's lifespan.
There were even Hunters still alive from the era of Judgment Day itself. Although they numbered fewer than the fingers on one hand, their existence proved that growing stronger was, in a sense, a way of escaping time.
Old age would never rob him of his revenge.
His uncle...
That coward would never willingly enter a Gate.
He would still be there when Ieros returned.
"Why does the tree actively seek out my mana?" Ieros finally asked as he forced himself another step upward.
Immediately, the crushing pressure descended once more.
This time, however, he resisted the urge to meditate.
Instead, he focused entirely on controlling the flow of mana escaping his body, trying to reduce how much the tree absorbed with every movement.
If things continued at this rate...
Eventually, he would run out of mana before reaching the top.
And when that happened—
He would fall.
Elle stared at him.
Then looked at him again.
Her expression was almost identical to someone watching another person repeatedly try to drink from an upside-down cup.
To her...
He was unbelievably stupid.
She could clearly see enormous amounts of mana continuously leaking from every pore of his body.
To the ancient tree, he wasn't a cultivator.
He was a walking mana spring.
The higher he climbed, the denser the ambient mana became, causing the excess mana inside him to resonate even more violently. Naturally, the tree absorbed it at an increasingly alarming rate.
Ironically...
The tree didn't actually need his mana.
It was merely absorbing the excess that was already spilling out of him.
Inside Ieros' body rested an absurd amount of undigested mana left behind by the Sacred Pill he had consumed months ago.
His physique granted him remarkable mana control, but the pill had contained far more mana than his body could refine at once.
Unable to reach his core, the excess mana continuously circulated through his meridians, creating invisible blockages while leaking into the surrounding world.
Had that mana successfully reached his core...
He would have noticed the problem long ago.
Digesting such overwhelming power, however, was much easier said than done.
Elle tilted her head thoughtfully before letting out a small sigh.
"Your body holds too much mana," she said matter-of-factly. "So much that your body can't keep it inside anymore."
She poked the air as though illustrating her point.
"Your body is the vessel."
She pointed at him.
"The mana keeps overflowing from the vessel."
Then she pointed at the tree.
"So the tree drinks it."
She paused before continuing.
"You haven't even started using the mana inside your core."
She frowned.
"You've only been borrowing the mana around you."
She puffed out her cheeks slightly.
"That's why you're weak..."
She pointed dramatically toward him.
"...and strong at the same time."
Her explanation was accompanied by exaggerated gestures that made her look more like an excited child than an ancient High Elf.
Despite that...
Ieros understood.
His core had indeed remained strangely dormant throughout his cultivation.
He already had a suspicion why.
But rather than dwelling on it, he quietly stored the information away.
Problems could wait until they became impossible to ignore.
"Ieros has been using nature's mana instead of his own!" Elle proudly declared in the third person.
"Nature's mana isn't naturally attuned to Ieros!"
He resisted the overwhelming urge to facepalm.
Unfortunately...
Both hands were currently occupied preventing him from plummeting to his death.
Instead, he settled for something else.
"I see."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Is that also why nature won't help you climb down from the tree?"
Silence.
Complete silence.
Then—
The wind exploded.
Leaves swirled violently around the colossal tree, and the surface of the lake erupted into ripples.
Ieros' smile widened just a fraction.
He couldn't see Elle's face.
He didn't need to.
The wind had already answered for her.
Satisfied with his small victory, he closed his eyes once more and sank into meditation, deliberately ignoring the almost fuming elf above him.