194. The Gate that Started Everything (III)

Mike spoke up. He was excited at bringing up the topic of the Yggdrasil sapling. “It’s growing pretty fast right now. At the rate it’s growing, we will be moving it tomorrow down to its new home. For the last few months, we have been tearing down some buildings and creating a safe environment for it.”

Emily Clairson gasped, “You have a sapling Yggdrasil tree here?!” she gazed at them dumbfoundedly.

It wasn’t normal to have such powerful trees in the building, especially of such caliber.

“How could you have the holy tree growing here on top of a building?” Emily said with disbelief. “Such trees should be born in a holy environment, tended to by the royal elves, and fed with the purest water.”

Mike opened and closed his mouth. Then he glared back, “we are tending it with the best of the best. Our water system is filled with magic. Snow and Dairen have been tending to the tree for the past three months since its conception. Not only that, that tree has bloomed black and white flowers. Have you ever heard of such peculiarities?”

Even Emily couldn’t retort under such odd circumstances. “Black and White flowers?”

“Yes, fed with the purest form of dark and light energy.” Snow said, bringing their attention back to her. She had the feeling she needed to explain this quickly before either Emily or any other would blow it out of proportion.

A Yggdrasil tree to have black and white flowers wasn’t a common thing. It was actually considered the only tree to have such oddity.

“How could you give it such unholy energy!” With a slam of her fist, Emily was raging. “You who have been working with the Dragon Express should know this fact that all Yggdrasil trees feed off of holy energy!”

Snow tried not to get swept away with Emily’s outburst. Mostly because by doing so, she was going to lose this argument. Instead, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, and let out all her stress. She calmly looked at them, and with a knowing smile, she replied back.

“Because that is what it wanted.”

Such a heavy statement rocked everyone in the meeting, especially Emily, who still had a hard time believing it. To Emily, her kind revered such a tree, and they found such a tree growing in a dirty place offended her culture.

Snow knew it wasn’t enough to persuade them; she pulled out the two flower buds that she had taken for herself to figure out this mystery, and eventually, she came to a conclusion. Taking it out, she passed the two buds around. When the buds ended up in Emily’s hand, she stared flabbergasted.

“Perfect Resonance.” Snow words dripped with pride. “Something no other Yggdrasil tree had ever been able to accomplish.”

Such mind-numbing information brought enlightenment to many who understood what this meant.

“The power of this Yggdrasil tree is ten times stronger than a normal Yggdrasil tree.” Snow said she had checked the many records in the Dragon Express database and even had the Red Flower Nation check up on a few living Yggdrasil tree magical outputs.

“With that being said and the abundance of the magic that is bound to be released or is released on this land, I am quite sure that the Yggdrasil sapling will thrive here in the middle of the city, buffering out any extensive magic that could harm us and even protect us with its powerful shield against danger.” Snow explained. She had gone over the idea with Mike and Dairen as they were the ones who had a bit more information about their new quest that they were given.

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“Plus, it would be better for Mike to explain what he has found out.”

Mike thanked Snow, he stood up. Clearing his throat, he finally spoke. “To be exact, since the last big raid we had with the Heavenly guild, we were able to bring out the Yggdrasil seed from there. Our guild has been tasked to grow it from our quest.”

“A quest?” A few looked confused as they weren’t too familiar with this quest thing, especially from the newly Awakened, who were still left behind by such information.

“Yes, A quest that us, Players, get. You can say it to the higher beings if that is easier for you to understand.”

Instantly the other started to nod, thinking that they had some kind of god’s revelation.

“Now this quest is simple,” Mike gave off a faint smile that only a few knew was strained. “Find a habitable place for the tree in the center of Atlantis.”

A heavy silence permuted the air. The danger of the assignment had skyrocketed, making everyone realize what this meant.

“The moment we plant it, it will start growing even larger. It will take the dungeon's energy, but the overflow from the dungeon will become more sporadic. It is highly likely that the dungeon’s aim is to destroy the tree. I’m quite sure we might even see twice or three times a week.”

In alarm, everyone raised their voice out in concern. To hear that an S class dungeon would spew out high-level monsters in large quantities more than once a week was outrageous.

Mike raised up his hand to stop them. “Which is why we need to leave our main force behind and only send in the best Hunters and Players into the S-class dungeon. We can’t go in with an army when our city is going to be under attack. We need people here to take the brunt of the overflow.”

Snow agreed with Mike, but many of the others weren’t sure. Mostly because this was an S-Class dungeon and only sending a handful of powerful people sounded outrageous in their mind.

“I think we should go with this.” Snow tried to wash away their worry. “If we take all our people and get wiped out, then we won’t have a single person to stay behind and defend our city. Plus, people could go hunting in the lower level dungeons to grow, while protecting the streets. If we work together, get ourselves prepped, we should be able to get this under control before the first overflow happens.”

Some nodded their heads, starting to sway with Snow’s words. Others weren’t convinced.

“But sending our best into the dungeon with barely any support….they could be wiped out.” The female government official spoke. “Shouldn’t we have some stay behind?”

“We will, but our strongest must go. I will personally enter into this dungeon myself.” Snow said, which brought even more people to speak out.

“You’re the only person who can use the legendary Resurrection skill! How could you just go inside and leave the mass behind?!”

“Easy.” Snow stared back, “to keep our best alive and be able to clear the dungeon quickly without having to resort to sending any more people in. There will always be casualties. I am not some god that can resurrect everyone with a snap of a dime. There are limitations, and my power shouldn’t be guarded and protected as if I’m some kind of animal in a cage.” She didn’t want to sit back and let everyone do the work when she knew that she could help in her own way. She wasn’t a princess that needed to be saved.

“Angie will take my place in healing people in the city. She is my disciple.”

Angie’s eyes glowed with pride, sparkling with happiness that she was called a disciple.

The others turned toward her, wondering what she could give to the others. They have heard about her accomplishment, and the power she had that was considered quite powerful than a normal priest or priestess.

“I would like Mike, Dairen, Red, Audrey, Rodney, and I too be in the team of entering the dungeon. These people, I’m quite sure, will be able to handle the dungeon. The rest, who want to go in, can speak up now.”

The people's mumbling in the meeting was low, quietly whispering to one another as they couldn’t decide what to do.

Mr. Rogers spoke up, “I'll be going.”

Snow snapped her head towards Mr. Rogers, completely astounded by what she had heard. Mr. Rogers wasn’t someone who would move so easily, and to hear that he would personally move to clear a dungeon brought the stifling voices of his own people behind him. He just raised his hand to stop them from talking as he cleared his throat.

“An S-Class dungeon needs someone with equal caliber like me. With that being said, I would like to change the setup.” Mr. Rogers looked at Snow. “Mike, Snow, Dairen, Rodney, Red, and I would be entering into the dungeon. We don’t need anyone else.”

“What are you talking about,” Emily spoke in disbelief. “You think only six of you will be needed? What about Tommy, Tamaki, Audrey, or even the other strong Hunters? It makes no sense for only six of you to enter.”

“It would be better with a small group than a large number of people. It would be faster to go through the dungeon without being pulled behind.”

“But-”

Mr. Roger gave Emily her stare that instantly made her quiet. “I’m here. Why are you so worried?”

“Because it’s you.”

Mr. Rogers didn’t take it too much to heart. He even laughed at her joke and brushed it aside as if it was nothing of importance.

“Now, with no other complaints. We move the Yggdrasil tree in place, and the six of us will enter. My people will be ready to assist during the night.” Mr. Rogers crossed his arm. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Now, we are done with the meeting.”

Before anyone could cut Mr. Rogers off, he silenced everyone present, pushing Snow’s idea forward without complaint.

Snow couldn’t help but be impressed by Mr. Rogers quick action, but what astounded her was that Mr. Rogers wanted to come along with them. She had a strange feeling that there was possibly more to this than meets her eyes. She just didn’t know what. His eyes glistened, and his sharp white teeth smiled at her.