"Mmmm..."

Jane murmured before slightly opened her eyes, blurrily saw a white intercom and a cup for pens and pencils.

The lady rose from the comfort of her arms, felt a sense of aching around her neck, her almond-shaped eyes still looked disoriented...

After gazing at the empty hall for about a while in dull, Jane's expression suddenly went panic, her eyes and hands wandered everywhere on the desk, quick she found her phone, then looked at the display.

"23:34!"

She abruptly stood up from her chair, ignoring the fact a mantle had dropped from her back onto the ground, she strode toward a door on her left, quickly gave it a knock.

"Mr. Star?"

Jane perked up her ear, tried to catch a single sound of response from the other side, but she heard nothing.

The lady hesitated for a brief, then her soft hand gave another knock, and the creamy lips made another called out.

Yet, still no answer...

Jane frowned for a while, goosebump encroached her heart, she's been working here for about a week, yet she actually dared to fall asleep, what if Mr. Star saw this on the way back and left the building without waking her, what if tomorrow he decided her performance was poor and fired her?

When she applied to become Mr. Alex Star's assistant, she never expected the man to be this workaholic, there was also never mention from anyone or the man itself that he worked like a horse, going at the office at 8 and went home sometimes a little before or after midnight... there was only one day where he left his office early, and that's because it was his mother's birthday...

Jane rarely pulled a nighter, she's diligent who performed her day on a routine schedule, therefore, she was rather hard to follow Mr. Star's nocturnal behavior.

"I hope nothing's wrong with him..."

Jane fixed her appearance and cleared her throat, she gave another knock but found no response, finally decided to open the door.

It was an assistant job to take care of his or her boss's welfare, so she ought to know Mr. Star's situation inside, regardless he would later berate her.

"Mr. Star?"

She gently swung open the door, the room inside was neat, a carpet made of expensive wool, a couple of brown couch faced each other on the right side of the room, a wooden table positioned between them, and a set of wooden shelves full of books stuck onto the walls.

On the not far ahead, behind a wide desk with papers, a laptop, and a couple of books on the top of it, a man leaned onto his chair with his head tilted slightly to the left, his both eyes shut tight.

Jane sneakily entered the room, after seeing the slow fluctuation of the person's chest, she sighed in relief.

Thank God he's not dead...

She went to the side of his desk, didn't know whether she should wake him up or not, the man appeared so exhausted.

She looked at the paper on his table, it's a mix of many bunches from plan design, performance report, research progress, a paper of scientific development...

Jane might not graduate from science and technology university, but she understood the subjects, at least in general view...

Besides, she tried to make a habit to learn the subject by reading it online and through magazines, she didn't want to appear dumb in front of her boss, or she could follow his conversation.

She looked at the man, remembered his status as one of the richest, she thought he would be more relaxed, probably coming to his office only twice a week...

But hell, she was very wrong... not only his schedule was tight in the office, but also at the outside, for example; today, he had gone to three places that the distance couldn't be measured by minutes... and she's one who drove him...

Oh, he could drive alright, in fact, he drove his car to arrive at the building in the morning by himself.

Jane couldn't help but stare at the man's face, feeling pity and also sympathy, such busy hours, how many pressures and tension he had built up? His hair was even white at several strands.

Eventually, she didn't have the heart to let the man slept like this, at least laid properly on the couch...

"Mr. Star, I am sorry..."

Jane gently shook his shoulder, the man let out a small 'hmm' then she helped him to stand up.

"You hurt your body if you sleep this way, come on, I help you to the coach?"

She supported him to walk, he such leaned to her that if she didn't know him any better, she would have thought he was harassing her...

"Jane?"

The man mumbled, his both eyes were weak, his movement was lazy.

"Mr. Star, just a little bit closer..."

Jane let out a small 'hurgh' voice as she carefully laid Mr. Star on his couch, she wiped a small sweat from her forehead, thankfully that her boss was thin, otherwise, she would have out of breath.

She took off his shoes, then untightened his shirt and necktie, then she lifted his both feet to the couch, placing his head with the pillow nearby.

"Mmm..."

The man twitched at this moment, his hand caressed his own temple.

Did he have a headache?

Jane put down his hand and massaged Mr. Star's temple with her own delicate fingers, the man's twisted face slowly resided, changed into a calm and peaceful one...

She smiled at the result, didn't know for how long, her fingers didn't stop massaging his head.

(***)

Alex took a deep breath, his fingers caressed his own temple, the pair of eyebrows knitted tightly.

"Alex, are you alright?"

Momo who sat on his side noticed his behavior, the latter nodded as he revealed a smile.

"Come on, it's been an hour, time to move."

Alex stood up and went to the center of the area, Momo followed after a slight pause on her face, Dick stood up from a rock and kicked Damian who had been fast asleep, drool at the corner of his lips.

Jason approached Elliot and Alexis, he took out a rope, Alexis carefully bound Elliot onto the soldier's back.

"Sorry."

Elliot gave a smile toward the soldier's apology, Alexis didn't show a response, she quickly headed toward Alex's position at the center.

"Your sister... seems to bear a grudge?"

"Ah, don't worry, my sister sucks at acting, this is her best performance..."

"What acting?"

"Never mind..."

Alex waited with a patient, Momo arrived at his side then Shizuka afterward, he looked at Alexis's face, despite she didn't show hostility, the she-knight was quiet.

"Ms. Alexis, you no longer have a weapon, right?"

He waved his hand, and sword with a wooden handle emerged on his hand, Alexis was slightly startled.

Alex had asked the system about the existence of space dimensional storage in this world, he even asked about space magic, in Fantasia, any magic that contained space attribute was a high-tier one, there were [ teleport ]... [ pocket dimension ]... even [ telekinesis ]...

The system was surprised when finding out Alex got his hand on spellbook contained [ telekinesis ], unlike [ spirit bolt ] and [ fire marbles ] which had a limitation over how powerful they could get, [ telekinesis ] was simply limitless, its strength lied on the performance of the user, the stronger the user, the potential of the spellbook was also increased, it's perfect for Alex who grew stronger due to his power.

And this world also had several items with [ pocket dimension ] function, three of them were even produced for the public; ring, bag, and carriage.

The space ring usually to store many small items like money, potions, or dagger, some could hold even a sword but those were the rarest and the most expensive one, their biggest space was as big as one barrel.

The space bag was generally bigger, the smallest one was as big a shelves, and the largest one as big as a closet.

Lastly, the carriage, it was easily outsized the previous two, the smallest one similar to a room, and the largest one was like an entire house.

There were [ pocket dimension ] items that especially made for specific people and purpose, for example; the previous gem of Lionel Sidonis, Alex's sword, was actually an item with [ pocket dimension ], made to contain the bit of Soul and Stamina of their previous owner.

Nevertheless, all of these items were rarely possessed by any commoners, even some noble would not necessarily have them, Alexis and Elliot didn't seem to have one.

I handed the sword to Alexis, the she-knight accepted it, she swung the sword elegantly.

"The handle was firm yet comfortable in hand, I never see this type of sword before, did you make this Sir Star?"

"Yes, did you like it?"

The wooden handle came from Momo's ability to change trash into a tree, and the tree itself based on the knowledge of the user, Momo was Xenobotanist, someone who studied all kind of plants of the universe, she knew many trees with a unique trait.

The whole sword came from Alex's ability to combine items with Technology, undoubtedly the sword had the unique trait of the tree Momo produced.

"Thank you, Sir Star, this is most thoughtful of you..."

"Just be careful and don't let yourself get cut by it, the sword inherited its material attribute which was sort of like a poison, anyone or animal that get cut by it will have their skin blistered, although it didn't cause death, their fighting capability could be hindered badly."

"Really?"

Alexis widened her eyes and stared at the sword, the blade looked nothing special, iron just like other.

Alex observed her with attentive eyes, he did all of this was not just to replace Alexis' weapon, but also to see whether the weapon he and Momo produced can help him earned experience and points if they were wielded by non-summoned people.

The system mentioned his summons' kill benefitted him was because they had a connection with him, their life and his life linked together, it's like having extended hands.

Therefore, the system doubted whether this experiment would even work, but this, after all, came from Momo and Alex's ability, shouldn't it be held accountable?

Alex got this inspiration from Momo's experience of helping Alexis broke the barrier, she didn't hold the sword but pushed Alexis, and yet the result was Alex got all the benefit from the hellhounds' slaughtering.

That meant, even with slightest participation from him or his summons, it should benefit him nonetheless.

Alexis placed the sword on her waist, the soldiers also had gathered now, Elliot appeared like he was riding a horse and strolled to the park, no anxiety whatsoever.

Ahem, did you forget you were a hostage here?

"Alright, let's-"

"Ho ho ho..."

At this moment, a voice came from the Dawn Forest's direction, Alex and the others snapped their head toward the source and startled upon seeing the newcomer.

It wasn't the animal teeth and bone which adorned the cloth around his chest part, it's not the white ragged strip of clothes or even the white cape on his back that shocked them, it was this man skin, it was green like the...

"Goblin!!!"

"Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!"

The soldiers immediately pointed their rifles toward the person, Momo clenched a used bullet and prepared to shoot out tree.

Alexis and Elliot were stunned by their behavior.

"Wait, wait, don't be rash!"

This person indeed looked like a goblin, well, mostly just his skin, his face that filled with a grey beard had the flavor of wisdom, and he also held a staff on his right hand.

Goblin didn't do magic, or at least that's what the system told him, of course, that didn't mean Alex and the others had to lessen their guard.

"Ho ho... such lively youngsters... ah... remind me of the past..."

The person said while strolling toward their location, his long staff made a 'tak' 'tak' sounds as they clashed against the ground.

"Amazing, an Eldritch!"

Alexis let out an enthusiastic shout, for her who mostly had calm temperament to be this thrilled, what kind of a creature was an Eldritch?

"An Eldritch is a mixed-race between a sylph and an elf, it's an extremely rare born due to the circumstance of both races, a sylph is a tree race who since long ago awaken their intelligence, but they are a plant nonetheless, to reproduce, they plant their seed on the soil through animal and other, elves reproduced just like human, but because of inborn superior of magic, they hard to create new generation."

"An Eldritch possessed both of the races' ability; their affinity with nature and magic superiority, their characteristic was their skin that resembled goblin and wisdom that surmounted many other races, in short, this is a race you can't possibly find even if you looked at the corner of the continent, that's how rare they are..."

As Alex listened to the system's explanation, the Eldritch person had arrived a few meters from them, the soldiers still aimed their rifle toward the man while Shizuka prepared to bind him through genjutsu.

"Hmm... I saw the [ The World of Darkness ] disappear, are you the mage who did it?"

The Eldritch's deep eyes stared at Alex, it wasn't that hard to recognize a mage, their attire was usually the one that gave it away, or in this Eldritch's case, his staff.

As for why he deduced Alex the one who broke it, that's because it's not possible to break the [ The World of Darkness ] from the outside without using magic as any physical contact would just bypass the barrier, and generally, any mage could do it but it would take a great deal amount of mana and powerful magic which usually only comprehended by Grandmaster Level...

Alex thought for a while, he could sense no hostility come from the Eldritch's gaze, in fact, he was rather serene... it's like watching a tree that was sort of... sway.

This Eldritch... why he was here? And alone? A mage usually would require a companion because to cast a spell, a focus and incantation would be required, it's only at these recent decades that the spellbook began to develop and some mages could battle without someone to protect them, of course, the drawback of it was they could only cast one type of magic that was contained in the spellbook, to cast other they still had to do the incantation.

"No, it wasn't me..."

Alex took a deep breath; if this Eldritch possibly the person who was meant to be trapped within that black barrier, he ought to have the ability to communicate with plants, there was no use lying to him.

"Oho... not you?"

The Eldritch seemed startled, then he swept all the people, his eyes settled at Alexis.

"Ah... I see, a Lionheart, are you?"

"!"

Alex and the others widened their eyes, this person, with only an observation could deduce Alexis was a Lionheart?!

"There is no many who can break that barrier, even I would be helpless from the inside, only someone with Saint or Sage's level mage or warrior who can do it, and none of you I sense such power... unless you used external strength or weapon, and there are not many which to accomplish the task, the most possible is Lionel Sidonis, the one that in possession of a lionheart lineage, it's the closest weapon around that I can think of..."

While the other was marveled at the man's thought, Alex didn't find it really amazing, after all; if one had a lot of knowledge and information, they certainly could think the same.

But this actually brought a good hope, because of the Eldritch possibly knew something about Dragon...

"Hmm..."

The Eldritch pinched his beard and caressed them, he walked around them and approached the entrance of the Old Woodlands.

"Ah... the trees are infected with [ The World of Darkness ], it will take an arrangement to cure them all..."

Momo widened her eyes, she glanced at Alex with a hopeful notion, the latter nodded.

"Em... Sir Eldritch..."

"Call me Nuon, and yes, what can I help you with?"

Nuon turned around and lightly smiled toward Alex, he felt like the man had seen him through his gaze.

"What do you mean when you said the trees are infected?"

"Well, the [ The World of Darkness ] is magic that not just a barrier but also corrupt nature; the soil, the tree, the water, the wind, the rock, and eradicating the barrier doesn't fix it; if one does not purify them in certain amount of times, all the plants and trees in Old Woodlands will have weathered and decayed, the water will become poisonous, the wind is freezing cold, the rock crumble."

"Not only that, people who trapped inside the [ The World of Darkness ] usually will get crazy over time, the disability to see, and let alone the Old Woodlands has hellhounds, it takes great willpower and spirit to remain sane..."

"Or, one had special ability... maybe, create a tree?"

Nuon glanced at Momo, warmly smiling toward the young woman.

"I have seen your ability, young one, it's powerful magic, and I can feel your pain, truly, but do not worry, trees are innocent, it is the hand of evil who corrupted them, therefore, please keep believe in them..."

"!"

Momo placed her hand on her lips, she quickly flashed into Alex on the side and buried her face into his right ribs, Alex smiled and caressed her hair, soothing the trembling woman.

Her belief, her faith, it previously destroyed and broke to pieces, now, they slowly mended, no, perhaps restored to the beginning was more appropriate.

"Through the trees, I have seen what happened in the past... and yes, as you suspected, this trap probably meant for me... I am... what you called the Protector of the Realm."

"A Protector of the Realm?!"

Alexis and Elliot dropped their jaw, meanwhile, the rest were having question marks above their head.

A Protector of the Realm... a person who had been given a task to keep the world from Great Disaster that ultimately ended it. There had been several records that acknowledged their presence, but it remained a mystery how they had been chosen.

As for what kind of calamity considered as Great Disaster wasn't exactly very clear, but at least, two events had been known that could be considered as Great Disaster...

The first one was Minotaur Legend, the story of a man-goat who slew a monster that wrecked the continent, it had been said the casualties this monster had caused even surpass billion of people, it's a dark era filled with terror.

The second one was the Jorgmund Disaster, a sea monster who caused Tsunami and Earthquake everywhere, causing far more destruction than a monster in Minotaur Legend, it had been said, Moonlight Continent once was connected with Sunburst Continent, but due to this sea monster's rampage, both Continent now was separated.

If the Minotaur was the Protector of the Realm at that time, it's never been revealed who's the Protector of the Realm in the Jorgmund Disaster, or how the monster had been slain was unknown.

"I received the mantle of Protector of the Realm 10 years ago, someone approached me in the dream, said 'Rejoice, Nuon, you're now the Protector of the Realm, go celebrate or whatever.' then he disappeared, and I awoke while sweating a lot."

Alex and the other dropped a sweat, such mysterious job had been given in such a careless way?

What's with the 'Go celebrate or whatever?'

"For years, I have been wandering, searching, what Great Disaster soon befell the world..."

Great Disaster... did this possible have a relation with the so-called rise of the dragon clan? But... if this world had its protector already, why that person sent me here? Was it to help this guy?

There was the possibility, after all, it's too much a coincidence for this person to appear here not long after he was transmigrated.

Alexis knitted her eyebrows, then looked toward Nuon.

"Sir. Nuon, I am sorry for my impudence, but where do you come from?"

"Oh, I am from the Mysterious Continent."

"!"

Mysterious Continent? The only continent that could test someone whether they had achieved a Saint's rank?

"Sir. Nuon, how is it the Mysterious Continent?"

Elliot excitedly said, there was not much geographical information about the Mysterious Continent, a person with curiosity like him was obviously drawn into something new.

"Well... it's a Continent... and it's Mysterious..."

The young man's expression lagged for a while before he immediately went depressed, the others were laughing at him. Alex chuckled before asking the Eldritch.

"Mr. Nuon, why are you here? What's your destination next?"

"Oh, I got an information that the goblins in Dawn Forest behaved strangely, besides, I also want to go to the Eldorado Town, seek out to this woman called Baba... she runs the greatest information network of all Moonlight Continent, I even heard she has her contact in different continents."

Eldorado Town, and a woman called Baba, Alex felt like perhaps he should also go to this Baba, information was the thing he needed the most now.

But... he wasn't sure to travel together with Nuon...

"Mr. Nuon, I would love to go together with you, but clearly someone doesn't like your presence very much..."

Nuon sighed.

"Yes, I also noticed that, in fact, this was not the first time I ever faced difficulty like this..."

"What? Has this often happened to you?"

"Not frequently, like a week ago, I was ambushed by a group of assassins, very powerful..."

The Eldritch somewhat looked bitter, gave out a long sigh while looking at them.

"You people have suffered in my place and had sacrificed so much..."

He looked at me again, seemingly knew I had resurrected Alexis...

"I can't do much to repay your deed, but..."

Nuon lifted his hand, immediately a green circle appeared under his feet.

"O soul from the leaf that gives life. O soul from the leaf that gives peace. O soul from the leaf that gives happiness..."

As he began to chant, the body of Alex and the other glowed in a green aura, immediately they felt like their vigor and vitality was restored, no, not just restore, but improved, even Alex felt like an amount of mana inside of him was doubled.

"I give you the blessing of nature, as long you are within an area with leaves or grasses, your stamina, mana, and health will receive a boost."

"Next is..."

Nuon lifted his hand again and started another chant, their body glowed in another green aura but didn't feel any change.

"I give you an ability to resist against any negative condition, it's not complete immunity, but should give you an advantage."

"Next is..."

He waved his hand and immediately a green-like an orb floated on his hand.

"Go to that young lady..."

The orb flew toward Momo's side, it first stopped at a couple of distance, it's like a puppy which hesitated to greet the new master, but then immediately approached Momo, dancing around her.

"That is the newborn of my spirit tree... please take care of her, young lady..."

Momo brought up her hands then the orb rested on it, from within inside the orb, she could see a small creature looking up at her with curiosity, Momo smiled as she nodded toward Nuon.

"And lastly..."

Nuon reached out into his pocket, quickly took out something like two seeds and floated it toward Alex.

"That was called Ygdrassil Seed, anyone who ate it, as long they are not dead, could instantly recover with minutes no matter how grave their injuries..."

"I give one to you... but I hope you can spare one for someone..."

"Sure, to who I should give it?"

Alex accepted the seeds and put it inside the system storage.

"Inside this forest, there are two people who can help you in your journey, but both of them had a broken soul, damaged, young man, it's up to you whether you will let the soul perish, or you give them another chance to live..."

Two people...

"But there is only one seed..."

Nuon smiled at him.

"You only need one to rescue one..."