When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 773: Chapter 156 Tree Demon Chapter 773: Chapter 156 Tree Demon Anastasia’s pale golden hair reached her earlobes, resembling a golden apple.

Her amber pupils were clear and transparent, intoxicating as brownish liquor.

The girl was not even as tall as Aiwass’s chest—probably about the same height as Yulia.

Compared to the average height of the elves, she was visibly shorter…

Aiwass had almost never seen an elf shorter than Isabel, but today he did.

And Aiwass too, in a moment of haziness, realized why the timid Yunus had suddenly become brave and even rescued Anastasia from the bandits’ hands—Aiwass didn’t know if Isabel had this kind of bobbed hair when she was young, but her hair color was exactly the same as Isabel’s.

Her apparent height should be about the same as Isabel’s when she was nine years old.

Clearly, since Anastasia was sent to Fairyland, her height had not grown at all.

And Isabel at that age…

was the Isabel in Yunus’s memory when he left Glass Island.

…He must have been triggered.

Perhaps it was after he took action that he realized that she was not Isabel; or maybe just the resemblance was enough to make his heart ache.

Anastasia scurried over to Grace, opening her arms wide, and with a practiced little hop, she tried to leap into Grace’s embrace.

If this was the outside world, Grace would have easily caught the girl in her arms.

But the now shrunken Grace could only flutter her withered leaf butterfly-like wings backward two steps awkwardly to barely embrace Anastasia.

“Aya…”

Grace affectionately called Anastasia’s nickname, lovingly stroking her hair.

With identical hair colors and different lengths, the two looked as close as sisters.

As her hair fluttered, Aiwass distinctly smelled the fresh scent in her hair.

It was a fresh scent of pine mixed with orange peel.

That was the smell of Grace’s family shampoo.

…What was going on?

Aiwass hesitated slightly.

As he focused his spirit to resonate with the Resonance Path, the Strength of Dedication began to flow within him—the eye he had sacrificed for the sight before, now turned amberish and dim, started to emit a faint red glow like a kindled furnace.

It was an unnamed ability similar to “True Vision.”

Under his gaze, he saw the edges of Anastasia starting to blur.

Aiwass was moved and closed his left eye.

Without any darkness—his vision remained bright.

Different from the outside world, when Aiwass was in Fairyland, the vision in his right eye seemed completely restored.

Or rather, his right eye, capable of seeing the power of the Path, saw a world identical to what Aiwass saw with his naked eye.

The entire world seemed to be an illusion conjured by the power of the Path.

Only two things were different.

Grace’s body displayed numerous runes—those tattoo-like, totemic mysterious patterns were emitting yellow-green brilliance.

Mostly light and dark green, with a small piece of yellow also mingling within.

It looked as if a large piece of jade had the skin of an elf put on, and the internal brilliance was revealed by the carved patterns on the skin.

Anastasia started to become ethereal in front of Aiwass.

Her form became exceedingly blurred, like a person with high myopia who wasn’t wearing glasses, or like ink spreading in water.

But only Anastasia was blurred…

nothing else was affected.

Aiwass watched with a strange expression as a blur, its edges murky, lay in the tattoo-covered arms of Grace, impossible to discern any facial expressions.

Aiwass turned his head back, only to find the “little tree” still in place.

—It was not in Grace’s arms at all.

And the little tree, as if sensing Aiwass’s gaze, turned away shyly, with her back to him, not allowing Aiwass to see her face.

As the conversation at his ear abruptly stopped, Aiwass opened his left eye.

Like putting on glasses—the contours of Anastasia’s young girl form instantly became clear, and the tree vanished without a trace, submerged in the bright sunlight of noon.

“…May I call you, Mr.

Aiwass?”

The soft, mushy voice of the little girl came through.

Her gaze at Aiwass was tinged with wariness and a bit of reluctance.

Had it not been for Grace reaching out, encouragingly placing her hand on Yulia’s shoulder and holding it down, she might have turned and run away on impulse.

…So that’s how it was, she had sensed my gaze.

A sudden realization dawned on Aiwass.

Which was only reasonable.

After all, being skilled in illusion techniques, she must certainly be aware if her own illusions had been broken…

However, the fact that Anastasia’s illusions could prevent a fourth power level Aiwass from penetrating them without True Vision, her talent was astonishingly strong.

This meant that she had reached at least the depth of the fourth power level—and perhaps even the fifth.

Although she had inherited abilities, the most crucial part was the awakening of her bloodline.

She was like the legendary dragons.

Unlike condensation, which is fundamentally a psychological issue, tree transformation is a peculiar phenomenon flowing in the blood and occurring at random.

It has no cure because it’s not a disease…

but a sublimation.

Just like a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, life fundamentally advances to a higher form.

As a price, however, the caterpillar’s flesh must dissolve to nourish the new form.

In some ways, this could also be seen as a kind of aberrant development— from an elf with hands, feet, and a lifespan, to an ageless, deathless tree-shaped Phantom Demon.

“Hello, I’m Aiwass.”

Aiwass smiled warmly, his voice becoming gentle, “You don’t have to call me ‘Mr.’ Just ‘big brother’ is fine.”

He knelt on the ground and extended his hand gently to shake Anastasia’s.

It was a soft, warm, and slightly moist hand.

The skin was so smooth to the touch that one couldn’t feel any hint of the texture of bark, and the palm was slightly sweaty from nervousness.

“Brother Aiwass, are you here to burn me?”

Anastasia asked softly.@@novelbin@@

“…Why would you think that?”

Aiwass looked surprised.

He subconsciously turned to look at Grace, “Do your elves have any…

fiery executions for heresies?”

“Of course not…

I think those Joyous Spirits have told her something.”

Grace shook her head, “They have short lifespans and don’t really understand many things, but they like to talk nonsense.

And when fairies speak, children believe…

After all, the essence of the Fairy Kingdom is also a world constructed from their collective imagination.

In a sense, their babbling could also become reality, making it even harder to distinguish the true from the false.”

“But mother said the same thing too,”

Anastasia argued, “She said when I fully turn into a tree, I have to be burned.”

“That’s to ensure you correctly ascend to the Dream Realm, Aya.”

Grace said seriously and solemnly, “Otherwise, you might get stuck in the Material Realm.”

“But I want to stay with mother.”

“…I want to be with you too, Aya.”

Grace said with a bittersweet smile, “But we can’t.

Even now…

you already can’t stand noise, can you?

When you transform further…

even if we were to plant you in the yard, the surrounding noise might still wake you up from time to time.

“You must have already begun to find the voices of those Joyous Spirits noisy too.”

Upon hearing this, Aiwass suddenly became aware—both Anastasia and Grace spoke in very soft tones.

It was like the volume used to tell bedtime stories to a child.

He himself wasn’t a noisy person, and the environment around him was very quiet, so he hadn’t noticed before.

But now that he thought about it…

“Tree Demons greatly dislike…

or rather, are very afraid of noise.”

Grace turned and leaned in close to Aiwass, speaking softly, “The level of sound that can wake people up is unbearable for Tree Demons.

They can be seen as ‘always sleeping’, and even when awake, can be ‘disturbed into greater wakefulness’.

“Remember to speak softly, Mr.

Aiwass.”