"It is lucky this turned out so well," Wisp remarked as Ats leaned back, watching the waterfall's surroundings become a sacred site.

  'An elven soul resonating with the nd and capable of removing malignant energies...' Ats mused, observing the red energy being drawn out of Aello and harmlessly dispersed into the air.

  "There has to be a limit to this, based on how it pulsed through the tree."

  "If you feed it divinity and expand its domain, that risk will be reduced," Wisp replied. "I must admit, I was surprised when this reckless expenditure of precious resources turned out for the better."

  Tilting its head, it chirped, "I'm... sorry. Logically, it makes sense that we have procedures in pce to disperse the red energy should it prove uncontrolble. My judgment was impaired."

  'Does it need to sound this... robotic? Corporate?' Ats stared at Wisp for a moment, hands crossed behind his head before leaning forward again. "So what is this problem you spoke of earlier with the souls?"

  Wisp was silent for a brief moment before chirping behind him.

  "Please roll back the world to just prior to when you altered the magic flow, and change your view to see the afterlife souls of the world."

  "I can do that? I thought I could only see magic or physical things."

  Shaking its head, Wisp chirped, "You can view many overys from your CDIM."

  Nodding, Ats did just that. The world spun in a blur, and his CDIM monitor updated to -CDIM Repy-. He cued a request to see the souls of the dead across the world.

  One by one, souls appeared, dotting the ndmasses. The densest clusters looked like singur glowing spots. However, as expected, the Smiling Tree of Wishes's ndmass remained greyed out.

  "Alright, what am I supposed to see?" Ats asked.

  "Speed up the repy of the CDIM and watch the souls."

  Pressing py and fast-forwarding, Ats observed the souls before the year 478 moving erratically, drifting aimlessly across the ndmasses before blinking out of existence.

  "Alright… and then...?"

  -Magic System Changes Underway-

  All of the souls suddenly froze for a year after the event log dispyed the change. Then, they resumed drifting- but there was a distinct shift.

  A growing number of souls started traveling across the ndmasses, converging on a singur point.

  Ats frowned. 'This isn't good.'

  "They're all moving toward the ndmass of the Smiling Tree of Wishes..." he murmured.

  "Yes, Weaver Ats," Wisp confirmed. "Following the premise that this tree absorbs the souls and bodies of the dead and that this unit is hostile to you, this is a potential catastrophe that may destroy your world."

  Chirping, Wisp fluttered around the globe. "And after you altered the magical flow of the world, the full extent of its capabilities is unknown."

  "The only thing we knew was that it could use malformed creatures, grant wishes, and control willing creatures before…" Ats muttered in thought. "Even the vampiress gave herself willingly. She isn't that strong compared to Primordials-"

  Ats blinked, his stomach dropping. His finger slowly outstretched, rewinding and repying the dispersion period of the Primordials.

  Five died. Three blinked out of existence. Two floated across the sea toward the convergence location.

  "Shit…"

  "This tree is on par with the Eldritch Selena," Wisp continued. "It would not be surprising if it could assimite abilities and understand weaknesses based on this. The vampiress could not deliver the Primordial corpses, so there should not be further worry."

  "Hopefully, that's the case…"

  "Hopefully?"

  "This is magic and spirits we're talking about, right? Selena needed corpses and she wasn't powerful with magic. Can this tree read a soul and then duplicate its physical body to-"

  "No, Weaver Ats," Wisp cut in, shaking its head. "Magic has limits and generally requires a framework. The soul can be cloned as the framework is within the tree, but it would still require the blueprint of a physical body."

  "So what was Selena using as the framework for the soul?"

  "Distorted parts of her own soul, retaining the desire to genocide Dark Elves, were forcibly injected into an infant soul that replicated her first child. This fragment of her soul, which is also passed on to the other Brood Mothers and embedded in goblin souls, acts as a kill switch if she desires them to commit suicide."

  "God damn!"

  "You are God, Weaver."

  "Ah, er…"

  Awkwardly, he turned back around and sat in silence for a moment. Moments passed, and he started tapping his fingers against the console before repying the CDIM, watching the timeline.

  "So it takes roughly… four to eight years for them to reach the tree," Ats commented, eyeing some of the souls that were only a few months away from entering the grey zone.

  "Intelligence and seeing through the fog of war is the first step. I need to get a glimpse of what I'm dealing with. This is a good time to clear up what's going on with the Primordials too…"

  His gaze shifted back toward the humans, and he shook his head. "Sorry, humans, you're going to have to keep guessing for now."

  "'Is he above us, below us, in our heads?'" he mimicked in a mocking voice, his fingers brushing the globe again. "Can't use the elves, so it looks like the Primordials—and perhaps the Dwarves—will be the first world guardians."

  Zooming in on the Green Primordial Dragon, he found him floating next to the vampiress, carrying two unconscious goblins toward their mountain along the eastern coast of the western continent. Ats narrowed his eyes at the vampiress, whose deadpan gaze kept flickering toward the Primordial's now elven form instead of his human one.

  "I can't tell if she's out of it," Ats muttered, poking her figure, but no new information dispyed on her status. "Her notes are still hidden. But she isn't strong enough to harm him. So I think I can leave them alone…"

  "Or… I do need a Primordial recon unit potentially… but if he gets taken down, that's a problem."

  Swiping away, the globe shifted to the Bck Primordial Dragon. Ats poked at its status.

  -----------------------

  Name:Bck Primordial DragonRace:Primordial DragonAge:500-Upgrade- ------------

  Status: Vitality:100Intelligence:60Potential:150Magic:75Fertility:2Special Traits/Abilities:Magic Affinity II, Mithril Scales, Tears of Life, Dragon's Breath------------------

  "EH?!" Ats blinked and jerked, startled. "But I can see your status?! Then what the fuck is that deceptive bitch doing?!"

  A faint chirping echo could be heard in the background. "There could still be a small connection..."

  His globe zoomed back to the vampiress, hovering inches away from her deadpan face, then snapped back to the Bck Primordial Dragon.

  "Ahh! I don't want to kill you now!" Ats groaned.

  "What?" Wisp chirped, bewildered. "That would upset the Primordials."

  Ats motioned toward the Primordial slumbering in its nest atop a mountain. Its body bore numerous scars from battles with other Primordials—broken scales, missing chunks of flesh. Even its face looked angrier, more aggressive compared to its kin.

  Tapping his fingers against the console- at this point, out of habit- he muttered, "Redemption arc for the Bck Primordial Dragon too? Send him on a recon mission. If he fails, no harm done. If he succeeds…"

  "How would you do this? You would have to use two more oracles to convey your message to both parties," Wisp noted.

  "If it works, it spares me from losing friendly Primordials. If it works and fails, I don't have to risk more casualties or waste divinity striking him down. And if it succeeds… well, that's up to them."

  Ats hesitated, his tone dropping. "But if he dies in reconnaissance, then the tree will have a blueprint for its own Primordial army."

  Nodding, Wisp perched on his shoulder. "This appears to be a situation you cannot fix. I suggest allowing them deal with the Bck Primordial after the tree is eliminated."

  Ats stared at the Bck Primordial Dragon with some reluctance. "Yeah… it's just too bad. I'd prefer this one over the others, but… yeah."

  "You could use the dwarves as recon if you don't want to risk valuable pieces," Wisp suggested.

  "My first oracle to them would be a suicide mission into a corrupted nd? I bet they wouldn't even make it past the shores."

  Ats dismissed the idea quickly, his fingers tapping against the console as he continued mulling over the situation.

  Next Chapter: Chapter 27: The Second Oracle