## Chapter 58 – 58. Ominous Sign
#58. Ominous Sign
After spending almost an entire day in bed, I was reluctantly forced to get up by Iris’s insistence.
If I had my way, I would have liked to spend the next three days enjoying the same leisure as yesterday, but I couldn’t deny that time was running out.
With no other choice, I washed up roughly by the lake, trying to shake off the sleepiness.
‘I should carry around a portable shower.’
Even if I could heat the water with magic, washing in the lake itself was more inconvenient than I thought.
Still, just being able to wash with Iris made it all worthwhile. Although she herself was too shy to face me, leaning her back against my chest, did she not realize that made it even hotter?
The stimulating line from Iris’s neck down to her buttocks made my lower body throb, and it was only after shooting three consecutive loads inside her while washing that I could finally get dressed.
Of course, I didn’t tell Iris to wear a tank top and dolphin shorts. They were everyday clothes to me, but to Iris, they felt like a provocative outfit a girlfriend would wear for a special anniversary.
I took out a few nice dresses and shirts and let Iris choose what she liked.
“Hyunwoo, how is it? Does it look good on me?”
The moment I saw Iris elegantly twirling in a white off-shoulder shirt and black high-waisted skirt, applause burst out automatically.
“Hehe, thank you.”
Iris’s refreshing smile made my lower body throb again without me realizing it, but I didn’t want to ruin the mood, so I endured it with superhuman patience.
There was no need to rush in the first place.
As long as the ‘Otherworld Dating App’ didn’t disappear, I would be making memories with Iris until the day my lifespan ran out.
‘Until the Otherworld Dating App disappears, huh…’
Lifespan wasn’t a big concern.
As your cultivation level increased, your lifespan automatically increased as well. Even I could easily live to 120 years old.
If I raised my cultivation level while taking elixirs, I could probably live to 200. There were many other ways to extend my lifespan, but I couldn’t help but worry that this app I suddenly acquired might disappear overnight.
That alone planted a seed of anxiety in my heart.
“Hyunwoo?”
Lost in thought for a moment, Iris, who had come very close, sent me a look full of concern.
“Is something wrong?”
“…No, it’s nothing.”
Seeing Iris’s concern, I steeled myself.
Right, let’s not worry about things that haven’t happened yet.
Let’s not waste time dwelling on conclusions that won’t come no matter how much I worry.
What mattered was the time I was spending with Iris now.
With that, the seed of anxiety disappeared before it could even sprout.
We held hands and returned to the temple.
The moment we stepped into the temple, the golden tree, which had clearly been slightly withered until yesterday, radiated a brilliant light again.
At the same time, I could feel the surrounding air subtly changing.
[Have you come?]
“Mother!”
Iris rushed to the golden tree’s side at the telepathic message that felt like it was directly hitting my brain.
I looked at my now empty right hand and felt a strange jealousy, but I quickly dismissed it.
‘Right, it’s weird to be jealous of your girlfriend’s relationship with her parents.’
Thinking of her as my future mother-in-law, my faith seemed to surge from nowhere.
However, judging from Iris’s excited voice and expression, it didn’t seem like this conversation would end anytime soon.
With nothing else to do, I decided to review what I had learned yesterday to pass the time.
In fact, a day was a very short time to learn anything.
All I had learned were a few new fire elemental magic spells.
Iris wasn’t a fire elemental mage in the first place. She mainly used earth and wind elements based on spirit magic.
That didn’t mean I had an affinity for earth and wind elements either.
My affinity was only for fire and lightning.
I hadn’t even used lightning properly because I couldn’t control it well.
Lightning had the most bizarre power among the elements, but it was also the hardest to control. A single mistake could easily damage the magic circuit.
Still, I kept practicing.
Iris had advised me that repeated practice was the best way to freely use the lightning element.
I quietly closed my eyes and focused the lightning element in both hands.
Crackle-
Before long, rough sparks rose, but that was it.
Even with the strengthened magic circuit, it wasn’t easy to handle more output. Still, if I pushed myself, I felt like I could unleash high-powered lightning magic once or twice.
Compared to before, I could definitely feel that I had grown.
I was feeling a sense of accomplishment, confident that I would be able to handle even more powerful lightning in the near future, but that was only for a moment.
[Kang Hyunwoo.]
A familiar telepathic message was heard.
[I cannot help but admire your achievements. I never imagined you would defeat the gatekeeper of the first floor and return with the key.]
The World Tree’s will was directed at Kang Hyunwoo.
Even though the tree clearly didn’t have eyes, Kang Hyunwoo felt like he was being watched by the World Tree.
[To be honest, I didn’t have any expectations for you.]
“M-Mother?”
Iris was startled by her mother’s harsh words towards the boyfriend she had brought home, saying they would get married soon.
[However, I don’t think I can’t believe it anymore.]
The World Tree’s golden tree extended its branches towards me. A small fruit grew at the end of the branch.
“This is?”
[This is the last fruit this tree can bear.]
Iris couldn’t help but be shocked by the sight.
The World Tree’s fruit, which emitted immense divine power, was one of the best elixirs in the world, comparable to holy relics.
Of course, since it was a fruit grown from a symbolic body with weak authority, its efficacy was somewhat inferior.
Nevertheless, it was clear that it would be the best move for Kang Hyunwoo’s growth.
Kang Hyunwoo, unaware of this fact, was just roughly guessing that it was an elixir.
And it was an elixir bestowed by a god.
I glanced at Iris and my lips curled up, confident that it would be better than anything I could get on the market, or at least not worse.
I chewed it roughly and swallowed it whole.
“…Huh?”
The problem happened after that.
Suddenly, my vision blurred, and I thought I heard tinnitus in my ears.
Thud-
My memory cut off there.
***
The World Tree looked at Kang Hyunwoo, who had fallen to the floor.
To be precise, it peered into his inner self, his essence.
However, even with the eyes of a god, the ‘Otherworld Dating App’ that Kang Hyunwoo possessed was completely hidden. That was why the World Tree could only conclude that he was a genius, seeing how much he had grown in such a short period of time.
Although it felt uneasy that he was a human and not an elf, it had no choice but to compromise with reality, as finding someone more suitable in the current situation was a distant prospect.
[Child.]
“…Yes, Mother.”
Iris had Kang Hyunwoo lying on her lap and wore a worried expression.
Seeing the child’s sincere appearance, the World Tree was able to erase some of its anxiety about the fact that Kang Hyunwoo was human.
[Do you love him?]
“Yes.”
The World Tree was silent at the answer without the slightest hesitation.
[Does he love you too?]
Knowing that this was not a simple question, Iris couldn’t help but pause for a moment.
However, Iris, recalling his appearance, which had broken through her 200 years of loneliness and showed her a new future and taught her warm love, was able to steel her resolve.
Even if he didn’t truly love her, she was confident that she could win his heart with her efforts.
“Yes!”
The World Tree was satisfied with its most precious child’s energetic answer.
It was still unsure whether its decision could save the entire elven race.
Even as a god, it was not omnipotent.
Therefore, believing firmly in its child was the best it could do, and it squeezed out the authority it could exercise on earth.
Once again, golden waves surged through the underground temple.
***
Ding-
[Nine Fruits: Acquired magic power.]
[Magic circuit is extremely activated.]
[Mana circle is extremely activated.]
[The body detects changes and prepares for new changes.]
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“…Where is this?”
I frowned slightly at the slight headache, and pushed aside the densely packed screen that had risen between my heavily lifted eyelids.
Then I closed my eyes again.
Closing my eyes seemed to ease the headache a little.
Besides, the texture of the pillow I was lying on was so good that I stroked and touched it here and there.
‘…Why is it warm?’
I touched the chewy texture that a pillow couldn’t have more actively.
After touching it here and there, it was clear that this was Iris’s national treasure-level thigh.
Naturally, I wondered why I was doing this, and carefully opened my eyes again and turned my head.
“Have you woken up?”
“Huh?”
My eyes met Iris’s.
But in Iris’s eyes, which met my gaze, I could catch a glimpse of something I couldn’t normally see.
“Iris…?”
A sense of unease and alienation stabbed at my instincts.
The golden eyes, shining brilliantly instead of the lively green eyes I usually saw, fueled my suspicion.
At that moment, a hypothesis flashed through my mind.
“Could it be, World Tree…?”
Iris, no, the World Tree, nodded briefly.
Only then did I jump up from my seat.
“It’s the first time I’ve met you from a human’s perspective.”
I felt an unknown pressure from the World Tree, who had taken the form of Iris, dusting off its knees and getting up from its seat.
A distant divinity, a being that mankind calls God, had descended to this earth by borrowing the body of a believer.
The golden tree in the middle of the temple was so dry that it was completely rotten.
“I have something to tell you, so I have temporarily borrowed the body of this child.”
“Uh… is it really necessary to do that? Can’t you just say it?”
The World Tree shook its head.
“The golden tree is also a weak symbol of me. In order to intervene on earth, I have to use quite a bit of authority, but if I borrow the body of this child, who is strongly connected to me, I can minimize the consumption of authority.”
I knew why it borrowed Iris’s body, but what was it trying to say that it even descended into the body of a believer, minimizing the use of authority?
“I believe that you are the hero who will save the entire elven race.”
“…Hero?”
