Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The Forest Spring Spirit clan had sworn an oath of subordination to him and were now an inhabitant of his dungeon. As long as they continued to be loyal to him, he as the dungeon master had the obligation to protect them and shelter them from all harm.

The battle that occurred on the thirty sixth floor and even now he was interrogating the humans so that he could protect the safety and prosperity of the clan.

"People of Forest Spring Spirit clan, please raise your heads" Simon declared, his newfound confidence along with the regal aura he was emitting at this moment, made him look just like a king who was addressing his subjects.

The Forest spring spirits, raised their heads as they were told and looked at Simon fervently. Currently, whatever little prosperity they had it was all because of Simon. He was not only their saviour, but had become a symbol of some sort for them. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the position he held in their heart was higher than that of a king.

"Lord Simon, please hoist the spirit staff to start the event" Fennel from the side instructed.

Since Simon had no idea of how to start the Spiritus Fortuna festival of the forest spring spirits, he asked Fennel to guide him. The spirit staff that Fennel was talking about was the old wooden staff that was kept beside the fireplace.

Simon strode forward, extended his hand and picked the staff up. The moment his fingers touched the wood, he felt as if a vast deep energy, pure and soothing, brush past his body. The feeling only lasted for a second or two before it disappeared.

Amazed, Simon observed the staff in his hand more carefully. The thing was so light that he basically did not even feel its weight.

Seeing his expression and knowing what he was thinking, fennel smiled and said "The spirit staff is an ancient treasure of our clan passed to us by our ancestors. It is made from the branch of the World Tree and contains a vast amount of natural energy. Only our patriarch or someone recognised by our people can raise the staff".

"That's right, I remember my father saying that it was a treasure bestowed to our clan by the Primordial Demon Lord of Pride in the ancient era" Cecilia added. She became a little melancholic thinking about the words of her father.

So that was the energy he felt before and why the staff seemed so light, Simon nodded his head. He was curious about the world tree that they mentioned and wondered if it was what he was imagining in his head.

He made a mental note to ask about it later, right now he had the task to start this festival on his hand. Anyways, after he picked the spirit staff, he heard the sounds of awe coming from the forest spring spirits.

It looked like the staff held some kind of special spiritual meaning to them since their gaze became even more reverent the moment he picked it up.

"Lord Simon, in the Spiritus Fortuna festival we offer our harvest to the nature and pray for the deceased near the spirit tree. Would you please lead everyone to that giant tree on the distant mountaintop".

Fennel pointed out at the distant tree on the mountain near the village. The tree that he pointed out was also something that Simon was also curious about and had attracted his gaze the moment he arrived on this floor.

The tree was extremely conspicuous with its numerous branches and how wide it was. With him in the lead, followed by Irene, Cecilia, his subordinates and the forest spring spirits on the back, they tread forward and after a while appeared in front of the wide tree.

Now in front of it, Simon stood rooted for a good few seconds as he marvelled at the tree that was like a piece of art. No, calling it a tree was incorrect since it was a cluster of trees that wrapped around each other to form one huge unit.

The thing was already amazing with how incredulous it looked; nevertheless, the most amazing thing about this tree was not its shape nor its numerous branches spreading chaotically but the vast amount of mana that it was releasing.

It was so dense that the ground around the tree had become moist. Looking at that cluster of trees, Simon had no doubt in his mind that all of those trees were mana trees grown from the seeds that he had given to the forest spring spirits to plant. since then, they have undergone some form of mutation and had become something else entirely.

Simon tried to use his Analysis only to be stunned the next second to find that it was blocked by the tree. Yes, his attempts at analysis was blocked by none other than the tree itself.

"The Tree of Spirits, so it has finally grown to become a sprout" Irene muttered from beside him.

Hearing her words, Simon turned towards her and asked "What is a Tree of Spirit? And how did it block my analysis?".

"Tree of Spirits, an ancient tree that is said to be able to connect the spirits of the deceased with that of the living. The more spiritual significance the tree has, the more spirits will gather around it. It could be seen by the number of pale white leaves on its branches"

"It is no wonder that it was able to stop your attempts of analysis; after all, the tree itself is a spiritual entity. It usually takes a very long time and special conditions for the tree to grow and once it does, it will be able to show abilities far beyond your imagination. One of those abilities for instance is the ability to talk with the deceased".

"Although to do that, the tree would have to fulfil many conditions one of which is to grow to its adult form. The current tree of spirit is like a baby that needs constant care and attention. Fortunately, you have the aid of forest spring spirits, their natural energy and the abundant mana on this floor is the perfect source of nutrients for it" Irene explained looking at the tree of spirits.

Hearing her words, Simon was gobsmacked. It was already shocking for him to know that the tree can bock his attempt of analysis but it can do what now?

Connect and talk with the deceased, what kind of concept was that? It was the first time that Simon was hearing something like that, not to mention the thing that can do that, was right in front of his eyes.

The huge wide tree that caught his eyes when he arrived on this floor, turned out to be a thing of immense value.

Simon hurriedly opened his [Main Menu] hopped over on the [Shop] option and checked all the features that were still unavailable to him or in other words would only get unlocked when his dungeon evolves up to a new higher rank.

In any case, even after searching the lists of features, there was no mention of anything about something called the tree of spirits which goes to say that what he has here is something unique that even the [Shop] option of the [Main Menu] didn't.

That in itself was enough to tell Simon the value of the tree of spirits. If the tree can really do what Irene said, then he had lucked out incredibly this time. The thirty or more seed of mana trees was nothing compared to the benefits the tree of spirits can provide in the future when it grows up.

This brings to mind… "What are the conditions that needed to be met for the tree to grow up?" Simon asked realising that there is a catch here.

Irene mused for a while before replying "First of all the tier of the dungeon needs to be at least a [B] rank, it needs a high density of mana constantly to even stay alive. Then the forest spring spirit floor itself must have numerous heart veins growing underneath it. There is the need for someone to constantly take care of the tree but that issue is solved by the forest spring spirits".

"There are many other conditions that even I'm not aware of but the ones I told about are the ones that are somehow achievable in the future. Perhaps, Cecilia would know more once she fully manifests the sleeping abilities within her".

At this moment, Simon's expression looked like he had swallowed a fly. Just a few seconds ago, he was so excited thinking that he had lucked out but who knew that the conditions to grow the tree of spirits would be this stringent?

Even the most simplest of the condition required him to evolve his dungeon to [B] rank, have numerous heart veins on the forest spirit floor. These conditions were already enough to snuff all of his excitement out, not to mention there were still more conditions there that even Irene did not know about and could only be found out when more of Cecilia's ability starts to awaken.

All in all, it could be said that even though he got himself an incredible thing, it was still too early for him to utilise it.

"Is something wrong Lord Simon?" Fennel asked from behind. Simon and the others had suddenly stopped the moment they reached the tree thus Fennel couldn't help but ask if something was wrong up there.

Simon shook his head saying that it was nothing and proceeded forward, his subordinates and the entire clan of forest spring spirits carrying lamps in their hands, followed behind him.

When they reached the mountaintop, they kept the lamps all around the tree and decorated it with white and purple clothes made of the same material as their garments. After they were done, they circled around the tree, closed their eyes and prayed for the deceased.