This world has four basic elements which then spread into more diverse elements due to the combination between elements or the upgrade of the elements.
Water, Wind, Earth and Fire were the basic elements.
From these four, more elements like lightning, ice, and wood existed. This was what called elemental magic spells.
Elementals which contracted with the elves also formed with the four basic elements like Prince Theo's elemental is a wind elemental with the power of wind.
Mages could wield more than one elements but it was rare to be capable in wielding all of them even for an archmage.
"Thats why they said don't randomly eat random things you found on the ground," the old man said snickering blatantly towards Ares who was already nervous.
The old man mentioned about him consuming fire orbs and poison which he never told anyone thus he might be saying the truth.
"Are you a Druid?"
Remembering the few times he heard about Tree of Life being mentioned by Ratata and also by the old man, there might be a possibility for him to be a Druid since the Tree of Life was said being taken care by the Druids.
Other than that, he had heard that Druid sometime has the power similar to Prophecy.
"Oho, you're sharp aren't you but that doesn't help your condition. Druid doesn't have healing ability or the ability to extract the fragments of wood from your body"
Fragments of wood.
I already consume a lot of fire orbs and cores thus that might mean I have a fragments of fire.
Wood is a secondary element by combining earth and water element. Wood is weak against fire thus to kept the fire at bay, I needed something that wouldn't extinguish the fire and also not hurting the wood.
"Ice" Ares muttered.
Water + Wind = Ice
Water could extinguisher the fire while wind might fans the fire even bigger but if combine both of them wouldn't extinguish the fire and also wouldn't harm the wood.
"Oh it seems you really have a good head but where would you find an ice core with the same power as your fire and wood fragment?"
He already consumed dozens of fire cores and the wood fragment is from the Tree of Life thus he needed an ice core with a comparable power, like the Ice Crystal Core he got from Ramon Dorga.
"I have an Ice Crystal Core from the South Hargan Icy plain. That will be enough right?"
"The wood fragment just enter your body thus immediately consuming the Ice Crystal might caused a shock on your body. Come follow me"
Following the old Druid into the room he previously contemplated on entering, the first thing he saw was a huge mangrove tree with huge vines and roots at the center of the room. Bright light was shining upon the tree and there was something like a crystal capsule embedded at the center of the tree.
"By the way, where is the other human who came here?" Ares asked after he didn't find Cedric.
"Oh he's there" the old Druid pointed his finger towards the top of the tree where there was a floating white altar.
The light shining on the tree seemed to come from something shining on the altar.
"Wait don't tell me...." Cedric was the one shining on the altar.
"He is from the Hellios clan, the clan both the real World Tree and Tree of Life didn't like. The World Tree will avoid him but the Tree of Life on the contrary would catch and made him as sacrifice."
"Does that mean he will die?"
"Depends. You're the Tree of Life successor, so it's for you to decide"
"I'm still curious on how you determined who became the Tree of Life successor?" Ares asked.
Isn't usually the protagonist who always got this kind of sudden inheritance out of nowhere especially in martial arts novels.
"Kid, don't you ever checked your mana affinity?" This time, the old Druid was the one looked more confused than Ares.
Mana affinity is a test to check someone affinity to the mana elements like the four basic elements. It could also determined if someome has affinity with holy energy and dark mana.
Usually parents would check their children affinity right after their kids awakened their mana but the Zanuki never told him what kind of affinity he had.
In his student's detail, Ron put he has affinity with Fire and Wind elements. That's also explained how he was capable of using lightning.
However when he tried a water spell just for the sake of curiosity, he managed to conjure the spell perfectly but since no one said anything, he also forgot about it.
"I think I have affinity with fire, wind and water" Ares said uncertainly.
"Tskk, is that it? So how come the wood fragment could enter your body when you didn't have affinity with Earth element?"
'Does that mean I have affinity to all four basic elements? Is there anyone like that in the novel? Even Cedric only has affinity to two elements and holy energy.'
"Druid usually sensitive to anyone who have the Earth element and especially those capable of using woods element since it was rare. Your smell of forest is a genuine one, not artificial thus that means you unknowingly awakened your elements while coming here."
Dumbfounded, Ares wanted to take out the diary but he didn't know how.
"You should be grateful you have a power inside you trying so hard to balance your body. If not, don't say a month, the moment the wood fragment entered your body, you should have explode."
"Power?"
"Yeah, that tattoo isn't your normal tattoo humans used to decorate their bodies. Every part of it contains pure mana. Hey why am I the one explaining this to you?"
"How should I know? Suddenly found a weird book and when I opened it, this tattoo suddenly appeared and the book vanished inside it. I saw words like the one from the book appearing on my palm like a system monitor," Ares who felt frustrated for the first time since he came to this world blurted out everything.
"....." The old druid seemed dumbfounded before he burst out laughing.
Ares who suddenly felt regret for his confusing outburst, stunned looking at the old man laughing while holding his stomach.
"Now now. At first I thought you're also a druid like me thus that's why I treated you like my own kid bit now it seems you're really human."
Druid was living beings said to be an ancient offsprings of a forest spirit with the elves and humans with a neutral alignment. They tend to get curious and like to eat anything they found, making them short-lived.
That might be why he thought Ares as a young reckless, curious druid. Going around eating fire cores, poison and then also eat a wood fragments without knowing the consequences.
That must also be why Ratata just let him be.
"Does Druid all have affinity with every element?"
"Nope. Most of us only have affinity with Water, Earth and Wind elements thus there were a few precedents where Druids tried eating fire cores to have affinity with fire"
"What happened to them?"
"Obviously they exploded. Thats why I was curious why you didn't explode since Druid and humans are a lot similar compare to monsters and beasts. So the book and the tattoo might be the reason. I thought you purposely tattooed yourself with a special Druid tattoo."
"Druid tattoo?"
"Yes, the Demi-God who created the Tree of Life use the cross shape as his symbol since the tree-shaped emblem had been used by the elves for centuries."
"..."
"Not all Druids know about the special tattoo let alone engraving it on someone else. Just like mine, it was engraved by the only one I knew capable on doing it thus I thought you might be the same."
The old druid showed a circular shapped tattoo on the back of his neck where there were three black dots and three thick black lines below them inside the circle. Behind the circle was a cross surrounded by leaves and vines.
*(Can go to this website to see the tree of life tattoo--->> https://www.google.com/amp/s/culturacolectiva.com/design/tattoos-celtic-symbols/amp/)
It looked different from the tattoo on Ares's arm which was just a cross wothout anything around it.
"So what should I do now?"
"Relax, you still have a month left. Since you're here by fate, take a look around."
"..." Is this easy-going old man really a druid.
"Did the tattoo respond to you?"
He asked.
"Yes but I didn't see any words since I came to Yaro Mountain. Is there something wrong?"
"No, it means the power is correctly absorbed by your body, that's why the system like words don't appear anymore. You're human so how could you have a system like a machine."
'Bah, so why Cedric has a sytem? By the way, I thought Druid didn't interested in technology but this one seemed decent.'
"Hey I know what you think. I have my own detection devices installed around this dungeon. It make me easier to conserve my mana to detect any intruders"
'Oh how nice to have technology even the nature friendly Druid also used them.'
Ares decided to throw Cedric out of the dungeon before he started to solve his own problem. For a protagonist in a *munchkin novel, Cedric wouldn't die even if he left him inside a Demon King palace.
*(Munchkin novel/character: Korean term to described a certain novel or character that was too OP(overpowered) beyond logic even within the novel. This kind of character usually defy any rules or power limit)
"Let me take out that guy first before we discuss what I should do next," Ares told the old Druid.
"Yeah do whatever you want since the Tree of Life is yours"
'Why is this guy kept saying its mine but since you say so, I will just take it' Ares thought while looking towards the altar where Cedric was.
*********************
[POV: Cedric Hel]
Currently he was half conscious, he felt like he was sleeping but he knew he wasn't. He could feel every inch of his body being wrapped by something like a tree roots. His body felt cold and he felt numb.
He suddenly felt a tinge of regret for believing the old man's words of saying that an inheritance was there. There was no inheritance other than a huge trap.
That must be why his system gave a weird mission to him
Ting!
[New quest!]
======System Quest======
Difficulty: High-Mid Tier
Quest: Meet with the successor of the Tree of Life
Explaination: The Tree of Life will find its new successor inside this dungeon. Make the sucessor blessed user with his Luck of the day.
Reward:
∆ Method to face trolls peacefully
∆ As long as the user inside a forest or mountain area, his luck will double due to the blessing.
=======================
However, currently he had been caught by an old man that he assumed was the Tree of Life successor. However that wasn't the case.
"Sorry kid, I'm not the successor. You can try pray to God for the real successor to come faster."
After he said that, the huge trees immediately seized the confused Cedric and made him into the condition he was now.
'That must be why the quest had a high difficulty, the same difficulty as the dungeon incident during the midterm test.'
He couldn't move let alone talk. He was fixed in place like a soulless doll. Even his eyes were shut off with a tree vines. He could only see few fragments of bright lights from above him.
Suddenly his ear heard sounds of people chattering.
'It must be the huge troll and that weird old man that looked like he was at least a hundred years old' Cedric thought.
However he could feel that the place he was laid, descending downwards.
"Hey why is his face so pale?"
"Maybe because his mana almost depleted"
"Tsk, is this really the Tree of Life or is it some kind of a parasitic plant"
"Ey even though you're the successor, that doesn't mean you can insult it"
"Tskk so troublesome"
Two different voices seemed to be talking to each other. Due to his remaining energy to stay half conscious, Cedric could only hear the voices just enough to decipher that it was two different voices.
'Successor. One of the voice mentioned about the successor which mean the successor might have come.'
His body continue to become weaker while his consciousness was on the verge of collapsing. He remained half-conscious all due to his own will power since he couldn't use any of his abilities and even his mana seemed to be disappear.
Slowly he felt the things that blindfolding him was taken away. His half-opened eyes couldn't see the person in front of him clearly but he took in every details that he could see.
Ting!
[Quest Completed]
Bright clear words appear in front of him, and a moment later, he completely fall unconscious, letting the person holding him to do whatever he wanted.
Meanwhile Ares who thought Cedric already fainted but was actually still half conscious and couldn't move nor make any sounds.
"!!!" Ares was shocked when he saw Cedric eyes half opened.
"Oh now he had completely fainted" the old Druid commented when Cedric closed his eyes completely.
"He didn't see me right?" Ares muttered.
"What's wrong if he saw you?"
He's the protagonist, if he knew I'm the successor of the Tree of Life, there was a huge possibility for him to try dragging me to help him in the future especially when he knew more about his clan's history.
And I don't want that. Just let me be a powerful passerby or an obscure overpowered extra character in the background.
"So where should I take this guy...."
"Why not try replenishing his mana first before you send him away." the old druid suggested
Following his suggestion, Ares submerged the unconscious Cedric inside a pool near the Tree of Life. The pool was concentrated with mana liquid formed by the tree.
"This is the Tree of Life excess substance that it doesn't need. It contains high concentration of mana, better than any expensive mana potion or mana stones," the old Druid explained.
Looking at the facial color on Cedric's had turned to normal and not as pale as before, the druid drew a teleportation magic circle to teleported Cedric from the dungeon.
"Hey I don't think teleportation magic needed that kind of weird looking inscription?" Ares asked, wary that the Druid might kill Cedric when he saw a weird inscription being added on the magic circle.
'If he die, who will fight with the Demon King? Obviously not me.'
"Relax, if I wanted to kill him, I might have done it before you came. This is a memory alteration magic spell. This lad wouldn't remember about this place after he go out of here."
".....Interesting."
"I can teach you many things if you want to but that was another issue after we solve your body problem."
Ares just remained silent since even if the Druid didn't want to teach him, he would find some other ways to know about that kind of magic spells.
Mana started to envelope all over Cedric's body and a few moment later, the blond hair youth that was laying down in the hard ground cave was teleported just outside the entrance of the Yaro Mountain track path.
A group of mercenaries that were camping around the area suddenly sensed a figure not far from them, thus they decided to check whether it was a human or something else.
"Captain! I found it. It's a human, seemed quite young," one of them yelled.
"Hey hey, isn't this that mercenary kid Cedric"
"Oh my, what happened to him? Wait is he sleeping...."
"Tskk this kid must have exhausted himself to death again, he might have unknowingly fainted," the captain said before ordering his team members to transfer Cedric into one of their tent.
"Someone call his friend that brat Shino to pick him up tomorrow morning"
"Alright captain"