"I will give you any map you want. I will give a special map to you – who has brought us this treasure."
She got up from her seat. I expected it, but she had a huge body, her head almost touching the ceiling. This race seems to continue to grow in size as it aged. Elder Kapal looked a couple of heads larger than Ghur. She went into the next room from a connecting door and made a brief rumble for a moment, then brought some scrolls about half my height and spread them out in front of me.
"These are the maps showing the territory of Ashpim and the road to Silver Forest. And…this is the route that connects the farthest point in the area of the Ashpim. If you want to get the Enchanted Wood, there is a way to take it directly from Ashpim. Still, I recommend you to search around the forest without entering the Silver Forest, just like how they get it."
The elder then explained to me how to read the markers on the map. Indeed, there were quite a few lands in the area around Silver Forest that didn't overlap with the residential area of Ashpim, and it seemed to be possible to look around for such a place.
"Enchanted Wood isn't very common, given that it is regarded as valuable even among the Ashpims. However, I think a good wizard like you must have learned special tracking magic or cognitive magic that we cannot know. I'd recommend it because I think it's much higher than the chance to find it by luck."
Well, there were many ways. At least, there were ways to increase the probability rather than accidentally discovering it while passing by.
"Anyway, it won't be good for our Dell people if the Ashpims get that wood in their hands. I hope you will get all the Enchanted Wood that fell outside the forest to help you create barriers to protect your tribe. Good luck to you and your tribe."
I bowed my head to express my gratitude.
"Thank you. Actually, it is a barrier to hide one person, but I am very grateful for your wishes."
Ghur's eyes widened.
"What? You're not protecting your families from predators, but you're only hiding? What are you afraid of, Yoong?"
I smiled bitterly and pointed my finger at my chest.
"…As you can see."
Elder Kapal looked at the Channel on my body before responding.
"Is there a lot of wizards in your dimension aiming for the Channel open on your chest? To the point where you need to hide?"
Ghur took her words.
"Are these guys running away with the summoning magic they're throwing at you all the time?"
I shook my head.
"No…in fact, I'm hiding from the Truth-Seeker in our world."
Elder Kapal's eyes, half-buried in thick wrinkles, flashed and enlarged.
"What? Why? Are you not an ascetic?"
This misunderstanding must now be resolved. It was clear that there was some contact with the Truth-Seeker of this world, given the story that he was lazy. That was why I was mistaken like this. I calmly explained what happened when I was a child. After hearing the story, Elder Kapal let out a sigh as if it were unexpected.
"Oh my! I thought you were an ascetic who served the Truth-Seeker because there was a Channel on your chest. So, you're not willing to be a door for the Truth Seeker when the time comes?"
"No! Not at all."
I wasn't a long-life species who was tired by the weight of life after sailing through thousands of years, nor was I a megalomaniac trying to reach the truth of a dimension. It was strange to think that a man of common values that couldn't live to 100 would sacrifice their body to become a part of the grand universe and live as a door that connects the dimensions.
"Then, your channel wasn't opened because you went to the Truth-Seeker and asked for it, but the Truth-Seeker came to you and opened it up at his own will?"
I gritted my teeth in affirmation.
"…That's right."
Ghur laughed.
"Now it makes sense to hide from the Truth-Seeker. By the way, it's the first time I've ever heard the absurd story of a Truth-Seeker coming to a human being, opening a channel in his body, and disappearing."
[That's what I'm saying.]
Parvache grumbled in my head.
***
Three days later, Ghur and I stood on desolate desert land with the Silver Forest glaring in the distance. As I would encounter the Ashpim before returning to Earth anyway, I aimed to find the Enchanted Wood branches outside the forest by searching around the Silver Forest as Elder Kapal had recommended. I was trying to do it the way the Ashpim Giants got the Enchanted Wood.
I already knew that normal conversation with them was impossible, so I didn't have to show myself around like I did the first time. Furthermore, I was accompanied by the Dell Giant, Ghur, the Ashpim Giants' enemy. It was said that they would kill each other just by invading their territory, but since we weren't making any fuss, I moved diligently with the invisibility magic that covered Ghur and me. Elder Kapal considered that Ghur accompanied me. Even after teaching me how to read the map, the elder told him to accompany me as a guide. It was the part where I could see how precious the artifact I gave them actually was.
No matter how much we avoided the Ashpim Giant using invisibility magic, it would be dangerous for Ghur to jump into the battlefield. Nevertheless, I was grateful to the elder who gave him instructions to accompany me and Ghur, who was willing to join me, so I took out a whole pack of 12 plastic soju glasses from my backpack and presented it to the elder.
"Oh, my God! What are you doing on your dimension that you are generously giving out these treasures?!"
I was just an unemployed man. An unemployed man who had enough time to manually artifact each box of plastic soju by his own hands. No matter what my story was, it went without saying that the elder who accepted the artifact I brought out had been turned upside down. I chose this disposable plastic soju cup as the "core of the barrier" because it was nice if it had a bowl or dome shape in the first place. And it was very small and thin, so if I stacked them, the storage volume increased tremendously. There were many left even after I gave them what I was carrying.
This would be enough for them to study the artifacts' principle. Still, I wanted to make sure, so I spent a day teaching Elder Kapal how to make the barrier's nucleus. I taught what I learned from Parvache. However, there was a theory of a level that hadn't yet been achieved in this dimension. For this part, my godfather and self-proclaimed "Collective Magic Consciousness" Parvache immediately created a spell. They downgraded it to fit the level of the Dell Giant's Intelligence.
Elder Kapal's genius wasn't our guesswork, so she absorbed my (in fact, more than half of Parvache's) teachings within a day. Although it may not be possible to produce the finished product right now, it would have greatly shortened the time it would take for her to succeed in self-production.
"Now that we can see the Silver Forest, I think you'll be able to get to the entrance of the forest in a half-day walk. I'm telling you again, just in case, never, ever think about going into the woods. Okay, Yoong?"
"Yes, Ghur. Don't worry."
No matter how much I thought about it, I felt like I was poorly intertwined with the Truth-Seekers, so I couldn't do anything inside the forest. I had no intention to get entangled with the Truth-Seeker in this world.
"I'm not going into the woods. I'm only going to search around. Now that I can see the forest, why don't you head back to the village, Ghur? I'll apply the invisibility magic again so that it can be maintained enough until you get back."
"That's very kind of you. It'll be of great help. I honestly don't have that much Mana."
Ghur laughed.
"It's a little less burdensome to cast magic while we go around searching together."
"What?"
What else are you talking about? I just told you to go back to the village.
"No matter how much you have learned to read a map from the elder, what you know with your head is different from when you actually follow the map. Moreover, invisibility magic isn't completely safe. You entered a dangerous area, so I can't leave you alone. I will guide you to the safest route possible while you are navigating."
"No, you don't need to…"
Ghur remained steadfast in his will.
"Believe me. This map the elder gave you isn't a normal map. Over the years, they have sacrificed many Dells' lives to explore the territory of the Ashpims and cleared the lands where they don't live and where they seldom walk. That's how it was made. There is an infiltration map that can navigate through their territory, avoiding the eyes of the Ashpims."
"What?"
I asked, interrupting him.
"Ghur?"
"Hmm?"
"How long has it been?"
"What do you mean?"
I didn't think this giant man, who had less sensitive Mana circuits than I am, had yet to feel it.
"It's a map created by searching for a long time. When was the last time you updated it? This map?"
"Well, I don't know. I remember I was 26 when the last time Elder Kapal made changes. At that time, my third uncle died after following an infiltration operation to create this map. I remember clearly."
"…Ghur, you said you had seen humans until 60 years ago? How old are you this year?"
Ghur scratched his cheek for a moment, then said.
"I am not that old. I'm not even 140…"
"…"
"…"
I spoke with a sound from my throat. It was a pain in my neck.
"The route of the Ashpims Giant recorded on this map must be at least 100 years old…"
I blurted out the end of my speech and looked at the crowd that began to appear over the line—at least fifty objects or more. Moreover, I wasn't lucky. I could feel the Mana in that crowd. It meant that there was a wizard among them. After approaching this far, Ghur felt it; he looked dark as well.
"Hmm…didn't they feel our Mana? I can barely feel it in this path, too."
"If we're just passing by, they might not feel it. We used invisibility magic in the first place because we expected the field of vision to be much longer than the distance they could respond to the Mana. If they get closer like this, we are now casting invisibility magic, so they will be able to notice the powerful magic…"
It was then.
"Khoo! m'gaa! m'gaaaaa!"
"…"
"…"
I heard the shouting, which I believed to be the wizard of the Ashpim Giants. In the distance, they were screaming, pointing towards us with a magical staff. Damn. We got caught up in the air. They started running towards us, kicking up a cloud of dust. The disadvantage of invisibility magic was that it became prickly when the wizard detected the magic at close range because of the activated Mana. However, Ghur and I completely believed in the map. We thought we would move at least one or two kilometers away from the Ashpim Giant's territory.
That wasn't enough distance to feel magical power, but it could be exposed to the view in an open area without obstacles. That's why I purposely moved with transparency…this close approach would inevitably lead to the discovery of Mana-activating magic. Furthermore, we couldn't see them coming this close because they approached us in a sloping direction.
"…When you return to the village this time, let's update the map."
In the meantime, what made me more confused was that the staff that the Ashpim Giant was holding wasn't made from Enchanted Wood, but it was just a plain wood staff. Well. I couldn't be so lucky from the start.
"What a shame."
Ghur laughed hard as he said that. We faced more than twenty times the number of enemies in the Ashpim territory, but he didn't feel very nervous. It may be because he believed in my abilities. However, he also seemed to have confidence in himself. I also remembered that he was one of the best wizards among the giants I encountered in the Dell Giant tower. Ghur's palms faced each other, and he gathered his Mana.
"It's been a while since I've been beaten and killed the Ashpim. Was it five years?"
"…Did you send them peacefully without killing even when you met them this whole time?"
He had a smile.
"What are you talking about? I haven't encountered them in 5 years."
When Ghur opened his hands again, dark green Mana exploded forth.