Chapter 43. Fortuna’s World Tree. Meeting an Acquaintance.

Chapter 43. Fortuna’s World Tree. Meeting an Acquaintance. Since Cinderielle was little, her appearance and talent had been well above average. Naturally, there were many suitors around her who tried to court her. Theodore was not the first, and he would probably not be the last. During her school days before she came to the academy, it was to the point that her friends created a "who hasn't confessed to Cinderielle" list. Something she just rolled her eyes at. As she looked at Theodore's back, Cinderielle remembered a question she heard from one of her human friends back then. "Why don't you accept a confession, even if it is just to test?" She never got to answer because a Sylvan friend interrupted, explaining how important love was for Sylvans, etc. But that question got stuck in Cinderielle's brain. 'Right, why have I always ignored these things? I never even took a good look at any of the people confessing to me.' From the very beginning, Cinderielle had never felt any attraction toward anyone in a romantic sense. She remembered that when they were adolescents, and their hormones started working, each time they went on a trip to the forest, she could spot a few trees that looked quite charming to her. Moreover, when she looked at the towering World Tree, her heart would pound in awe. Still, even at the sight of these magnificent trees, she couldn't feel the mythical "love" that she was not searching for, and more like expecting to feel eventually. 'Love, huh.' Strangely, each time she thought about love, the yellow and withered leaf that she had seen as a child constantly flashed in her mind. Her brows frowned. 'Why is it?' She was bewildered. You must know that, regardless of a sylvan's sexuality, being attracted to a single leaf was like being attracted to the nail of a person without knowing how the person really looked. In short, it was a really strange situation for Cinderielle. She was sure she liked that leaf's owner, but why she was so attracted was still a mystery. This is what brought her here. Her doubts had started to grow alongside her maturity, making her question more and more things that she previously took for granted. To get rid of these doubts, she wanted to explore and try to search for them. A Sylvan's natural lifespan was at least thrice as long as an average human's, and this is the lifespan for those Sylvans that died "young" because of low levels. As they gained Levels and strength, their lifespan increased more than other races, and they could maintain their "peak" health for most of their lives, so wasting a few decades searching for things like a floating leaf was not a big deal for Cinderielle. When she returned, she would still be in her prime, or so was the plan in her head. First, she wanted to learn as much as she could in the academy, graduate, and then explore the world to find that leaf so that she could track its origin. Naturally, Cinderielle didn't think that such a withered leaf could be found, but what she wanted to search for were similar ones. Previously, even with that leaf in mind, she was too young and low-leveled to go on her own adventure to investigate and search for it. Today was different. The reason she came to Fortuna City from the Academy was to start her search. She had a month without classes, so she wanted to take advantage of it and go out. With her diligence and the academy's help in giving resources, she reached Level 6 a week ago and consolidated her strength. With her natural attributes and powerful skills, she was confident in protecting herself even against a level 10 or above being. From what she had read, the Golden Sap Forest she was going to enter had a few tribes, but none of them had creatures of level 12 or higher, which were the ones she would fear. The reason Cinderielle was so unafraid was the same that made Sylvans such a dominant race in the entire world. Most Sylvans had an innate ability that they had a chance to awaken after entering Level 5 and beyond. Some unlocked it at Level 5, others at 9, others at 20. It depended. Cinderielle was a talented Sylvan, so she awakened it at Level 6. 'I'm not the only one that did so, though.' Cinderielle's mind flashed with a particular green-haired woman, but she quickly ignored it. ??? <Destined Sight (D- Rank Level 1)>: The first time a non-hostile creature sees you, they will gain 100 Destiny points for a short duration. *** Cinderielle couldn't help but be stunned. 'As expected, a high-level World Tree has certain anti-observation skills. Still... those are... six question marks?' Cinderielle knew that her observation gave her an accurate number of digits, even if they were all question marks. This meant that the World Tree had from 100,000 to 999,999 shards of ternary essences. 'This is a bit...' Cinderielle looked at her own stats and couldn't help but gulp. 'Powerful. Too powerful.' Cinderielle discreetly looked around, only looking at people's Levels walking on the streets, and she couldn't see any question marks. The highest she saw was a Level 21 walking in luxurious armor. However, she had to look away as that person quickly turned to look in her direction. Thankfully, she wasn't discovered. 'I need to be careful with my curiosity.' Cinderielle shook her head and walked toward the Adventure Bazaar, where she wanted to take a quest. She had done the registration a few weeks ago, so she was more than ready for it. After walking for a while, she arrived at the establishment and entered inside. The building was large enough to stick out between all the surroundings ones. While it wasn't a vastly profitable business because it was the only one in Fortuna City, it had enough income to become a large and luxurious place. The reason others didn't create competition was because Fortuna's World Tree herself had constructed this building. Cinderielle remembered hearing about an incident a while ago when a group ignored warnings and built a bridge. Then, in one night, it was gone. Nobody knew what happened, but they understood that the World Tree's involvement was necessary for something like that to happen. Hence, she didn't doubt they were squashed by the powerful being safeguarding this entire city. This happened many years before she was born, so it was from a while ago. However, the warning was so powerful that even today, people abide by rules without daring to disrespect the absolute ruler of this area. Inside the Adventurer Bazaar, you could see an organized reception, with queues for different types of requests and staff walking around ready to answer questions or help people. The flashiest thing about this place was the variety of equipment everyone wore. Thanks to her performance within the school, she managed to win a few nice low-level flawed items. However, most of her equipment was unranked. She wore a beautiful red dress with a black waistband. On her arms, she wore elbow-long gloves with excellent protection, and her staff was slung over her back. Her feet were wrapped in decent shocks, and she wore quite comfortable shin-height boots. Other than this, she had a short sword at her waist just in case she lost her staff. Slung on her back, a lovely black backpack that could hold quite a lot at a glance could be seen. It was not filled by any means, but it had some things like camping materials and other necessities that didn't occupy much space and were light. 'To accept quests... Over there.' Cinderielle approached a queue and waited patiently. 'Hm... It will take around half an hour?' As she waited, she felt a familiar aura and turned to look over. There, a woman of her age with a curvy and alluring figure was walking down the stairs holding a staff similar to hers. Their heights were similar, but their body types were the opposite. While Cinderielle was a lithe and agile-looking cool woman, the one walking down the stairs had a perfect hourglass figure that tempted the viewer to hug her thin waist. Furthermore, the quality of the staff that the woman held was much higher than hers. Her eyes couldn't help but lock on it. 'What's with that staff?' Cinderielle strangely felt jealous when she saw that staff in Verdantia's hands and wanted to snatch it somehow. However, before the murkiness in her gaze reached her heart, she snapped out of it. Her face changed. 'Snatch it!? Am I crazy!?' However, as she looked at that staff, she couldn't help it as the feeling of stepping forward and taking it for herself came from deep within her.