But the power of the ninth-rank World Tree, still gave Asher's body a qualitative leap.
The most intuitive was in appearance.
Radiant and glowing.
Comparable to magic potions.
"Maybe it's because in your heart you think I'm more handsome, and it affected your senses," Asher seriously talked nonsense.
Levi and Pierce, who came to greet Asher and happened to hear this conversation: "?"
Levi and Pierce: *Shocked*
'Did we hear something we shouldn't have, and now we need to be silenced?'
Asher turned his head and saw the two guys with wide-open eyes and gaping mouths.
Asher coughed, "The evolution verification report for Silverfang Tiger is done?"
To change the topic Asher looked for something to say. Asher's strategy was to pretend he didn't understand.
Iris: "Heh!"
Fortunately, Iris didn't continue to ask, otherwise Asher really wouldn't have been able to explain.
'Women's eyes are really sharp,' Asher sighed.
'Maybe I should try staying up late for a while, see if I can make myself look more haggard?', This kind of thought just flashed through Asher's mind, and he decisively gave up.
'Better not. I have taken a lot for my body to get better. No need to ruin it.'
'At worst, I will just eat and sleep well during this period, that's easy to explain to others.'
Play dumb when asked.
Play dumber when asked again.
Seeing that the atmosphere between Asher and Iris was normal again, Pierce and Levi looked at them both with curiosity in their eyes.
'Like huh?'
'What exactly happened?'
"Professor Asher, what happened with the sudden loss of contact in Evergreen City," Pierce cautiously leaned over to Asher.
Couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked.
Asher: "Wanna hear it?"
"Mhm mhm mhm," Pierce nodded like crazy.
Levi, who hadn't spoken on the side, also glanced over curiously now and then.
Looked once.
Then looked again.
Though too embarrassed to ask, 'But just listening in should be fine, right?'
Then…
"You guess. If you guess it, I'll tell you," Asher smiled.
Pierce and Levi: "..."
Confirmed. Professor Asher was messing with them.
Indeed just playing with them, Asher looked at the depressed expressions on their faces and couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.
Pain could be traded for joy.
But Asher didn't go too far.
Messing with kids.
Just a light tease.
Then Asher shifted the topic and briefly told them what happened in Evergreen City.
"…That's basically it, I don't know the details, and it's not that important."
"Just brought the professors back and it's done," Asher said very bluntly.
"Professor Asher, you really are…", Pierce wanted to say something, paused, and finally didn't say anything.
'Forget it.'
'No wonder I am not Professor Asher.'
'Truly not even a drop of curiosity.'
Asher smiled.
No matter how twisted the story was, it was just that.
Originally Asher had a bit of curiosity and other interest in Evergreen City.
But after seeing the World Tree and taking it away, Asher felt nothing toward Evergreen City anymore.
'Whatever, I probably won't go back to that place anyway.'
Asher didn't think there was anything wrong with that at all and planted a huge flag.
.
.
.
On the other side.
Three days later.
Asher received a call from Charlotte.
"No one climbs the stair without a reason, I get the feeling nothing good comes from you calling me," Asher said calmly.
Not the least bit guilty for talking bad behind someone's back.
Because of Asher and because of Evergreen City, Charlotte worked overtime until the sky went dark: "..."
Asher landed a critical hit.
["Shut up,"] Charlotte gave Asher a fake fierce look.
Jasmine, who was also in this conference call, couldn't help but laugh softly when she saw that.
Charlotte: "..."
She was very pissed.
She took a couple deep breaths.
Charlotte tried hard to calm herself down.
["First, the day after tomorrow is your award ceremony, you haven't forgotten, right,"] Saying this, Charlotte shot a sharp look at Asher.
Asher remained calm and said without any guilt, "Haven't forgotten."
Charlotte: ["Heh!"]
Her face clearly said Asher really hadn't remembered this.
["You've gotten good at lying,"] Charlotte said with annoyance, ["If you really hadn't forgotten, would you have run off to Evergreen City a few days ago?"]
["Weren't you afraid you wouldn't be able to come back for ten days or half a month?"]
Asher: "I trust my ability, and I also trust the official capability."
Charlotte sneered again.
'Okay, giving official talk now?'
'Whatever.'
As long as Asher didn't delay the important stuff… well, even if he really delayed, they probably couldn't do anything to him.
Thinking of this made Charlotte even more of a headache.
Her workload just kept increasing bit by bit in such baffling ways.
Even Charlotte herself felt helpless sometimes.
["Anyway, now you remember, the day after tomorrow. Don't forget!"]
["At least it's for a promotion! Can you take it a little seriously!"]
Asher nodded indifferently.
'Professor of Pet Beasts?'
'Alright alright.'
But he still preferred the title Beast Tamer.
Seeing Asher wasn't that interested, but knowing he'd follow through once he agreed, Charlotte finally let out a breath.
Then continued.
["We did follow-up investigations on the Evergreen City incident,"] As she spoke, Charlotte's voice shifted from collapse to calm.
Asher: "?"
Asher noticed something off: "Wasn't it because of jealousy, and other messy reasons?"
'That guy… what was his name again?'
Asher couldn't recall.
'Anyway, that middle-aged man.'
'Just looking into his eyes, I knew he was hiding deep jealousy.'
'Jealous of Mokari.'
'Jealous of Azha.'
'Jealous of other young people.'
'In extreme jealousy and abnormal mindset, doing extreme things isn't impossible.'
So Asher didn't bother listening to his crap at the time, 'Keep it to yourself.'
But seeing Charlotte's expression now, things didn't seem so simple?
["At first we thought the same,"] Charlotte said.
But because the incident involved quite a few Pet Beast Professors and experts, even Asher made a trip, so they figured they might as well investigate seriously.
["On the surface, it looks like just a guy who hit middle age, achieved nothing, less talented than the youth, and got unbalanced, then acted on impulse,"] Charlotte summarized the story in one sentence.
Similar to what Asher thought.
["Even that guy named Rama himself thought so."]
["But after our in-depth investigation, we found things weren't that simple,"] Charlotte said.
Evergreen City was a rare city where all the residents had connections.
Stuff like a cousin's sister's brother-in-law's daughter, those convoluted relations really existed in Evergreen City.
Because of subtle blood ties.
Residents of Evergreen City actually got along quite harmoniously.
Respecting the old, loving the young.
Tolerant with each other.
Caring for each other.
Even small conflicts and disagreements got resolved quickly, and both sides made peace.
Practically a utopia from fantasy.
Elders didn't envy the younger generation.
They hoped the young would grow strong and surpass the previous generation.
Precisely because of this.
The elders didn't suspect their own people at first.
Their own wouldn't do such a thing.
Then, there appeared one person very out of place in this utopian society—Rama.
"This doesn't make sense," Listening to Charlotte, Asher quickly noticed something was wrong.
'Though jealousy can drive people to do unimaginable things, the environment's influence isn't just for show either.'
'In a place like Evergreen City…'
'Logically, Rama might feel jealous, but that jealousy shouldn't have exploded so dramatically.'
'Something's wrong.'
'Very wrong.'
["It's normal for you to feel that,"] Charlotte said, ["Because someone maliciously guided Rama."]
Charlotte paused.
["Not just Rama."]
["Some other relatively ordinary residents of Evergreen City were also contacted and guided."]
["Rama was the one most deeply influenced."]
["But we suspect there were other methods involved too."]
Asher: "Hypnosis? Brainwashing?"
["Not that exaggerated, if you kept hypnotizing or brainwashing him, people around would've noticed,"] Jasmine added.
Beasts' hypnosis or brainwashing skills had time limits.
They couldn't be maintained long-term.
["More like guiding and amplifying negative emotions,"] Charlotte nodded.
["That's it."]
Asher looked thoughtful and asked the key question, "Did you find out who did this?"
Normally that'd be hard to trace.
But...
["Although we don't have direct evidence, we can pinpoint the organization behind it."]
Hearing this, Asher showed a curious expression.
'No evidence.'
'But you can pinpoint them?'
'What kind of villain group is this?'
["The Imperial Spire."]
["A famously chaotic troublemaker."]
Charlotte smiled.
["We also suspect that the fun with Cold Nation and the Eastern Nation earlier had The Imperial Spire's involvement."]
["And if that's the case, it explains the origin of those two papers and content reports."]
The Imperial Spire, stealing talents from various countries.
If they wanted to dig out two brilliant professors, it'd be hard to analyze Favorability from scraps of info.
But writing some half-baked papers? Easy.
———
"The Imperial Spire…", First time learning about this group, Asher had a strange look on his face.
'Ah...'
"Feels like this group is secretly planning something shady behind the scenes," Asher muttered, rubbing his chin.
After ending the call with Charlotte and Jasmine. Asher searched online about The Imperial Spire.
Very polarized opinions.
Supporters— Believed The Imperial Spire was a borderless, truly academic organization. Gave refuge to persecuted scholars. No exploitation. No coercion. Let them freely pursue scientific pet beast research.
Opposers— The Imperial Spire stole talents too aggressively. Extremely aggressively. No country spared. Including Soren.
Asher: "?"
"This Imperial Spire is kinda something," After reading all those stories, real or not, about The Imperial Spire online.
Asher interlaced his fingertips and fell into thought.
Some things.
You can't just look at what people did.
You have to look at what they gained.
Like this Evergreen City incident...
"The shape of the garland doesn't affect its power. Does The Imperial Spire know this?", Asher murmured.
Mokari didn't know.
Could The Imperial Spire know?
Asher wasn't sure.
He decided to ask the source directly.
Shoop～
A little sapling shot out.
Followed by Little Raven, Cat Worm, Little White Snake, and Little Jellyfish.
"Asher!", World Tree · Lily · Little Sapling excitedly waved her branches at Asher.
Even without a face, it was obvious Little World Tree was very happy.
"Got something to ask you," Asher briefly told Little Sapling about The Imperial Spire.
"Think back, have you ever met anyone from their group?"
World Tree Lily: "Eh?"
The little sapling bent its trunk.
Under Asher's expectant gaze, World Tree Lily shyly but confidently said, "I don't remember!"
Asher: "..."
"That's not my fault!", World Tree Lily tried to wiggle her body.
[T/N: she can actually talk, I think. If I ever saw any onomatopic sound in later chapters I will edit it to how others speak.]
Unfortunately.
She was a tree.
A shrunken-down tree with greatly reduced power, now even struggling to move on her own.
So Asher picked her up and placed her into the flowerpot he had prepared.
World Tree Lily felt the rich energy in the soil.
Happily swaying her branches, left and right, finally settling in the flowerpot.
"I love it here! I'm living here now!"
"I want to breathe fresh air, bathe in the fresh sun!"
Asher: "Okay, but you're not allowed to move around randomly most of the time."
Even if he could explain Little Sapling's origin if discovered, better to avoid trouble if possible.
"Okay!", World Tree Lily agreed instantly.
Seeing World Tree Lily so happy, Asher asked again about The Imperial Spire.
"I really don't remember," World Tree Lily said in a tiny voice, "I spent most of my time sleeping."
Asher thought for a bit, and asked differently, "The space you were in, not all humans can enter, right?"
"Besides me, have any humans entered?"
World Tree Lily: "Hmm… yes, besides you, there were five others, but I don't remember what they looked like."
Asher wasn't surprised by this answer at all.
No helping it.
Time was the least valuable thing to World Tree.
And in that strange void-like space, time was even harder to sense.
World Tree spent most of the time asleep.
During rare waking moments, a few humans might coincidentally stumble in.
Men and women.
To World Tree, they all looked similar.
Their auras were similar too.
All humans. All ordinary.
World Tree didn't communicate with them much, just sent them back out.
Asher was the only exception.
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