Chapter 021 21

"The sand is beginning to turn into soil."

The initial small forest, whose growth was accelerated by Solomon's use of grass elemental power, already had the shape of a rainforest - the height of these trees was now such that there was no need to worry about them being submerged by the water level during the flood season of the rainforest.

"Everything has its time."

Clouds filled with rain flew over the new rain forest, bringing the first sign of flooding. Fine raindrops moistened the tree trunks and leaves, causing water to accumulate on the ground that had become soil. Along the interconnected network of streams, nearly half of the tree trunks were submerged in water.

"You control the depth of the water." Merlin, who had wandered into the control room to watch Solomon's live broadcast of building a rainforest, went straight to the microphone after seeing the rain begin and interrupted the silent communication, "Is there any requirement to control the water level? Or are you just worried that the newly born rainforest will be destroyed by the long rainy season?"

"The main reason is that the rainforest's water network has not been completely built yet - and since it can be controlled, why not do it?" Solomon sat on the tree, watching the water below reflect the moonlight that came through the clouds. The moonlight turned into a complex maze along with the ripples on the water. "The bright moon casts a maze of light patterns on the water..."

"The labyrinth of Atlas Academy was prepared to prevent the alchemists from leaving the underground. After all, it was an academy that was more afraid of insiders leaving than outsiders entering, so they prepared a maze to make those who went out get lost." Lansemero watched Solomon use magic to project psychedelic waves in the forest, turning the rainforest into a maze. "As for the type that makes outsiders get lost... that's actually more common, right?"

"If you look at it this way, the 'Eternal Labyrinth' is also a type that makes those who go out get lost." Kirshtalia pulled out a document that recorded the data of the Heroic Spirits. "The Crete Labyrinth was built to imprison Asterios. The first purpose was to prevent Asterios from leaving the center of the labyrinth. The second purpose was to make him a monster... In other words, outsiders can only choose to reach the path in front of him no matter what. There is no choice to get lost in a corner of the labyrinth."

"So, if we want to prevent anyone from coveting the secret at the center of the maze, then the maze guardian is also necessary." Solomon raised his eyes and looked at the overlapping treetops opposite, noticing the silhouette of a large cat moving swiftly among them. "The tiger's stripes are ever-changing, consistent with the path of the trees..."

The leaves swayed slightly, blocking the traces of someone moving through the treetops; the incessant sound of rain also covered up the sound of its jumping footsteps - this should have been a successful stealth by the new life in the rainforest, but for Solomon, who had set up magic in advance and was waiting for the "rabbit", its stealth was undoubtedly a failure.

As the magic captured the tiger, it imprinted the blessing of the forest on its fur as a pattern.

The white-haired king with infinite wisdom turned around and looked down at the tiger, who had gained wisdom, as it folded its sharp claws and sat quietly on the branch of a tree. The tiger had very long hair on its temples, which were wet by the rain and stuck to the back of its head. So Solomon snapped his fingers to dry the rain off its body, and then put up a barrier to block the rain like himself.

Solomon looked at the obedient tiger in front of him, and thought of another cat who had become his follower in the past. Although it had shrunk a lot in size like the others, the common characteristics of cats could still be used as practical tricks. Solomon stretched out his hand to the tiger, and led the tiger, who was destined to become the king of the forest, to the surface of the water.

——The magic ensured that they would not sink, but the water surface still rippled with their footsteps, but was soon shattered by the dense rain, hiding all traces of them ever setting foot on the water.

"...The King of the Forest."

A lion-shaped puppet appeared in Lancermello's hand at some point, but the members of Chaldea would never regard this guy as a real puppet. When the last anomaly ended and everyone returned safely, Roman, who was overly stimulated by the magic formulas and students he created in the past, transferred the inheritance to the students who were confirmed to live until the destruction of the planet, and created a new appearance for the demons who had nowhere to go after the collapse of the temple, and took them into Chaldea, reuniting with the two guys who were kidnapped earlier.

The unified bureau of the 72 demon gods was completely destroyed with the collapse of the final anomaly. The remaining demon gods were transformed by Solomon, together with Fobutus and Barbatos, whose Gaetia transformation parts were forcibly removed by Lancermello, into new Chaldea mascots similar to Fufu. They also took on some of the work of Chaldea's employees, allowing everyone to get enough rest during that time.

——Thanks to the adequate rest during that period, when the El-Melloi Classroom arrived at the South Pole, they did not see a Chaldea that was exhausted after working non-stop for a year and worried about whether the last member of the team that returned from the final singularity would sleep forever.

——In fact, when El-Melloi II arrived, many staff members who were taking a break even made jokes about him.

"Yellow sand turns into fertile soil, and green covers yellow."

When the tiger, who had become the king of the forest, was able to self-discipline and patrol the maze in the rainforest every day, the personnel on duty in the control room also experienced an exchange - Da Vinci sat in the director's seat and requested a communication from Solomon, who was watching the forest king's receding back.

"The rain forest has taken root here firmly, so birds and beasts will gather here one day, and the scattered humans in the surrounding desert will move towards the green areas..." Leonardo da Vinci tapped his fingers and browsed through the previous records about the forest maze. "Then, one day, the rain forest will cover the entire desert."

"The birds will come soon." Solomon smiled and looked up at the clouds that were getting thicker and thicker due to the continuous rain. He half-closed his eyes and replied to the almighty man who had worked with him to maintain the operation of Chaldea in the past, "When the drizzle stops, the birds will tear apart the thick dark clouds and bring sunshine - and a miraculous pomegranate seed."

"Ah, is this a revelation from the Clairvoyant? Or is it a performance you prepared for this rain forest?" Da Vinci smiled and moved the cursor over a line of records on the document in front of him. "The forest will remember everything - the trees will break out of the ground with the memory of the seeds..."

"Which kind do you think the elves born in the forest are closer to?" Da Vinci asked Solomon for his opinion on filling out the document. "I think it's closer to the elemental elves - you know, the little guys that Phillips was tossing around."

"First, I don't think there are any beings we know that have normal goodwill towards humans." Solomon looked at the soil that was nurturing life. "Second, the fantasy species that include elves are the fairy species... but you have also seen what the fairy kingdom looks like. Finally, when I first saw their descriptions, I thought Merlin was the closest."

"After all, in the records that the world consciousness shows us, they have been moved from reality to the dream world."

"Would you like to see flowers?" Solomon asked the famous painter. "Although the rain forest is not as big as the world consciousness requires, the species recorded by the world consciousness have already appeared in this rain forest. Speaking of flowers, there are the Jiebo Lotus and the Yue Lotus... The Patisalan here, although it uses the same name, but compared with Merlin's, the one here is the real thing, right?"

"Ah, I found a record." Da Vinci paused while reading the record and relayed to Solomon, "It's the question that Xiao Lixiang registered - the world consciousness mentioned that in the future this world will have a festival to commemorate the birthday of the god of plants and trees. According to the records, the origin story of this festival is that when the three kings still shared the throne in the past, the flower god danced for the tree king..."

"Is Ritsuka going to ask Merlin why he didn't jump?" Solomon paused in thought, "How should I put it? In fact, this story should have happened in the Great Oasis. But in the future, this incident will be passed down as a story related to Patishalan, without any trace of its existence."

Leonardo da Vinci: "That is to say——?"

"Because there are no traces, we only need to add this entry when we modify the record of the flower god in the World Tree after Merlin leaves." Solomon turned his head and looked at the yellow flower floating quietly on the water not far away. "That is the Moon Lotus - but the water there is not very deep. The land there is just high, which is a very suitable area for the growth of Moon Lotus."

"Is there going to be any major changes here?" Da Vinci began to fiddle with the data on observing the speed of time with great interest. "I think you don't mind if I speed up the time difference? When will the flood season end?"

"At least another five months." Solomon answered Leonardo's question calmly, "So you plan to slack off? Don't forget that you have painted a picture of almost every member of Chaldea - you painted the picture of little Alice in the first few years."

"After all, it was a pigeon I released during my lifetime..." Da Vinci looked away with a guilty look on his face, "I really thought that the accounts of my lifetime would not be settled after my death!!!"

"Don't talk about longevity with the immortal species." Solomon sighed helplessly and gave sincere advice to the great painter who was addicted to slacking off.

"...Just kidding." Da Vinci said seriously, speeding up the speed of his observation. "It's mainly because watching the continuous drizzle for several months will also affect your mood."

When the drizzle stopped, the first person to notice the end of the flood season was the forest king who was traveling through the ever-changing maze; the next person to notice the end was Solomon who was waiting for the pomegranate seeds from afar to fall into the soil.

The clouds gradually dissipated, and the sunlight filtered through the gaps in the cotton-wool-like clouds and fell onto the water surface that was scattered throughout the rainforest, creating golden ripples. The breeze that dispersed the clouds also created ripples on the water surface, illuminating the entire rainforest with shimmering light. Then, a colorful bird that came from afar tore through the clouds, bringing even brighter sunlight.

A pomegranate seed was brought to the rainforest by a bird at some point in time. As it flew over the slowly receding water surface, this seed that came from afar fell into the newly exposed moist soil just as everyone expected - and began to nurture a new life that belongs only to this forest.