What? Ten thousand years?
Hearing the old man’s words, Daniel frowned deeply.
Ten thousand years…
That was far beyond the limit of what he could tolerate.
If that were the case, he might as well spend those ten thousand years tracking down every one of those individuals hiding in the world and wiping them out.
But then Daniel reconsidered.
That didn’t seem realistic either.
As the old man had mentioned earlier, if Daniel truly hunted them down one by one, what would the remaining ones do?
A desperate counterattack?
Perhaps even taking the entire world down with them?
That outcome…
Would go entirely against Daniel’s intent.
While it was true he wanted to annihilate those individuals, he didn’t wish to cause further harm to the already fragile world.
As the old man had pointed out, the world was teetering on the edge of collapse.
Perhaps even the slightest nudge—a gust of wind, a fragile straw—could plunge it into an abyss of irreparable destruction.
Daniel didn’t want to be the cause of that.
If he did, there would’ve been no need to exhaust himself creating the Ring of Origin in the first place.
He could’ve simply stepped into the world and ended everything right then and there.
So, considering everything…
The old man’s suggestion seemed the most reasonable.
But ten thousand years?
That was going to drive Daniel insane.
At that moment, an idea struck him.
“Tree of Origin grows by absorbing the liquid produced by the forge, right?” Daniel asked.
The old man paused, realizing he hadn’t fully explained yet. Slowly, he replied,
“Yes, the higher the quality of the forge, the more beneficial it is to the Tree of Origin’s growth.”
“What about quantity? If we had enough forges, could we shorten the growth time of the Tree of Origin?”
“This…”
The old man hesitated before slowly nodding.
“That is indeed possible. The original Tree of World grew rapidly because it was rooted in the blood and bodies of gods and devils.”
A being like the Tree of Origin couldn’t be measured by conventional logic.
Theoretically, the more liquid it absorbed, the faster it could grow.
But the old man had never tested this himself.
The forge beneath the lake was a creation of generations of oracles who had poured all their resources into its construction.
Yet, even with their combined efforts, it wasn’t the highest grade; it remained at the purple level.
So the old man could only cautiously agree with Daniel’s hypothesis based on his own conjecture.
“I see. So, as long as we have enough forges, we can keep shortening the growth time. That’s good,” Daniel said casually.
The old man, puzzled by Daniel’s lighthearted tone, asked,
“Forges aren’t easy to create. They require a massive amount of magic array crystals… and naturally occurring crystals were depleted long ago.”
This knowledge had been passed down through generations of oracles.
In fact, it was the oracles themselves who had mined all the naturally occurring magic array crystals to construct the forge.
When the natural supply ran out, they eventually developed a magic array capable of converting mana stones into magic array crystals, solving the shortage problem.
However, the oracle lineage was passed down through a single successor each generation.
They lacked the manpower and resources to form a large organization.
This limitation meant that after countless generations, they still had only a single purple-grade forge.
Even that single forge represented the culmination of unimaginable effort.
The old man was about to caution Daniel against underestimating the difficulty of forging, but he suddenly stopped.
He felt it.
Countless forges.
Not only that—every single one of these forges was far superior to the purple-grade forge that represented the oracle lineage’s greatest achievement.
How… how could this be possible?
Had Daniel discovered a previously unknown vein of magic array crystals?
If not, how could such a thing even be explained?
“These… these forges… how did you get them? Natural magic array crystals no longer exist…” The old man’s voice trembled with emotion.
“Oh, those? I made them myself,” Daniel replied nonchalantly. “I had some free time, so I made a few hundred of them. Though it seems I might still need more.”
Then, almost as an afterthought, Daniel muttered,
“By the way, if I increase the number of Tree of Origin saplings, will it grow faster?”
The old man was utterly dumbfounded.
A few hundred forges?
How many magic array crystals would that require?
And Daniel said he had casually made them.
This meant…
Daniel could create even more!
If he fully committed…
Wait, where was he getting so many magic array crystals?
Before the old man could process what he had just heard, Daniel’s question reached him.
What did he mean by “increase the number of Tree of Origin saplings”?
The old man instinctively nodded, only to realize too late what Daniel intended to do.
The world’s only existing Tree of Origin—the one the old man had painstakingly nurtured for so long—was behind him.
Daniel planned to revert it into numerous seeds…
“This Tree of Origin has taken countless years to grow to this state. Reverting it to seeds will mean starting from scratch… it will take a very long time for them to grow again,” the old man tried to dissuade Daniel.
While Daniel’s logic was sound—more saplings would mean faster purification of the world—the time required to grow those saplings from seeds was staggering.
The old man wanted to continue persuading him, but Daniel had already acted.
The old man suddenly felt the space behind him empty out.
He realized that the fully grown Tree of Origin had already been dismantled into numerous seeds by Daniel.
“It’s fine. I have plenty of forges,” Daniel said casually as he scattered the seeds across the ground.
Using earth magic, he buried each one.
Next, he began meticulously inscribing magic arrays, preparing an enormous area to house the forges.
When the transparent forges started producing liquid, Daniel ensured it would be evenly distributed to every seed, promoting their healthy growth.
Though the old man’s eyes could not see, he was aware of everything happening.
Whether it was Daniel planting the seeds, inscribing magic arrays, or summoning hundreds of forges, every action left the old man in awe.
For a moment, he even wondered—could Daniel truly be a god?
How else could someone possess such overwhelming power and so many crystals?
Still…
The result brought the old man peace.
…
“M-Mentor…”
Ryze, who stood nearby, could clearly see everything Daniel was doing.
After hearing the earlier conversation, Ryze understood the monumental scale of Daniel’s actions.
“Ryze, what is it?”
“Your Excellency… he’s forging transparent forges…”
The old man gasped sharply, nearly collapsing onto the grass.
“What… what did you say?”
“One after another… colorless forges are being forged by Your Excellency. He’s placing them within the magic arrays he just inscribed. The seeds are already beginning to sprout!” Ryze exclaimed, his voice brimming with astonishment.
Hearing this, the old man felt a wave of regret that his blind eyes could not witness such a scene.
Transparent forges!
The elusive colorless forges!
The entire oracle lineage had poured everything into their purple-grade forge, yet Daniel was producing colorless forges in bulk before their very eyes.
How absurdly theatrical could fate be?
The old man’s unseeing eyes filled with tears.
After countless years of waiting, the dream of the oracle lineage had finally been realized.
They had found a way to save the world.
And they had found the person capable of doing it.
Mentor, I’ve done it!
Generations of effort, endless inheritance, and unyielding hope…
All of it had culminated in this moment.
The world could be saved!