Camille made everyone get out of the car, and then they walked calmly through that sacred forest, taking in the atmosphere of the place.

"The power of our empire is called Heart of Nature. It all comes from the World Tree, and we created this little isolated place so it could flourish," Camille explained, speaking calmly.

"For this place to keep existing, we need to invest 70% of everything we earn into things related to natural power. That's why it's really hard for us to grow stronger or climb the rankings on Earth... but the benefits are worth it. The World Tree grants us the Heart of Nature, and with it, everyone gets a crazy amount of vitality and youthful energy... depending on your talent, of course."

She smiled slightly. "I got mine when I was 14. Because of my talent, by the time I turned 20, I stopped aging completely. Even though I've lived for quite a while now, I'm still only halfway through my life. For men and women, the main benefit shows up in different ways, but everyone becomes insanely tough and hard to kill. Poisons barely affect us, and even if we lose limbs or take wounds that should be fatal, we recover and regenerate without trouble."

Everyone nodded, visibly excited.

As they got closer to the World Tree in the center, they admired the plants and the incredibly beautiful scenery around them. There were no animals—just pure natural life.

"You guys don't use this stuff for anything?" Lucius couldn't help but ask.

Camille sighed. "These plants can only grow like this because of the resources we buy to keep the place alive. None of them have reached even 1% of their true potential, so they just stagnate and grow really, really slowly. That's because we can only provide the bare minimum needed to keep the World Tree alive. We've tried selling the herbs to alchemists from powerful planets... they all said the herbs were basically useless compared to what they had in their own worlds."

She let out an annoyed snort. "Alchemists are the biggest assholes around. Arrogant as hell, zero shame. Of course they could buy this stuff just to use as a base and grow it in their homes... but they offered ridiculous prices and didn't even bother to negotiate..."

The four of them sighed, finally getting a better understanding of the situation. Camille was a bit... explosive, and she didn't take being treated like a fool very well. She just couldn't stay calm dealing with those types, so she preferred to curse them out and not sell anything for such a low price.

On other small planets, there weren't any alchemists at all. And on the bigger ones, they looked down on everything and everyone and didn't really care about buying stuff like this. And using the herbs for anything else would be a huge waste. It was better to just leave them be, and with enough time, they might become more powerful.

"This is good. Veyle's gonna love this place," Lucius muttered calmly. "She's a talented alchemist. If you give her a chance, you'll be surprised."

Camille turned to him with a curious look. Then she looked at Lucy and Darian, who nodded in agreement.

She gave a slight nod—she'd send some of the herbs to Veyle later and see what she could do with them.

Then Camille started explaining the Heart of Nature. It was a seed from the World Tree that fused with the person's body, creating inner roots. These roots allowed the High Human to use the power of Wood.

Wood was an element born from the power of natural life. It didn't exist naturally in the world, only appearing in certain extremely powerful plant races. It wasn't something other races could use on their own.

Since these plant races weren't born with gender divisions, they could access the full power of Wood. But in humans, each gender—because of different amounts of Yin and Yang—awakened a different nuance of that power.

In women: the vital, purifying, and self-healing power, along with the ability to summon wood to seal and trap opponents, was way stronger. The Yin of Wood was tied to restoration and balance, making it easier to cancel out an enemy's power through sealing.

In men: physical defenses and the ability to summon wood as powerful barriers were amazing. The Yang of Wood was connected to strength, structure, and resilience.

In just a few minutes, they reached the base of the colossal tree.

Darian focused on it... but didn't feel any soul inside, which surprised him. According to that book, these magical races were intelligent life forms, not empty shells.

"Each year, the World Tree produces about half a dozen seeds. But we don't always have enough people to give them to. Honestly, if we get even one or two new High Humans a year, that's already worth celebrating. So we always leave some seeds on the tree, where they stay nourished longer and grow way stronger. Only when someone shows up with outstanding talent do we hand out one of the oldest seeds. Depending on the talent, we might give them a recent one, or one that's been growing for decades... Anyway, there are three seeds that are the oldest of all. When I took over as empress, they were already here. They've probably been nourished since the World Tree first started producing them."

Camille finished speaking, and the three of them frowned.

"Wait, we can't just take that," Lucy said quickly.

"Don't worry. The empire's rules say that only people recognized across the universe for their talent can receive those seeds," Camille answered casually. "You're gonna get the blessing of Heaven's Will. You fit that perfectly. And besides... I was going to give them to you anyway. I'm the one in charge here—I'd love to see who's gonna complain!"

They stared at her—and saw in her eyes the real, sincere will to protect them.

Darian sighed. "Alright. We'll help our family as much as we can too. This will be your investment."

"Oh, don't pressure yourself so much. Just being able to live and die knowing you're still alive and healthy... that would already be more than enough for me," Camille said, her gaze turning distant.

She had lost a lot in life and was used to being alone, even though she had a big family. Her husband had died very young, and her daughter, once she became an adult, had left for good.

Lucy and Lucius had trembling eyes. Now that they had met both families, they were feeling something truly special from them for the first time.

Darian sighed. Then Camille smiled, and her body glowed with a golden aura. She floated up to the top of that gigantic tree.

In seconds, she grabbed a few small things and came back down.

As she extended her hand, they saw three small green seeds. They looked like normal seeds, about a centimeter long. But a tiny mark in the center of each one caught the eye. Just by looking at them... an oppressive feeling started to take over their minds.

"Just swallow it, there's no trick. The seed will interact with your internal energy and take root. In a few days, you'll already start feeling the effects. After that, it's just a matter of studying and trying to use it."

Camille said and handed one to each of them.

Lucy and Lucius looked at Darian. He nodded for them to go ahead.

They didn't hesitate and swallowed the seeds.

Camille smiled and stepped forward. The next moment, both their eyes changed and they passed out. She caught them and gently placed them leaning against the World Tree.

Then Camille turned to Darian.

He didn't look like he wanted to swallow it and had a thoughtful expression. So he turned to her:

"According to what you said, in women, this nature-heart thing can regenerate and purify any poison or other stuff inside the body, right?"

She nodded.

"Can I try something? Could you use just that power of yours to try purifying something?" Darian asked, a look of hope in his eyes.

She nodded without asking anything.

Darian smiled and took a deep breath...

His dark power began to stir, flowing out through his hand. Then, he created a bit of celestial corruption.

That was the weaker version of the dark power used by the Risen Lords from the other universe. Howlyn had taught Darian how to use it, which helped him invade the academy back then. But it was weaker than his pure dark power, and he didn't have much use for it.

Camille's eyes widened.

"This is..." She stared at Darian, clearly frightened. As someone important, with nine rings, of course she knew what that was.

"Can you try?" he asked. She took a deep breath and nodded.

He let it go, and it floated toward her calmly.

Camille's eyes lit up. A subtle green energy flowed through her body and touched it...

Neither side advanced, as if they were evenly matched.

She turned to Darian: "If I use my ring's power, I can boost the strength and purify this. But just raw wood energy isn't enough."

Darian asked, "You can boost the strength using your Yin, right?"

She looked at him and nodded: "Yes, but I only have a normal amount. Using a little won't help, and I can't afford to lose too much."

The moment she confirmed that, Darian's eyes lit up with excitement. He found it!

"Great, thanks," he said. Camille nodded, activated her power, and burned away the corruption.

Darian picked up Niara from above his head. She was also confused.

He turned to the two women, then began to speak calmly. He told the truth. He explained who Niara was and where she came from.

Camille's eyes immediately widened. Darian explained that his blessing allowed him to bring her soul into this universe, then told them what had happened to her back there...

"It was you!!" Camille exclaimed, stunned.

She already knew about the terrifying events from the other universe. An academy had been taken back — but not by those who attacked it. It was someone unknown. That person took control and cut ties with the original, causing a huge stir.

"A lot of things aligned, but I didn't do it alone. After all, I only have two rings. Anyway..."

Then, Darian explained about the body Niara was using. That was the easiest part to accept.

In the end, he calmly asked:

"I'd like to give this to her. I have a way to bring it to that universe. With this seed in her real body, she can be healed from the corruption."

Niara heard that and finally understood. Her eyes lit up, and she stared at Darian seriously. There was pain, anguish, and frustration in her gaze.

He understood what she felt.

"Don't worry. Just because your body gets healed, doesn't mean you'll have to stay there after. If you want, you can always come back with me."

She heard that and said nothing. But it was like a dam broke: she jumped and hugged his head, super excited. Finally happy that she could be cured.

Seeing all that and feeling the emotions between them, Camille could only smile.

Darian calmed Niara, gently stroking her scales. Then he turned to Camille, waiting for her answer.

"Of course. Protecting and taking care of someone important... that's the most essential thing in life. If I could've given everything I had... just so the most important people in my life could've survived... I would've given even my life."

She said that from the bottom of her heart, but she was happy that he already had someone like that.

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