Chapter 2073: Chapter 2073

Had Jenkins still been awake, he might have spent this final hour lost in daydreams of the future—of twenty-four hours from now, of his safe return and all that would follow.

But he had already sunk into a deep slumber, and not even Chocolate could enter his dreams now, for another visitor was already there.

He found himself once more on the island at the heart of the lake, face-to-face again with the conscious projection of the World Tree. Jenkins sat in the shade of the great tree, legs stretched out before him, hands braced on the grass as he gazed at the clear water in the distance. The World Tree's consciousness, a feminine figure as tall as he was, stood beside him with arms crossed, her eyes fixed on the same distant view.

Having grown accustomed to the pitch-black skies and the disorienting gray fog of the material world, Jenkins found the brilliant sunlight and fresh air almost jarring. The World Tree had claimed that this place was merely a projection of his own thoughts, but that didn't stop him from breathing deeply, savoring the long-lost essence of nature.

"I have come to help you."

The World Tree spoke first.

"Can you manifest in the material world?"

He pictured the World Tree appearing in Nolan City, its branches entwined with the massive tower.

"Of course not. It's not that the world forbids it, but that my very presence is too dangerous for the material plane. Yet, I must help you. This world has finally given birth to a second World Tree, and I cannot simply stand by and watch you vanish. You are like my..."

"Alright, no need to say it."

"Don't you like being called a little brother? But I heard you have an older brother, don't you? Oh, and I also heard that you're about to face the Calamity Beasts from several different Epochs."

Jenkins had no idea how this tree, existing outside the material world, could be so well-informed, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Yes... and to be honest, I'm quite troubled..."

"That's perfectly normal. Anyone who understands the truth of the Calamity Beasts would be troubled by their existence. They cannot be destroyed, because once they appear, they become cornerstones of the world itself. The sins they bear, and the entire civilization of an Epoch they represent, grant them immortality. Even a fraction of a Calamity Beast's power is more than a newborn seedling like you can hope to withstand."

The way she saw him as a little sapling was strange, but Jenkins had to agree with her assessment.

"And with seventeen different Calamity Beasts, even if I wanted to prepare countermeasures, I have no way of knowing which one I'll have to face."

"At least it won't be the Calamity Beast from the First Epoch. Not the calamity born at the dawn of time."

the woman said gently.

Jenkins asked, confused but also pleased by this news. The first wasn't necessarily the best, but it was certainly the most mysterious—and in this world, "mystery" was, in a way, synonymous with power.

"Because I am the first Calamity Beast."

Jenkins blinked. He shifted his legs, adjusting his position on the grass, but remained silent.

"It's not that 'World Tree' is synonymous with 'Calamity Beast,' but that I became one back then. The primordial gods inscribed the rules of the world onto the first slate, but the sins accumulated over the thirty-six thousand, seven hundred and eighty-four years of the First Epoch couldn't simply vanish. In that nascent age, my role was to support the fragile spatial barrier of the material world. I tried to absorb those sins... and in doing so, I became a Calamity Beast. That is how the first doomsday began."

Jenkins turned his head to look at her, but he could see no dark aura about her. The woman simply offered him a faint smile.

"I know what you're thinking, but not all Calamity Beasts meet their end by being sealed away. A rare few can master that power completely, retaining the sanity of a living being. It comes at a price, of course... In my case, the power of those sins flowed through my being, eventually causing the World Tree in the material world to wither hundreds of thousands of years later. I was forced to be reborn in the Prosperous Forest to fully escape the influence of my identity as a 'Calamity Beast.' But the fact remains: I was once the first Calamity Beast. That will never change."

Jenkins nodded, indicating he understood the implications.

"Then are there many Calamity Beasts like you, able to remain active and almost entirely unaffected?"

"Not many. To begin with, the world's laws weren't fully formed during the first three Epochs. The three Calamity Beasts born in that time, myself included, all kept our sanity because we were incarnations of those nascent laws. Besides us, there are only three others that aren't imprisoned by any seal. The Paradox Worm's situation is unique—you could say it is perpetually sealed, and yet never sealed at all. The Pus of Humanity is scattered throughout the souls of every intelligent being born in the material world; as long as intelligent life exists, it can never be sealed. And the Devouring Moon Spirit Cat's case is... unusual..."

The woman glanced down at Jenkins.

"It is the only Calamity Beast that caused no destruction. On the contrary, it actually helped the world. So the gods simply made a pact with it, restricting its movements but otherwise leaving it be."

Out of seventeen Epochs, six Calamity Beasts remained unsealed. The ratio seemed... reasonable enough.

"So, which of the Calamity Beasts am I likely to encounter?" Fınd the newest release on novel⚑fire.net

"Any of them are possible. You might even encounter a manifestation of my own power, since many of my corrupted branches fell and scattered across the material world before my rebirth. Jenkins, I cannot help you overcome every challenge, nor can I manifest to aid you in your struggles. But I can offer you a simple form of help. Do you currently possess a Bestowal related to life?"

He brought out the Flask of the Sacred Spring, holding it out to the woman. This was his own mindscape—at least, he believed it to be—so he could manifest the Bestowal here.

"Ah, this one. I have seen its like in the Prosperous Forest. That makes things much easier."

The woman cradled the delicate, translucent flask in her palm, and it dissolved into a sphere of white light. A single green leaf emerged from the glow, spiraling down before Jenkins. He reached out and caught it. It was a new Bestowal.

"Keep this leaf in your mouth, and I shall be with you."

A simple phrase, a description with almost no tangible meaning, yet it felt powerful enough.

"I can't carry anything for a month..."

"The bond between this leaf and you is already set. Besides," she added, "do you truly believe that maze-lock has any power over me?"

Her words made Jenkins smile.