Staring at the queen with a deadpan expression, I simply pointed at my trembling legs and my mana potions, which were now empty as I had drunk them all.
Behind her, there was the main cast, two powerful future viins in Irene and Ruby, her strong bow-using son, and the damned protagonist of the ENTIRE BOOK.
But no, she chose to ask me...: a third-rate viin who ispletely exhausted, out of mana, stressed out, in immense pain, and has juste out of a near-death scenario.
Trying my best not to show my anger to the person who had just unlocked the ability to quite literally phase through things, I shook my head and replied.
"ah... I don''t think I''ll be of much help to you in this state. However... if I were to rmend a couple of people to you..."
Pointing at Kevin, Liam, Zach, and Lily''s bodies on the floor, I continued, using all the marketing knowledge I had gained from watching advertisements on the television on Earth.
"Now, those three people, I can vouch for! With them, you won''t have to worry about a single thing; their power and work ethic are unmatched. You five w-"
Putting her hand on her forehead, Liana ignored their bodies and replied.
" *ahem* Unfortunately, I specifically require your device and jar to solve this problem."
Wasting no time, I manifested the device, keeping the lid over it to block the smoke, and handed it to Liana.
"This work?"
Staring at the device in my extended hand, Liana hesitated for a moment before replying.
"I''ll need both of them interchangeably... so you''ll need to be there to create them."
"..."
Staring at Liana, I realized that she wasn''t really asking me but telling me, so I de-manifested the device and epted my fate.
Seeing me nod my head, Liana took a mana potion out of her pocket and handed it to me.
Even though every single muscle and cell in my body was telling me not to drink the potion or use any more mana today, I sighed before drinking the potion.
As I gulped down the dark-blue liquid of the mana potion, Liana noticed myck of motivation and said.
"Of course, you won''t go unrewarded for undertaking this mission. Combined with your previous saving of the World Tree, I''ll personally see to it that you''re rewarded!"
Yet, this didn''t increase my motivation in the slightest.
I was already nning on stealing my rewards myself, so who cared if she was just giving them to me now!?
I was gonna get them myself even if I didn''t do this mission with her!
After putting the empty mana potion on the floor, I felt my body regain some of its former energy as I could actually move without feeling immense pain.
But.. this was just a decoy.
I knew that once the day was over, all the pain I had been avoiding through drinking potions would hit at once, basically paralyzing me.
Well, that was a problem for meter!
As I removed the potion from my face, I noticed Liana hesitantly staring at me.
"Your face is a bit... yeah."
Putting my hand under my mask and lifting it up for a moment, I immediately noticed my hand was drenched in blood from my overuse of dragon''s eye earlier.
There was so much blood that she could see it just through the eyes and mouth hole in my mask.
Well, it wasn''t hurting me, so I didn''t really mind it.
Shrugging my shoulders, I ignored the blood on my face, not bothering to wipe it away, and said.
"I''m ready to go when you are."
Following Liana, I noticed that we were heading straight toward the center of the cave, where the fog containing the spirit of the World Tree was.
Stopping right in front of the fog, Liana drew the shape of the jar with her hands, so I manifested it and waited behind her.
Feeling the temperature suddenly grow colder, I saw an ice spirit hovering above Liana''s head.
Seeming tomunicate with the spirit, Liana pointed at the fog before making some gestures that even I couldn''t understand.
Next, the spirit flew into the fog, disappearing from my sight, as the spirit seemed tobine with the fog and be one.
*WHOOSH*
A sudden gust of wind shot at us from the direction of the fog; I stepped back, putting my hands over my face.
However, I had done it far toote, as the blood on the right side of my face flew everywhere, staining my cloak and hair.
"..."
"..."
She really wants to say, "I told you so now," right now, doesn''t she?
As the two turned to face the fog, I realized a whirlpool was in front of us made out of the fog.
Like a tornado, the portal of fog tried to invite us in by using the wind current to pull us inwards.
Seeing Liana purposely sumb to the wind current, I did the same and allowed myself to be pulled toward the fog until I finally entered the portal.
A secret ce inside another secret space, which is inside a tree? The author of this book must have been running out of ideas...
Unlike a mana gate, my surroundings didn''t distort at all, as the environment around me automatically shifted without any downtime.
Side by side with Liana, we looked around the fairy-like world as there was a single path in front of us, and a small, neat house stood at the end.
There was nothing else.
Just a small strip ofnd with a house at the end of it.
Looking down from the edge of the small strip ofnd, I saw an endless void with nothing else in sight, and above us, it was the same.
The only thing illuminating this entire space was the asional light poles along the path to the house.
Looking at Liana, who was surprised by me, I asked.
"Have you never been here before...?"
Looking at the house at the end of the path, Liana replied.
"No... I''ve only heard about it from the diaries of the previous rules."
Suddenly, the thought urred to me.
Was she nning to use me as the sacrifice for the World Tree instead of Albert...?
She brought me to a ce only she knew about, which was also inside the spirit of the World Tree.
...Was I going to be a spirit?