1 Chapter 1 : Tree's Reincarnation
As a van sped out the wrong way, Noah, who was calmly crossing the pedestrian crossing, was thrown about ten metres from the accident, his limbs dismembered, and his chest punctured.
"Ugh..." he groaned.
Bleeding profusely, he was beginning to lose consciousness. His vision was becoming blurred, and the deafening noise was fading away. He could hear a few ambulance sirens before sinking into unconsciousness. He was dead, without even realising that he had been hit head-on.
At the same time, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a strange space, composed of total darkness and a strange sharpness. Strangely, he felt a loneliness and emptiness in his chest, a sensation he had never experienced before.
He couldn't see anything.
Emptiness.
Darkness.
Despair.
...
At the same time, several pop-up windows appeared before his eyes.
The pop-ups of were a rectangular shape, followed by numerous strange and indescribable texts that overlapped before disappearing. Yet no matter how hard he concentrated; he could only recognise a few words.
[h@st |nst@ll@tion...]
[#yst@m @ctiv@t...]
[W#lc@me...]
[Year 1 Month 0]
Noah fell for the first time into a feeling of despair, and loneliness in his mind.
He had tried to scream with all his might, until he tore his vocal cords, but no matter how many times he screamed himself to death, there seemed to be no end in sight. The shadows around him seemed indestructible, impossible to dispel.
He was losing all hope.
He felt like he was in a swimming pool and couldn't get out. He felt like he was suffocating in a small space, isolated from the world. He became aware of his situation and began to question himself.
How could he have fallen into such a situation when he had just come back from lessons after a long day of study and excessive concentration for his brain? Because he'd skipped a few classes in the last few days or got bad marks, did he deserve to die?
No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't approve of such a miserable death when his life was about to begin! He gritted his teeth and hurled countless insults into the void.
Fuck!
He punched the empty space heavily and began to smash his non-existent fists as he thought of the person who had incapacitated him! Not only had he become disabled, but he was going to go mad!
He already felt as if he had gone mad. He could see a small floating window telling him the real time outside! If that's not being crazy, then what is? Was he still alive, or was he already dead? He hadn't understood the situation his physical body was in, or the situation outside. He even began to despair.
After a bit of calm, his head became clearer.
At first, he thought he'd fallen into a dream so he started to wait a long time, then the clock started ticking and a number appeared. [Year 1 Month 1]. A month had already passed!
No matter how long it took, he began to delirium, and even thought he was in a temporary coma, blocked perhaps for a year, or even a decade! Eventually, he had resolved himself, and thought he had fallen into hell, a kind of lonely purgatory.
However, he was beginning to rationalise and think of every imaginable situation, but he couldn't come up with anything other than to wait and hope that he would wake up from his sleep, or that someone would come and get him, but that was unlikely now.
How could he wake up, or call someone? It was laughable! He couldn't hear anything from the outside world, he couldn't even see what him was around, and he couldn't feel a bed under his back! In other words, he already had the feeling that his life had been destroyed, feeling that his body was strangely deformed and different from his original body.
Had he become some kind of quadriplegic, trapped in his own body, unable to do anything other than wait to die of old age or disease? He didn't want to! Maybe he was deformed and being kept alive artificially?
For a second, he imagined his body being pulled in all directions, cables running in and out of his body, and the machines keeping him alive, before he felt shivers run through his body... his body. He could never accept it, definitely not!
The thought of being restricted forever to a paralysed body sent shivers through his entire being. Was he going to continue living like this for the next few years, for the rest of his life until he died?
His expression had become sullen.
Closing his eyes, he could picture a man with contempt. A middle-aged, overweight man standing in the driver's seat of a van, holding a smartphone in his dominant hand, before driving off at full speed.
He could visualise the scene in his mind... One thought was stuck in his head. Bloody driver!" he thought, screaming inwardly with all his being.
[Year 1 Month 8]
Oww. Oww...
Shit, isn't it cold?
Strangely, he began to feel an inexplicable coldness creeping through his body, before he felt his hair fall from his once shiny head! Did he still have any?
He couldn't touch it as he had no functional limbs, but he could feel hair, or some kind of hair, coming loose. It was a strange sensation, soft and stiff compared to his original hair.
At the same time, he didn't feel human. First, his arm was gone, which was natural since it had been dismembered in the incident, but it was still strange. He didn't feel the pain of a lost arm, but rather of a missing arm.
A phantom pain.
At the same time, his vision was a problem. He hadn't thought he'd been hit and lost the use of both his eyes in the accident. In particular, he had the impression of being blind, a vision tinged with darkness.
Even if he tried to touch her body, it was impossible. He felt no tactile sensation and could only remain motionless. It was impossible for him to move his gaze. He couldn't visualize his body or discern the slightest part of it.
A certain amount of time passed.
Gradually, he began to sink into darkness and despair, wishing he could end his life before succumbing to madness, but whatever the exact reason, it always eluded him.
Ugh...
He was profoundly bored and couldn't find any way to distract himself. At the same time, he could only feel a sensation of coolness that drove him to refresh his body unconsciously.
To be honest, he had no idea of the exact time, yet he had a little clock and a date to help him situate himself. And naturally, each date seemed to correspond to the annual seasons. Perhaps it was an internal biological clock that people referred to in society?
At least he didn't seem lost.
Once again, a shiver ran through his body, making him feel even colder. Ow...
He had started to feel cold, and his body could not withstand such a temperature. His mind couldn't endure such an ordeal and had started to go mad. If only he could catch a glimpse of the current weather... He'd be happy!
As he drifted through the unknown space, a clock began to appear in a part of his mind. Four elements appeared on either side of the transparent window, starting with a flower, a sun, a leaf and then a snowflake.
The flower represented spring, the sun represented summer, the leaf represented autumn, and the snowflake signified winter. Obviously, the needle was pointing at the snowflake, indicating that it was the middle of winter. Perhaps that was why he was so cold! Freezing.
[Clock: Winter]
A cool wind hit his body, and he began to shiver intensely. Waaa... Noah started to swear. We're only at the beginning of winter? He was already scared and wanted fall asleep, but he couldn't, so he stayed awake.
How could he sleep when his mind couldn't find rest? How could he continue living this monotonous, unentertained life? How could he go on living like this when he had become disabled? How could he...
His mind was filled with endless questions, and time kept running out.
Giving up, he continued to gaze into space, thinking dark thoughts, turning his memories upside down, and continuing to imagine, to escape the bleak reality in front of him.
Haaa... I miss my family and friends!
He was suddenly saddened by the realisation that he would never again be able to have physical contact with other people. He had become even more depressed than before.
However, he felt footsteps circling his body, but could not feel their touches, nor could he see the people just crossing in front of him, ignoring the man in despair and locked up, who was silently waiting for someone to help him.
'Help me, please'!
Unfortunately, no one was able to hear it.
[Year 3 months 0]
It had already been 3 years since Noah was awake, and he was on the verge of exploding mentally, and passing to the other side of the force. Even though he had no eyes, no body and he did not feel his body tired, possessing a functional human brain, he already felt that he had exceeded his human limits, slowly falling into human folly, before taking the last step: Madness!
He had started screaming, and swearing anything. Nonsensical words, insults, or random words, before finding a term that made his mind react.
Instinctively, he shouted, "State window! Fuck!"
[Breed: Tree]
[Level: 1]
[Skill: [Companion] [Healing Fruits] [Hibernation]]
As soon as he saw the pop-up pop-up appear, he shouted with joy, "Hibernation!"
His mind dissipated, and Noah lost consciousness.
[Hibernation enabled.]
[Year 4 Months 0]
He was woken up because of an unwanted notification, and tried to fall asleep before realizing that the meter in front of him had reached 4 years. Noah was surprised to have slept so much, and when he reopened his state window, he had seen that his current race was: Tree.
Wow. Was it really reality, and not fiction, what he saw there?
At first, he had suspected imagining, and hallucinating things because of his lack of sleep, but now he had to terminate that he saw before him a window of status, but also skills!
Obviously, he had played a lot of games as a high school student, but also as a professional player in his spare time, and when he had enough freedom outside of his classes, he always played various games, with different stories, and plots.
He may not have been the best player of all time, nor an eSports professional, but he contained some experience, to know, and know the simplest terms, to the most average.
For example, the term 'Aggro' meant to take the aggressiveness of the monster or the opposing player, and 'farm' was to produce, and collect items or coins in games. In other words, he was not a complete ignoramus!
Unfortunately, none of his experiences list a tree as the main protagonist in his games, so he thought he hadn't transmigrated into a game world, or a modern novel, but into a tree nowhere, maybe in another world, or in the same modern world where he lived!
Honestly, it would have been better to be born in another world, since he had no desire to end up in toilet paper, or become an exam sheet used in a contest, before being quickly thrown in the trash.
He had already felt the horror of throwing his own paper of paper in the trash, and since many students used them as simple disposable papers, he did not want to become one of the victims of these horrible tendencies, and habits.
[Year 5 Months 0]
Noah continued to hibernate, and to activate the hibernation mode as long as no interesting notification woke him up, or strangeness occurred while he was sleeping.
Thus, he continued for many years to sleep, in rest, but also in good conditions.
Like that, three years passed quickly.
[Year 8 Months 0]
This year, he grew up mentally by eight years, and reached the age of 28 in his real world. Normally, it should have been celebrated with many friends, and college classmates, but he settled for a simple silent prayer in his mind before going back to sleep.
At the same time as he fell asleep, he thought about what happened to his friends and family when he died for the past eight years.
Did his friends finish their studies, and become full-time employees? Are his parents worried, or are they still crying over his death? And did his brother and little sister grow up perfectly without his presence?
Even though he knew it was sad, he still thought it was regrettable to have died immediately.
[Year 9 Months 0]
A strange pop-up window of blue color appeared, with a small blinking noise, asking him to open it.
So, he opened the small window pocket, and another window appeared against it.
[Archmage Selene Astronom has passed away. You have recovered a soul.]
Noah's eyes widened, and his irises lit up with happiness, and expectation, specific to a fantasy world. In front of him was the word "Archmage!"
He had seen in a small corner, a small notch, followed by a name. Archmage, isn't it?
Noah was now certain that magic existed in this world, and archmages with various grades were also present in the world, according to his experiences in his reading of novels, and in mobile games.
At first, he rejoiced at the news, but after thinking for a while, he didn't know why he had received notification from a dead person, in his own system, and also obtained a soul from a deceased.
He had initially begun to reflect on his existence, but fell asleep along the way.
[Year 10 Months 0]
[Archmage, Isolde Eldermage has died. You have recovered a soul.]
[Archmage, Thalric Stormweaver has died. You have recovered a soul.]
[Sword Master Corin Silverblade has died. You have recovered a soul.]
Noah screamed at the opening of all those warning messages that sounded in his mind.
Damn! What?
Why are there suddenly so many deaths in the world? In addition to the archmages, there was also a sword master who was also dead!
He felt once again rejoicing, with expectation, and desire to want to know the magic of this world, and would even try to go out, and experience with his own body, if he had not been locked in the body of a small tree!
Could it produce an 'Explosion'! Or produce, and appear an army of undead under his command, as a Monarch of Shadows? Noah was elated imagining countless possibilities!
In fact, he had felt curious about such a thing, but felt nervous to know why the people who seemed to be the most powerful in this world, were all dying continuously every year.
His mind had become chaotic as he thought too deeply as usual.
Huh. Noah continued to sigh until he got tired, and fell asleep.
He gained two levels. [Level 3]
And to unlock a new evolution.
[You have unlocked a new evolution for your race from tree to spiritual tree.]
[Year 11 Months 0]
[Archmage, Vaeloria Starcaster has died. You have recovered a soul.]
'A new soul has joined us,' he muttered into his beard, as if to mock such a thing. He continued to yawn as he watched the pop-up flashing before disappearing into the spam box.
He expected to hear, and to see various other messages flashing in the same way before opening them, but not a single one appeared, which greatly disappointed him.
Maybe she had died of old age. At least, that was the most likely hypothesis.
How could he die so miserably, and en masse?
As soon as he was reincarnated in this world, in just eleven years, Noah had already reaped nearly 5 souls of influential personality. Archmages, and sword masters.
He wondered if the appearance of archmages and sword masters was not so rare in what he imagined in a fantasy world, but after thinking about their positions and ranks in the novels defined their powers, so their presence should logically be rarer according to modern traditions.
In short, it further increased his excessive curiosity.
[Year 12 Months 0]
[Holy Oracle, Clare has died. You have recovered a soul.]
Wow. Isn't this an interesting news to read, and to know? A Holy Oracle? The position is very high this time. Now, Noah was certain to be reincarnated in a fantasy world, with magic, swords, but also religion.
He imagined various religious people who could exist in a fantasy world, and could imagine pretty much what he could imagine within its limits. As a modern man, his ability to visualize countless epic scenes, was more extreme than some ignorant, and unconscious people. Popes who controlled religions, saints who brought miracles to the world, followed by millions of faithful.
Noah was very excited to see with his own eyes, fanciful terms that he could never have seen in his life. Maybe there were even dragons, who knows?
But part of his mind thought that he would always be delusional, and that it was only his imagination that created some kind of story, and intrigue after reading so many novels, and playing too much game while bedridden in some kind of tree.
But who could deny it, after seeing so many messages, and experimenting with his body as a useless tree, and seeing messages scrolling, one on top of the other, informing their dead, followed by a system that informed him daily?
This turns out, it... Maybe was God?
Noah shook his head, sleeping continuously.
Maybe he was delusional, but he didn't care. Wanting to enjoy a glimmer of hope, in this despair.
[Year 13 Months 0]
[Archmage, Lyndor Emberheart has passed away. You have recovered a soul.]
[Archmage, Aeliana Moonshadow has died. You have recovered a soul.]
[Archmage, Zephyr Windwhisper has died. You have recovered a soul.]
[Holy Oracle, Rita has died. You have recovered a soul.]
[Sword Master Thorne Ironclad has died. You have recovered a soul.]
[Sword Master Rowan Thunderstrike has died. You have recovered a soul.]
Noah was shocked this time by the huge amount of deaths, and messages unfolding, the size of an entire scroll.
He looked, and read the messages, looked at the names of the dead people, before looking at their ranks, and making a suggestion by gathering the base of information he could gather to piece together all the history.
At the same time, various images appeared in his mind, men dressed as magicians, as well as swordsmen fought in a plain, while some died at the hand of the other, while a group tried to flee.
A war took place this time, concerning a saint? Noah had thought that archmages had died en masse unnecessarily in a small war, but after seeing that the saint died right after, it must have been some kind of loophole that had failed, the church had failed to protect her, he thought.
Wars were fundamentally evil, and death was often miserable. Even if he was not present, he could feel pity for them, and throw a simple but fair prayer in his mind.
Maybe the cause of his deaths, were indirection caused by demons, race wars, or wars between kingdoms, and inter-religious but he didn't care.
Now he could confirm that at present two saints had died from the beginning.
What the hell is going on in this world, exactly?
He gained three levels. [Level 6]
Noah unlocked the skill [aura vision], and could now look outside his body, as well as the surroundings around him.
Wow. It was in fact, clinging to a slope, and present on a small hill, rather than a mountain. Since all this time, he had always resisted the collapse, and his body was rocking strangely. But maybe it was his imagination.
[Year 14 Months 0]
On a normal day, where he continued to sleep, he had suddenly woken up because of a strange sound, which buzzed inside him, but also outside. Strangely, he could recognize this signal, as a kind of infra-red, or a strange wave that extended outside, but did not find the exact reason.
Damn. How long will it last?
By the time winter came, he had tried to activate hibernation, but it had literally failed.
[Hibernation, unable to activate.]
Noah thought that he had broken, and tried many times to activate it but in vain, before knowing that the signals that sent strange waves, blocked his competence. No matter, how many times he pressed, and thought loudly, the noise did not stop, and his skill was grayed out.
Noah swore silently, and waited for the strange thing to disappear before falling back into his beautiful, long sleep.
[Year 15 Months 0]
Today, Noah received three messages, concerning two archmages, and a sword master who died in an unknown way. He had treated it as spam, and deleted the messages, ignoring the reason whatsoever, simply harvesting souls.
Now the dead had no meaning to him. Everything had become commonplace, and the messages were repetitive, no different from others, over the past five years.
[Year 15 months 2]
And for the next few years, the deaths followed.
[Archmage, Seraphina Frostweaver has passed away. You have recovered a soul.]
[Year 15 Months 5]
[Sword Master Sylas Frostforge has died. You have recovered a soul.]
[Year 15 Months 9]
[Archmage, Yerevan Voidwalker has died. You have recovered a soul.]
[Year 16 Months 10]
[Archmage, Chris Starstrike has passed away. You have recovered a soul.]
Now, Noah didn't want to open anything, and suppress the high-pitched sound that woke him out of hibernation, just wanting to sleep forever, but he couldn't sleep once without waking up every year.
Every year is repeated endlessly. A monotonous routine, and no interesting news reaching him. Moreover, no other mistress had died since, thinking it was rather strange that they died so easily, but I did not extend my train of thought any longer.
The war was probably over, and they were able to return safely. Even though exceptions often appeared, he didn't care.
By now, Noah had gotten used to the deaths of these people, treating it as texts, and statistics, and had gotten used to the deaths of these men on the other side of the world, not being able to do anything anyway.
He had gained several levels. [Level 10]
He unlocked a skill [Soul Contract.]
[Year 17 Months 0]
He had begun to dream, strangely all of a sudden, he had lived a life rich in history, and intrigue.
He was not stuck in the body of a tree, but possessed his own body, in human form, traveling the fantasy world, fighting dragons, killing demons, and others, and then after being killed, he returned, waking up in his stupor before crying miserably like a child.
He had vowed not to have a dream like that again, thinking it was torture when he woke up.
He had thought, and begged, to exchange his boring life for an attractive, spirited life that every human would want to live only once in their lives, but this was impossible for him. Such a scary thing...
[Year 18 Months 0]
"Are you a spiritual tree?" asked an unknown, old age-old voice.
While asleep, Noah woke up with a start, after hearing a voice he had not appeared since his reincarnation, and his 18 years of life expectancy, before trying to look, and recognize the person who was in front of him, before being disappointed.
Damn. Why is his body colored?
He had no eyes or sense. Noah laughed bitterly at this bad fortune.
However, he was happy, and thought he could communicate like a human, with a person endowed with intelligence, compared to wild animals, and birds that defecated on his branches.
The man continued to speak, and had caressed his roots: "O tree, can you hear my thoughts, and my requisitions?" he asked in a desperate voice.
"Yes," he replied before confirming that he had been able to understand the strange language, and yet use a different, original language.
The man was surprised by my answer, and looked for someone who would have made a bad joke on him before finding no one around: "Are you the one who answered my request?"
I nodded silently, calmly replying, "Yes, I answered you."
The man was happy for some reason and continued, "Are you a spiritual tree?"
"What is a spirit tree?"
He was baffled, but resigned, thinking it was the norm that a tree could not know this essential, and cultural, information: "These are trees that give blessings, and skills to certain people they see fit. Originally, trees are places of prayer for the castaways who have been lost. »
Oh, I see! A bit like some kind of god who gives stat bonuses to his followers, or classes that give some kind of advantage? Noah had pretty much figured out, enough to talk about the man in front of him, even if he thought he was treating him like a child, he hadn't contradicted him.
However, as he chatted, and communicated with him, his appearance began to be structured, and he was able to distinguish a silhouette, as well as several parts of the body. And he had long ears.
"Who are you?"
The man apologized, and began to introduce himself politely. "My name is Azra, a Druidic teacher at the School of Biology in Cartel Village, an elven village about 200 meters away. I am looking for a spiritual tree that could bless, and accompany children for their lives. Can you grant me a favor, big tree? »
'Blessing?'
At first, Noah didn't understand the meaning, but after remembering that he had the opportunity to grant benefits to others, he understood.
"Do you want a companion?"
The man nodded, but Noah was still baffled. How could he grant a companion?
"How to grant companions?"
Professor Azra, putting his hand on one of his roots, and a pop-up window opened.
[Azra wants to make a soul contract! Grant companions to his students!]
Noah agreed, and the man left when he could satisfy his requests.
[Year 18 months 4]
The teacher returned, accompanied this time by a dozen students, all as small as their auras.
A woman with a good curve stepped forward, and began to organize the children. "Please stay in line, kids! Everyone comes closer, and puts their hands on the roots, without forcing or hurting the spiritual tree! »
[Bolt wants to get a companion. Do you accept?]
[Clinton wants a companion. Do you accept?]
[Mara wants a companion. Do you accept?]
A dozen notifications appeared in his head, and Noah accepted without hesitation, granting companions, until all his slots were occupied.
A kind of strange gleam appeared, and each student had been able to give themselves a familiar, of the appearance of a small root in their spiritual forms, on their hands. Strangely, he had felt a close connection with them, but also with the teacher.
"Do you want a companion?" I asked the teacher, who watched calmly.
She shook her head, humbly refusing his proposal.
Noah thought it was a shame.
He gains ten levels [Level 20]
And to unlock a defense skill. [Barrier]
[Year 19 months 0]
This year, several children appeared around his tree. Some lowered themselves, and others fell asleep under his leaves, perhaps reviewing lessons their teachers had given.
It brought back memories. He was already missing homework, despite his haunting. Perhaps the last nineteen years had totally shaped him, changing people.
What nostalgia.
[Year 19 months 4]
"Spiritual tree? Are you familiar with the concept of Druidic competence, and skills training on the global system? »
A child had tried to ask him for help, and wish to be helped, but with his limited knowledge, and his lack of know-how, and knowledge in this world. He refused.
An old, obese man intervened after seeing a boy escape from the classroom. "Don't disturb the spiritual spirit. He can't answer your questions. Avoid cheating, and come back to study. »
Surprisingly, Noah felt a little overwhelmed, and unaware when the children asked him about questions about this world. He once again felt stupid.
At the same time, he unlocked a new skill. [Vision]
