"My only question now is, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Shade's tone was already quite rude, but the old man beneath the tree still ignored him:
"You must be wondering, since the Bennett Family raised Paradox Worms and accumulated the Time Curse for me, why did I also distribute Tree Hollows to those families that had lived here for generations?"
He pointed at the seats behind him:
"This has to do with me. Only sufficiently powerful beings can become the guardians of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire here. Ordinary Time Travel cannot create or attract suitable candidates. So I gave people Tree Hollows. They brought me Demons, raised dragon beasts, while the Bennett Family was responsible for the 'Paradox Worm' and 'Curse-Eroded Great Tree' projects generation after generation, ensuring that if there were no suitable four targets, they could fill in at any time."
"Thomas Bennett represents Water this time."
Though Shade knew that was not what he had asked, he could not help correcting him.
"Right, right."
The old professor immediately smiled and nodded toward the group standing at the edge of the clearing, then said regretfully:
"The position of 'Water' had originally been reserved for that Death Apostle, Bronte. Aren't death and water rather similar? You must understand that deeply. What a pity. If the story here could have been delayed by another three or four years, I could have completed Bronte's full ascension and turned him into a true monster beneath the spiral of life and death. He was highly skilled in using Tree Hollows, and he had the potential as well.
"Unfortunately, in just one year, the epic of the Murmuring Chapters was pushed by you from its first verse all the way to the Eighth Chapter. That really was fast~ So after you