"...Magic Furnace Caster Landen, are you ready? This is an incredibly lonely and momentous path. One wrong step, and you may sink into the mire of history..."
As Landen watched the World Tree Queen, Anhalais, speak with Halcala, who was about to ascend, the face that came to mind was Gandalf Merlin's weathered one.
Those were the words Gandalf had spoken a month ago, after returning to the territory and entering the White Wolf City's Magic Furnace alone. He had said them when he saw Landen again.
Since then, Landen had gained the title of Magic Furnace Caster in the territory. The priests, including Fanil, Qiu Cao, and Zhuoqian, had recognized it as Landen's official divine office.
Over the past month, however, neither the priests nor Landen himself had paid much attention to the title. But looking back now, it seemed like a simple ceremony appointing him to a divine office. He had gained a title, yet little else seemed to have changed—and at the same time, everything seemed to be changing faster.
In Landen's field of vision, the World Tree Queen nodded to Halcala and pointed the scepter in her hand toward the sky once more. Then she gradually stepped back, moving away from Halcala.
The many Legends and Magic Plants in the Temple suddenly began singing a song in Elvish. A brighter beam of light fell on the Elf's head, and golden cracks appeared across her body.
"This..." Halcala was about to speak when the remains beneath her feet—originally made from the corpse of a demigod-level plant—suddenly melted and began to boil.
The remains had originally come from the main trunk of the plant Hydra, Polukaloz. After being carved into Halcala's statue, they had been joined with its still-living branches to serve as a tool for the Wood