The great hall of the Palace Tree remained bright and magnificent, yet suffused with a naturally comforting atmosphere. Several adorable cleaning beetles scurried back and forth across the gleaming floor like mops, like little automatic vacuum cleaners, keeping the Palace Tree's ground spotlessly clean without anyone needing to sweep it.
After greeting Heller, Zhang Tie impatiently hurried over to the raised platform where Little Tree stood.
More than fifty days later, Zhang Tie once again stood beneath Little Tree. Looking at the little tree that had given him everything he possessed today, he felt as though he were seeing a friend, a teacher, a family member. His heart was filled with warmth.
Without this little tree, there would have been none of the glory or accomplishments he now enjoyed. Based on the level he had displayed back in Black Flame City, without this little tree, no matter how hard he worked, he would probably still only be struggling along the line between food and hunger at levels four or five. At this time, within Huaiyuan Hall, he would surely have been an insignificant minor member of the family, doing some ordinary, mundane job—not earning much money, but not going hungry either. Perhaps he would already have boarded a ship and, against his will, been sent back to the Eastern Continent by Huaiyuan Hall... At twenty-three, his father, mother, and elder brother would certainly be worrying over his lifelong affairs. The whole family would be scrimping together money for him, trying to put together a bride price and find him a wife to build a life with. And he himself would be running about every day in pursuit of a slightly more respectable and comfortable life, fretting over every gold coin, rejoicing over it, planning over it... Those friends he had