Tree of Life (Please Invest!)

Salomon had a dream. He dreamed of an incomparably enormous tree growing from a tranquil ocean, with two giant serpents coiled around it.

At the very base of the trunk before him, he saw a massive circular ring made of Crystal, flowing with orange-yellow, olive, reddish-brown, and black light.

What was more, as his gaze gradually rose, the rings on either side of the trunk also lit up with multicolored radiance. Yet the higher he looked, the more blurred his vision became.

He barely managed to make out the ring at the very top. It was forged from diamond, wrapped in wings, and gleamed with white light.

He lowered his head again and saw the giant tree's reflection, buried deep in the mist. Salomon could not make out the reflection clearly. He could only vaguely see that the rings on the reflected tree looked vastly different. Looking closer, he saw that those rings and branches formed five sections, corresponding to the pentagram formed by the rings and branches of the giant tree above.

He heard a low murmur by his ear, a voice that wished to tell him of the key to the Spirit Kingdom.

But before Salomon could listen closely, he found himself drifting away from that ocean.

"You're awake? But you still need to recuperate." A calm voice reached Salomon's ears, and only then did he realize that he had awakened from the dream.

When Salomon forced his tired eyes open, he saw The Venerable One seated beside him. The flames formed from magic had already vanished, and his lips were no longer horribly cracked.

He only remembered putting on all the Rings and unleashing astonishing magical power. He had no memory at all of what happened afterward.

He shifted his eyes and discovered that he was in his own bedroom at Kamar-Taj headquarters. After all, he was the only Otaku at Kamar-Taj. An otaku's bedroom was always somewhat different; no one else had game consoles in their rooms.

He tried to raise his hand, only to discover that he had no strength to do so. He wanted to speak, but could not open his mouth.

"This time, you were far too reckless. Still, the outcome was not bad. In the end, you tamed the Vishanti's Rings. Don't worry, Wong is fine, and he didn't tell anyone about this. Everyone else thinks you were attacked by a Black Warlock." Seeing that Salomon still wanted to say something, The Venerable One gently tapped his head with her folding fan.

"I had intended to wait until your soul was stronger before letting you wear the Rings, but I never expected you to do it first. Still, this is fine. Now you can properly practice the Vishanti's branch of magic." The Venerable One said, "All right, I also fed that snake for you. You can rest easy now, can't you? Get some more rest."

Salomon blinked rapidly, struggling to say something, but Master Gu Yi ignored him. Instead, she used magic to secure the quilt, ensuring that only his head was exposed.

Seeing this, Salomon could only give up struggling and close his eyes in resignation. The quilt was quite warm anyway. Fine, this was good enough. The blanket monster's seal was simply too powerful. He should sleep a little longer...

Not long after the Sorcerer Supreme left Salomon's bedroom, someone else furtively pushed open the carved wooden door and tiptoed inside, though he moved like a dancing bear.

The moment he stepped on the creaking wooden floorboards, his weight gave away his identity.

"Hey, Junior Brother Salomon, you scared me to death. You've been asleep for days without even drinking any water." A chubby figure appeared before Salomon and dragged him back out of slumber.

He said, "I saw The Venerable One leave just now, so I knew you were all right. Tell me, what happened? Did The Venerable One say this couldn't be discussed either?"

Salomon opened his eyes and looked at Master Wong, delight appearing in his gaze. He blinked twice in quick succession, and Master Wong nodded, patting his chest. "I understand what you mean. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

What do you understand? That's not what I mean!

Salomon blinked twice more, making muffled grunting sounds through his mouth.

"Let me..."

Master Wong leaned closer. He ignored Salomon and instead rambled on at length. Through Master Wong's incessant chatter, Salomon finally pieced together what had happened after he put on the Rings.

After the storm of magical power tore the ghost apart and sent Master Wong tumbling several times, the Vishanti Trinity appeared before Salomon.

They stood high above him, three powerful magical entities surrounding Salomon as an immense volume of magical power wrapped around him layer by layer like surging waves.

Then, orange-red flames formed from magical power spread outward like Vishanti's Fury.

The asphalt softened and bubbled. Trees by the roadside ignited instantly. Expanding hot air whipped up violent winds, carrying dust and burning ash. Immense energy smashed through the stone walls of abandoned buildings, and everything around them melted beneath the flames into an unidentifiable sticky sludge.

Master Wong had already thrown himself to the ground. As a member of Kamar-Taj, how could he fail to recognize the Vishanti Trinity?

Damn it! Damn it! What mission did The Venerable One give Salomon? What exactly are those rings? Why are they connected to the Vishanti? Those rings must have desecrated the Vishanti!

Master Wong cursed continuously in his heart.

At the time, he had already believed Salomon was doomed. In such scorching heat, without casting defensive magic, the only possible fate was to be burned alive by the flames.

Master Wong felt that the last thing he would see of Salomon would be his charred, brittle skeleton.

He had always liked Salomon. Unlike the other children at Kamar-Taj, Salomon was never noisy. But now Salomon was dead—Master Wong had no time to grieve. He only wanted to find somewhere safe to hide.

Kamar-Taj's Planetary Defense System would surely detect the magical fluctuations here. He could only wait for his fellow disciples to clean things up, and he had already decided how to take responsibility for this disaster.

But after the Holy Shroud was torn from Salomon's body, that immense and uncontrollable magical power abruptly subsided.

Master Wong found it difficult to describe what he had seen then. Amid the flames, Salomon's body emitted an incredibly dazzling light. When Master Wong saw that light, he felt as if he had glimpsed countless profound and complex pieces of knowledge.

It seemed that the Vishanti Trinity began communicating with one another. Master Wong could not understand a word they said and could only vaguely make out a few terms: "angels" and "demons," two common occult words. Whenever he heard the other words, he felt vast amounts of unfiltered information being crammed into his brain, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

"In the end, I didn't remember anything. I only remembered those two words." Master Wong said afterward, still shaken. "Next time you're going to do something this terrifying, you have to tell me first. Don't look at me like that. I'd definitely run away first."

"His soul is strong enough." Compared to the other two magical entities, whose genders and forms were both unfixed, Agamotto, who had once served as the first Sorcerer Supreme, was far more kindly disposed toward humans.

When Salomon put on the Rings, the former Sorcerer Supreme took the initiative to defend him. "Besides, he is the current Sorcerer Supreme's disciple. You know what that means!"

"But he is a thief!" Hoggoth, with a tiger's head, roared. "If not for Ancient One, he could never have found the Rings!"

Agamotto looked toward his mother, Oshtur, the source of White Magic, but Oshtur said nothing. So Agamotto said, "Someone has to use our Rings eventually, doesn't he?"

"Then why doesn't he make a contract?"

"You know the restrictions in our contracts. Besides, as long as he removes the Rings, he will lose our magical power. This might even be a good thing. We can..."

Suddenly, the immense magical power vanished, and the phantoms of the Vishanti disappeared without a trace. Master Wong raised his head tremblingly. If not for the lingering hot air, the burning buildings, and the melted, charred, foul-smelling road surface, he would have believed that everything he had just experienced was an illusion.

He wiped away tears and sweat, maintained his Protection Spell, and walked over the softened ground toward Salomon at the center of the disaster. He only wanted to take Salomon home...

But when he drew close, he saw faint movement still rising and falling from Salomon's shriveled, charred chest.

Wild joy instantly overwhelmed him.

As long as he wasn't dead, the Sorcerer Supreme could definitely save him! And if she could not, there was still the Eye of Agamotto! That was an artifact capable of reversing time!

"Then The Venerable One opened a portal and brought us back. No one else saw you the entire time." Master Wong whispered. "The Venerable One repaired your body with magic. Don't worry. Tell me, and I promise I won't tell anyone."

Salomon blinked, doing his utmost to convey what he meant. He barely managed to make out a few muffled words, but Master Wong could not understand him at all.

"Out..."

"Why do you keep blinking?" he asked.

You bastard! I haven't gone to the bathroom in days! Let me out already, damn it!