The second person to receive a blessing was Gol, who had eaten the golden fruit.
Although what he gave back was less than a tenth of Nausicaä's, although the gold in his pupils was barely visible and he could only be called "blessed" rather than one of the "Golden Folk," and although he still couldn't hear Mu En's voice...
Strand by strand, real, unmistakable Rune energy was gathering from the old man.
Looking at the black seed, Mu En was so shocked that even his leaves shook.
Could that apple have a weakened version of the Blessed Dew's effect?
As a tree who had transmigrated from modern society and received nine years of compulsory education, Mu En wasn't about to underestimate what this meant.
The Runes Nausicaä alone could provide were limited. If he wanted to grow stronger, he had to increase the number of blessed people.
It was just like how a game's revenue never depended on how much the biggest whales spent, but on how many ordinary players bought monthly cards and battle passes.
If this plant could be cultivated without him having to bestow blessings personally, he would have a way to continuously produce large numbers of blessed people.
Even if the number of Runes each individual provided was small, golden power could grow through training, combat, and other means.
When that time came, he would no longer have to worry about purifying a small patch of land. The light of the Erdtree would shine across the whole world!
"What is that seed in your hand?"
"Who's there? Who's speaking?!"
Hearing a voice sound directly in his mind, the short, sturdy old man spun around in fright, but couldn't find its source.
It was Mu En, excited and anxious, speaking directly through his connection to the blessed.
"Don't be afraid, Grandpa Gol. That's the Erdtree's voice." Nausicaä reassured the old man while explaining to Mu En, "You mean the seed in Elder Gol's hand? It's from a wild fruit called a kiwi."
A kiwi? Wasn't it an apple?
Puzzled, Mu En continued:
"Can the kiwi you mentioned be cultivated in large quantities?"
"Although this fruit isn't rare, it can only grow in the woods. There's no way to cultivate it. Are you going to..."
Sure enough, it wasn't that simple.
Mu En realized that the days he had imagined, when the blessed would be everywhere and the Golden Folk would be worth less than dogs, were still a long way off.
"Bring me that seed."
At the "divine tree's" instruction, Gol immediately and carefully held out the black kernel with its smooth shell. Against his large, thick hand, the seed seemed smaller than a peanut.
Once it was close, Mu En did indeed sense a faint power of blessing within it.
Just as he was preparing to examine it more carefully and figure out why it had appeared, something unexpected happened.
Perhaps sensing the Erdtree's presence, the black seed suddenly floated out of Gol's hand.
Immediately afterward, the seed sank into Mu En's trunk without meeting any resistance.
"Holy shit!"
Mu En was stunned. The Erdtree had always been the one invading others; he had never seen anyone invade the Erdtree!
He hurriedly examined the spot where the seed had entered, trying to communicate with it as a fellow plant, but got nowhere.
It was as if the seed had vanished into thin air and completely merged with his body.
"Mr. Tree? What's wrong?"
Although Nausicaä couldn't understand why he wanted to lie in a trough, she could hear the shock in his voice.
"Ahem, it's... it's nothing. I'll keep this seed for now." Embarrassed, Mu En hurriedly changed the subject. "As promised, I will grant you the ability to restore life to this land."
Before Nausicaä could react, the faint golden light surrounding her rapidly flowed toward her left hand, gathering in her palm.
Once all the light had converged, a small Elden Ring mark appeared on Nausicaä's hand, identical to the pattern that had appeared beneath the Erdtree.
Only the bearer of the mark could cast the corresponding incantation.
Transmitted through their mental connection, the method of casting the Law of Regression was imprinted on Nausicaä's mind as though she had been born knowing it.
"This is a power you can use by praying to me, an incantation called the Law of Regression. It can purify corruption, dispel disguises, and return things to their original form."
The golden, tattoo-like mark on her hand gave off a pleasant warmth. Nausicaä's heart filled with excitement, and she temporarily put the matter of the kiwi seed aside.
"Thank you, Mr. Erdtree!"
She bowed deeply to the Erdtree.
Then Nausicaä eagerly sprang into action, leading a disaster relief team of several dozen people forward in force.
They had to clear the contamination before the fungus matured and began releasing new spores.
What a good girl.
Mu En breathed a sigh of relief. Nausicaä hadn't noticed his loss of composure after all.
Then he turned his awareness inward again, trying to find the seed that had mysteriously disappeared.
Time passed quickly, but Nausicaä moved even faster.
The Valley of the Wind was shaped like a trumpet, narrow in the west and wide in the east, growing longer and narrower the closer it got to the forest at its exit.
But this also gave Nausicaä and the others a chance to establish a firebreak in time and save the surviving forest.
The fierce glow of fire and the golden light of incantations flashed in turn.
As the sunlight was about to fade, a kilometer-long firebreak stretched across the valley.
Using the forest Mu En had saved as the dividing point, everything east of the firebreak had been reduced to scorched earth.
The forest to the west, however, remained lush and green.
"I didn't expect the western forest, which was directly exposed to the toxic wind and sand, to be the one that survived in the end."
"Hmph, it's all those savage Tolmekians' fault that the contamination spread from inside the valley."
"Shh! Look, Her Highness is about to perform another 'miracle'!"
Nausicaä stood beneath a great tree contaminated with fungal filaments, her short auburn hair stirring in the wind.
She took a deep breath and assumed the opening stance for the incantation-
Both fists clenched, she extended her arms to either side, forming a diagonal line with her right arm low and her left arm high.
Then she silently recited the Erdtree's name and swept both arms counterclockwise in unison.
The Elden Ring mark appeared beneath her feet, and golden light burst forth, covering the forest for dozens of meters around her.
In an instant, the tiny white spores clinging to the trees, which had yet to spread, turned to ash.
"The last patch."
The joy of success had only just welled up in her heart when her legs suddenly gave way.
"Your Highness!"
Fortunately, the attentive Mito had been waiting nearby and caught Nausicaä in time.
"I'm fine, Mito. I just need to rest for a while, and then..."
Before she could finish, another wave of intense dizziness hit her. Casting incantation after incantation had nearly exhausted her.
"Your Highness? Your..."
Mito called anxiously to the princess, only to find that Nausicaä's breathing had grown slow and steady. Leaning against his shoulder, she had fallen fast asleep.
"This child."
Mito felt both helpless and pained. He truly wished he could bear the strain in her place.
Unfortunately, he had not been chosen by the divine tree.
Surrounded by the villagers, Mito carefully lifted Nausicaä onto his back.
"Come on, let's go home."