Chapter 95: THE GUARDIAN OF YGGDRASIL, THE CURSE OF THE MOON, AND THE HIGH PRICE OF LITERACY

The glass floor beneath my feet trembled violently. Green cracks of light spread rapidly, shattering the reality of the void like a mirror struck by a giant hammer.

In the blink of an eye, the sea of false stars above my head shattered into fragments of light. The previously empty and silent air was suddenly replaced by a cool breeze carrying the scent of wet grass, soil, and wildflowers.

My feet no longer rested on glass, but on a lush cairpet of green grass.

I gasped, stepping back while reflexively summoning the Titan’s Ironbark Compound Bow into my left hand. My right hand quickly reached into my belt pouch, drawing an ordinary arrow and nocking it onto the bowstring. My stance lowered, my ruby-red eyes scanning the surroundings with the instincts of a predator thrown into unfamiliar territory.

Wait. Where am I? This is clearly not inside the church in Gale-Wind City.

The region had completely changed. I now stood in the middle of an endless grassland stretching as far as the eye could see beneath a cloudless blue sky. However, what dominated the scenery was not the vastness of the savanna, but a giant tree standing majestically at the center of the land.

That tree was far too massive to be called a plant. Its roots gripped the earth like giant veins, each the size of a skyscraper in the real world. Its trunk soared high, piercing the atmosphere, and its canopy of leaves radiating green-golden light seemed to support the sky itself. Near those giant roots, a small river with crystal-clear water flowed calmly, dividing the grassland with a peaceful trickling sound.

This environment was too peaceful, and that was precisely what made me even more wary. In a fantasy-genre virtual RPG, places that looked like paradise were usually arenas for battles against hidden god-tier Bosses.

"Don’t hide. I know there’s an entity here," I called out coldly, activating my Focus sub-skill to detect anomalies.

The air around the small river rippled gently. Floating pollen carried by the wind began to gather, swirling to form a humanoid silhouette. Gradually, the golden light dimmed and revealed the figure of an extraordinarily beautiful adult woman.

She wore a simple white gown woven from spider silk and silver leaves. Her long moss-green hair was left cascading past her waist. She held no weapon, and her posture radiated no killing intent whatsoever. On the contrary, when the woman opened her eyes, I was greeted by a pair of emerald-colored irises that gazed at me with gentleness, empathy, and deep affection, exactly like the gaze of Rian’s mother in the real world when she looked at me lying on the medical bed.

The woman stepped forward; her bare feet left not a single footprint on the grass.

"Tragic girl..." Her voice flowed like the melody of a harp, piercing my mental defenses and causing the muscles in my arms that were drawing the bowstring to loosen slightly. "You have been afflicted by the curse of the Moon Goddess."

My brows furrowed. I did not lower my bow, but the tip of my arrow shifted slightly away from her vital point. "Curse of the Moon Goddess? Don’t tell me this has something to do with my avatar’s physical condition."

As a player who understood that my avatar’s form was the system’s translation of my physical structure and illness in the real world, hearing the game system give ’lore’ or background story to my disease felt extremely ironic.

The woman smiled faintly and nodded slowly. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Leticia. I am the guardian of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, the giant tree that supports life in this realm. Some mortals often misinterpret me or regard me as the embodiment of the Goddess of Life herself."

Guardian of Yggdrasil. My brain immediately recorded the information. This was a Mythical-tier NPC character, equal to or even higher than the rulers of kingdoms. There was no point in fighting her with my Level 35 equipment. I slowly lowered my bow and let the arrow return to the quiver.

"Then, Leticia, why has the Guardian of Yggdrasil summoned an ordinary Elf to this hidden place?" I asked, trying to keep my tone polite yet not submissive.

"I summoned you by the pure will of the Goddess of Life." Leticia walked closer; the distance between us was now only a few steps. She extended her faintly glowing hand as if wanting to touch my snow-white cheek, but she held back. "Your current condition, skin that rejects sunlight, hair without pigment, and a fragile body is the result of the Moon Goddess’s interference with your soul."

"A curse?" I prompted.

"A blessing, yet at the same time a curse," Leticia corrected gently. "The Moon Goddess granted you the gift of intellectual intelligence that surpasses mortal limits and extraordinary processing reflexes. She blessed you with a mind as sharp as a sword and mana as deep as the ocean."

I fell silent. Her explanation aligned perfectly with the mechanics of my Albinism Trait that doubled the gains of Intelligence (INT) and Dexterity (DEX).

"However," Leticia continued, her face showing sadness, "your mortal vessel is incapable of containing that absolute blessing. As compensation for the massive power of the mind, your physical body is drained. Your muscular strength is completely absorbed, your natural agility is paralyzed, and your vitality continuously weakens. That is why this condition is called the Curse of the Moon. You possess the potential to touch divinity through magic and craftsmanship, yet your body is designed to shatter if the wind blows too hard."

Once again, a perfect translation of the 50% penalty cuts to my Strength (STR) and Agility (AGI) stats, as well as the double stamina consumption I suffered. I had to give credit to the Chronos Tech developers or the system AI that managed to weave my physical defect into such poetic world lore.

"If the Goddess of Life has taken pity on me enough to summon me here, can you cure it?" I asked to the point. A racial evolution to remove the stat penalties was the biggest jackpot reward I could dream of.

Leticia shook her head slowly. "I am the guardian of Life, not the owner of your destiny. The Goddess of Life has no right to erase the Moon Goddess’s interference. However, we can give you the way out."

She pointed toward the empty blue horizon. "After you leave this space, seek the Temple of the Moon Goddess in the mortal world. Find her sacred altar, and prove your worth to her. If you succeed in reaching it, the Moon Goddess herself will perfect your condition, aligning your physical vessel so that it can contain her blessing without defect."

Before I could ask for the specific location of that temple, considering how vast this game’s map was, Leticia’s body began to glow brightly and gradually faded into particles of pollen.

"Your time has come, Tragic Girl," Leticia’s voice echoed from every direction. "The Moon awaits you in the shadows of the past..."

A flash of white light blinded me once more.

Whoosh!

I blinked hard. The scent of grass and fresh air vanished brutally, replaced by the smell of damp moss and old marble. The trickling sound of Yggdrasil’s river disappeared, replaced by the murmuring prayers of the priestess NPCs.

I was once again standing inside the hidden church in Gale-Wind City. The position of my feet had not shifted even a single centimeter from the last point before I was teleported. The emerald statue of the Goddess of Life in front of me still poured water into the small pool. The priestesses who had earlier cleared a path for me were still kneeling in their places, as if I had never disappeared at all. Time in the outside world seemed to have stopped or moved extremely slowly while I was inside the trial instance earlier.

Ting!

[System: Legendary/Hidden Quest Updated!]

[Quest: The Moon’s Embrace]

[Objective 1: Discover the location of the forgotten Temple of the Moon Goddess.]

[Reward: Racial Evolution Trial - ???]

I read the transparent interface with a small grin. "So the system really classifies my Trait as an anomaly that can evolve. Perfect."

The first task was to find the location of the Temple of the Moon Goddess. Gale-Wind City was a city themed around wind and botanical life; it seemed impossible for there to be archives about the Moon Goddess in this new city. My thoughts immediately turned to the main Universal Church that served as the central archive of religions in Second World Online.

The largest cathedral I had ever visited was, of course, in StoneBrook, the beginner city with the most ancient history in my game progress.

Without wasting time, I turned and half-ran out of the nature church. I ignored several NPCs who stared at me in confusion and headed straight for the Gale-Wind City Square. Digging out several silver coins, I activated the Waypoint crystal.

"Teleport: StoneBrook," I commanded.

My body was enveloped in bluish light, and in an instant, the natural architecture of Gale-Wind City was replaced by hard gray stone walls, the noisier ringing of blacksmiths, and the aroma of baked wheat bread. I arrived at the center of StoneBrook.

Without resting, I immediately strode toward the Cathedral of Light at the end of the upper district. Unlike the remote church earlier, this cathedral was guarded by NPC knights in golden armor and filled with low-level players requesting buffs or accepting beginner quests.

I entered and walked straight toward the main altar, ignoring the player queue. My eye-catching appearance, Epic-tier military uniform, and the aura of a high-level player made the beginners step aside on their own.

In front of the altar, the High Priestess, a Level 50 NPC in white-and-gold robes, was holding a holy book. I was just about to open my mouth to ask about the Moon Goddess, but the AI of this NPC turned out to be extremely responsive to the Legendary Quest status I carried.

Before I could utter a single word, the High Priestess raised her hand and looked at me with eyes full of secrets.

"Wanderer who is both blessed and cursed," the High Priestess spoke slowly. "I can see the silver shadows enveloping your aura. You seek the path to the moon, do you not?"

"Yes," I answered briefly. "Tell me where the Temple of the Moon Goddess is located."

The NPC shook her head slowly with a mysterious smile that was extremely annoying in typical role-playing game fashion. "We, the servants of the Light, do not keep the location of the night entity’s temple on the tip of our tongues. Knowledge such as that is not something that can be spoken lightly."

I let out a breath, preparing to cut short her long-winded dialogue. "Then how am I supposed to know?"

"The answer you seek sleeps within dust and parchment," the High Priestess pointed toward the eastern wing of the cathedral. "Go to the Great Library of StoneBrook. Seek the ancient archives of the Dark Era. Engraved there are the traces leading to the temple you seek."

I clicked my tongue, nearly cursing. Ah, the classic RPG trope. "Go to location A, talk to NPC B, so that you are told to go to location C to search for clue D."

I felt extremely lazy about wasting time reading fictional archives when my hands were already itching to return to the workshop in Silvergrass to test my new threaded-bolt (breech-loader) prototype. But what choice did I have? Perfecting my condition and erasing the Agility defect was the top priority. If I had agility equal to Yuuki’s plus the cannon-like firepower of the Musket, I could wipe out an entire guild by myself.

I turned and walked quickly toward the Great Library located not far from the cathedral. The building was large, dusty, and extremely quiet; most players preferred killing Slimes rather than reading lore books inside a VR game.

I entered and went straight to the receptionist desk guarded by a male Librarian NPC in an old uniform.

"I’m looking for books or ancient archives about the Temple of the Moon Goddess," I requested without preamble.

The librarian adjusted his glasses, looked at me, then nodded. "Of course, Wanderer. Archives about the ancient gods and goddesses are in the Third Corridor, Seventh Shelf, Upper Row."

Without saying thank you, I glided toward the indicated corridor. Towering oak shelves were filled with thousands of leather-bound books. I found a book with a crescent moon symbol on its spine. With enthusiasm, I pulled out that thick book, carried it to a reading table illuminated by candlelight, and opened it.

My eyes narrowed. I flipped through the pages rapidly.

"What the hell is this?" I muttered.

The pages contained no Latin alphabet, Cyrillic letters, Kanji, or even standard Elf script that the system usually automatically translated for me. Instead, the book was filled with complicated Rune symbols that looked like dragon-claw scribbles and chaotic geometry.

I rubbed my eyes, thinking it might just be a temporary glitch, but the letters remained incomprehensible. This game system that claimed to be extremely realistic apparently truly simulated language barriers for ancient literature.

With a sulky face, I carried the thick book back to the Librarian and slammed it lightly onto his desk.

"I can’t read this. What kind of letters are these?" I demanded.

The librarian looked at the book, then stared at me with a flat, mocking expression. "That is the Ancient Language, Wanderer. If you do not possess linguistic skills or do not know how to read advanced literature, of course those writings will look like scribbles to you."

"Then how can I read it?"

"Simple," the NPC smiled wisely, then bent down under his desk. He pulled out a very thin, small book with a bright red cover featuring a caricature of a pig and an apple on the front. He offered it to me. "Start from the basics. You must learn to read from the beginning, like our children."

I stared at the illustrated children’s fairy-tale book, then looked at the NPC with my dangerous, narrowed Crimson eyes. "You’re... telling me to read a wild boar fairy tale?"

"It is the only way, Wanderer. Understanding must be built from the foundation."

With a heavy heart, I touched the cover of the fairy-tale book. The moment the tip of my finger made contact with its material, trying to focus my mind to understand the simple text inside the organic requirement to trigger a skill, a system notification exploded in front of my face.

Ting!

[System: You are attempting to comprehend the world’s linguistic literature!]

[System: Requirements fulfilled. Do you wish to sacrifice 2 Skill Points (SP) to unlock the Passive Skill: (Reading/Linguistics Lv. 1)?]

[Warning: Skill Points are extremely rare!]

I froze. My jaw muscles hardened until they made a grinding sound.

Two Skill Points.

Two precious points that I usually had to obtain by leveling up several times or achieving extraordinary feats points I could use for a Limit Break of deadly archery techniques or crafting profession evolution. And the system was demanding them just so that my genius character would NOT BE ILLITERATE inside the game?!

"This game was truly designed by tax-loving psychopaths," I grumbled with a thick black aura that made the librarian step back.

With hands trembling from suppressed irritation, I pressed the [Accept] button. It was annoying; yes, just reading a book required a skill and consumed SP. But what choice did I have? The moon was waiting for me, and I had no option but to submit to this language system’s monopoly.