Chapter 39

The fire that touched the rain subsided, and the ground became soaked. The blue grass of the Normal Field began to grow, filled with vitality. The cruel weapons and equipment of the Dryads, when touched by the raindrops, quickly began to restore themselves. The rain was a blessing of life for all the plants on the ground.

They say fire is not harmed by water, but this was not ordinary water. The raindrops that soaked through like wearing a water-made garment... Yes, they were the same as the liquid in potions. The sap of the World Tree. For some reason, I could hear the laughter of my mining dwarves in my ears. I instinctively knew the source of the sap. For some reason, a hollow laugh escaped me. This was a skill that only the Elder and I could use, right?

The blessed rain, imbued with my soul and the power of the Elder, could extinguish fire. That power was melting my diamonds and pouring down. Elder, was your obsession with diamonds really instinctual?

I used to envy users who could use buffs with cash during boss fights, but now I didn't need any of that. Using skills with cash directly was even better. The diamonds I could pay for this skill were infinite. If it were a regular druid, it would have been a one-time skill that ended after a brief duration.

In the torrent of rain, the Dryads, who had regained their senses, all rushed towards the weakened fire. They quickly finished off the Unique-grade fire that had been the most difficult to handle and began attacking the final boss, the carriage. The Dryads did not avoid the lava spewed by the carriage. They were restored instantly upon touching the rain. Mesquite even abandoned her defense, raised her lance, and charged at the carriage.

The carriage, which had made a grand entrance, quietly subsided amidst the overwhelming attack, like a fire on a stove extinguished by a bucket of water. It vanished, spilling a pile of blue diamonds on the charred ground.

A refreshing energy surged from deep within my chest... and Daisy, standing far away, was enveloped in a white light. The barrier fell like a curtain, disappearing.

The difficult raid was over.

***

Daisy, wrapped in a dazzling light, looked as sacred as when a child in the orchard bloomed into a fruit. The red petals, holding raindrops, danced lightly in the rhythm of a waltz, then grew in size and disappeared with the light.

I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them, my view suddenly rose. Someone had run up quickly and was holding me, spinning me around. The clear, tinkling laughter needed no confirmation to know its owner.

When you became my Dryad, I lifted you up like this.

My concentration wavered, and the rain stopped simultaneously. The last raindrops, hanging from the clouds, stopped in mid-air before reaching the ground.

They shimmered, moving with the gentle breeze, like jewels catching the light from the open sky as the dark clouds retreated. The smile on the child's face, facing me, also sparkled like a jewel.

The child, who had been very small, was now almost at eye level with me. Despite still having a youthful appearance, it made my heart warm.

Not an adult, but a student? The grown Daisy boasted about her increased height, saying she could now lift me up.

“I’m still shorter than you, Druid, but I’m much stronger! I can control fire better now! I’ll keep growing. I’m happy to be able to protect you more safely!”

Amidst the charred surroundings, we were in a bright flower field. The rapidly grown Daisy was very proud.

Just looking at her made me smile, and Daisy sent a confident smile back at me.

“You’ve grown. It’s good to see. I can’t call you a sapling anymore, can I?”

Mesquite, returning after the battle, swirled her lance to shake off the ashes and said, “If it were my original ability, it would have been a brief mist, not rain...”

Elder, taking the staff from me, looked around with a bitter expression. He must know what the raindrops were made of.

“With the amount of rain... how many diamonds do you have?”

Elder asked in a hollow voice. If I tried to answer, I would get hurt. My mind would be damaged.

The word “how many” doesn’t fit. It can’t be counted. It’s infinite. Infinite diamonds. The dwarves must have worked hard for a change.

“This area has become a sanctuary. For a while, even if fire appears nearby, it won’t be able to approach.”

“I’ve never seen such power. If the Elder Flower I met in the past had such incredible power, she would have boasted to me. That Dryad was always trying to show how noble and great she was, with her high nose.”

The Dryads, returning to their druid after the chaotic battle, said in a tired voice. They carefully caught the floating raindrops in their hands and tapped them with their fingers.

“The water has already dried up. It’s a shame. It felt good to be soaked. My flower branches bloomed fresh. It felt like I was back at the World Tree. This is a power that even a sapling would find difficult to achieve. Is the Druid really okay?”

“That one... Druid... is she collapsing? This is like pouring thousands of potions from the sky... She must have consumed her life force...”

Mellow, who had been frozen in place, as if the floating raindrops were bombs, said. Cadon, in stark contrast, had his mouth wide open and was running around like a dog, chasing all the raindrops. Belladonna approached after hearing Mellow’s words.

“I don’t have the power to heal, but I can detect physical abnormalities or pain faster than anyone. May I check, if it’s not too much trouble? A recovery-type Dryad can’t replenish a depleted Druid’s life force. If the situation is serious...”

“I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine.”

I’m really fine. I’ve leveled up so much that my fatigue is gone. The only thing I consumed was diamonds. The dwarves, who have probably reached max level by now, must have refilled them.

But Belladonna’s expression clearly showed she didn’t believe me.

Only Daisy accepted my claim that I was fine. She hugged me and moved her body like a flower swaying in the wind, as if to say, “If you’re fine, everything is fine.”

“There’s no way. This isn’t a level of power that a grafted Dryad can achieve. Let Belladonna check. There’s no need to be afraid. She’s different from the notorious mother plant.”

If I’m fine, what’s it to you? Who’s afraid? Do I look like a kid who’s afraid of needles and doesn’t go to the doctor? Of course, I don’t like needles.

“I didn’t consume life force. The rain wasn’t sap. It was sap, right? Mesquite said diamonds are the crystallized sap of the World Tree, produced by its growth mechanism.”

“Did you just say... diamonds?”

Belladonna repeated, and Mellow, who had overheard, shrank even further to avoid the raindrops. Elder sighed deeply, as if facing a reality he didn’t want to.

[Master! Look at this!]

[Master! Are you going to use more diamonds?]

[Master! You knocked over the cart by asking for too many diamonds at once! Now you can take a lot without knocking it over!]

[Master! Why didn’t you take more before? Take more!]

They’re like ghosts. How did they catch the word “diamonds” so quickly? My phone sometimes doesn’t understand me.

Do the dwarves have a bug in my ear? I tried to avoid saying the word “diamonds” so they wouldn’t notice.

Looking at my phone, the dwarves were pushing the Stonehenge mode window to the side, as if it were an obstacle. Can you move system windows like that?

The <Infinite Diamonds> game screen appeared in its place, shivering from the side.

The diamond cart, which I hadn’t seen in a while, looked a bit different. It felt like looking at an illegally modified car.

This cart is new. A giant faucet was prominently placed in the center of the cart, and a large rubber hose connected it to my underground diamond vault.

[Master! We’re ready!]

[Master! Do it again like before!]

[Master! We can now give you a lot of diamonds without knocking over the cart!]

[Master! Why didn’t you take more before? Take more!]

...Using diamonds like water... I didn’t expect this. I didn’t know they would install a faucet. Diamonds that come out when you turn it.

“Are you saying that the source of the power that fell like rain... was diamonds?”

I was speechless at the dwarves’ absurd scale and just stared at my phone. Belladonna asked forcefully, and soon the other sapling Dryads also heard the question.

What? Didn’t I say diamonds? Why are diamonds involved here? The Dryads, thinking they must have misheard, murmured with doubt.

“Diamonds, right. Oh, I see the number has dropped significantly. It must be diamonds.”

The number in the thousands place was not 9. When I tapped the cart, diamonds poured from the faucet into the underground vault, and the number returned to 9.

The dwarves, pumping the diamonds from the underground vault through the rubber hose back into the cart, shouted that it wasn’t a problem to empty the cart. They insisted on giving me more, pointing to the rubber hose in case I hadn’t noticed.

Chu-ray, chu-ray, baby, one more time. The dot dwarves’ eyes seemed to sparkle.

“These... raindrops... are all... the power of diamonds...?”

That’s right. The thousands of diamonds that flew were a collaboration between Elder and me. Elder closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to hear more. My positive nod made Mellow’s face turn pale.

“My level... yeah, my soul’s limit might not be as high as yours.”

I formed a circle with my thumb and index finger.

“But I have a lot. A lot. How about the diamond rain? Do I still look inadequate?”

I looked the sapling in the eye and spoke each word with emphasis. Even if I’m a low-level, my capital is high-level. I’ve grown well and am still growing, so please don’t worry.

“I’ve never seen a druid with more diamonds than a sapling.”

“Our sapling has collected a lot of diamonds by controlling fire and taking commissions... but the power you showed in the battle just now was not something we could describe as ‘a lot.’ It was a rain of life. A druid artificially created rain with grafting power. Over a wide area. For a long time.”

Feeling sorry for Elder, who was trying to block his ears, I showed him my phone screen. Elder, look here.