Chapter 59

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep and suddenly woke up. It was so early that I was aware of having woken up earlier than usual.

What a surprise. In the pitch-black darkness without any light to illuminate the surroundings, only the light from the gems embedded in the dryads' equipment twinkled like stars at dawn. The dryads, sensing my awakening, stopped pretending to sleep and one by one got up to look at me.

They all seemed to be wondering what was going on with me. Mesquite looked worried, wondering if I had had a nightmare, while Elder teased me, asking if I felt the burden of having to wake up early. Daisy, the 28th Terrarium public official, seemed to have guessed the reason.

What woke me up, despite my deep sleep, was... the simple sound of trickling water. It was a very faint sound, barely audible unless I strained my ears, but it was strangely irritating.

"I didn't even think about water. I thought this place would be completely dry because the 26th was in a severe drought."

"Ah, you can hear the water? Actually... I did notice something strange, but I didn't think it was important enough to mention."

"Water?"

I asked the dryads if they could hear the trickling water.

With a puzzled look, Daisy asked if I wanted to go see it now. Mesquite was worried about me not getting enough sleep, but I felt strangely refreshed.

"Let's go, let's go. Is it far from here?"

"No. There's one right nearby. You'll see it as soon as we leave the orchard."

Daisy led me to the center of the village. As we approached, the ground was flooded.

After the fire, now there was water. I wondered if it had rained, but the village was dry except for the center. The water wasn't overflowing randomly like a flood; it was flowing along the strange patterns on the ground. Daisy pointed ahead and said,

"The ground suddenly rose up there."

Stepping through the water, we reached a spot where the ground had risen. Like a volcano about to erupt, water was flowing from the top of the mound, which rose to my waist.

"Is there an aquifer here? Why did the groundwater suddenly burst out?"

"It's not ordinary water."

Mesquite bent down and cupped some water in her hands. She then let the water flow onto her other arm. When the water touched the black gauntlet, it shone brightly, polishing the surface.

Damn... I had a hunch.

"Master! Why did you come so late!"

When I turned on my phone, the screen of "Infinite Diamond" was a mess. It seemed that the dwarves had started using the number 28 bonsai tree instead of the diamond cart, and the diamonds were overflowing.

Why did it go berserk...? Or, how much has accumulated that the World Tree's branches can't keep up with the speed of absorption? It's overflowing, isn't it?

Despite the mess, the dwarves were happy. They said that with a steady outflow of diamonds, the dwarves who had lost their jobs due to the accumulation of diamonds in the cart were now back to work.

That's impossible. I had completed all the content in "Infinite Diamond" and had the maximum number of employed dwarves.

"Master! Give me one more!"

"Master! Give me more diamonds that disappear quickly!"

The dwarves pointed to the number 28 bonsai. The bonsai had grown so well under the dwarves' excessive care that it extended beyond the screen.

"Master! Take some diamonds while you're here!"

"Master! With more workers, we can mine more diamonds!"

"What? Why are there more?"

The dwarves all pointed to a specific spot. Those with picks and shovels pointed with the tips, and those without tools pointed with their fingers. It was the tab button to view the dwarves' reinforcement information.

They gestured for me to touch it, as if in a tutorial when I first started "Infinite Diamond."

With suspicion, I pressed it... and to my surprise, the number of employable dwarves had changed to MAX+1Lv. MAX is the end, right? Why is there a +1?

"What is this?"

"Master! The mine has expanded, so we need more workers!"

"Master! Do you need more workers? More diamonds?"

When the mine expands... originally, I could see the "Infinite Diamond" game screen in portrait mode on this small phone. After the bonsai appeared, when I slid the phone, the mine screen extended with the cart tracks. It kept extending...

What if the production capacity increases even more when I haven't even used half of the diamonds I have? The dwarves always ask for more when I wake up the phone!

I didn't hear the dwarves rejoicing about new jobs for the Diamond Empire. They were speechless at the overwhelming accumulation of diamonds.

When I pushed diamonds into the dying branches of the World Tree in the orchard, it seemed to ooze sap excessively. It felt like the water rising from the ground here was a similar effect.

"Plants die if you overwater them, right? Am I killing the World Tree branches that I saved? Am I overfeeding the World Tree with diamonds? What should I do?"

No, it's not my fault. The World Tree should stop absorbing at a certain point. It's not good to overfeed anything. It's like feeding someone so much that they burst. The ground is almost bursting!

"So, to avoid dying, it's releasing the excess. It should have been dispersed through increased production, but it's too much, so it's doing this..."

"Mr. Jay, it's not just here. There are a few more places in the village where the ground has risen like this..."

So, there's one nearby. Other places must be flooded too, right?

"Is there a rumor that the Terrarium is flooding and failing? The 28th Terrarium might be the first. How long have I been a temporary administrator, and already I'm messing up? I'm doomed."

"My master, Jay. You don't need to blame yourself. Although it looks like this, the single-digit Terrariums have fountains that spout water like this. They have many residents and a lot of diamonds, so they build fountains to show the strength of the Terrarium and to display their skills. Of course, they only have one such fountain. Here, Jay has created multiple fountains... First, we need to build structures to contain the water."

Daisy, standing beside me, agreed and said it would become a landmark of the 28th Terrarium. She was excited, not knowing my distress. I was so worried that I thought I had messed up.

By the way, Elder is quiet. He knows why the water is flowing, so why is he quiet?

"Elder... are you crying?"

Elder was looking at the water, which the World Tree's branches were spewing after overeating diamonds, with red eyes. He seemed very shocked.

His delicate face, on the verge of tears, made my heart ache. His beautiful face crying is a crime. It's harmful to my heart.

"The sap that comes out of the World Tree... evaporates quickly..."

Elder, with his head bowed, said in a despondent voice,

"If it's pooling and flowing to the extent that it can't all evaporate... how many diamonds... and if it's not just here but in other places too..."

Elder, sobbing, looked like a white branch holding dew. He's a flower, a flower. I'm a sinner. I made a handsome man cry. I realized that a handsome man's tears are a weapon. I wanted to comfort Elder with everything I had, though my diamonds wouldn't be completely depleted.

While I was comforting Elder with handfuls of diamonds, telling him not to dwell on the diamonds that were already gone, I noticed the small dryads doing cute things.

Bago was splashing water gently, watching his robe get clean. Daisy was secretly splashing Bago with her foot, pretending not to. Is it because the scale is too big for the children to fully understand that diamonds are the root of all this?

"You don't need to worry about the flood. The sap evaporates quickly, as the dryad said. If there was a flood, the path here would be wet. But it's only in this area, right? Still, it's best to build fountains. We should build larger and more magnificent fountains than the single-digit Terrariums. I hope the engineers will move here soon. A stonemason would be good too."

Mesquite smiled strangely at Daisy's excitement about decorating the Terrarium.

"My master, Jay. Do you know that when the sap, which is produced by increased production, meets the druid's soul, it turns into diamonds?"

"Yeah, you told me before."

"In places where increased production is active, more diamonds will form on the druids' souls. The reason everyone wants to go to the single-digit Terrariums is not only because they are the safest areas due to the World Tree's blessing, but also because they have this additional advantage."

Mesquite's words were a reminder to focus on the more important fact, not just the fountains. In other words, the 28th Terrarium has a buff.

Not only is it a village with special fountains that act like free potions, but it also has a diamond production buff. Of course, I'm the one providing the diamonds...

"Although the number is higher than the single-digit Terrariums, this place has advantages that are not inferior to them."

Mesquite praised me as a truly remarkable being, but the more she did, the more depressed Elder became. She didn't stop immediately, suggesting she also wanted to tease Elder.

My dryads quickly gathered the debris from nearby buildings and piled it around the water sources as a temporary measure until the engineers arrived. Water still trickled through the gaps, but it didn't flood the ground as before.

While making emergency repairs around the village, I learned that there were five places where water was spouting.

After building the levees, it was morning, and we prepared to leave immediately. Daisy was eager to promote the village, emphasizing that there were no taxes and five rare landmarks, which are usually only seen in single-digit Terrariums.

She also promised to think of all kinds of fountain designs while I was away.

"Can I decorate the area around the fountains with red daisy pots?"

"Do as you please."

It seemed like she had developed a competitive spirit with the single-digit Terrariums.

More splendid, more beautiful. Well, I'm fine with that.

Waving goodbye to Daisy, I quickened my pace. I was worried that Elder's sadness would sink into the ground if he stayed here too long.