Kashi looked at Kira. He did not know what had caused the great change in her attitude, but he was thankful for it. In this world, there was certainly no one who knew and understood him as well as she did. Likewise, there was no one in this world he could trust as much as Kira. Although there was certainly a bonus from living so long in each other's heads, Kashi was certain that even without their connection, he would still be confident in putting his life in Kira's paws. Kashi smiled and said as he patted Kira's head. "Just don't resist and everything will be fine."

"Don't resist? What will I be resisTIII—" Terror engulfed Kira's mind as an overbearing force seized control of all the mana in her body. Kira instantly understood why the Hydra eggs reacted the way they did. No living being would take kindly to having some unknown force take control of their body, let alone one that sucked out something as vital as mana. Despite Kashi's explanation, it still took everything she had to not struggle against this tyrannical force.

Kashi keenly felt Kira's panic. His brows locked together in worry. Had he made the wrong decision? Were things really as the information in his head suggested? The daeben suddenly began to doubt himself. He did not want to risk Kira's life on a gamble. He had initially been completely sure, but Kira's panic and fear opened his eyes to the possibility of being wrong. What if he was wrong and something happened to Kira? Kashi could not imagine a world without Kira.

Kira had been with Kashi for so long, he had begun to take her presence for granted. Even when they were leagues apart, a part of Kira was always in his head. This ensured that no matter what, Kashi never truly felt alone. One of the major reasons he was so confident when Froy captured him was precisely because of this connection to Kira. It was funny really. Because he had to leave the game from time to time, Kira did have moments where Kashi was not in her head. The opposite, however, was not true. Ever since Fladnag established the connection between them, Kira had always been in Kashi's head, an ever-present presence that assured him he was not alone in this world.

"Hey, Kira—"

As if sensing the daeben's hesitation, a bright light suddenly descended from the 'sun', enclosing Kira within. Kashi's eyes were forced shut as a massive gale burst out from Kira's position. The initial blast flung Kashi several meters back. He managed to land on his feet, but it took all he had to remain upright as the wind picked up.

Kashi activated [Dragon's Eyes]. Thin layers of mana-films protected his eyes which had transformed to dragon slits. Under the protection of the mana-films, Kashi opened his eyes and searched for Kira.

Kashi did not exactly find Kira. Instead, to his surprise, he saw the light cocoon containing Kira hovering under Yggdrasil. Horrid tempestuous wind gushed out of the cocoon into the flames above.

The flames roared with renewed life. They burned even brighter and angrier, buoyed by the sudden influx of high-quality wind element injected into them. The raging flames instantly sought vengeance against the tyrannical flood. They directly engulfed and suppressed the flood, swallowing it up at an alarming rate.

Within moments, the combined forces of Kira, the dragon and Yggdrasil effectively suppressed the eggs' auras. The eggs recognized their loss and stopped their futile struggle. They reluctantly allowed themselves to be enveloped by the world's power, which manifested itself in the form of a bright light. The eggs were then transported beneath Yggdrasil's branches.

Kashi let out a sigh of relief as he saw the situation stabilize. However, things did not remain calm for long.

With the four elemental lifeforms docile and compliant, the dimension could finally begin forming for real. The dimension once again sucked out the auras from all the lifeforms. This time, there was no resistance from any of them. The released auras converged in the clouds above, where they mixed into a complex amalgamation of mana that took the form of a tornado in the sky.

Kashi looked on in interest as the tornado abruptly expanded. It exploded, sending mana scattering across a vast area. Kashi's eyes went wide as a stretch of vast plains formed in front of his eyes. Small creeks and rivulets cut across the plains, and Kashi could see that at the ends of the plains was a massive body of water whose ends he could not see.

At the center of these plains was the massive Yggdrasil. The dragon laid on the earth beneath its branches, whereas Kira's cocoon still hovered in mid-air. The eggs found a new home in a small pond, also located beneath Yggdrasil branches. If the eggs had voices they would have squealed in delight as, compared to the mana that was sucked out of them, the high-quality mana from Yggdrasil was more than enough to satisfy their needs. Furthermore, because of the intermingled Elder Dragon and Zephyr Direwolf auras, there was a chance their bloodline could mutate even further.

That's right, Kira was a Zephyr Direwolf. Kira's existence as a Zephyr Direwolf was only revealed to Kashi when her howl pierced into his dimension. Although Kashi had always known that Kira's bloodline was special (Her mother was a freaking god!), he never knew what her exact species was. The game interface simply listed her as a direwolf, and since Kira herself did not know what species she was, both parties flung the matter to the back of their heads.

The ArchGriffin they released in the mines reminded them how special her bloodline was, but since then, there had been no chances to explore that further. They once again forgot about it. This time, however, the truth of her bloodline finally came in the form of a demand from his dimension. It needed an extra element to balance the situation. And after noticing the purity of Kira's bloodline, and the fact that her wind element would greatly influence the stalemate, Kashi was bombarded with the relevant information.

The world continued to stabilize, as the different auras began to form a cycle between each other. Yggdrassil's earth element formed the basis for everything. It's unique ability to provide life energy further boosted the bloodlines of all the beasts under its branches. The improved bloodlines would, in turn, boost the respective elements of these beasts. In the case of the Hydra eggs, their water element allowed for the growth of plant-life like the grass on the plains. The water element also provided nourishment to Yggdrasil, replenishing its mana, and aiding in its growth.

The Elder Dragon's fire element did not need to be mentioned. Without the fire element, the entire world would be frozen over, and life would be unable to exist. The surprise addition was the effect of Kira's wind element. Her element brought air to the world. Initially, this was a world only suitable for spiritual bodies, or those that only needed mana to survive. However, wind's inclusion introduced oxygen and other gases into the world. Living beings could now breath in the world.

This was the first time the world could be considered a 'real world.' The world wasn't complete yet. Four elements had been gathered. Two were left. Kashi had no idea where the hell he was supposed to get Metal and Lightning, but he did not really care. These type of things were encountered, not sought after.

After the world stabilized, Kashi landed beneath Yggdrasil's branches. This was the first time he actually stood next to the tree, and only at this moment did he realize just how large this tree really was. While it had yet to reach the colossal height Razznik had encountered, the tree was still over 200 meters (656 ft) tall, with a ridiculous trunk width of just about 20 meters (65ft). Kashi looked up at the multi-layered canopy formed by the tree branches. He was not completely certain, but he was quite sure at least one baseball stadium could fit beneath the canopy.

Kashi recalled the city-sized Yggdrasil Razznik mercilessly cut down for its core. Maybe it was because this tree was a part of him, but he now felt he could understand why the Treants had fought Razznik so valiantly. This tree was a thing of beauty. It exuded a peaceful fragrance that not only calmed the minds and souls of everything close to it, but also seemed to uplift their spirits. It was terribly difficult to harbor evil thoughts while beneath this tree.

Kashi looked away from Yggdrasil to the cocoon that encased Kira within. "Hey, Kira. Thanks for the help. You really saved my life this time." The cocoon remained silent. "Uh... Job's over. You can come out now."

No answer was forthcoming.

Kashi's brow furrowed. "Kira?"

The quiet rustling of grass and leaves were the only sounds in the world.

"Kira!" Kashi shouted. His frown deepened as he began to panic. "Hey! Stupid Dimension! You don't get to keep her! She isn't some power source for you!"

Still no response.

"I said Release Her!" Kashi screamed with clenched fists. The silence continued. Kashi unleashed a tirade of curses. He began considering much more violent solutions when a cool breeze washed over him. Kashi had no idea how he knew what he did, but somehow, not only did that wind stabilize his emotions, it also somehow delivered a simple message: "Everything will be Fine."

Kashi turned back and glared at Yggdrasil. "You. You're the one aren't you?" A slight breeze brushed past. "Uh-huh. You're also the one who told me about Kira, am I right?" There was that slight breeze again. Kashi's eyes narrowed. "So, what exactly are you and what's happening to her?"

The breeze brushed by once again. Kashi was now certain. It was definitely Yggdrasil that sent the information about Kira. This was because he could feel the familiar influx of information into his mind. There was no way to explain how it felt. One second, he did not know anything about this tree, and the next he had all the information he needed.

Perhaps a neurologist would question how this was possible, and how it could be applied in the world, but Kashi... Kashi only cared about the information. It took him a moment to sort out the information, an evil grin spreading on his face the deeper he got.

According to Yggdrasil, it was the 'seed' of this world. In most myths, Yggdrasil was referred to as the 'World Tree'. Kashi felt this description severely underestimated just how powerful this tree was. Apparently, the Yggdrasil Razznik saw was only a 'branch' of the tree. Yggdrasil was a colossal tree that served as a gateway between all the dimensions Ferulic created. The hopeless romantic designed the tree so he could easily take Aethir anywhere she wanted.

Aethir, in turn, fell in love with the magnificent tree and personally blessed it. This blessing was [Boon of Life] which granted Yggdrasil with the ability to create and disseminate life energy. This energy was capable of boosting the bloodlines of every living thing. There had even been rare cases where concentrated doses had resulted in immortality.

In Kashi's case, however, all he had was a 'seed' of this magnificent tree. The seed had already fused with his soul, so it existed in tandem with him. If Kashi perished, it would too. So, it was in its best interests to do everything to keep Kashi alive. Since Kashi was not the type to take up farming or knitting and live in peace, it had no choice but to find ways to make him stronger.

Unfortunately, while the world remained in its 'embryo state', Yggdrasil's range of activities were severely limited. Luckily, the introduction of the Hydra Eggs had finally provided the world with an additional element that could improve the situation. But, it had not accounted for the eggs' hostility.

In order to stabilize the situation, Yggdrasil rapidly needed an additional non-hostile element to stabilize the situation. It was at this moment that Kira's howl pierced the realm. It instantly detected her real bloodline. After all, it was a seed of the Great World Tree. It would be shameful if there was a lifeform it did not recognize.

When Kira entered the world, Yggdrasil forcibly boosted her bloodline with most of the life energy it had stored up. It was a temporary rise, but it was enough to activate the powerful wind element in her blood. The temporary boost was enough to suppress the Hydra eggs and bring them under submission.

However, Yggdrasil did not release Kira because the boost was only temporary. Should it release her at the moment, her bloodline would instantly revert to its previous state. The backlash would be severely damaging, and it might affect her future evolution. Yggdrasil instead kept her in the cocoon. This way the life energy would be trapped in there with her. It would slowly assimilate into her bones and blood until the situation developed. Only at that moment could she be considered to have truly 'evolved'.

Yggdrasil also made it clear that Kashi should not expect this kind of rapid evolution to be a regular occurrence. Aside from the fact that such forceful evolution sapped far too much life energy from a sapling like itself, Yggdrasil was still a tree of balance and nature. It would not interfere too much in the mortal realm.

However, it was not all terrible news. Yggdrasil did reveal to Kashi that as it was a part of him, and this was his world, there were some benefits. It was these benefits that had Kashi grinning like a mad devil.

First, as the dimension existed in his soul, Kashi would have access to every element within. It wasn't to the extent where he could summon rain and thunder with a wave of his hand. More like, Kashi could now enchant anything he touched with the elements in his world. At the moment, he had access to the Wind, Earth, Fire, and Water.

Second, the existence of Yggdrasil provided Kashi with a constant source of life energy. He could use the energy to heal himself and others. Yggdrasil was quick to stress that Kashi was not immortal. The amount of energy it was capable of sending to him was not that much as most of it was needed to maintain the dimension. When it came down to numbers, Kashi found that his health regen rate had tripled. Yikes! Kashi suddenly felt like a roach. It would truly be too difficult for everyday riff-raff to kill him even in his sleep now.

That was not to say he was invincible. Characters like Shoko had terribly high Damage take could more than half his health with the right strike. Furthermore, most high-level warriors and mages had some sort of skill that tampered with self-regen. In the case of warriors, it was usually done by infusing the enemy with explosive or corrosive Ki. Alchemists used poisons, while Mages used debilitating spells.

All in all, having high-regen was not a reason to get careless. However, that said, how often would someone run into a player with both High Damage and self-regen hindering skills? Ninety-nine percent of the time, Kashi would be able to stomp his way through most battles. This was especially satisfying. This was even more so considering that with the debuff, he would be forced to fight even tougher monsters if he wanted to match the leveling speed of the other great Summoned.

The final boon was a direct increase in his strength itself. The world increased his base strength by 20%. That number would increase as the world itself stabilized and increased in size.

The information ended with the two methods to expand the world. The first was to find the best elemental materials or beasts to serve as the core of the dimension. The long-term method, however, was to populate the dimension with life. Animals were a good start, but the life energy they produced paled in comparison to that of Humes.

The life energy generated by these life forms would be absorbed, then enhanced by Yggdrasil. This would allow it to slowly expand the world so even more people could join. It was entirely possible that one day, Kashi could create an entire universe of his own... Uh-huh...

Kashi digested all of this information with an excited grin. He looked up at Yggdrasil, then at the cocoon containing Kira. The white light wriggled every now and then, a sign of the life within it. In Kashi's eyes, it somehow resembled a maggot or caterpillar.

"I'll be waiting," Kashi promised with a smile. Moments later only the rustling of grass remained. Kashi had returned to the real world with an urge to destroy—er, test out his new powers.