Chapter 206: The Secret of Forest Home

While everyone else stood awestruck by the sheer majesty of the world-piercing divine tree, one person reacted entirely differently.

Ailindel.

She was shocked as well, but not by the colossal tree itself. Her gaze never lingered on the mountain-like trunk or the canopy towering into the clouds. Instead, her eyes seemed to pierce through the giant tree’s outer shell and look directly into the soul hidden deep within.

“…Gondos?” she softly uttered a name.

This time, it was the Wood Elves who were stunned. Romina blinked in surprise. “Lady Ailindel… what did you just say?”

Nolan also turned toward her.

Ailindel did not answer immediately. She simply stared quietly at the immense tree before her, the nostalgia in her eyes growing ever deeper.

“This presence… it resembles the ‘Tree of Life’ Gondos from my era.” Memories flickered across her expression. “But the Gondos I knew was only around ten meters tall, and very mischievous. It loved running happily through the forest all day long…”

Happily… running around?

Nolan, Vivi, and the others instinctively tried to picture it in their minds. An eight-hundred-meter-tall tree, massive as a mountain range, stomping through the forest on roots thicker than fortress walls in a “happy” manner…

Everyone shuddered simultaneously. The image was too horrifying to imagine. That was not “running happily.” That was a walking natural disaster. Every step would probably trigger an earthquake.

Soul energy surged from Ailindel’s body. A single strand separated itself and drifted toward Forest Home.

A moment later, she opened her eyes again.

“It really is him.”

The instant her words fell, the giant tree known as Forest Home released a long, resonant hum.

Wooooom—

This sound was different from the dull heartbeat-like thrum from before. It carried emotion, as though the tree itself were responding. Countless leaves rustled all at once. Then, from the middle “city layer” of the giant tree, hundreds of thick vines descended. They wove through the air with astonishing speed and precision, intertwining like intelligent hands. Within only a few breaths, they formed an enormous basket-shaped platform so exquisite it resembled a work of art. 

The platform was massive and perfectly stable, easily large enough to carry over a hundred people. It slowly descended and came to a silent stop before the group.

Finley’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “This… this is the first time I’ve ever seen Forest Home personally welcome guests.” His voice trembled with disbelief. At that moment, the innate pride of the Wood Elves had been thoroughly shattered.

The woven vine “cable car” opened automatically, its doors unfurling to either side. At the entrance, thinner vines rapidly sprouted and intertwined, forming an elegant wooden staircase.

On either side of the steps, flower buds bloomed out of thin air. Red, yellow, blue, violet—flowers of every color spread upward along the staircase, forming a breathtaking floral pathway. A rich fragrance instantly filled the air.

“Wow…”

The eyes of Vivi and Rehanna sparkled immediately.

This was far too romantic.

Vivi quietly sighed in admiration while stealing a glance at Nolan.

Romina finally recovered from her shock. Looking at the beautiful floral path, she murmured in disbelief, “Unheard of… Forest Home is personally inviting you inside.”

Nolan knew this unprecedented honor was not for him, nor for Coldsteel City. It was for Ailindel. After enduring the passage of countless ages, Forest Home—or rather, the Tree of Life Gondos—still remembered its Moon Elf friend. They were all benefiting from the prestige of the Heavenly Judgment Knight.

For Nolan, however, this was excellent news. With this development, negotiations with the Wood Elf Council of Elders would likely gain another powerful advantage.

“Honored guests of Coldsteel City, please come in.”

Romina truly was worthy of her position as captain of the rangers. She quickly adjusted her emotions, regained the composure of a host, and gestured gracefully for Nolan’s group to proceed.

Nolan exchanged a glance with Ailindel and gave a slight nod. Without further hesitation, he stepped forward first, leading his companions onto the fragrant path of flowers.

Kayan and the warriors of the Holy Hammer Division followed closely behind. As they stepped onto the vine staircase, it felt as though they were walking through a dream. Ever since following their lord, the things they had witnessed in a single day surpassed everything they had seen in the rest of their lives combined.

Once everyone had boarded the enormous vine basket, the doors closed automatically. The platform then rose smoothly and swiftly upward, ascending toward the cloud-piercing canopy.

Looking down through the gaps in the vines, the forest rapidly shrank beneath them. The sensation was indescribably surreal.

“Captain Romina.”

After curiously observing everything around her for the entire ride, Vivi finally could not hold back any longer.

“Forest Home is so enormous. It must make a huge commotion whenever it moves, right? So why can’t anyone outside notice it at all? And… if it walks around like this, wouldn’t it crush the forest beneath it?”

That question was also the greatest mystery in everyone else’s minds.

Once again, the pride unique to the children of the forest appeared on Romina’s face. “That is the miracle of Forest Home, and its most extraordinary ability.” There was reverence in her voice. “When Forest Home travels, it does not fully exist within our current Prime Material Plane. Instead, it moves through a miniature subplane that overlaps heavily with our world—the Life Plane known as the ‘Tree Realm.’”

“The Tree Realm?”

The others looked utterly bewildered, as though listening to a mythological tale.

“Yes. Unlike the Four Elemental Planes, which exist beneath the Prime Material Plane, the Tree Realm is more like a thin veil draped perfectly across the forests of the Borderlands. As the ruler of the Tree Realm, Forest Home can move freely within it.”

Romina explained, “That is why its movement causes no destruction to the forests of the Prime Material Plane. And it is also why it can achieve perfect invisibility here. Only lives accepted by Forest Home—such as us Wood Elves—can locate and enter this place. Anyone else, even if standing in the exact same location as Forest Home, would see nothing except endless primordial forest.”

Nolan immediately realized how terrifyingly powerful that ability was.

“So that means… Forest Home can appear anywhere within the Borderlands forest at any time?”

This was the ultimate strategic depth. Impossible to track. Impossible to lock onto. Impossible to attack. Or, to put it another way—it simply could not be targeted.

“In theory, yes.” Romina nodded before adding, “However, every long-distance phase transfer consumes an enormous amount of Life Source energy from the Foundation of Life. Because of that, it is rarely done.”

She looked gently at the living vines supporting the “cable car.”

“Forest Home is a miracle of life. So rather than saying the Wood Elves built it, it would be more accurate to say that the great Forest Home mercifully allowed us to thrive within it.”

So that was it.

Nolan finally understood why, in his previous life, the lore enthusiasts and explorers on the game forums had spent twenty years turning the entire Borderlands upside down without ever locating the exact position of Forest Home. They had been searching in the wrong direction from the very beginning.

Players believed they were looking for a fixed city, when in reality, what they were searching for was a superorganism capable of running around inside a subplane while remaining permanently invisible.

“With such an incredible ability, then why blindfold outsiders at all?” Nolan asked, recalling his earlier experience.

“That is because Forest Home’s unique barrier domain is based on cognition,” Romina explained. “If someone has never witnessed the moment of entry, they can never find this place. But once a person has seen the process of entering Forest Home, once their mind acknowledges its existence, they will be able to perceive Forest Home’s phantom image from the outside world and use that to determine its location.”

Nolan understood completely now.

The Borderlands forest was unimaginably vast—larger than several Elfin Kingdoms combined—but there was no way the player base’s lore researchers could have remained entirely clueless for twenty years.

Forest Home’s location was never the true secret. It simply had no fixed location to begin with. Its greatest secret was its very existence.

As Nolan’s thoughts churned, the vine cable car began to slow.

Through the gaps, he could already see the magnificent vertical city above, formed from countless treehouses, suspension bridges, and wooden walkways.

Wood Elves moved busily throughout it like the citizens of a vibrant kingdom.

They were about to arrive at the true homeland of the Wood Elves.

And after witnessing the overwhelming grandeur of Forest Home, Nolan’s mind was already racing with plans on how to turn the Wood Elves into a powerful ally for Coldsteel City.