Ball of Nothing

"Axel!" a cheerful voice called.

The spriggan stopped braiding twigs and looked up to see a very familiar face. "Is that...?"

Wiser who was behind Zero grinned. Shittomi stopped weaving leaves and smiled. It didn't take as long as she thought it would. Wiser must have skipped on many details for the discussion to end so quickly.

"It's me, Zero!" the doctor grinned and greeted Shittomi who was making a leaf crown using the fallen leaves from the Tree of Time.

The Tree of Life was isolated from the rest of the shrine and there was a very powerful barrier around it that made Zero pause. Wiser ignored it and walked right through which prompted Zero to do the same only to be stopped by a crackle of electricity.

"Oops! My bad. Please try again," Axel apologised and modified the barrier's restrictive spell.

Zero didn't blame the spriggan. Security was tight and he understood the need for privacy. The tree can be seen from a distance and it was probably for the better that people didn't crowd around it. Zero glanced at the things Axel and Shittomi were making with interest.

"Are these for sale?"

The spriggan nodded. "Many tourists want souvenirs. Some of these contain a little of the time power so it is worth a lot of money. It's partially Mammon's idea to recover the cost of building this wonderful home."

They settled into easy small talks until Axel asked Zero how he knew the location of the Tree of Time.

"Better still, how did you know I was looking for the Tree of Time? Those parting words really hurt and shocked me. Couldn't you have explained it better? Also, you didn't see me for such a long time, I was worried that we'd never meet again!"

Zero apologised with a sheepish grin. The spriggan had every right to feel worried and confused as well as hurt. Then again, he was surprised the spirit in the Tree of Life didn't tell Axel anything. Zero then looked over to Shittomi and Wiser. Should he tell Axel the summary or the full story as it might take a while. Eventually, Zero decided to give Axel a summarised version. The Tree of Life could give Axel more details if she wanted to. Zero had more important things to attend to for the rest of his visit.

"In summary, the Tree of Life was in Endow Hill for a while in a time rift called Sleepy Cave that you chanced across on a raid and then you kept the seed until it was ready to be planted in the abyss to stabilise the broken plane?"

Zero nodded at Axel's summary. "That sounds accurate enough," he said and the spriggan laughed.

"Well, who would have thought that the Tree of Life would go on such an adventure! No wonder she kept speaking fondly of you. Also, Lovina is her child. I met the witch several times and I must say, she could be on par with Sylvia in terms of magic."

"I never really thought that the Tree of Life would become a tourist attraction," Zero admitted. "Thankfully, the Demon Lords built a shrine."

Axel sighed. "It was rough for a while before the shrine was built. Everyone wanted a leaf from the tree and the poor tree was bald when I first arrived. It took me great pains to create this barrier but even so, people continued crowding around it until Lilith intervened when she heard from Coux how badly I was doing. Ever since the shrine was built, things have been getting better and better."

Zero pulled out the chaos energy fragments and asked if the spriggan knew anything about it.

Axel shook his head. "It's something the Tree of Life said you'd want so I've been shipping this to Coux whenever we have a good amount of it. Apart from how this is the default by-product after mana extraction from the chaos energy, I don't know what this is. It cannot be used for anything else."

"It's something only I can use," Zero told the spriggan who was confused. Shittomi didn't comment but she was curious too. Likewise, Wiser waited to hear Zero elaborate further but was disappointed when Zero changed the subject.

"Shall we set up a gate here that leads to Ten-Path Crossway? I suppose many people would appreciate the convenience but for a price, of course. Also, Shittomi, could you help me pick some demons to apply for the first batch of work visas? I'm thinking the foxes from Qin Yun's clan will be a good first bunch to help the dwarves and the new ally village."

Shittomi didn't mind. In fact, she thought that the vixens would be over the moon if they learnt about Zero's plans.

"They excel in trading and charming people so if you have things that require negotiation or charming customers, they are who you would be needing."

Zero thought about it. "I need some people to help Mitchnew out but more importantly, I need people to help me build and manage New Moon Village's building progress. We're severely short-handed and there will be more people joining the village. Half Moon Village is barely coping with its projects and we have more to come. I will leave my clone in Half Moon Village to oversee the running of the projects but I cannot do this alone. The keys still need collecting and it is something only I can do."

The snow queen agreed. "Indeed, it is only something you can do. You've done quite enough for us, Zero. Everyone will remember the things you did for us, Hell can really be terraformed now with the invention of the Axel-erator and with the Tree of Life acting as the plane guardian."

Axel looked slightly sad that Zero was leaving so soon and Wiser followed behind Zero who quickly created the portal in a cordoned off garden. He turned to Shittomi as Wiser went through to the portal to return to the Ten-Path Crossway section to hitch a ride back to the Morning Star Academy.

"I will leave the rest to you," he told her.

Shittomi noded. "We will ship you the fragments regularly. Leave everything else to us, I will write to you if there are any updates on your quests and if we manage to create a linked mana connection between Demon Lords to wake Baal up."

The doctor smiled and waved goodbye to the snow queen before vanishing through the portal to return to the village. Now that his business in the abyss was complete, it was time to sort out miscellaneous New Moon Village matters.