Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage

"Hmm. I am not sure if we have to. But let's ask them first if we can actually conquer the dungeon."

When my sister said that, both of us looked at Aesfen and Alandra. Even though we already owned the World Treant and the dungeon was not mentioned in the agreement, we still had to ask them.

"Well, you are free to conquer the dungeon if you ask us," Aesfen responded. "You actually do not have to ask for it to begin with. The World Treant and the tree spirits are now under your rule, and so is the dungeon."

"That's right," Alandra seconded. "It is not like we have use of it, anyway. It could definitely become our safe home, yes, but we cannot just leave our mother alone on the surface. She has told us we can have it for ourselves, but we decided to stay with her. But even if we agreed to, we still did not have the courage to damage our mother's precious main body."

The dungeon was indeed the safest place one could have, but the tree spirits chose to stay on the surface as they could not bring the World Treant with them. As a family man, I totally understood them.

Setting the emotional attachment aside, being separated from the World Treant was not ideal for the tree spirits due to the effects of the Sanctuary. The dungeon was an absolute isolation, so the buffs from the Sanctuary would immediately disappear as soon as they entered.

"So we can conquer it then. But here's the problem..."

"The problem is how I can open the dungeon." My sister crossed her arms. "It is not like we can dig a hole in the World Treant just to get access to it, no?"

"You don't have to worry about that. Just like Alandra mentioned before, our mother has offered us the dungeon, but we refused because we lacked the will to hurt Mother."

"So you won't mind if we chipped away some wood from her?"

"As long as Mother said you can, then it would be fine by us, Your Highness Louise."

"If you say so, then we shall start the conquest right away. Right, Raphael?"

"Yeah, let's conquer this dungeon before the end of the summer vacation."

Today, my sister and I set a new goal to achieve within a short time. I missed doing dungeons with Big Sis, so it's going to be fun.

◆◇◆◇◆

A few minutes later, Aesfen and Alandra guided us to the base of the World Treant again and led us to one of its buttress root valleys. This was different from where we arrived; it was deeper and probably the closest spot to the center of the tree.

On the black wall of the steep root, we could see something that seemed to be a scar. That was definitely the healed wound the World Treant sustained when it gradually swallowed the dungeon gate.

"So that dungeon gate lies beyond that spot, yes? I consider my detection abilities decent, and I can sense something undetectable within the roots. It is definitely the dungeon gate."

"Yes, Your Highness Louise. The gate is stuck around twenty meters from the surface."

"It isn't that deep, but the hardness of the World Treant's wood is surely harder than a Black Treant, making the excavation more challenging. Can the World Treant make a tunnel for us?"

"Unfortunately, she can only move her aerial roots, leaves, and some of her branches. The trunk and the root have been hardened so much that it became really solid and compact, rendering it unmovable. Mother can't even move her mouth for a long time."

Just as Big Sis just said, the almost pitch-black wood of the World Treant was indeed harder and more durable than that of a Black Treant. I could say that its heartwood was probably as hard as adamantine.

Black Treants were already difficult to defeat due to their durability and required at least Level 6 Sword Art technique to cut it clean. After defeating it, the wood then underwent a painstaking process of cutting it to various sizes and proportions using the sharpest and most durable serrated mithrill blades available, contributing to its high price.

"I see. Then we have to do it ourselves." My sister nodded. "Raphael, do you think we can cut a chunk of it as cleanly as possible?"

"I know what you are thinking, Sister. Any part of the World Treant is undoubtedly more valuable than a Black Treant. I would like to keep it in good condition too."

A superior wood like from the World Treant or a World Tree would definitely need much more effort to leave a scratch, let alone cut it. Not only was it harder, it was highly conductive to mana that was comparable to mithrill.

Now that I thought about it, I remembered that Mom's legendary weapon, Demonic Staff Beelzebub, was made out of the wood of a world tree.

The black wood of a world tree was definitely a legendary-grade material alongside adamantine and other metals of the same tier. Or it was probably on a higher grade due to its higher mana conductivity.

It was no wonder why Big Sis wanted to keep a chunk of the World Treant. But we probably would not use it for industrial purposes, as it was so valuable that we could not have others get their hands on it. We could create many high-quality things from it for our personal use.

"By the sounds of it, I guess you can cut it clean."

"I never tried it on something as hard as this, but I think I can," I said before I turned to the tree spirits. "Aesfen, Alandra, may we start excavating a tunnel on the World Treant now?"

"Of course you may."

"Alright, I'll start now."

But before I started cutting, I had to measure what to cut. The dungeon gate was ten meters wide, five meters tall, and was stuck twenty meters from the surface. The total volume I had to cut was approximately a thousand cubic meters of wood.

I had multiple choices for what cutting method I could use for this case. My options were using my homemade equipment like the Blood Steel cutoff blade or chainsaw and casting magic spells such as Water Jet, Ray of Demise, or Wind Disk.

But after thinking about it thoroughly, I decided to go with the Wind Disk for its sharpness and neatness. Damping the wood could ruin the wood quality while the laser left a scorched surface. After choosing the right method, I then began casting the spell.

"Wind Disk."

A five-meter-wide disk of sharp winds was conjured vertically before me, but it was not the right thickness yet. To cut through the tough wood as cleanly as possible, I needed to make the Wind Disk thinner and tighter to compress the winds even more. I even exert more mana and firepower into it.

Upon reaching the thickness of five centimeters, I began moving it slowly toward the root. The moment it touched the wood, the Wind Disk actually managed to pulverize the black wood of the World Treant.

Slowly but surely, the disk penetrated the tree until it completely went in. A few minutes later, I could feel that it hit something hard—it was the dungeon gate. After that, I made another disk and cut the other side. I did it two more times to cut the upper and lower sides.

Once I had successfully cut the block, I opened my Inventory right under that block and shaped it into the perfect shape. My Inventory then slowly swallowed that piece of the World Treant, and the dungeon gate was finally revealed before our eyes.