Chapter 103: Reborn

"What do you mean by her ’last’ wish? What exactly happened to her?"

Diana remained quiet, unable to open her lips to speak, simply staring at him and letting the silence answer his unanswered question.

Neo finally understood what the meaning behind her silence actually was, though the realization hit him with a surprise and a shock far heavier than he’d expected, and he couldn’t help but wonder when exactly it had happened. Was it during the dark elves’ attack on her home? Or had the strain of watching her entire village burn simply been too much for her heart to bear?

He didn’t know. There was no way he could possibly know, not without going there himself.

"Where is she now?"

Diana looked at him, her eyes trembling faintly, and after a moment, she nodded and turned around to lead him there.

Neo walked forward, sparing one last glance back toward his father, who nodded quietly in return, before falling into step behind her.

The crowds parted as the cheering finally settled into something quieter, and as they walked through the dispersing gathering, Neo’s eyes fell properly, for the first time since arriving, on just how much the territory around him had changed. The entire settlement had developed into something completely different from what it had once been. Where small, two-story wooden buildings had stood, massive new structures now rose in their place, and even the old mud-and-wood houses had transformed into proper brick homes. The once-broken unsteady roads had been repaved entirely into smooth concrete paths, and the small garden he remembered had expanded into an actual field. Even the area where the villagers had once tended their livestock and vegetables had grown into something far larger and far more developed. The entire territory had shifted, in a single night, from a modest, struggling settlement into something that genuinely looked capable of standing on its own.

’So this is what a Tier-3 Territory actually looks like. If this is what Tier-3 brings, I can’t even imagine what a higher-tier city would look like.’

He didn’t know, and the system clearly wasn’t going to offer him an answer, not that it mattered much even if it had, since there was no real way to picture something like that just from imagination alone.

’There’s one thing I’m genuinely confused about, though. Why hasn’t anyone reacted to the sudden reconstruction? The whole territory was in ruins just yesterday, and now it’s completely rebuilt overnight, yet nobody seems to be questioning any of it at all.’

’Unless... that golden light from earlier did more than just rebuild the place. Maybe it also reshaped everyone’s memories somehow, smoothing things over so no one would think to question it and simply accept the outcome as though it had always been this way.’

Whatever the truth actually was, Neo set the thought aside for now, choosing instead to focus on the situation directly in front of him.

Following behind Diana, he quickly realized she wasn’t leading him toward Senya’s old hut at all, but instead toward an open field stretching out behind the settlement, one that clearly hadn’t existed there the day before, meaning it, too, had been swallowed up and reshaped by whatever the territory’s upgrade had done overnight.

They approached a small graveyard, and Diana finally stopped in front of one particular grave, leaning down to place a fresh flower carefully before the grave.

"Master already saw that she was going to die yesterday... She just never told any of us."

Neo stared down at the grave, his expression settling into something genuinely sad, though before he could properly gather his thoughts, he finally managed to ask the question that had been sitting heavily in his chest.

"What were her last words, then?"

Instead of answering, Diana simply turned and began walking again, leading him away from the small graveyard toward an entirely different part of the open field, and Neo followed quietly behind her, his curiosity only deepening the further they walked.

They eventually reached the very center of the field, where a small, slender plant sat rooted in the earth, its thin leaves and fragile stem shining faintly with a soft emerald glow that pulsed gently in the afternoon light.

Neo stared at it, something immediately tugging at his memory, and after a moment, it clicked into place. The glow surrounding the small plant matched, almost exactly, the same warm, radiant light that had swept over the entire village during the battle the night before, the same light that had granted every villager that blessing.

"It’s the World Tree," Diana said quietly, her gaze fixed on the small, glowing sapling. "It’s been reborn. Because of you."

"Because of me?" Neo blinked, genuinely caught off guard. "How exactly am I supposed to have birthed a plant? I’m human, and on top of that, I am a male."

Diana simply looked at him blankly, clearly unwilling to acknowledge his attempt at humor in any capacity whatsoever.

Neo sighed and nodded for her to continue, deciding it probably wasn’t the right moment to keep pushing the joke any further.

"I don’t fully understand how it was reborn either. But it doesn’t matter how, because right now, it’s the only hope left for our entire race. It’s the only source left capable of restoring our strength, the only thing that might finally let us live safely and peacefully again, without constantly being hunted and picked apart."

She turned to face him fully now, her expression carrying the full weight of everything she was about to say.

"Senya’s last request was that you become the leader of our entire race."

Neo listened carefully to everything she’d explained, letting the words settle properly before he finally responded.

"I refuse."

Diana’s eyes widened slightly at the bluntness of his answer, though Neo continued before she could properly react.

"I have my own life to live. My own family waiting for me, my own responsibilities, my own path that doesn’t involve settling down permanently in the middle of the Desolate Land leading an entire race I only stumbled into protecting by accident." He paused, softening his tone slightly as he caught the flicker of disappointment crossing her face. "But if you ever need my help in the future, I’ll be there. And if I ever need yours, I hope you’ll do the same for me."

Diana stared at him for a long moment, clearly wanting to argue, clearly wanting to push back against his decision, but ultimately, she simply nodded, unable to find any real grounds to refuse him.

"Thank you... for everything."

Neo offered her a small, tired smile before turning away. "I should start preparing to leave. My family’s waited long enough already."

He turned and headed back toward the settlement, leaving Diana beside the softly glowing sapling, a fragile sign that something ancient was finally coming back to life.

Diana watched his retreating figure for a long while, her expression unreadable, before finally murmuring quietly to herself, the words carried off softly by the breeze drifting across the open field.

"Fate will surely pull you back to the Desolate Land one day, Neo Draven."