Rather than a tree root, it might be more accurate to describe it as a 'wooden wall', except looking upwards, that part which should have connected to the main body had already broken off.
Laine felt some regret about this. The tree heart that supported the World Tree of the Nine Realms was an incredibly precious treasure. He had no idea whether the main body of Yggdrasil had fallen to a certain layer of the Realm or had directly collapsed into the true void with the Nine Realms, reverting from 'being' back to 'nothingness'.
"Where is Urd's Fountain, where is it?"
His gaze swept the ground, but unfortunately, Laine couldn't see anything that might suggest the presence of a 'Fountain', much less the sacred springwater that contains 'vitality' and 'purification'.
Fortunately, he was accompanied by a 'local'. Before becoming a head, Mimir must have come here.
"It's a bit further north. In fact, although Yggdrasil's three main roots were each 'nourished' by three different springs, it doesn't directly draw from the springwater. To some extent, they coexist," explained Mimir.
Looking at Laine, Mimir did have some expertise in these matters:
"Only the oldest spring in the Land of Mist is an exception; it was born at the beginning of creation, which makes it special."
"The other two springs, as the tree withers, their power also wanes. I'm not sure if Urd's spring still holds its sanctity, I can only lead you to where it once was."
"That's enough," Laine said and nodded, then flew northward following the guidance of Mimir's skull.
The main roots of Yggdrasil were unimaginably massive, and even the 'small' tendrils that branched off were dense and numerous. The smallest were only as thick as the trunks of ordinary trees, while the largest were the size of several houses.
Traveling through the dense network of roots, Laine soon found the destination.
Just as Mimir had said, the place was no longer sacred.
Urd's Fountain, once a holy gathering site for the gods. In Scandinavian mythology, it was guarded by the three goddesses of fate: Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, symbolizing the past, present, and future respectively.
They also wielded some measure of Divine Authority over the laws, and from this perspective, it must be said that despite different civilizations, the two worlds bore striking similarities in some aspects.
It seemed that law and fate were always interdependent.
But now, those were stories of the past. The once crystal-clear water of the fountain had dried up, and the ruined surface of the earth was left with nothing but bare rocks and withered shrubs.
The Flosa Garden beside the fountain, formerly a path shaded with vibrant greenery and delicate, beautiful flowers, had been twisted beyond recognition by time and desolation. Urd's Fountain was no longer the dazzling site it once was, and the three goddesses who accepted the prayers of the living had vanished without a trace.
"It seems you were right; there's no fountain here anymore," Laine sighed. However, thanks to the existence of 'Samsara', he found something between reality and illusion within the dried-up fountain.
With an outstretched hand, an invisible 'seed' fell into his palm, the last trace of the sacred spring. Perhaps in another ten or twenty thousand years, it too would lose all foundation for existence, leaving this holy site to become a part of history. Yet now, there was still a possibility of salvation.
Find another coexisting element for it, nurture it with the power of the Spirit Realm, and perhaps it could birth the springwater anew.
Turning around, he looked up at the tall and withered root systems. Black Sword appeared in Laine's right hand. The air of death gave Mimir a start, reminding him of Hel, the goddess who had been banished by Odin to the Land of the Dead.
The half-dead, half-living goddess was not only fearsome to behold but was also far from kind. Now that Laine was displaying such power, it inevitably caused the Titan unease.
After all, it didn't quite match the cooperative demeanor Laine had shown before.
"You're going to cut it open?"
"Of course, if there's even a slight bit of vitality, it can only be in the core. I must cut it open to find it. If not, it's also fine to just segment and take it away as it is."
World Tree was no ordinary thing; it couldn't be destroyed at will. Nidhogg the Poison Dragon took an entire epoch to gnaw through its roots, and even the one before him, already withered, was not easily cut.
However, the power of death was quite useful in such a place. With both hands on Black Sword, Laine sliced harshly, and a streak of light followed, splitting the massive 'wooden wall' down the middle to reveal its inner fibers.
Unfortunately, compared to the vast root system, this damage accounted for nothing. There was still no trace of vitality in the wood.
Narrowing his eyes, Laine gripped Black Sword again and slashed at the giant wood time and again. The tree root slowly revealed its interior, but in the end, even when he pared it down to its core, Laine couldn't find the part he was seeking.
He had thought there would be something at the very core, like sap containing the Origin, or something else. But in the end, when Laine dissected this mountainous root into pieces, they proved no different.
"Why is it ... Can it be that Yggdrasil's roots are even less significant than Urd's Fountain and that nameless Fire?"
The giant tree Laine felled crashed to the ground, accompanied by a tremendous noise that kicked up clouds of dust, but all he felt was confusion.
One of the three mighty roots of World Tree, so renowned for vitality it once rooted itself in a sacred spring, why was there not even a hint of the Divine Tree's original vitality left even after being entirely cut down?