My Scumbag System-Chapter 376: A Dagger Made From the First Tree’s Heart

The group dispersed, each preparing in their own way. I walked to the edge of our little camp, staring out at the bizarre landscape under the twin moons. Something nagged at my brain—a detail from my conversation with the First Tree.

You carry something old within you. Something that does not belong to your world.

It knew about Kaelen. About my past life. And if it knew, maybe the Arborist did too. That could make me either his prime target or his biggest threat. Either way, it complicated things.

I sensed someone approaching and turned to find Celeste standing beside me, her silver-white hair almost luminous in the moonlight.

"You’re worried," she said. It wasn’t a question.

"Always." I offered a sardonic smile. "Keeps me alive."

"There’s something you didn’t tell the others." Her eyes were sharp, missing nothing. "Something about what the tree said to you."

Damn, she was perceptive. "It said I tasted of other worlds. That I carried something old inside me."

"And do you?" Her voice was calm, neutral.

I considered lying, but what was the point? We might all be dead by tomorrow. "I’m not exactly who everyone thinks I am, Celeste."

"I know." Her response caught me off guard. "I read your file. Nobody changes as dramatically as you did without some kind of catalyst."

I had to laugh. "We’re you stalking me?"

"I was raised by Seraphina Vance. Gathering information is survival." She turned to face me fully. "I don’t need to know your secrets, Satori. But I need to know if they’re going to get us killed—or save us."

I thought about the System, about Nel and Apollo, about my abilities and what I knew about manipulation and survival from my past life. All of it silent now, thanks to whatever was jamming the System in this Garden.

"They might save us," I finally said. "If I can access them again."

She nodded, accepting this cryptic answer with grace. "Then I’ll trust you to know when that moment comes." She turned to rejoin the others, then paused. "For what it’s worth, I think whatever you’re hiding is probably the reason we’ve survived this long."

As she walked away, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was true. Was Kaelen’s ruthless pragmatism our greatest asset, or would it be our downfall? The System had been silent since we entered the Gate, but I could still feel it there, humming beneath the surface of my consciousness.

I just needed to find a way to break through the interference.

An hour later, we set out along the path Monica indicated. The vegetation grew thicker, stranger, more alien with every step. Plants that defied description lined our way—flowers with teeth, vines that whispered, trees with bark like glass that showed their own pulsing sap within.

Monica led us, one hand always touching Copernicus, the other occasionally reaching out to brush against leaves or stems as we passed. The plants seemed to respond to her, bending slightly toward her touch, their colors intensifying briefly.

"They’re guiding us," she explained in a hushed voice. "Each one passes us to the next, like... like runners in a relay."

"And they’re sure this path will take us to the center?" I asked.

She nodded. "They say it’s an old maintenance route the Arborist created when he first built this place. He hasn’t used it in centuries, not since he learned to simply teleport wherever he wished to go."

"Great," Raphael muttered from behind us. "So he can just pop up anywhere, anytime?"

"Not anywhere," Monica corrected. "There are nodes, fixed points where the Garden’s energy converges. He can only appear at those."

"That’s something, at least," Juan said, scanning our surroundings with his datapad. "If we can identify those nodes, maybe we can avoid them."

"Or set traps at them," I added, the gears in my head turning. "Monica, can the plants tell us where these nodes are?"

She conferred silently with Copernicus for a moment, then nodded. "They can mark them for us. Apparently, when the Arborist is about to teleport to a node, the plants nearby feel a... pressure. A building energy."

"Early warning system," I grinned. "Perfect."

We continued for what felt like hours, though the twin moons barely moved in the sky, making it impossible to judge time accurately. The path twisted and turned, sometimes narrowing until we had to walk single file, other times opening into small clearings filled with increasingly bizarre plant life.

In one such clearing, we found what looked like a garden within the garden—a perfectly circular arrangement of black flowers with silver stems, each one as tall as a person. In the center stood a stone pedestal with a single object resting on top.

"What is that?" Jaime asked, pointing at the pedestal.

"Looks like a knife," Noah said, squinting.

"It’s bait," I replied, holding out an arm to stop anyone from approaching. "Another test."

Monica’s face took on that distant look she got when communing with plants. "The black flowers... they’re guardians. They protect that knife. The plants say it’s... important. Special."

"Special how?" I asked.

"It can hurt the Arborist," she said, her eyes widening. "It’s made from the heartwood of the First Tree, from before it was brought here. It’s one of the few things in this entire Garden that the Arborist didn’t create or modify."

"So we need that knife," I concluded, studying the circular arrangement. "But those flowers are definitely going to try to kill whoever goes for it."

"I’ll go," Raphael volunteered immediately. "I’m the fastest."

"No," Celeste interrupted, her voice firm. "Those flowers radiate cold. I can feel it from here. They’re ice-based, which means I’ll have the best chance against them."

I glanced at her, then at the flowers. She was right—now that she mentioned it, I could see a fine frost covering the ground around them.

"You’ll need backup," Noah said, already moving to Celeste’s side.

"No." I made a quick decision. "Celeste goes alone. The rest of us will be ready to jump in if things go south, but too many people will just trigger all the guardians at once."

Celeste nodded, her face set in determined lines. "I can do this."

"I know you can, Ice Princess." I gave her an encouraging nod. "Just be careful. Get in, grab the knife, get out. Don’t try to fight them if you don’t have to."

She took a deep breath, then stepped forward toward the circle of black flowers. As soon as her foot crossed an invisible boundary, all the flowers turned in unison to face her, their black petals opening to reveal glowing blue centers.

"Well," I muttered under my breath, "here we go."