Ren left plenty of space and time for Olvia and Robin, then set off toward the Tree of Knowledge with Iris and Jasmine.
This wasn't his first visit to the island, but no matter how many times he saw it, the sheer scale of the Tree of Knowledge never failed to impress.
The great tree's canopy shaded nearly three-fifths of the entire island, and many of the island's rocky hills were thinner than its trunk.
The Tree of Knowledge wasn't just ancient — the species of tree itself had to be extraordinary. It would be a shame if it were destroyed here. Ren had originally planned to use a Moon Tree to support the Sanctuary of Surasthana, but now it seemed the Tree of Knowledge was far more suitable.
No — if it was specifically for storing books, it would be more fitting to call it the Palace of Wisdom.
With these thoughts in mind, the three of them continued walking toward the tree's massive trunk.
Ohara had quite a few commoners alongside the scholars — in fact, commoners were the majority. The scholars of the Tree of Knowledge were among the most respected people on the island.
Ohara's architecture was rather interesting too — the buildings looked like round towers, mostly three stories tall. Three people dressed as strangely as Ren's group, walking openly through town, should have attracted plenty of stares.
But in reality, every passerby seemed unable to see them at all, walking straight past without a glance.
That was because Jasmine was using her ability to create illusions of nonexistence, concealing their presence.
At a time like this, Ren didn't want any trouble. If the World Government's agents later got information from the civilians, that would only cause more headaches.
He had told Olvia and Saul that the Marines would need a few days before making any move. But the actual situation wasn't quite like that.
At this moment, dozens of warships were already anchored at a distance in the waters around Ohara, awaiting orders. Among them were the fleets led by Vice Admirals Kuzan and Sakazuki. The only reason they hadn't acted yet was that they were waiting for the World Government's agents to arrive.
Once those agents finished their investigation and confirmed the truth of the matter, they would move. There was even a possibility they would invoke the Buster Call!
In fact, Sengoku had already issued the Golden Den Den Mushi. It was apparently in the hands of a man named Spandine.
Before long, the three of them arrived at the Tree of Knowledge.
The Tree of Knowledge was the scholars' domain, but it also functioned as a massive library. Islanders would sometimes pay to borrow books.
However, due to the tense situation lately, Dr. Clover had suspended civilian lending, and the Tree of Knowledge had been closed to the public.
But that wasn't enough to stop Ren and his group.
When they appeared inside the Tree of Knowledge, Dr. Clover and the others didn't even have time to react.
"So this is the inside of the Tree of Knowledge? There are so many books!" Jasmine craned her neck, her gaze sweeping in a full circle, instantly awestruck.
The towering walls stretched hundreds of meters high, and every inch was packed densely with books!
And there wasn't a single trivial volume among them — these were all important works capable of advancing the world's knowledge. Though Ren couldn't quite understand how, with so many books driving human scientific progress, this world's technology still wasn't all that impressive…
Don't ask. The answer is just "it's the setting."
"One person probably couldn't read through all these books in a lifetime," Jasmine said, clutching her head. Just seeing the sheer quantity gave her a headache.
"Of course! This is five thousand years' worth of knowledge gathered from every corner of the world! Let alone reading them all — just cataloging every single book would take a person years!" Dr. Clover answered honestly, then turned to Ren and said respectfully:
"General, we are ready to depart."
Over the past few days, Ren had planted the Great Serpent Mark on all these scholars.
And by "ready," Dr. Clover meant they had finished sorting the books they would take with them.
When Ren had previously visited Ohara, he'd taken back a batch of copied books, but the number hadn't been very large. There were simply too many books here, and since he wasn't a real scholar, he couldn't tell which ones were truly precious.
Now, Dr. Clover and the others had spent the last few days organizing large quantities of useful books, valuable research manuscripts, and data, preparing to transfer them into the space behind the Door-Door Fruit.
What remained were either books whose contents had been fully researched or volumes that had lost their value.
"Mm. Now we just wait for the World Government's people to arrive." Ren casually opened a door, and the books under the influence of his ability began flying into it of their own accord.
In an instant, the interior of the Tree of Knowledge became eerily empty.
"Leave the rest to you, Jasmine."
Jasmine nodded and raised her right hand.
The power of her illusions took effect at once. On the empty shelves, books gradually reappeared, as if they had never vanished at all.
Dr. Clover was utterly amazed and reached out to touch one of the illusory books.
To his surprise, his fingertips actually felt the texture of a real book, instead of passing through it like a hollow projection.
"This is… a physical object?" "No, it's an illusion," Jasmine explained. "This illusion is tricking all your senses. Also, the pages inside these books are blank."
Hearing this, Dr. Clover immediately flipped open the book. Sure enough, every page was blank paper.
That made sense, of course. The illusions created by the Illusion-Illusion Fruit depended on Jasmine's own imagination. Her little brain couldn't hold that much knowledge!
"If I create illusions based on actual photographs of the books, then the content inside can be perfectly replicated," Jasmine explained.
Just as illusions summoned from photographs carried the memories and thoughts of the real person, books recreated from photographs would have their contents perfectly copied. But illusions conjured purely from her imagination couldn't achieve that effect.
The advantage, however, was that these illusions could persist for several days without fading.
"I see."
With the books sorted, Ren sent Dr. Clover and the others to the Plane of Euthymia. As for what happened here, it no longer concerned them.
All that remained was to wait for Robin and Olvia to finish their talk, then send them over too. After watching them leave, Jasmine continued using her ability, conjuring illusions of the scholars.
As for the civilians on Ohara Island, Ren had no intention of meddling.
It was a bit heartless, perhaps. But he was no saint here to save all living things.
[
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