438: Chapter 424 Departure for the Elf Race

Zhang Mu had to obtain the tears of the tree of life, making a trip to the Elf Clan inevitable.

Before setting out, it was essential to understand the customs of the Elf Clan, and when it came to knowledge of the elves, no one in all of Lake was more outstanding than Avril.

After leaving the Command Post, Zhang Mu made his way all the way to the royal palace.

Avril had just finished processing a batch of documents and was stretching as she walked out of her bedroom door.

Seeing Zhang Mu standing in the middle of the courtyard, she wasn't surprised; she only felt her exhaustion seemingly fade away as she greeted him with a smile.

Zhang Mu, of course, wasn't so tactless as to start talking about work immediately; he returned the smile and chatted about their recent lives.

In truth, there wasn't much to talk about. One had been rushing about on the front lines for a long time, while the other spent all day cooped up in a bedroom working; their daily routines were unchanging.

However, they chatted quite enthusiastically, even though one described slaughter and bloodshed while the other spoke of the boredom of official duties.

Two hours later, having chatted to their hearts' content, Zhang Mu finally mentioned the purpose of his visit.

Avril blinked: "The Elf Clan? Haven't they already withdrawn their troops? Why did you suddenly think to ask about them, Junior?"

Zhang Mu had originally intended to be direct, but after a certain name flashed through his mind, even though he hadn't done anything wrong, he still subconsciously fabricated an excuse: "They withdrew this time, but they might come again in the future."

"Since I'm free right now, I thought I'd ask around, considering it preparation in advance for defending against the Elf Clan."

"I see." Avril didn't suspect anything and tilted her head to reminisce for a moment. "Do you still remember the ancient history of the continent I told you about, Junior?"

"I remember."

Back then, Zhang Mu had unexpectedly obtained a statue of god, and to investigate its origin, he had asked Avril about the continent's ancient history. During her explanation, she had briefly touched upon the elves.

The Elf Clan was once at the undisputed top of the Saul Continent's food chain, a supreme existence without natural enemies.

Later, humans relied on the statue of god to rise rapidly, gaining the confidence to challenge the Elf Clan in just a hundred years. Unwilling to yield their crown, the Elf Clan fought a desperate war with their entire race's strength but were defeated, retreating to their ancestral home, the Forest of Spirits.

Humans wanted to eliminate the future threat and surrounded the Forest of Spirits with heavy troops, but later a god descended a divine oracle to intervene. The humans withdrew their troops, and the elves were able to survive, continuing to this day.

Avril pulled Zhang Mu to sit on a stone bench in the corner of the courtyard: "Then let's start from after the human withdrawal."

“According to historical records, the Elf Clan became known for being peace-loving after that war, and no large scale groups of their kin ever left that forest again until they followed the divine oracle to crusade against Lake.

So humans are actually very unfamiliar with the Elf Clan, only knowing that they won't actively attack humans who approach the forest unless humans harm the elves first."

Zhang Mu held Avril's soft, white hand, gently kneading it: "The former overlord of the continent is peace-loving? That really is a rather absurd claim."

Avril chuckled a few times: "Anyway, that's how it's recorded in the books, and since no one has gone to the Forest of Spirits specifically to verify it, who knows if it's true or false."

“Maybe the 'peace-loving' high-ranking elves are holding a meeting right now, plotting how to take back the continent."

"Then they really don't hold the human empires in high regard." Zhang Mu smiled and then asked, "You just said elves won't actively attack humans who approach the forest. Does that mean they don't refuse humans entry into the forest?"

"Hmm—Teacher Potter told me that elves do indeed allow outsiders to enter the Forest of Spirits, but only the outer regions; the heart of the forest is still off-limits."

Zhang Mu raised an eyebrow: "Has any human ever forced their way into the heart?"

"Not that I've heard of."

"Then wouldn't humans be completely ignorant of what the Elf Clan is quietly doing at home?"

"Exactly."

Zhang Mu rubbed his chin and after a moment asked: "Does Senior know about the tears of the tree of life?"

"Eh?" Avril turned her head sideways and stared at him in confusion, "The tears of the tree of life? Where did you hear about that, Junior?"

"From the allied forces' side."

"Oh." She realized, then said, "The tears of the tree of life are water droplets that fall from the leaves of the Tree of Life. They are named so because the branches tremble and shake when they drop, as if the tree is weeping."

"And their effects? Is enhancing the consumer's self-healing ability the only one?"

"More than that. They can also increase the total amount of mana and refine mana to improve its quality. Besides those, there might be others, but they aren't things outsiders can investigate."

Zhang Mu frowned: "With such strong effects..."

"Although the Elf Clan's strength has recovered quite a bit through rest, they are certainly no match for humans. With such treasures in hand, has no one gone to snatch them?

Or are they hindered by the divine oracle and unable to act?"

Avril shook her head: "The divine oracle back then only said the elves must not be exterminated; it didn't say the Elf Clan's territory couldn't be plundered. If humans really wanted the tears, they could completely gather several Gods Blessing experts to take them by force."

“As for why they didn't do so, or rather, why they only did it once, the reason is simple: the tears are only effective for the Elf Clan. They are useless even if humans get them."

This explanation matched Geoffrey's experimental conclusions and incidentally explained why humans knew that "the tears were ineffective for humans"—because they had tried.

"When humans teamed up to snatch the tears, the commotion must have been quite large, right?" Zhang Mu asked curiously.

"Yes." Avril sighed somewhat emotionally as she looked at the setting sun on the horizon. "It's said that great war destroyed half the trees in the Forest of Spirits. Of the three Gods Blessing experts humans deployed, one died and two were heavily injured. The Elf Clan also suffered heavy losses, and the clan leader of that generation died in battle."

"Huh—Aren't Gods Blessing experts unable to take action casually?" Zhang Mu recalled Sadou's Aunt and asked in confusion.

"Gods Blessing experts indeed cannot take action casually, but an occasional once or twice is still fine."

"Where did you learn that?"

"Teacher Potter told me."

“Moreover, 'not being able to take action casually' refers to power at the Gods Blessing level. If it's just casting Saint-level magic, there are no restrictions."

"What would happen if they used it frequently?"

Avril scrunched up her face: "Teacher Potter... seemed to have mentioned it..."

"Did you forget?"

"I really can't remember clearly."

"Are you kidding? You're a Magister!" Zhang Mu looked astonished.

Not to mention that Avril was a Magister, even the Mental Energy of an Apprentice Magician would make it impossible to forget certain memories.

Reminded by Zhang Mu, Avril also noticed the anomaly and instantly sat up straight: "You're right. It's only been twenty-odd years; how could I possibly forget what Teacher Potter said?"

She tried hard to remember, searching every corner of her mind, yet she still only remembered that Potter had mentioned it, while the specific content left no impression at all.

"What's going on?" Avril's mind was disturbed by the sense of incongruity in her heart, and her expression became frustrated, even irritable.

"Don't think about it anymore." Zhang Mu suddenly pressed her shoulders, and ignoring the frost spreading from the back of his hand to his shoulder, he pulled her soft body into his arms.

Avril instinctively returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around Zhang Mu's back, only waking up when a thin layer of ice covered Zhang Mu's entire body, and she hurriedly backed away.

The crystal-clear layer of ice lost its mana support and, without needing a surge of mana to shatter it, melted in just a few seconds.

Zhang Mu looked at the now-calm Avril: "It's a Gods Blessing, or the power of a god at work."

She didn't reply immediately, first using mana to dry Zhang Mu's soaked clothes, then nodding: "It should be. It might also be related to..."

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Zhang Mu interrupted her, his eyes revealing worry. "Don't handle any official business today; go get some rest."

Avril didn't refuse his suggestion. The two of them went back to the bedroom together; she crawled into bed and closed her eyes, while Zhang Mu sat by the bed to keep her company.

After a long time, she seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, and Zhang Mu stood up, preparing to leave.

"Junior." As he reached the door, Avril's soft call suddenly came from behind him.

Zhang Mu paused his steps and turned around: "What is it?"

"You're going to the Elf Clan, aren't you?"

"I figured I couldn't hide it from you."

Avril slid a bit further into the covers, the thin quilt covering her lips, leaving only her high nose bridge and ice-blue eyes exposed. Those clear eyes looked at Zhang Mu and blinked.

"Junior must have his own reasons for keeping it from me. I thought so, so I originally didn't want to expose it..."

"Why did you change your mind?"

"Hmm—" Avril's cheeks flushed slightly, and after a few seconds of pondering, "Because if I didn't expose it, I wouldn't be able to say to you, 'Be careful on your way, Junior.'"

Zhang Mu's hands, hidden behind his back, clenched.

Avril, whether she noticed or not, continued to slide into the quilt until only her eyes and crystalline earlobes were outside, saying to herself: "Well, since it's already out in the open, Junior, be careful on your way."

"I will."

After saying that, Zhang Mu left directly, not daring to hesitate for a moment. He was afraid that if he hesitated for one more second, he would want to stay or take her with him.

But that was clearly impossible.

The current King of Lake was practicing in the inheritance Magic Tower all day, striving for an early breakthrough to the Saint level, so all the Kingdom's affairs were handled by Avril alone.

It wasn't that there were no people capable of replacing Avril, but Zhang Mu didn't feel comfortable letting outsiders handle many military secrets. As for the criteria for evaluating an outsider, Zhang Mu felt that those around him he could call "his own people" could be counted on one hand.

These few people all bore important responsibilities and could not be reassigned to relieve Avril's pressure.

Moreover, even if they could be reassigned, Zhang Mu would not take Avril with him.

The trip to the Elf Clan would inevitably be accompanied by danger, life-threatening danger. Zhang Mu had the resurrection from his panel and was not afraid, but Avril did not. Although resurrection had serious side effects, even a fool understood that losing a bit of memory in exchange for a life was a massive gain.

Walking out of the bedroom, Zhang Mu flew high into the air, heading straight for Gur City.

The duration of this trip was unknown, but it was predictably long, though only for the first time—after Zhang Mu arrived at the Forest of Spirits, he would set up a "The World" light gate nearby, making it much faster to go there in the future.

As he wouldn't be within Lake's borders for a long time, Zhang Mu intended to eliminate any threats before leaving.

Among the surrounding countries, only Kingdom could threaten Lake.

In the dead of night, Zhang Mu crossed over Gur City, and a few minutes later, he hovered outside the Silent Forest, gazing into the distance with narrowed eyes.

A year had passed since his last investigation, and in that time, the illusory nature of the Silent Forest had increased significantly; even the naked eye of an ordinary person could clearly see that the forest was gradually becoming transparent.

Zhang Mu scanned the surroundings and saw the garrison dispatched by Domit, stationed on the plain ten kilometers away from Gur City.

"Not quite enough." He muttered to himself and contacted Domit to send an additional legion.

Hanging up the communication, Zhang Mu turned back to gaze at the Silent Forest.

"When the forest completely disappears, I'll flatten you, so you stop being like a fly, buzzing in my ear all day."

With a cold snort, he looked left and right to identify the direction, then flew toward the elves' homeland, the Forest of Spirits.