CA - Chapter 158
Chapter 158
The simplest way for the Elf Race to reproduce is to take the blood essence of two elves, fuse it with an Elf Fruit, and then place it in the stream where the Tree of Life resides.
The Elf Fruit will draw nutrients from the Tree of Life and grow slowly until the little elf develops self-awareness and severs its connection to the Tree of Life on its own.
Elf reproduction is unaffected by the gender of the parents or other external factors. After the blood essence and the Elf Fruit are fused, whether a new elf can be successfully nurtured depends on the state of the Tree of Life.
Extracting blood essence requires one to be in peak condition. Because this involved the next Elf Queen, Patricia was extremely careful and cautious, even intentionally extending the time she took to prepare herself.
Although procreation was of the utmost importance, there was no rush. Delphine knew Patricia had her concerns, so she didn't pressure her, allowing her to adjust at her own pace.
But she never expected that this delay of a few days would lead Patricia to discover the "secret" of the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life's growth period was long and fraught with difficulties; the slightest influence of darkness could cause it to wither. Aside from nourishing it with her own life force, Delphine had no other solution.
After all... every Elf Queen in history had done the same.
Crimson blood trickled down her wrist. The droplets dispersed in the water before slowly coalescing into a thin thread, connecting to the Tree of Life from all directions like a spider's web.
Delphine could feel her life force draining away, bit by bit.
A cold wind suddenly blew from behind her. Delphine's thoughts were sluggish due to the loss of life force. She sensed something and was about to pull her hand back, but she was a step too late.
An icy hand gripped her arm, pulling her away from the Tree of Life's range. Delphine stumbled back a few steps with the force, landing right in Patricia's arms. The soft touch stunned her for a moment, and her dull thoughts gradually cleared.
"...What are you doing?" Patricia pulled Delphine's arm over, her voice rising in shock as she looked down at the blood on her wrist.
A flash of green light healed the wound on her wrist, but her fair skin was still stained with blood. Delphine tried to push Patricia away, but the loss of life force had left her body exhausted, and she couldn't easily break free.
"Let go of me first," Delphine said softly, licking her dry lips.
Her face was unusually pale, and her eyes had lost some of their luster. Patricia's brows furrowed tightly. She silently took out a bottle of Holy Water of Light and handed it to Delphine.
"I'm fine. I'll be better after a few days of rest." Delphine took the Holy Water of Light but didn't drink it. She felt Patricia was being overly worried and offered a reassuring smile. "You don't need to be so tense. I know my limits."
"Limits?" A flash of anger crossed Patricia's face. When she saw that Delphine wasn't even drinking the Holy Water of Light, her fury ignited. Her mask of indifference shattered, and her lips pressed into a thin line. Without a word, she grabbed Delphine and dragged her back to the treehouse.
The door was slammed shut. Delphine raised a hand to rub her bruised arm. Just as she was about to scold Patricia for her roughness, she was suddenly pressed against the wooden door. Drained both physically and mentally, Delphine didn't want to waste energy struggling, so she simply frowned and stared at the person before her.
Patricia opened a bottle of Holy Water of Light and brought it to Delphine's lips.
The hard glass rim touched her lips, and her chin was tilted up. The Holy Water of Light dampened her lips. Delphine froze for a second, passively opening her mouth to swallow the liquid.
As if by a tacit understanding between the two, some of the holy water she couldn't swallow in time trickled down from the corner of her mouth, soaking the hair that fell over Delphine's chest and leaving several trails of water on her fair skin.
This was probably the only elf in the entire race who dared to force-feed her Holy Water of Light so aggressively. As Delphine's weary spirit slowly recovered, she subconsciously raised a hand to Patricia's back. To her surprise, she felt a sense of pressure and faint aggression from the person before her.
The feeling was unfamiliar.
Even when they had been adversaries, Delphine had always seen Patricia as the clingy yet brilliant little dark elf from her youth.
But now... she could directly sense that the other was a grown elf, and a very dangerous one at that.
Five or six empty bottles had already piled up by her feet. Seeing that Delphine's condition had improved, Patricia slowly stopped. As her reason returned, her fingers tightened around the glass bottle. She let go of Delphine, her gaze involuntarily falling on her rosy lips.
Half the Holy Water of Light had been drunk, the other half spilled. Delphine leaned against the door, raising a hand to wipe the corner of her mouth. Her clothes, soaked with the holy water, clung to her body, rising and falling with her breath. The dampness was uncomfortable. Her hand moved downward, her fingertips sliding from her chin to her chest to evaporate the residual water element.
Her movements were natural, yet unexpectedly alluring.
Patricia's gaze followed Delphine's fingers downward. After a quick glance, she forced her eyes away. She swallowed and asked in a low, hoarse voice, "...Why are you expending your own life force?"
Standing before her was a dangerous, adult elf. She could no longer treat Patricia with her old attitude. Delphine frowned, pulling back the hand that had been about to pat Patricia's head. She pushed the other elf away, and once the feeling of pressure lessened, she said softly, "This is my duty."
"Duty?"
"It is the duty of the Elf Queen to ensure the healthy growth of the Tree of Life."
Patricia retorted, "What are you talking about... To the Elf Race, you are the most important..."
"The Elf Queen is important," Delphine interrupted, speaking with earnest gravity. "Not me."
"This Tree of Life was nurtured to maturity by three generations of Elf Queens using their life force." Delphine stared into Patricia's eyes, enunciating each word. "I cannot let it wither on my watch."
Over a thousand years ago, after joining forces with the Werewolf Race to severely wound the traitors in the Holy See, the Elf Race suffered heavy losses and completely lost the strength to reclaim the Tree of Life from the Church.
By that time, the light on the Statu Continent was no longer pure. The young Tree of Life in their territory grew slowly. For the sake of their people's propagation, the Elf Queen of that era decided to use her own life force to nurture its growth.
This practice continued down to Delphine's generation. Before her, three Elf Queens had already chosen to abdicate due to excessive depletion of their life force.
Elf Queens had long lifespans; abdicating after only a few hundred years was, in fact, a very strange occurrence.
The older elves in the clan were not unaware of this strange phenomenon, but there was nothing they could do. Exposing it would only cause panic among their people.
Although Patricia was powerful, she was still too young and didn't know much about the clan's internal affairs. Hearing Delphine's words, she couldn't quite process it at first. But once she did, her expression instantly turned grave.
"You want to have a child so that..."
Patricia stopped mid-sentence. A bitter taste spread through her heart. Being chosen as the guardian had made Patricia happy, though she had appeared calm on the surface. She believed her identity had been acknowledged by the Elf Race.
She liked Delphine, had liked her since she was little. Unlike the simple affection others had for Delphine, Patricia wanted to hold a special place in her heart.
Being chosen as the guardian, Patricia thought she was one step closer to her dream.
But she never expected reality to deal her such a heavy blow, plunging her directly into a dark abyss.
If Delphine sacrificed herself for the Tree of Life, what meaning would the Elf Race hold for her without Delphine in it?
As if sensing Patricia's thoughts, Delphine suddenly spoke, her tone serious. "You must raise the next Elf Queen, Patricia."
"I believe in you." Delphine raised a hand and gently touched Patricia's face, her voice softening. "If darkness ultimately shrouds the Statu Continent, the Elf Race may have to rely on the Dark Elves to continue."
"I have never felt that the Dark Elves were not my people."
"You are also an important part of the Elf Race."
She knew what Patricia cared about most. She thought that giving her affirmation would put her at ease and lessen her panic about the Elf Queen nourishing the Tree of Life. But after she finished speaking, she waited for a while without a response from Patricia. Delphine frowned, her fingers moving down to cup Patricia's chin and lift it, wanting to see her expression.
With a sharp slap, her hand was knocked away. Patricia's face was grim as she said coldly, "I refuse."
Delphine stared at her, stunned. "What?"
Patricia pulled her away, opened the door, and strode off without looking back.
By the time Delphine chased after her, Patricia was already gone. An elf approached and said cautiously, "...It seems she has left the territory."
She pointed in the direction Patricia had gone and asked, "Should we pursue?"
Delphine frowned and remained silent for a moment before sighing. "No need."
She had thought she understood Patricia well, but she never expected her to be so "rebellious." Truly not a proper elf.
Delphine raised a hand to her lips. The memory of being force-fed the Holy Water of Light surfaced, her expression turning quite complicated.
On the border of the Shas Principality, heavy clouds and mist obscured the sky, so somber it seemed a storm was about to break. A monument of bone piled high from skulls was inscribed with two blood-red characters: "Witch City."
The thick stench of blood permeated the air. Withered trees were covered with flocks of black crows, a dense and repulsive sight.
Skeletons in straw raincoats flickered in and out of the mist, their eye sockets glowing with green light.
Tang Qiu, who had rushed from the Gosse Empire to Witch City overnight, stood at the border of the Shas Principality, using a hillside for cover as she surveyed the terrain.
There were too many "eyes" at the entrance to Witch City. It wouldn't be easy to slip in unnoticed.
Besides, she wasn't even sure if Erin was in Witch City.
Coming down from the hillside, Tang Qiu tightened her cloak, planning to find a place to stay first before deciding on her next move.
The Shas Principality had abandoned the border adjacent to Witch City. The area was deserted, with only skeletal corpses piled carelessly by the roadside. The surrounding land was barren, devoid of any signs of life.
Finding a place to stay here wouldn't be easy. Tang Qiu searched for a long time. She didn't find a place to stay, but she did run into a group of "acquaintances."
The proprietress of the grocery store, the strange skeleton who had once helped her rescue Erin, and the silver-haired fourth-generation vampire... a group of more than ten people were walking toward her.
Although she had already guessed that the "villagers" of Masuri Town were connected to Mark's Grocery Store, seeing them in person still felt strange. She stopped in her tracks, a faint smile playing on her lips as she watched them.
Rona was the first to spot Tang Qiu. She raised a hand to stop her companions and stared at Tang Qiu for a moment before suddenly smiling. "What a coincidence."
Tang Qiu smiled and nodded. "Indeed, it is."
Rona gave a dry cough, trying to cover up their identities. "We received a distress signal from Erin."
"You're here to rescue Erin?" Tang Qiu feigned surprise. "Such a coincidence, me too."
Rona was speechless.
It was so fake that she couldn't get her next words out.
Seeing Rona's exasperation, a tall, thin man standing next to the silver-haired vampire, who was wrapped up tightly, sized up Tang Qiu and asked curiously, "Who is she?"
The silver-haired vampire ran a hand through his hair and said nonchalantly, "The Bishop of the Gosse Church."
The man was startled. "Someone from the Church?"
He wrapped himself even more tightly and hissed at Thor, "Why did you call me over if someone from the Church is here?"
The two of them spoke quietly, but Tang Qiu's hearing was sharp. The moment she heard the word "Church," she looked over. The tall, thin man's face was unfamiliar; she had never seen him before.
But...
Tang Qiu sized up the man, her sky-blue eyes narrowing slightly. Although the man tried his best to hide it, she could still sense an aura of light from him.
A not-so-weak aura of light.
Interesting... A beautiful curve formed on Tang Qiu's lips. Seeing the man avoid her gaze, she smiled at Rona and said, "Could you introduce me?"
Rona glanced over, her expression a bit odd. Just as she was about to speak, the man stopped her. He cleared his throat and said calmly, "My name is Abel, a wanderer who is fond of light magic."
A wanderer who is fond of light magic... Tang Qiu nodded slowly and smiled amicably. "I've also studied light magic. Perhaps we can discuss it sometime."
Abel gave a few dry laughs. "Alright."
Tang Qiu gave Abel one last look before retracting her gaze. Mark's Grocery Store was full of surprises; to think she would run into someone from the Church here.
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