BXBX NOVEL Chapter 85: Chapter 85:The Elven Forest [2]
Whatever the case, I doubted Ruby would reveal that she and I were part of an evil organization.
After everyone had exited their respective carriages, Alya stepped away from her group and headed into the forest.
A few minutes later, Alya emerged from the forest with two Elves on her right and left, each holding a spear alongside a bow.
Elves were known for their bowmanship and affinity to spirits, so as a fellow bow user, I was curious to see how the normal Elves used the bow.
The elf on Alya's right glanced at us briefly, showing a disgusted expression, before sharply saying.
"Follow me."
Even if humans and elves were technically in cooperation, our relationship was still prickly. Elves tended to look down on everyone, believing they were the superior race, so their attitude was terrible.
In other words, they were just a bunch of people with superiority complexes.
This was also the first time humans had entered the Elven forest in over a hundred years, so most Elves only knew about humans from rumors.
Of course, those rumors weren't saying good things about humans, as the ones creating them had superiority complexes!
Walking with Han and Jin, we looked around in awe as our group entered the forest.
The trees were so tall that the sunlight was mostly blocked, but that poor lighting added to the forest's mystery, making it seem almost mythical.
Taking my gaze off the forest and turning to my side, I activated my system menu out of curiosity.
===Menu===
User : Ren Montclair
[Class: Proficient Assassin: (Level 3: 7%) ]
-> Stealth : C
-> Moderate Dagger Mastery : 11%
-> Arts: Eclipse Blade [3/5]
[Stats]
-> Rating : D+ {Dream not yet completed}
-> Strength : E+
-> Agility : D+
-> Stamina : D-
-> Magic Power : D+
-> Luck: G-S {Conditional}
-> Intelligence : E
-> Charm : F-
[Traits]
-> Passive: Dragon's Will [2 / ?]
---> Dragon Eyes : Your eyesight is enhanced.
---> Dragon's Transformation : You are able to harness a physical part of a dragon.
[Skills]
-> [[E] Dash] : Not requiring any mana usage, the skill allows the user to move 10 meters from their current location in any direction with a cooldown period of 7 seconds. The skill does not instantly move the user but temporarily increases the user's speed until they move 10 meters.
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Even with the duel from earlier, my dagger mastery hadn't increased a bit...my progress was plateauing.
I'm going to have to enter that dream sooner or later...
At this point, saying I wasn't prepared anymore wasn't an excuse. With my recent upgrade in Dragon's Will, I was more than prepared.
...but, how could I not be scared..?
In my last dream, I faced off against an S-rank creature, and that was only my D-rankup dream!
What the hell would I have to fight in my C-rankup a dream? A god, a demon, or a whole hoard of S-rank creatures?
Sighing, I looked upwards, seeing the Elven guards ahead stop abruptly before turning to each other.
Peering past the guards and further into the forest, I found the cause as a stack of branches blocked our path head.
Clearly, the stack of branches was not naturally made, so it was obvious that some other Elves had set it up to annoy us and halt our progress.
Were we really that hated by the Elves?
To be honest, I wasn't even mad at the part, though.
I was more mad that those Elves had actually thought that a stack of branches could stop us from advancing!
Did they really think we were so weak that a simple stack of logs could stop us..?
Sighing, I watched as Liam effortlessly cleared the stack of logs with one sword strike before turning to the Elven guards.
The rest of the trek to the forest's center went without a hitch, as before long, I could spot the path open up to a gigantic clearing.
The two guards standing in front of the expression glanced at our group before reluctantly stepping aside with indifferent expressions.
However, when they glanced at Alya, their expressions wholly transformed as they bowed their heads, admiration apparent on their faces.
As our group of students entered the clearing, I felt like some sort of museum exhibit, as more than a hundred eyes pierced through me, watching my every movement.
Thankfully, that ended quickly as Alya emerged from our group and quickly captured the elves' attention.
As Alya headed to the palace on the opposite side of the clearing, our group stood still, admiring the view.
The clearing was about as big as the academy's island, except there were no flashing buildings, streets, or even decorations.
Everything was so simplistic... almost all of the huts and houses resembled each other, except for a couple of small differences that could only be spotted by my eyes.
Instead of streets, there were paths carved out in the ground that connected the entire clearing, and there were no walls, so you could see everything in the clearing from any spot.
Turning my head, I finally rested my eyes on the main attraction of the elven realm.
The famed World Tree.
With a long and wide wooden trunk, the tree actually stretched up to the sky, its branches and leaves completely blocking the sunlight.
However, that didn't mean it was dark in the clearing; in fact, it was the opposite as the tree branches lit up gold, illuminating the entire clearing.
Despite the clearing being as big as the huge island of the academy, the world tree somehow lit up the entire place, leaving no dark spots.
...it was actually doing a better job than the sun!
Retracting my gaze from the world tree, I stared across the clearing at the elegant pure-white palace that stood out amongst the simplistic houses.
With a large fountain in front of it, the palace almost resembled the White House from Earth, as they were both completely white and gigantic.
Seeing Alya exit the palace, I felt somewhat jealous that I would not be able to see its beautiful interior.
Well... I'll get my chance later.
Leading us to a row of huts, our group of students split into our carriage groups from earlier and stood in front of a hut.
Entering the hut, I was surprised to notice that the hut was double the size of my dorm room despite its seemingly small outward appearance.
It had two floors, each decorated with two beds and a wooden desk, and instead of a roof, there was just a circular window on top.
Since there was no light in the Elven Realm, the roof had to be a window so the light of the World Tree could shine through, illuminating the hut.
Taking a bed on the second floor, I laid on one of the beds, looking up and staring at the branches of the World Tree through the window.
Raising one of my hands, I stretched it upwards as far as possible while staring at one particular gold branch.
This wasn't a tree.
It was all a spirit.
The entire World Tree was just a powerful spirit that, despite having been alive for thousands of years, worked around the clock to keep the Elven realm safe.
This secret was only known by three people in the entire world.
Lily, the current Elven queen, and I.
There was also another secret known by the three of us.
The spirit was slowly dying and fading away into nothingness.
Recalling the spirit's description in the book, I felt a pang of jealousy once again as I realized I wouldn't be able to meet her.
How cool would it be to meet a thousand-year-old spirit!?
Opening the window next to my bed, I let the cat out of my hood and carefully placed it on the windowsill before getting up.
Peeking down to the first floor of the hut, I saw both Jin and Han slumped down on their beds while the travel club president had already left.
Leaving the hut, I walked towards the education area of the clearing in search of an archery range.
Ignoring the spiteful gazes of some Elves, I finally found an archery range, but I was immediately stopped before I could near the area.
In front of me stood two elves, who seemed to be around the same age as me despite being much shorter than me.
"Need something?"
Shaking their heads, the elf on my right said.
" *tsk* The food hall is over there."
...really?
Trying my best to keep a civil smile on my face, I replied.
"Oh, don't worry, I know exactly where I'm going."
Stepping out of my way, the two elves smirked before saying in unison.
"If you say so."
Confused, I stepped past them and continued towards the archery range.
Why had they let me through so easily?
I had expected a full-on confrontation! I mean, I had already manifested my corrupted daggers in my jacket pocket!