This was a heart that was transparent like crystal. Every vein was clearly visible. It was almost as if it was actually alive
This “heart” was beating when Abel was looking at it. This scared him. He never thought that this heart was alive. What kind of animal’s heart was transparent? And how was it still beating after leaving the body?
Abel observed for a while. The heart was, indeed, alive. It was beating at a rate of once a minute.
This heart was probably Abel’s biggest discovery. That’s what he thought so, anyway.
After using his power of the will to scan it, he decided to throw it in the Horadric Cube. A text then popped up, stating that it was a dark gold item called the “immortal heart.”
“Immortal heart.” That was the only information provided by the Horadric Cube. It didn’t explain what it could, because that’s something Abel had to find out himself.
In the depth of Double Moon Forest, two hundred meters away from the neat rows of big trees, which were up to 100 meters in height, Black Wind stopped. Abel pointed with his slender fingers at the tall tree wall and asked Loraine, “Is this the Great Wall of the Elven Guardians?”
A smile emerged from Loraine’s face. Abel turned into an elf, one with sharp ears and a slender body. He looked a bit rougher in his human form (because of all the training he’s received), but his current appearance was more gentle and elegant.
Loraine held back a smile and said softly, “Yes, brother Abel, this is the Great Wall of the Elven Guardians. Beyond this wall is Angstrom city!”
“How did these elves do this?” Aber asked as he searched for the top end of the hundred-meter-high wall made of trees.
Loraine said as she looked in the same direction as Abel, “From what I’ve heard, there was a very, very bad war here. When the dark elves invaded Angstrom City, everyone was getting ready to fight for their lives.”
“That’s when the ancient treants appeared. You see, they had to do what the ancient oath told them, and that is to protect the elves that lived here. To keep the dark elves away, the ancient treants gave rise to the biggest tree in the entire Double Moon Forest. When the tree was awakened, it did not return to the Double Moon Forest. Instead, it stayed here and became that huge green wall over there.”
“Do the ancient treants still exist?” Abel asked curiously. Despite being a wizard for so long, he had never heard of a creature as powerful as the treants.
“No one knows. It’s said that if Angstrom city is being attacked again, these giant trees will wake up to protect Angstrom city!” Loraine looked back and said.
Aber tried to picture what a treant might look like. It’s a hundred-meter-high tree turned into a giant monster, which could attack their enemy by literally walking towards them. He wasn’t trying to be a skeptic of Loraine’s tales, but the way she portrayed the treants were kind of unbelievable.
Black Wind walked forward to the giant tree slowly. Abel could see the scars on that giant tree. Despite how many there were, the tree stood tall and firmly here for many, many years that it had.
Although it is said to be a tree wall, the distance between each tree was still very far. The widest place was enough for several large carriages to pass through. When passing through the tree wall, the leaves and branches above formed a natural green corridor.
Abel imagined how Angstrom city would look like. Some of the descriptors he came up with were gentle, elegant, solemn, or natural. When he had actually arrived, however, he could find no words to portray the beauty that he was witnessing.
This was a purple castle, with the wall over 100 meters wide that stretched far beyond one could see. Abel didn’t know what it was made of. He didn’t know how the huge purple boulders were cut into shape.
On top of the wall, dozens of sharp-tipped watchtowers were built evenly next to each other.
“It’s gorgeous!” Abel praised as he took a view at the dream-like city in front of him.
“Yeah, it is. They’re made of purple jadeite. It looks better when the day gets darker!” Loraine looked proudly at Angstrom city, then said, “This purple jadeite absorbs sunlight during the day, which it will then release at night. When it does, the whole city will be bathed in purple light!”
Abel found many tents under the walls of the Angstrom city. Hundreds of carriages were parked around the tents. Strangely enough, everyone coming in or out were all humans. It was a strange sight for Abel, so he had to ask.
“There are humans here, too?” Abel asked Loraine.
Loraine was just as puzzled as well, “They look like businessmen who belong to the, uh, I think it’s called the “Continental Union of Trade” or something. They can come here because the elves gave them special permission. I don’t know what they’re doing over there, though.”
As Black Wind approached the gate of Angstrom city, the surrounding elves have gradually increased in their number. Black Wind did look terrifyingly big, but that wasn’t the only reason they gathered up.
Apparently, it was quite normal for elves to look for lifelong partners when they reached adulthood. As a matter of fact, as long as they got on good terms, the range of options could be very diverse. Some have settled for spiritual beasts. Others have gone for wild beasts and birds.
However, not a lot of elves have seen a mount wolf before. First of all, mount wolves weren’t a natural species to the Double Moon Forest. They mainly lived in the cold prairie up north and were more recognized by the orcs than humans or elves. That being said, Black Wind shouldn’t be seen here at all. Even the worgens have a hard time taming mount wolves, so why was Black Wind here with some normal looking elves?
“Looks like we have to line up to go in. Follow me, Loraine,” Abel said as he started walking towards the entrance.
The gate to the city was just like back in the human world. There were two passages in total, one for ordinary elves, and one for nobles (AKA high elves). As it was impossible to discern Abel’s status as a human nobleman, he would just have to get in like a regular elven citizen. (actually, he could be a HUMAN prince and still be blocked from going in)
“No, not Loraine! She doesn’t have to wait in line!”
A sweet female voice came from over the distance. Abel was shocked to hear it. He was now a commander knight, and possibly much better than that. However, he was caught completely off-guard when he heard the woman calling out “Loraine.”
He turned around. It was a female elf. She was wearing a pure white lace dress with a silver-white headband on her long, black hair. Her eyes were clear crystal blue, just like Loraine. While she was calling out to both Abel and Loraine, her eyes were fixed onto Loraine the entire time.
Abel still couldn’t detect any animosity from this elf woman. That being said, something was telling him that she, whoever she was, was very dangerous. The golden combat qi inside him began to gather up. His fingers were moving very slightly. Any moment soon, and he would reach for his weapon inside his portal bag.
“Sister!” Loraine’s eyes filled with tears. She jumped off Black Wind and flew into the embrace of the female elf.
This female elf seemed to have the ability to hide amongst the other elves. She was like a ghost. For reasons Abel wasn’t sure of, Loraine seemed to be the only one who was aware of her presence.
After Loraine went to give her a hug, all the other elves suddenly noticed her existence. They all then began to give her a bow. Even the guards standing at the gate were saluting to her.
The gate was dead silent for a few seconds. For a while, it was just the sound of Loraine crying inside her sister’s embrace.
“Let’s go home, Loriane,” the female elf said. She then revealed out a card in her hand, which was wrapping everybody around in bright light. She was teleporting herself, Loraine, as well as Abel and Black Wind, to somewhere else.
Normally, Abel would feel dizzy when he was getting teleported. While he was able to neglect such an effect with his golden combat qi, he could tell that the elf was transporting him using a large defensive circle. It was kind of weird, actually. There were a lot of restrictions in using such a device. Besides, it could only take him to certain areas that were covered by the circle’s range. He didn’t think he was going to enter the elven city in such a manner.
Abel looked around his surroundings. He was being taken to a pavilion on top of a small island, which was located in the middle of an ocean. Because of how small the island was, all of its landmasses were used for the pavilion, which was built with beautiful white jade with various different engravings.
So this was the kind of luxurious life the elves lived. At the island’s edge, there was an arched bridge leading a large luxurious mansion. These were built with white jade, by the way. On either side of the bridge, there were gates built with elven wreaths. When Abel looked down, he could see that the water was so clear that even the water grass and the shiny-scaled fish were all visible to him.
The female elf said to Abel, “Please wait here for a bit. I will arrange for someone to prepare for your accommodations. Loraine is going with me.”