"I apologize for not being able to greet you earlier. My na is Sylvanos. I was in seclusion when you arrived in the city. Please forgive my lack of courtesy," the man said, his voice as gentle as a cool spring breeze. Despite being the leader of his race, he bowed respectfully to Darian.
Darian quickly returned the greeting. "Senior, I apologize for interrupting your seclusion with such a sudden visit."
The race leader radiated an aura that seed perfectly in tune with nature itself. Darian sensed a sharp, keen capability within him.
His cultivation was only at the eighth level of the Heaven Saint Realm. Even so, he possessed the mindset and ability to surpass even the Vice-Master of the Violet Sky Clan in a direct fight.
"You are very polite. The Wood Spirit Race is the protector of all those who have received the inheritance of the Roc God. We may appear weak, but we have many secret weapons left behind by the Divinity; we have the ability to protect you. Whatever your request may be, we will do our best to help you," the race leader replied sincerely.
Darian turned serious. Behind him, Saelil and Maeyu also widened their eyes.
The leader of the race they had always judged as diocre had just stated sothing shocking, sothing even their own clan did not know. If that were true…
…were they really what they had always claid to be?
That race never hid the fact that it held so kind of inheritance from the God Roc, always claiming to be the ones who received an important task from that deity. Everyone constantly mocked them, and they never talked back or showed any real strength.
Taking a deep breath, the two of them rembered Darian. From that mont on, they carved it into their minds that they would never again doubt or look down on anything.
"You only have one day. Co, please, prepare for the welco ceremony!" the race leader declared. As he clapped his hands, countless young n and won erged from deep within the dicinal fields, singing.
They held hands and danced gracefully, their eyes shining like stars. Their warm gazes seed to radiate trust and openness, making it easy for anyone to lower their guard and fully surrender to the enchanting atmosphere.
Ailik smiled and ran forward excitedly. She felt at ho and understood that ritual; it was a dance-and-song celebration, sothing her tribe also did during festivities.
Herta wore an innocent smile. She quickly grabbed Saelil's and Maeyu's hands, who looked shy, and dragged them into the middle to dance.
Ral sighed, but he wasn't spared either. A young girl from the race approached him, and since he had never had much contact with won in his life, he couldn't bring himself to refuse.
Darian and Niara were the only ones left. The race leader called them over to stay in a corner, beneath an enormous tree near the celebration.
They sat at the base of the tree, side by side. Niara held his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. The two of them stayed there, alone, simply listening and quietly watching everything.
The cheerful rhythm, the sweet singing, and the pure smiles were enough to make anyone completely forget the problems of the world.
Ailik looked radiant and quickly grasped the rhythm of the dance, synchronizing with everyone with ease. anwhile, Ral's clumsiness and Saelil's and Maeyu's shyness were amusing to watch. Little by little, the four of them seed to fall into a strange frenzy, all their thoughts fading away.
Darian and Niara felt an energy unlike anything they had ever experienced flowing through that mountain. The surroundings felt different now, and greenish particles of light, like fireflies, enveloped them. Bathed in that light, they felt incredibly relaxed.
At that mont, all they could feel was the beauty of that world. There, they needed no guard or vigilance; they could completely let go.
A few seconds later, Darian's eyes changed in surprise.
He felt the core of Gaia, the core of Chaos, and his rings recovering rapidly within his body. Darian turned to Niara, who nodded, also noticing her own cores recovering.
Even after Darian had recovered from the damage of that great battle in his universe, his cores and rings had been strange in this universe; after five years, they had barely reached a third of their energy. Now, he felt that they would finally recover completely. Unfortunately, if he had to go all out, he would likely beco very weak again.
After a few hours, the race leader, Sylvanos, sent a ntal ssage to the couple.
'This is one of our secrets. In this mountain, I buried an inheritance of the Roc God that resonates with our Bloodline and allows the environntal energy to change and better adapt to any living being. I hope this can help you fight, Sir.'
Darian nodded. At that mont, he made a gesture, and three figures erged from his inventory.
Eleri, Awel, and Tir had also struggled to recover. They had woken up, but their strength barely returned. Now, however, they were energized and felt everything coming back.
"Party, party!" Eleri laughed excitedly and ran off.
Awel sighed and took light steps forward. She couldn't stay and get in the way when Niara was with Darian.
Tir also moved right after, even though his fluctuations were quite strange.
"Hehe… that kid really grew up," Niara murmured, with a faint smile.
Darian had noticed sothing off about Tir for a while, and now Niara's words left him confused. Then, finally, he saw the reason…
Tir's eyes just couldn't pull away from Ailik, who was dancing happily in the middle of the celebration.
Darian's eyes widened.
"Silly, you only figured it out now?" Niara teased softly. "They spent five years talking right next to you and all. Well… that's just how you are."
Darian nodded. Technically, Ailik was also a Heavenly Elental Spirit, but that race had gone through a mutation and changed a bit in this universe.
The Heavenly Elental Spirits he knew usually felt no attraction toward the opposite gender and couldn't even have children. The Nether Spirits, on the other hand, had developed a thod called the Nether body, which made that possible.
"Think we're getting a nephew or a niece?" Niara murmured softly, thinking about what they had left behind on Earth.
Darian sighed. He wished he could have seen that child's birth. Because of everything, he had missed one of the most important monts in his brother's life. All he could do was regret it, but what mattered most was that they were safe.
His life was full of trouble and sacrifices. That was one of the reasons he didn't want to have children so early. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he couldn't be by Niara's side at that mont. More than anyone else, he knew what it was like to grow up without a father.
Darian didn't like thinking too much about it, but he knew that fact still affected him to this day. He never really knew how to deal with or build friendships with n. The few male friendships he had ca about by chance, in very specific situations.
But he understood well how to befriend won. He had a mother who taught him how to treat them. Just looking around, it wasn't strange at all for him to have more won he trusted close to him than n.
At that mont, Tir moved toward the center of the dance. Ailik saw him and ran over, grabbing his hands and smiling brightly.
Tir looked completely frozen, which made Niara let out a sweet laugh.
Ailik seed to like him too, but the two of them were still very innocent. Luckily, Tir had a good sister who had already noticed everything. Awel would carefully help push the two of them toward each other a bit faster.
The hours passed peacefully until Darian and Niara felt completely filled with power.
In that calm mont, Sylvanos finally appeared, approaching them.
"Sorry, but I need to interrupt you. It's almost ti."
"Oh, right!"
Darian and Niara stood up quickly. They had been so calm and relaxed that the one-day deadline was almost over.
"Senior, would you like to co?" Darian asked, looking at the race leader.
Sylvanos hesitated. "It's been a long ti since I left this sacred mountain. If I'm going to go out, I should be prepared. May I take all the remaining seats?"
"Of course. No problem," Darian replied directly.
His current group, excluding himself and including Saelil and Maeyu, had seven people.
That left three seats; they would go to waste if no one used them. Darian took out his tablet and removed the ten marks from his companions.
At first, Darian expected the race leader to give the seats to strong mbers of the younger generation. To his surprise, however, the chosen ones were two won nad Elders of the race.
Their auras were sharp and powerful like the leader's; their eyes radiated an intimidating killing intent. They were like owls gliding through the night sky, able to shake soone deeply with just a glance.
Ral, Saelil, and Maeyu were quite shocked when they saw those two. The race leader was stronger than them, but he could hide his aura. Those two clearly couldn't, and the pressure made the three of them tense up. Only then did they realize that the Wood Spirits were nowhere near as weak as they had imagined.
"I heard your opponent is the grandson of the master of the Scarlet Cloud Clan. These are our strongest Protector Elders. You can fight without fear," Sylvanos said.
"Greetings." The two won didn't bow to the race leader, but they gave a deep bow to Darian.
The Wood Spirits were treating them extrely well, fulfilling what they had promised. If he were truly in trouble, they would mobilize all their power to help him. Not that he needed it, but extra hands were never a bad thing.
"Let's go," the race leader smiled and waved his hand.
A huge green leaf appeared, descending from the sky to stop in front of them. Everyone stepped onto it, and the leaf gently lifted them, carrying them away from the mountain.
As soon as the leaf flew up, they noticed a branch beneath them pushing them forward, revealing the enormous tree at the mountain's peak.
That tree launched them to the other side, releasing an intense aura. They shot forward, gliding over the city.
At that instant, countless powerful figures erged from buildings to watch the scene in the sky. The power radiating from that tree left everyone stunned.
They had never felt sothing so unknown and so powerful, so close to them before. Had that always existed inside the city?
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