Elius patted his belly after getting out and when they set off again.

“Whew, man, what a feast.”

Everyone seemed happy except Liam. He was looking at the empty pouch in his hand.

“It’s all gone...”

“Come on, don’t look down. Soon one gold will be meaningless.”

Idarin tried to console him.

“If it is meaningless, then why didn’t you pay?”

“I mean, I won’t be around all the time. You should get used to real life.”

“Another way of saying I’m stingy...”

Liam snorted.

“Stop sulking. When you were eating that meat, you were happier than ever.”

Ruvyn said to Liam while Elius slowly nodded to approve that.

“Whatever...”

‘If it goes like this, I’ll turn back empty-handed. No! I’ll forge a weapon myself even if I had to. I didn’t get that material for no reason!’

“I feel something strange.”

‘Hmm? Like what.’

“Like someone has been watching us.”

As soon as hearing that, Elius stopped and turned back to look around.

“What happened?”

Ruvyn was getting impatient.

“Nothing.”

Elius squinted his eyes and searched the area one last time before continuing.

‘I can’t see or sense anything, are you sure?’

“Yes... Not sure. Since you made me work on more than one spell, my mana control is increasing rapidly.”

‘Okay, tell me if you feel anything unusual.’

“Okay.”

Idarin locked his eyes on Elius for a while.

‘People who are following us are pretty high level, and they can conceal themselves pretty well, so how can he sense them?’

Then he smiled.

‘It is a pity that he doesn’t realize his capabilities. Well, I have six months.’

His smile became brighter, and he silently followed the kids behind. It took a long walk, but they finally got closer to their destination when the sun was about to go down. They were in a forest, a big forest. It was pretty far away from the city, so they only encountered animals so far.

“Okay, according to this map, after passing this hill, we should see a giant tree.”

Ruvyn said while looking at the map.

“Are you talking about that?”

Elius pointed towards somewhere beyond the hill.

“Wow.”

When Ruvyn raised his head to look, he was speechless. A tree big enough to reach the skies stood there with all its glory. Liam whistled.

“We can probably see that from our empire. What the hell is that?”

“How come we couldn’t see that huge thing from the city?”

Elius was visibly confused.

“You can only see it if you enter a particular range.”

A little piece of rock floated in front of Idarin and flew back where they came from. After a while, it suddenly disappeared.

“Normally, years and years ago, only high elves were able to enter this domain, but the spell weakened over the years.”

Idarin briefly explained.

“What is different in here?”

Ruvyn asked curiously.

“See yourself.”

Idarin began to move again, and the kids followed hurriedly. They quickly reached the hill, and the scene they saw was nothing like they were expecting. The big tree was covering a large area, and around it was a garden that looked unreal: colorful flowers, beautiful looking trees, altogether a stunning scene. Most importantly, lively animals, chirping birds, and even wild animals seemed to be living in harmony. In the midst of all of that, there was a tiny house. A little man who seemed like he was talking with animals was in front of the house. Ruvyn walked forward with his mouth open. The mana around them was denser than before, and the area seemed to overflow with mana. Most of it was coming from the big tree. When the group got closer, the animals and the little man turned towards them.

“What business do you have here!”

The dwarf came and stopped them.

“Why do these midgets keep shouting?”

‘Tell me about it...’

“What are you doing here? Are you an outcast?”

Liam asked irritatedly.

“This is my home! You don’t have permission to be here!”

While he was shouting, a white fox slowly smelled Ruvyn’s hand, then began to rub his head on Ruvyn. The dwarf raised an eyebrow.

‘That’s weird.’

“I can be anywhere I want!”

Liam shouted back, trying to imitate the dwarf.

“No, you can’t.”

Idarin stepped forward and greeted the man.

“Hello, little man! We are just here to get a ring.”

Meanwhile, animals were slowly gathering around Ruvyn. The dwarf was constantly observing him with the corner of his eyes.

“I don’t forge accessories. Get out!”

“You forge stuff?”

Before the dwarf could answer Liam, Ruvyn took out Algor’s letter and tossed it to the man.

“Here, it is for you, Mr. Hessol.”

They waited for Hessol to read it for a while. After finishing, he sighed.

“I don’t get it! Any elf who can control vines comes here, thinking they are a high elf, and when they find out they are not, they refuse to believe and give me a headache!”

He turned back and began to walk towards the big tree.

“I guess we follow him.”

Idarin said while putting his hand on Ruvyn’s shoulder. Except for Elius, all of them began to follow him. Elius was looking back at where they came from.

‘I still can’t sense anything.’

“There is something, I swear!”

‘Hmm...’

“What are you doing, weirdo?”

Liam asked Elius.

“Nothing.”

Then he also began to follow them. The dwarf’s house was between little trees and plants, so behind the house wasn’t visible from the outside. When they passed the house and saw what was behind it, Liam’s jaw dropped. It was a workshop. There was a big furnace, almost big as the house, and an anvil to forge items. The items he had already made seemed countless to them. The items were meticulously placed, even the failures.

“Wow.”

Both Elius and Liam exclaimed in surprise. The others weren’t that interested in that, so they kept moving towards the tree after giving a simple look. Ruvyn’s heartbeat was accelerating with every step he took. Finally, he stood in front of the tree, but it seemed like a wall more than a tree.

“Place your hand, pour your mana, then leave after crying a while in denial!”

‘All I have to do is pour my mana?’

Ruvyn took a deep breath and put his hand on the tree trunk.

‘Here we go.’

He closed his eyes and began to pour mana.

“What is this tree even?”

Elius asked.

“You don’t even know that, yet you come here!”

Hessol scoffed at him.

“They call this the tree of life. Here was once the land of elves.”

Idarin replied.

“It seemed like an incomplete answer.”

‘Yeah...’

“You see this? Another fool.”

Hessol said to the bird on his arm. But then something he never expected happened. The dense mana in the area began to gather around Ruvyn. The more he poured mana, the wilder it became. Suddenly the animals started to make noise and dance in happiness. The mana began to scatter to the area through the tree’s roots. It was like the tree had a pulse. Newly, colorful flowers bloomed around. The plants seemed like they were reborn. Ruvyn opened his eyes and took a step back. He was feeling relieved and overflowing with mana. Not just Ruvyn, everyone felt a warmth inside with the mana that the tree of life radiates. Hessol looked shocked. He was watching Ruvyn without saying anything.

‘I never knew that such pure mana ever existed. I feel renewed. The mana inside me gradually being replaced with the purer mana.’

Ruvyn turned towards Hessol.

“What is it have to do with the ring?”

Hessol didn’t answer, he was still watching Ruvyn. Then the ground under Ruvyn crumbled. Roots slowly began to raise towards him. There was something on top of it, something like a crystal. Ruvyn reached his hand towards the red crystal to look at it, but roots suddenly grabbed his hand and tangled in his finger. They made a perfect fit and turned back to the ground, leaving the ring behind.

“Wow.”

Ruvyn raised his hand to look at it.

“So is that the ring? What is it now?”

Elius asked, but Ruvyn was as clueless as him. He turned towards them to show it, but instead of his friends, all he could see was pair of eyes looking at him.

“Hehehe, what do we have here.”

It was the man that Ruvyn bumped into back in the city.

“Bro, look at this. He actually got the seed of life.”

“Huh?”

Ruvyn suddenly flinched and tried to take a step back, but the man was already holding his arm. It wasn’t even moving a little bit.

“Ruvyn!”

Liam shouted and began to run towards them.

“Finally, what do you want?”

Idarin said while looking back.

“Finally?”

Zelphar appeared where Idarin was looking.

“Impressive old man, you actually were able to sense me.”

‘Huh? Isn’t he?’

“Yes, he is one of the fugitives. Zelphar, an SS-rank adventurer and a mass murderer. He is highly dangerous and unpredictable. His kill count is over 150. The bounty on his head is 96 golds.”

Then Elius turned towards Ruvyn. Liam was about to reach them. The elf didn’t even turn towards him and swung his blade in Liam’s direction. Vines suddenly grew and grabbed his hand.

“Oh-ho.”

He easily freed himself and appeared next to his brother.

“Elidyr, S-rank adventurer. They are brothers and usually work together. His kill count is 92, and the bounty is 55 golds."

“What now, bro, killing them all?”

“If we have to.”

Zelphar looked at Ruvyn.

“Give us that ring, and we’ll let you live. Refuse, and we will cut your finger and take it—your choice.”

“You scoundrels! Do you think lowlife bastards like you could control that ring?!”

Hessol shouted in anger. An irritated expression appeared on Zelphar’s face. He also saw Elius, who was ready to attack any time with the staff in his hand. That made Zelphar even more irritated.

“Kids annoy me.”

They suddenly felt immense pressure. The animals around began to run around in fear. Everyone except Idarin felt like they were nailed to the ground. Elius’s eyes widened. He felt a weird kind of fear that he had never felt before. It was getting harder to breathe every second.

‘Wh-what is this killing intent?’

Elius fell onto his butt. Something was attacking his senses continuously. He felt like he was in the middle of the bloodbath Zelphar created with the people he murdered.

‘A real murderer.’

Elius wasn’t even able to lift a finger.

‘The ones we fought back at the empire are like puppies in front of him.’

He looked at Zelphar and again felt the massive gap in power levels.

‘Again, I’m useless.’

“Come on now, let’s not scare the kids.”

Idarin looked around.

“And let’s not destroy this beautiful place.”

He lifted his fingers, and suddenly, the three of them disappeared. The pressure also vanished with them. Elius was breathing heavily, and he was still on the ground.

“What the fuck was that.”

Liam was also in the same situation.

“They are not far from here. I can sense them.”

Elius didn’t answer.

“Damn it!”

Hessol quickly got himself together and tried to calm down the animals. His priority was this place. He wasn’t interested anywhere other than here. After all, this was the land of his deceased wife.

“Two assassins against a wizard. They’ll kill him!”

Elius said in a hurry.

“We have to help him!”

“W-what can we even do.”

Ruvyn said while trying to get up.

“I don’t know.”

Elius began to run towards the location where Elly said. It was outside of the area of the tree of life. Ruvyn and Liam were following him behind. When they arrived, they were still talking.

“Oh good, I didn’t want to start without you.”

“What? You wanted them to see you get murdered.”

Elidyr said with a smile.

“What can a wizard do against an assassin. It will take 10 seconds to finish this. I may even let you hit me first.”

He was trying to provoke Idarin.

“Mr. Idarin! They almost killed 250 people. They are dangerous.”

“Pfft.”

Idarin tried to hold back his laughter. Then suddenly, Zelphar appeared in front of him. Right in front of Idarin’s throat, a blade stopped.

“Hmm? What are you doing, bro? Just stab him.”

But zelphar didn’t answer. He was just standing there like he was frozen.

“Only 250? How cute. Let me show you, Elius.”

Idarin began to float in the air. A white sphere appeared and began to rotate around him. His hair turned white and became longer, almost reaching his waist. When he reached a certain height, Zelphar was able to move again.

‘What the fuck was that?’

A scary smile appeared on Idarin’s face.

“Let me show you a real supremacy of a wizard.”

Idarin focused his killing intent on the brothers and gestured with his hand for them to come.

“Try to entertain me.”