After passing through a dense forest, a dark land of rock appeared before Viktor.
The surroundings were pitch-black, yet behind layers of rocks lay a pool of glowing blue water.
Countless fireflies seemed unable to tell day from night here, flickering with green light.
"We're here. This is the Moon Sacred Spring."
As Vinia finished speaking, Viktor calmly cast his gaze toward it.
The lake's surface was perfectly still. Even when a breeze stirred the surrounding wild grass, the water remained steady like a mirror.
Blue luminescence lit up from the depths of the lake, like wandering souls drifting endlessly.
Large sheets of silvery-white waterfall crashed down into the pool, yet the two ends of the lake felt like entirely different worlds.
One side was utterly tranquil, while the other was constantly battered by the waterfall, turning chaotic.
In the pitch-black sky hung what seemed to be a silver crescent moon faintly glowing yellow. A single beam of moonlight quietly fell into the lake.
This moon appeared to be completely nailed to the sky.
This land was forever locked in absolute night.
There would never be daylight.
Seeing this, Vinia explained, "The Moon Sacred Spring absorbs lunar essence year-round to maintain the purity of its energy."
"Every day, elves assigned to this duty collect water from the Moon Sacred Spring to irrigate the Divine Tree. From this, the Yard Divine Tree creates elves."
"But…"
At this point, Vinia glanced at Cocotte, who was sitting atop a cloud.
"Since the queen is not present, no matter how much the Moon Sacred Spring is used, the Divine Tree can no longer produce new elves."
Cocotte somewhat guiltily turned her face to the side, avoiding Vinia's gaze.
Still, she spoke with justification, "You just saw it yourself, the Divine Tree wasn't anything good."
"If I'd stayed there the whole time, I'd probably have been drained dry long ago."
But Viktor's next words left both of them stunned, "No, the Divine Tree is a good thing."
Hearing this, Cocotte and Vinia froze in place, both utterly confused.
Viktor continued unhurriedly, "I'm not talking about the Yard Divine Tree."
"I mean the Divine Tree in its pure form."
From the perspective of a tool, the Divine Tree was still very necessary.
It could collect the elves' natural energy and, under the irrigation of the Moon Sacred Spring, convert that natural energy into new elves.
Otherwise, trying to grow an elf directly from nature would be nearly impossible.
So, the spirit of nature created two tools within nature to allow the elven race to reproduce freely.
One was the Divine Tree, and the other was the Moon Sacred Spring.
But as a tool, the one thing the Divine Tree never should have done was develop its own consciousness.
It gave itself a name, "Yard."
In truth, what it was called wasn't important.
What mattered was that once it had a name, the Divine Tree gained thoughts.
It became dissatisfied with the status quo, dissatisfied with merely being a production tool.
So it forcibly bound the elves.
It turned what was once a method where any elf could reproduce elves through natural energy into one where only the Elven Queen could do so.
It wanted to conduct layer upon layer of selection over thousands of years, always choosing the strongest elf.
Using her talent as a template to create all elves, generating purer natural energy for itself.
It almost succeeded. It had even completed its control over the elves' minds.
But unfortunately, premature endings are all too common.
Because Viktor arrived.
"Aside from a few special methods of reproduction, the most common way elves reproduce is by relying on the Divine Tree."
In the future, Cocotte would work with players to kill the Yard Divine Tree and use natural energy to reshape a new Divine Tree.
And a Divine Tree without self-awareness was an extremely pure production tool.
Which meant…
"As long as the elves wish, they don't need an Elven Queen at all to reproduce."
The Elven Queen was nothing more than a forced creation of the Yard Divine Tree.
She existed only to make its actions seem more reasonable.
As these words fell, Vinia was completely stunned.
"You mean…?"
Viktor had his hands in his pockets, taking in Vinia's shock.
"That's right, even you can do it."
"Using your own natural energy to create new elves."
As long as nature exists, elves will not go extinct.
And the elves' fear that Cocotte's failure to return would lead to the extinction of their race, that was never Cocotte's problem.
It was the Yard Divine Tree.
Because the Yard Divine Tree forcibly bound the Elven Queen, the elves came to believe that only the Elven Queen could give birth to elves.
Over thousands of years, the elves' way of thinking had completely solidified.
At this moment, Viktor lowered his head and looked at his status panel.
Vega's power had already recovered to nearly half.
"That should be about enough."
The moment his words fell, a green stripe climbed up Viktor's trench coat.
At that instant, Vinia's body suddenly trembled.
Once again, she felt a calamity's power emanating from Viktor.
And this power was completely different from Guliton's.
Was it… wood?
She stared at Viktor in disbelief.
If Viktor hadn't once forbidden kneeling, she would probably have already dropped to her knees before this man.
At this moment, a pure energy flared with a green glow.
As if drawn and infused by this power, the Moon Sacred Spring slowly rose.
Blue lake water drifted upward, forming a glowing silvery stream that followed the forest and flew into the sky.
Vinia watched this scene, both shocked and intensely curious.
"This is…?"
What was he planning to do?
Seeing this, Cocotte's eyes lit up, as if she already had a guess.
Viktor kept his hands in his pockets and said calmly, "We can go back now."
"What happens next will change the fixed mindset your elven race has held for thousands of years."
———
Leon sat atop a massive, charred tree root.
She had stayed behind to watch over these elves.
If they attempted anything extreme, Leon could take out the weapon Liya had given her to intimidate these pitiful elves.
At the same time, she also had to look after Viktor's strange one-eyed crow.
One of her hands rested on her leg, grooming the crow feathers sprawled across her thigh.
Vega lay limp on Leon's leg, completely motionless, only his small body rising and falling slowly with each breath.
Leon raised her head and looked at the sky.
The natural disaster caused by that beast worthy of being called a "calamity" had already ceased.
But the flow of natural energy continued to pour into this land without end.
The elves felt mixed emotions, some joyful, some sorrowful.
They were still immersed in the return of natural energy.
Among everyone present, there was only one elf who stood apart from the rest.
That was Leon.
She felt absolutely nothing about whether the Divine Tree lived or died.
Even after the Divine Tree's death, the natural energy that erupted from it did not include her share.
She could not create natural energy, nor could she absorb it.
She could only sit quietly, watching the remaining elves express various emotions of joy and sorrow.
Her heart, like the Moon Sacred Spring, was calm, still as dead water.
The hatred she once felt toward the elves seemed to have been let go.
She had come to understand it clearly.
These elves had no independent thoughts at all; they simply worshiped the Divine Tree with blind fervor.
Under the Divine Tree's influence, they naturally rejected her, the "outsider" without a surname.
But it no longer mattered.
Aside from sharing elven features with them, Leon had never truly considered herself an elf.
Compared to that, she had a more important identity.
She was Liya's subordinate, a retainer of the Clavenna family.
Now, her surname was Clavenna.
At this moment, the crow on her leg rolled over.
"That was insanely crazy."
"It's my first time experiencing this feeling of being completely drained."
Leon suddenly stiffened, lowering her head as if she had seen something utterly shocking.
Her emerald-green pupils trembled violently, locked onto the crow on her leg.
The crow… spoke?
The crow slowly stood up from her leg, pecked at its feathers, lifted its head, and stared straight at Leon with its single eye.
"Little girl, you look pretty curious."
Vega suddenly revealed a wicked smile and let out a snickering laugh.
"An elf who can't draw upon natural energy."
"I've been interested in you for a long time."
Leon stood frozen, her expression turning extremely serious.
"You… what exactly are you?"
"Want to know the reason behind what's happening to you?"
The crow's seductive voice gradually echoed beside Leon's ear.
Leon sat on the tree root. Hearing its words, even her breathing became noticeably quicker.
"Could it be… you know why I..."
"Shh."
Vega looked at Leon with a grin and said lightly, "If you want to know more, we'll talk later."
"For now, let's watch a good show."
As if perfectly validating the crow's words, a streak of silvery-white sacred spring water, accompanied by green energy, spiraled down from the sky.
It passed through the quiet yet restless air, tracing an extremely mysterious arc in the sky.
Like a gently coiling dragon, it slowly descended.
The elves stared at the silver-white spring water appearing out of nowhere, stunned and confused.
"It's the Moon Sacred Spring!?"
"How is that possible, how could the Moon Sacred Spring appear here out of thin air?"
The sacred spring circled above their heads and gradually descended onto the burned ground, watering the thick soil.
Soon, a fresh green sprout pushed through the earth once more, stretching its fragile yet vibrant body.
Under the shocked gazes of countless elves, the sprout grew rapidly.
Countless thick vines burst from the ground, completely engulfing the tender green shoot and lifting it high into the clouds.
The moment the sprout was raised, it transformed into a towering canopy.
Solid wooden branches extended outward, slowly merging with the vines below.
The elves were completely stunned, "The Divine Tree… revived!?"
Leon was also frozen in place.
But unlike the other elves, her shock lay elsewhere.
At the instant the giant tree formed, a black magic array invisible to the naked eye was constructed from the ground, rose up, and attached itself to the Divine Tree.
All of this was noticed by Leon.
As if it had been deliberately shown to her.
She lowered her head and looked at the pitch-black crow.
At the same time, a flash of black passed through the crow's single eye.
That ghostly voice rang in her ears once more, "Did you see it?"
"Hehehehehe!"
An extremely sinister laugh echoed in her ears.
At that moment, a sharp pupil flashed through Leon's mind.
As if her very soul had been completely scrutinized.
Leaving behind only a voice, slowly echoing deep within her heart.
"Keep it a secret for me."
"This story should welcome a brand-new ending."