Chapter 243: The Cave in the Tree Root Camp — Sprite and Elf Dreams

Not long after Jier fell asleep, a small patch of ground inside the cave began to glow with an earthy yellow light.

With a plop, a glowing, large Snail Shell darted out from the ground.

The Snail Shell danced wildly in the air for a while, then hovered in place, and a glowing little creature with a long beard and a Small Hat crawled out from the Snail Shell.

It wore a small vest and loose trousers, and on its tiny feet were shoes with toes that curled upward.

A sprite had appeared.

It sat on the floating Snail Shell and circled around the sleeping Jier several times. Seeing that Jier seemed to be in a deep sleep because of the Elf Ring hanging from the top of the cave, the little sprite rubbed its hands together and let out a few strange, hee-hee chuckles.

It rubbed its hands again, conjured a tiny Charcoal Pencil from its palm, picked up the "giant" Charcoal Pencil that was almost as tall as itself, and began to draw crookedly on Jier's face.

A few Mushrooms on the left cheek, and a Monster on the right cheek.

It drew several angry-looking Humans on the large open space of the forehead, and some strange Skulls on the chin.

On the nose in the center of the face, it thought for a moment, giggled, and drew itself.

After finishing the drawing, it tossed the Charcoal Pencil aside; it seemed to have discovered something in the inner pocket of Jier's clothes, so it burrowed its body into the pocket and rummaged around for a while before pulling out a few Elf Coins.

It touched the Elf Coins of lesser value and tossed them aside, but hugged the larger, higher-value Elf Coins to its body, stroking them with a look of nostalgia.

Balancing this Elf Coin on its head, it didn't even mind that its own hat had fallen off; the little sprite happily called over its Snail Shell and, with a bit of minor spellcasting, stood the Elf Coin upright behind the Snail Shell.

This way, it could lean against the coin while on the Snail Shell.

Piloting the Snail Shell, the little sprite played happily for a while; with the fixed Elf Coin supporting its back, it seemed to be a bit more stable in flight.

The little sprite flying in the air seemed quite afraid of the Elf Ring hanging in the air and dared not approach the ring that was influencing Jier's dream.

After playing for a while, the little sprite approached Jier's Backpack, which Jier had placed in the cave.

It opened a small gap in the Backpack and slipped inside with a swish.

The Backpack was filled with things Jier would use when traveling. It looked at each one with curiosity, balancing them on its head to ponder what these things were used for by Humans.

After playing for a while, it emerged from the Backpack and curiously examined Jier's weapons and equipment.

It picked up the steel Dagger, but unable to unsheathe it, it had to sit outside the Sword Sheath, waving its tiny hands to cast a spell and control the sheathed Dagger to fly in the air.

Seeming to feel that it wasn't as easy to use as its own Snail Shell with a backrest, the little sprite flew off the Dagger and let the sheathed Dagger drop to the ground.

It then set its sights on Jier's Long Sword.

The Long Sword "Hunt" was leaning against the cave wall; it grabbed the Sword Sheath and climbed bit by bit along the sheath to the hilt of the Long Sword.

"Hunt" shook impatiently, seemingly not liking the look of this little sprite. The little sprite felt it was unwelcome; it bared its fangs and brandished its claws, jumped on the sword leather, and chattered away, though it was unclear what it was saying to the Long Sword.

Seeming to feel there was nothing it could do about the little thing climbing on the sword, "Hunt" fell silent again. The little sprite put its hands on its hips, very pleased, and with a leap, jumped onto the Long Spear lying on the ground.

Seeming to dislike the wooden shaft of the Long Spear, the little sprite ran all the way along the long shaft to the butt of the spear. Seeming to realize it had run the wrong way, it turned around and ran headlong toward the spearhead.

The steel spearhead glinted with a cold light, but the little sprite was not afraid, rolling back and forth on the wide blade edge of the spearhead.

Finally, the little thing looked at the Two-handed Axe it had been somewhat afraid of. At this moment, inside the cave illuminated by the earthy yellow light radiating from the little sprite, the axe, resting on the ground, seemed to feel that something magical was observing it.

The axe trembled, then flipped over; the axe face, imprinted with multiple Monster heads, looked at the little sprite. Those originally crudely made Monster heads now became clear, and the expressions of the three ancient Monster metal heads became serious. They locked eyes with the little sprite looking over, and then, the little sprite let out a tiny scream and, with a whoosh, dove into its Snail Shell.

The Monster heads on the axe face became crude once again. From beginning to end, the carvings of the strange Stone Statue heads had no reaction, remaining quite dull.

After waiting for a while, the little sprite's head poked out from the floating Snail Shell, carefully observing the Two-handed Axe leaning against the wall. Feeling that everything around was calm, the little sprite still dared not come out. After waiting a while longer, it steered the Snail Shell straight toward the cave wall, seemingly intending to leave.

However, the glowing Snail Shell entered the soil, but the Elf Coin fixed to the Snail Shell could not enter with it and slapped directly against the wall.

It made a "pop" sound.

A tiny, cursing voice came from the soil. As the little sprite increased its power to control the Snail Shell, the Elf Coin that had been fixed to the shell fell off, landing first on the Backpack, then falling from the Backpack, bouncing once, passing over the Long Spear placed on the ground, rolling with a rumble to Jier's side, and then finally coming to a stop.

In Jier's dream.

It was still that female Elf, still at the end of the previous dream.

It seemed this dream was a continuation. Zhao Ji could not understand what was going on, but he guessed that the Elf Ring he had picked up from the Elf Ruins did not seem to have any intention of harming him, but was only letting him experience a story about the owner of this ring.

The female Elf walked into the home that had once been her residence. Many Elves had already gathered inside. They all seemed to know the female Elf; everyone cleared a path for her, bowing their heads to greet her as they did so.

The female Elf nodded in response while walking quickly into the depths of this house, which was built among the thick branches at the top of a tree.

In the innermost part, some Elves who were clearly in high positions were gathered around a large, circular stone bed. Some Elves were glowing all over, casting spells to maintain the life journey of the withered and aged Elf on the stone bed so that it would not end. Other Elves sat around the edge of the stone bed, communicating with the Elf who was about to pass away while recording the words the other said.

After the female Elf walked into the room, all the Elves clearly breathed a sigh of relief. The Elves casting spells had their Magic Power surge, released their magic one last time, and then left the place in turn after saying their goodbyes, waiting outside the house. Other Elves regretfully put away their recording books and, after saying their goodbyes, also waited outside the house.

The female Elf threw herself onto the edge of the stone bed and spoke softly to the withered Elf.

The withered Elf, summoning its last strength, sat up with difficulty, stroked the female Elf's hair with its equally withered and aged arm, opened and closed its lips a few times, and then, looking as if it had breathed a sigh of relief, the entire Elf collapsed.

The female Elf just tightly grasped the hand that had stroked her hair, brought it to her lips, and kissed it gently.

In a very short time, the entire body of the aged and withered Elf began to crack, as if the last need to barely maintain its vitality was gone. All its strength and the green light radiating from its body gathered in the Elf's head.

Gradually, all the strength in the Elf's entire body gathered in the head, making the dead Elf's head become strange. The parts that could still be seen as flesh began to become like a plant, the long hair also retracted into the head, and the original features gradually disappeared in a magical transformation.

In a very short time, the entire head of the dead Elf turned into a large tree seed. The original Elf features became patterns on the surface of the tree seed, and after careful identification, the original Elf's appearance could still be seen.

The original Elf's long ears became small handles on the sides of the tree seed, and the original Elf's neck also became withered, finally snapping off as if it could not bear the weight of the changing tree seed, and the tree seed rolled onto the stone bed.

The female Elf glanced at the rolled-off tree seed, closed her eyes, and pressed the withered Elf's palm against her cheek. Tears flowed from her eye sockets, silent and soundless; everything in the dream was so quiet.

After a while, the Elves outside walked into the room. Two high-ranking Elves stepped forward, each lifting the handles of the tree seed, and placed the tree seed, which had been transformed from the dead Elf's head, into a box made of gold.

Then the Elves whispered something to the headless, withered corpse of the dead Elf, and they all left.

The female Elf remained lying on the side of the stone bed, leaning her face against the withered arm, whispering something. Not long after, she seemed to have finished her last words, stood up, placed her hand on a glowing stone platform beside the stone bed, and after hesitating for a while, activated the mechanism on the glowing stone platform.

The light emitted by the stone bed changed from green to purple. The roof directly above the stone bed began to drip water droplets. Amidst the water droplets, which were like autumn rain, the withered Elf corpse on the stone bed gradually became soft, and then bit by bit, it turned from the outer layer of skin into a turbid tissue fluid emitting purple light.

The female Elf activated the mechanism again, and many holes appeared on the surface of the stone bed. All those purple-glowing tissue fluids entered them, all gathering into two thick, large glass bottles beneath the stone bed. One bottle was the separated glowing tissue fluid, and the other bottle was pure water.

After the entire body of the dead Elf had disappeared, the female Elf picked up the bottle filled with the purple-glowing tissue fluid and walked slowly out of the house.

At the top of the radiant tree canopy, many Elves had already gathered outside the house. It turned out that the previous Elves had not left; they were all waiting outside the house, waiting for the female Elf to come out.

Seeing the female Elf carrying the large, glowing glass bottle come out, all the Elves lowered their heads.

After a moment of silence, a very huge giant eagle flew in from the sky. Each giant eagle had a wingspan of over one hundred meters. These giant eagles flew slowly over the entire Forest, using the heat generated by the Forest to slowly glide in circles around this forest island sailing on the sea.

Led by the female Elf carrying the large glass bottle, all the Elves either flew up on their own or used tools, took off from outside the house, and after flying for a while, landed on the giant eagles slowly gliding in the air.

The feathers on the giant eagle's back were smooth and hard, and all the elves stood on the giant eagle's back in accordance with etiquette.

The giant eagle first rose slowly, bathing in the sunlight and the deep universe at an extreme altitude, then the giant eagle descended slowly, dropping until it was only a dozen meters from the sea surface, circling the Elf Forest Island.

On the periphery of the forest island, many creatures of other races gathered to watch the rare sight of an elf passing away naturally.

Elves have long lifespans, and for the vast majority of lives, it is difficult for several generations to catch a glimpse of an elf's natural death ceremony.

On the slowly circling giant eagle, all the elves began to sing a farewell song for this naturally departed elf in an unknown language that was not Elvish, but whose meaning any life could understand the moment they heard it.

"Ah! Like a tree, from the seed sprouting, to the tender shoot breaking through the soil."

"Oh! Like a flower, from the bud waiting to bloom, to bearing fruit and ripening."

The elves' slow but vast song spread throughout the entire Elf Forest Island, spread throughout the vast surrounding sea, and spread throughout the deep, profound ocean.

When every life heard the song, they would naturally know who the elf being bid farewell to was.

"Alas! Like fruit, from ripening and falling, to being held in the mouth."

"Oh! Like a seed, from the pit falling into the dust, to being buried in the soil."

The female elf turned her head to look at the golden box being carried by her friends behind her.

Several elves carrying the golden box nodded in silence and pointed at the golden box; the box opened automatically, and the tree seed formed from the deceased elf's skull flew up automatically.

The gazes of the elves on the giant eagle's back were fixed on this tree seed, watching it fly up and slowly fall into the sea.

Thus, the giant eagle no longer flew around the Elf Forest Island, but circled in a small radius around the place where the tree seed fell.

"Once more, you and I come from the dust, having walked through a lifetime, falling back into the dust again."

"Once again, our sturdy bodies, changing form, the flesh turning into the root of all things."

The giant eagle circled, and at the very center of its circling, many bubbles bubbled up from beneath the sea surface.

Gradually, the bubbles stopped emerging, and a tender shoot, which looked small from afar but was actually over ten meters high, extended from beneath the sea surface.

"Today, please rouse your spirit once more, to support the foundation for all things in the world."

"Tomorrow, may you still be as you were in your past life, able to shelter from wind and rain for all eternity."

The female elf's eyes were filled with tears; she cast a spell to fly up and slowly approached the plant shoot that had extended from the sea.

Landing on the shoot, she held a large glass bottle in one hand and gently stroked the fuzzy surface of the shoot with the other. The shoot seemed to respond, its leaf veins curling up to gently stroke the female elf's hair.

"@#@! (Father!)" the female elf sobbed in a low voice. Finally, she tipped the large glass bottle emitting purple light in her hand, letting all the purple-glowing tissue fluid inside pour onto the tall shoot.

The shoot absorbed all the glowing liquid.

On the distant giant eagle, an elf friend sent a signal for her to withdraw; after stroking the soon-to-sprout shoot one last time, the female elf nimbly bypassed the leaf veins that wanted to keep her in place and flew back onto the giant eagle.

As soon as she returned, the giant eagle immediately climbed, reaching the sky a thousand meters above in a short time. And on the periphery of the Elf Forest Island, all the lives watching the ceremony were muttering something and becoming excited.

In everyone's gaze, the shoot on the sea surface suddenly began to rise and grow.

Ten-plus meters.

Dozens of meters.

One hundred meters.

One hundred and dozens of meters.

Two hundred meters.

Two hundred and dozens of meters.

It kept growing, kept rising, exceeding the height of the tallest tree top on the island beside it, even far exceeding it.

During the process of its growth, the elves sang for it one last time.

"Even the greatest Nature Tree is not enough to boast of."

"Even the widest Mushroom Circle cannot compare."

Of course, the branches formed at this moment naturally could not compare to a true Nature Tree, nor could they compare to the vast Mushroom Circle on the grasslands, but for an elf who has walked the path of nature for a lifetime with the great power of an individual life, having this level is also rare.

In the end, the branches that looked like trees and vines protruding from the sea reached over five hundred meters high, and the roots beneath the sea were just as deep as those above, also over five hundred meters.

The giant eagle lowered its altitude, and the elves on its back stopped singing; they each brought out their full strength, and surging Magic Power poured from the elves' bodies, turning into many tiny spell structures in the air, entering the giant plant that had not yet fixed its form bit by bit.

Influenced by the elves' magic, the giant plant began to slowly deform, stretching its limbs and contracting its form.

After the time it took for the sun to set and the moons to rise and set, until the next day's newborn morning sun rose from beneath the sea level, that giant plant finally turned into a crescent-shaped structure under the elves' spell control.

The female elf was the first to jump off the giant eagle, landing on the giant plant that had changed its form. Then all the elves leaped down from the giant eagle.

Slightly casting a spell to communicate with the giant plant, this crescent-shaped giant plant finally leaned against the edge of the Elf Forest Island when the sun rose to the middle of the sky.

In this way, the Elf Forest Island added a large new piece of land.

The crescent-shaped area was sown with seeds of other plants by the elves, and fresh soil that had been prepared long ago was brought from spatial equipment.

Many elves dispersed, as they had other duties; the female elf's friends and the deceased elf's friends remained on the new crescent-shaped area, beginning to decorate this new area in the style the deceased elf loved.

The female elf just lay on the 'ground', lying between the solidified and hardened thick branches, whispering to her 'father' the secrets she had not dared to say, nor wanted to say, before.

The elf's dream ended, and Zhao Ji woke up in his warm bedding; he did not expect that last night's dream would be so magical. He wanted to say something, but there might only be himself within dozens of kilometers, so who should he speak to?

Just as Zhao Ji was waking up and feeling groggy, he felt as if there was something on his face.

Wiping with his finger, the fingertip was pitch black.

Rubbing it, it seemed to be the charcoal ash left by the kind of charcoal block he used for writing? But how could there be charcoal ash on his face?

Hmm?