Chapter 2718: Time Seed and Elven Kingship

Seeing that the clock hands could indeed be manipulated by him, Xia De used the miracle "Contact Shadow of the Tree Father" to confirm the exact current time, then moved the three hands to the correct positions.

Sure enough, the light on the holy emblem became more pronounced. Xia De gazed at the emblem and whispered:

"May the World Tree protect me in the infinite time."

As the words fell, the three hands on the holy emblem began to rotate simultaneously; the hour and second hands turned clockwise, while the minute hand turned counter-clockwise. When all three hands overlapped at the very top, the stone door that had refused to budge just moments ago silently opened a crack.

Xia De smiled and squeezed through the gap sideways. Behind the door was not a treasure room, but a set of stairs spiraling downwards, identical to the tree hole in the Temple of Time in the forest.

He summoned a silver orb of light to illuminate his surroundings, first using an illusion to mask the entrance behind him, then sealing it completely with 【Moonlight Thorns】 before descending the stairs. He reached the bottom shortly after. The space at the bottom of the secret chamber was not large, with three heavy chests placed against three of the walls.

"The layout is simple. I thought it would be more magnificent."

In the center of this hall-sized space stood a stone tablet. Although Xia De did not know what language it was, he could read it:

【A gift for those who come after; I hope you like the songs of the elves.】

At first glance, the three chests appeared to be made of stone, but closer inspection revealed they were a special type of wood that felt like stone. The ancient chests were all unlocked, and Xia De could open them right then:

"Arcana of All Things! Arcana of All Things!"

He said this nervously in his heart, and "She" at his ear laughed again:

【Do I need to remind you? This is a gift from an ancient era, and the thirteen Arcana of All Things cards have been recorded throughout history to varying degrees; it is impossible for them to have remained here since those ancient times.】

"A person still needs to have some dreams. Could it not be that someone discovered this place in the Fifth Era and, instead of taking anything, put the Arcana of All Things cards inside?"

Xia De replied, then bent down and lifted the lid of the chest on the east side. Although the chest was large, the item inside was quite small.

"A stone?"

He took out the stone, which was about the size of his fist. After frowning slightly, he changed his assessment:

"A fossilized seed? What kind of seed is this, and why is it so big?"

Although it was a fossilized seed, Xia De could still feel the life force within it. Beyond the life force, there were also quite restrained elements of miracles contained within, which likely meant this seed could be planted.

It was just that there was no instruction manual here, and Xia De did not know how to plant it, let alone what it would grow into.

Fortunately, it was old enough to trigger Xia De's miracle:

【Contacted an item from the First Era, miracle - Ancient Voice triggered.】

【Seeds sprout and grow into trees, even those with magical properties are no exception. The ancient god of time hid the secrets of time within the seeds; only a sprouted seed can possess a tree hole.】

Xia De was startled:

"This seed, it couldn't possibly be able to grow into a real 'Time Tree Hole', could it?"

All the tree holes he had encountered so far were erroneous time channels caused by the distortion of the world's essence, which was why travelers who passed through them were afflicted with terrible curses. But for the "Corridor of Time," there should exist an entrance like other spaces left behind by ancient gods, and that would be the true tree hole.

"So, the entrance to the Corridor of Time can only be obtained through this kind of seed?"

But no one came to confirm Xia De's conjecture, and no one could tell him how to grow this seed—it certainly wasn't just a matter of watering and fertilizing it.

He tried, but the miracle 【Toy Making】 could not turn this seed fossil into a toy, which once again demonstrated the extraordinary nature of this seed.

So, although he didn't know how to use this seed, Xia De knew he had obtained something incredible:

"I can go find Mr. Edmund and ask, or perhaps the elves might know.

However, this is certainly not the 'Time Fragment' that Mr. Edmund said could cure the time curse; he said that thing was glass-like... Could it be an item related to the Chosen One ritual?"

He then opened the chest against the south wall. As soon as the lid was lifted, a soft silver light radiated out. Xia De looked inside and saw a silver crown resting at the bottom of the chest.

He took out the crown. It was a typical elven ornament made of mithril. A golden gemstone was embedded in the center of the crown, and the mithril extending to the left and right was adorned with six smaller green gemstones each, totaling thirteen gemstones like bright stars in the night sky.

The overall design of the crown was light and delicate, with silver branches resembling vines picked by elves in the forest, meant to encircle the wearer's forehead. These silver branches were dotted with tiny leaves and flowers, each leaf carved so meticulously that it seemed as if it would sway gently when the breeze blew.

Corresponding to its delicate craftsmanship and expensive materials was an exceptionally powerful miracle element. Aside from those few artifacts and holy emblems, Xia De couldn't even think of any other divine item he had seen that was more powerful than this.

Of course, there was no instruction manual in the chest either, but fortunately, "She" at his ear continued:

【Contacted an item from the First Era, miracle - Ancient Voice triggered.】

【In the First Era, the Elven Kingdom once ruled the entire material world. The five most powerful kings, to demonstrate their power, joined forces to forge five crowns of infinite might; this is the Elven Legal System, this is the Elven Kingship.】

"What? This is the 【Elven Kingship】?"

Knowing the name of the crown, a fragment of elven knowledge obtained from the Tree Father immediately jumped out.

In the long First Era, humans were not the most powerful race in the material world; the kingdoms of the elves could be called the most powerful forces for most of the time. But the elves were not a monolith; due to differences in faith, lifestyle, and living regions, there were actually conflicts between different elven kingdoms.

Just as described in the "Ancient Voice," at some unknown time in the First Era, the five most powerful elven kings gathered together and crafted five crowns symbolizing Elven Kingship. From then on, any elf who saw the crown, regardless of origin or clan, had to regard the holder of these crowns as their king if their own elven king was not nearby.

These crowns, made with the top-tier technology of that ancient era and possessing powerful strength themselves, were almost the embodiment of the concept of "Elven Kingship" made material.

The designs of these five crowns were similar but had differences. The biggest distinction was that the crowns of the three elven kings who believed in the "Ancient God of Time - Father of the Infinite Tree" had twelve green accessory gemstones, while the crowns of the two elven kings who believed in the "Ancient God of the Moon - Silver Moon Sage" had twelve silver accessory gemstones.

And the main gemstones of the five elven kings' crowns were gold, white, blue, red, and purple, respectively.

Among them, the crowns with red and white main gemstones, based on the knowledge Xia De possessed, were destroyed in the "Dragon War" of the Second Era and the war against evil demons in the Third Era, respectively.

The blue gemstone 【Elven Kingship】 had been lost ever since, while the purple gemstone crown had long ago turned into a relic, its miracle elements polluted by whisper elements, becoming the infamous angel-level relic 【Crown of the Elven King】.

The reason this relic was infamous was that wearing it could brainwash and control any elf within sight, and this control was silent and undetectable by any means. More importantly, the relic crown could even make the corpses of dead elves stand up again, and they would gain the knowledge and power the corpses possessed in life.

Because of this characteristic, the purple gemstone crown was jointly contained by several prominent elven clans in the early Sixth Era, and now even Emilia probably didn't know its whereabouts.

And according to Xia De's knowledge, the gold gemstone crown, which was considered lost along with that blue gemstone crown...

He looked down at the silver ornament in his hand, fiddling with it a few times to confirm it wasn't a counterfeit:

"This thing is actually here? Legends and stories have become reality?"

Time had eroded most of the power of this crown, but even so, it remained incredibly powerful.

However, considering he was not an elf, and when he had his bloodline tested, he had absolutely no elven blood, Xia De did not try to wear it for fear that the crown might detect the wearer's bloodline. Instead, after playing with it a bit more, he carefully clipped it onto his arm.

However, he could let Emilia try its power later. Although the crown was good and legendary, Xia De did not think this crown would be related to the Chosen One ritual.

After all, no matter how powerful kingship was, it could not interfere with divine power; this was a principle that had been passed down since the First Era.

"【Elven Kingship】, I didn't expect such a thing to appear. The treasures of the Temple of Time are indeed as surprising as Mr. Edmund said, but this is not what I am looking for."

He turned his head to look at the last chest:

"Only this one left. The Time Fragment and things related to the Chosen One ritual... can one chest hold two items, or is the Time Fragment the thing related to the Chosen One ritual? Or perhaps, the Time Fragment is not something that every 【Temple of Time】 can produce?"

Thinking this, he reached his hand toward that chest, but stopped very suddenly before making contact. His brows furrowed, and his expression became serious, so "She" at his ear laughed softly again.

As Xia De retreated rapidly and silver-white lightning appeared in his hand, the chest, sensing that Xia De had no intention of continuing to reach out, began to tremble violently. ===== CHAPTER 2719 =====