The woman in front of Arthur did not look human. Its body was, but tree roots grew on her back, as if she was the core of the immense Life Tree they were on.
“You look different, Placidusax.”
Arthur, who was still in a daze with the recent events said, “that’s because I’m Arthur, not Placidusax.”
“Oh, yes… yes. I can see you are not from this world, but another. You’re Arthur, yes, but also Placidusax.”
The sentence from the mysterious woman came as a shock for Arthur. Did she know Arthur was from a different world? How? One guess Arthur had was that she somehow read his thoughts, but would the system allow it?
“What are you talking about? What world?” Arthur said.
He wanted to go near her, and get all the answers, but restrained himself. It was not an enemy he could face, and his stupidity wasn’t at that level.
“You’ll know about everything at the right time, as of now, let us speak about my people. It seemed you are worthy to be the Elven ruler, or else you wouldn’t be here.”
A quick change of subject, and one that made Arthur clench his fists. Why did she talked about such important information just to avoid it? Was it to make Arthur more curious?
With a deep breath, he said, “that is correct.”
“I can sense you completed the fire essence. That is impressive. I’ll grant you the wood essence, that is the most I can do for you with my current strength. We will meet again in the future.”
The same rainbow hand took hold of Arthur, and tossed him out of that realm, returning to the room where he touched the plant.
Wood energy filled his body, and the wood essence went from 0 to 100% in an instant.
[Dragon’s Wood Body (Max Rank): Wood attacks power increased, as well as wood resistance and learning speed of skills related to that element.]
[Absorption Level: 100%.]
A refreshing feeling, and a sense of mighty made Arthur smile. Wood wasn’t the next element on his list, but getting it free was something he wouldn’t refuse. Also, that element made sense with his new position as Elven ruler.
Arthur took his time to recover from the blast of energy, and when he looked around, he saw no one.
It was unknown to him how much time he spent inside that mysterious realm. Arthur hoped not that long.
He left the room, and as he was inside the palace, the guards saw him, “Who are you? How did you trespass inside this place?”
When the guard said that, Arthur had a bad feeling. Everyone should recognize him after everything he did, yet, that guard did not.
“What day is it?” Arthur said.
“What non-sense is this? Are you trying to- “
The guard did not finish, as Arthur vanished from his sight, appearing right behind him, sending a blow to its neck, making the guard faint.
After that, Arthur used both his invisibility spell, and his flight, and explored the palace, looking for Merethyl.
For him, Merethyl was not inside the palace. Where could she be? Another thing Arthur noticed after flying away was that the tents around Slyvian weren’t there anymore.
He looked inside the city and noticed humans walking with the elves. Arthur sighed in relief.
“The tents aren’t around Slyvian because the humans now live inside the city. For a moment I was scared.”
Arthur remembered Merethyl had given him a separate neighborhood for his tribe members and students, so that was the place he went first.
On his way, he noticed the faith power from his devotees increasing, which meant they were there.
A slim figure flew towards a separated part of the city with lots of houses. Arthur undid his invisibility spell, and when the first person inside that neighborhood saw Arthur, it knelt.
“Celestial Lord, you are back!”
Arthur descended to the ground, stopping right in front of that person. “What day is it? How long was I away?”
“My lord, I wasn’t there but I know you entered a different realm to become the Elven ruler. It has been three months since you left.”
“Three months? Hm…”
It wasn’t as bad as Arthur thought. The reason for that guard not knowing him was because it was indeed a new hired guard.
After the Dragon Scale Empire fell, the other small settlements of elves grouped up inside the capital Slyvian. The elves did not have a grand population, plus the city was immense and could fit all of them, and the refugees from the Dragon Scale Empire.
Inside that realm, it felt like a day at maximum, but it was three months since he left.
“Where is Merethyl? I searched for her inside the castle and she wasn’t there.”
“Merethyl? You mean the queen, right? Well, the dark races started their attack in our borders, so she went there to fight alongside the soldiers. If I’m not mistaken, she should be back in a few days.”
,?-?-m The devotee seemed to be an acknowledged person, and that made Arthur happy. He asked the devoted to spread the news of his arrival, and soon, everyone gathered in a square inside their neighborhood.
Wisa and Jane were the first to run there, and when they saw Arthur, tears streamed down their faces.
It was not the first time Arthur had disappeared from their lives, and it hurt. Two tight hugs.
“You are back! We were so scared.” Wisa said.
“I know, I know, but your husband here is someone hard to kill.”
The three of them remained in a hug for some time until all the others were there. Kai was among them, as well as Theo and Bill.
Kai had grown in strength, and was already at the level 48, which was impressive considering only three months had passed. That made Arthur want to work even harder.
Theo also was now a 3rd circle mage, and for his age that was incredible as well.
As for Bill, well, he had learned that type of magic as well, and he had a better talent for it than for the tattoo magic he used to learn back in Namida school.
He was already a 1st circle mage, almost reaching the 2nd circle.
Arthur flew 4 meters high, so that everyone saw him, and said, “everyone, I’m back!”