Chapter 81

Chapter 81
## Chapter 81

Elven Kingdom (1)

The fantastical spectacle showed no signs of fading.

Enveloped by countless wind spirits, the fruit of the World Tree descended gracefully, while Cecily stood at the center of a mesmerizing convergence of radiant elementals.

The surrounding space erupted into chaotic beauty, marked by swirling gales, brilliant flashes of illumination, trembling earth, and vegetation sprouting at an unnatural speed.

An immense concentration of natural energy saturated the area, forcing those who stood nearby to retreat a considerable distance to escape the overwhelming pressure.

As he fell back with the others, Harris took note of his surroundings.

A vast gathering of Elves had formed a wide perimeter, watching the spectacle with bated breath.

‘People always say that witnessing the awakening ceremony of a High Elf is an exceptionally rare privilege. On top of that, Cecily’s unique circumstances make this even more extraordinary.’

Directly confronting the raging vortex of natural energy around her brought a sudden, sharp realization to his mind.

‘Wait a minute. I shouldn’t just be standing here acting like a mere spectator!’

Steeling his focus, Harris drew a deep, deliberate breath.

The crisp, refreshing air traveled deep into his lungs.

It was an incredibly rich breath, dense with natural energy and the vibrant essence of the spirits.

For anyone looking to train, the environment was absolutely flawless.

‘Missing a chance like this would be foolish!’

Thanks to the enhanced growth rate and potential his avatars possessed after upgrading his unique skill, manipulating and channeling energy felt significantly more intuitive than in the past.

“Huu— Whew…”

He maintained a steady rhythm of deep, controlled breathing.

While his gaze remained fixed on Cecily’s awakening ceremony, his consciousness was entirely dedicated to drawing in the overflowing ambient energy that saturated the atmosphere.

Rapori, seemingly picking up on the unusual shift in the air, glanced back toward him briefly while keeping an eye on her as she raised the fruit to her lips. However, Harris was far too absorbed in the unprecedented density of the energy to pay attention to such minor distractions.

The exact moment Cecily finished absorbing the fruit of the World Tree, a notification rang out.

《The individual meets the conditions and gains enlightenment. You have acquired the skill “Affinity with Nature”.》

Harris had successfully claimed a breakthrough of his own.

“Whew…”

Letting out a long breath, he looked back toward Cecily with a sense of accomplishment. By now, she had lost consciousness and was being gently lifted and carried away by a contingent of Elves.

Even in her slumber, her hand remained tightly wrapped around the vibrant branch of the World Tree from which the fruit had been plucked.

“We belong to the High Elf Royal Guard. Given that her awakening has just concluded, our priority is to relocate her to a secure environment until she wakes,” one of them noted.

Rapori stepped up to his side without making a sound and offered further context.

“Lady Cecily is going to remain asleep for a good while. Her body requires time to adapt to and balance the massive surge of energy she just received.”

“That makes sense. It’s completely understandable, given the sheer scale of the energy vortex she was subjected to.”

“You did quite a remarkable job yourself. It is easy to see why the World Tree has taken notice of you.”

Just as expected, the older Elf had picked up on Harris’s covert training session.

“Ah, it just seemed like too perfect an opportunity to pass up.”

“Achieving that level of precise energy manipulation after such a brief period of instruction is truly… Wait a moment.”

Rapori cut his own sentence short, his gaze shifting to a point directly behind Harris.

His expression locked into a look of genuine astonishment, as if he were witnessing something incredible.

‘I didn’t sense a single thing approaching.’

Despite his senses being heightened to a razor-sharp degree from absorbing the ambient energy, nothing had registered on his radar.

Hairs standing on end from Rapori’s abrupt shift in demeanor, Harris spun around quickly—and found himself looking right at it.

A solitary bough was hovering silently in midair.

“…?”

It was a remarkably fresh cutting, adorned with vibrant, healthy green foliage.

“Well, it appears the World Tree holds you in quite high regard, Harris. To think it would provide a distinct token just for you.”

‘A token?’

Peering closer, he could feel a deep, resonant natural energy radiating from it, virtually identical to the branch Cecily was currently holding.

The primary distinction was that this particular piece had never borne fruit to begin with.

“An item granted straight from the World Tree carries immense significance. Typically, such an honor is reserved solely for the central figure of major occasions, such as an awakening ceremony…”

He recalled hearing that these materials could be fashioned into armaments or decorative pieces, yielding power and traits on par with a sacred object.

It was a priceless treasure that even among High Elves was considered difficult to come by.

Reaching out, Harris carefully grasped the hovering wood.

The moment his fingers closed around it, the internal energy became remarkably distinct.

‘No wonder I couldn’t perceive it before.’

Gripping it felt exactly like holding a piece of the natural world itself, perfectly synchronized with the surrounding environment.

Considering the local atmosphere was already heavily saturated with natural energy from the residual effects of the ritual, it was only logical that the branch had blended in completely.

A sudden wave of inquisitiveness prompted him to ask a question.

“Did you receive a similar gift from the World Tree during your own awakening, Lord Rapori?”

“Indeed I did. I condensed its power to craft a matching set of accessories.”

Seeing the nostalgic, warm look surface on the older man’s face made Harris feel a bit self-conscious.

Glancing down at the ornament on his own wrist, Harris spoke up tentatively.

“I certainly hope it wasn’t this particular bracelet.”

“Haha, rest assured, it wasn’t. I had it fashioned into a ring, which I used for a marriage proposal.”

Harris felt a wave of relief, though a tiny, inexplicable trace of envy lingered. Still, looking at the bright side, it implied that whatever gear he chose to craft from the branch in his hands would likely surpass the quality of his current bracelet, which was excellent news.

“So you have a wife.”

“Ah, did that never come up? We have been together for quite some time.”

“Though I notice you aren’t wearing any such ring at the moment…”

“I chose to pass it down to my daughter. That fragile girl stands to benefit from its protection far more than I do at this stage in my life.”

Rapori offered a soft, affectionate smile, looking every bit the doting parent.

‘…Must be nice.’

Observing the genuine happiness radiating from the man as he reflected on his family, Harris couldn’t help but let out a faint, self-deprecating smile.

“The journey to this realm must have been incredibly taxing for you, Harris. Witnessing you earn the acknowledgment of the World Tree the very moment you set foot here brings me a profound sense of fulfillment, as though my efforts have truly mattered in the end.”

“In the end?”

“I am reaching the age where retirement is the sensible choice. This particular assignment to the Ion Continent marks the conclusion of my formal duties.”

Harris simply blinked, staring at him in silence.

To his eyes, the man looked like a perfectly sculpted youth in his early thirties with flawless features.

“Ah, to be clear, I won’t be abandoning my post instantaneously, as our ranks are currently spread rather thin. However, my days of operating on the front lines are drawing to a close.”

Misinterpreting the blank stare, the veteran adjusted his explanation slightly.

“It brings me immense peace of mind to know that a new High Elf has successfully entered the world.”

“I… understand. That is wonderful to hear.”

Naturally, Harris chose not to state the obvious out loud.

He was currently living among the Elves, a demographic globally renowned for their seemingly ageless countenances.

—

The Enamel Continent, which served as the homeland for the Elven Kingdom, possessed a landmass that was less than a fifth of the sprawling Ion Continent they had previously traversed.

Even so, that was primarily because the Ion Continent was a massive anomaly within the world of Auterica; the Enamel Continent itself was by no means small.

The Elven Kingdom occupied the northwestern territory of this land.

‘This is a far cry from the mental image I had built up.’

Likely due to the various fictional depictions back on Earth, he had always envisioned Elves as ethereal woodland spirits. He held a rigid stereotype of them as strict herbivores residing exclusively in treehouses, completely detached from industrialization…

‘Yet this society is remarkably advanced. They even have active street performers.’

Granted, there were plenty of wooden residences integrated directly into giant branches, fitting his original expectations, but those sat alongside sturdy stone complexes erected right on the soil.

‘The way they seamlessly integrate sustainable design into advanced architecture is brilliant.’

He had noted this throughout his travels after arriving in the Elven Kingdom, but the level of architectural sophistication here was undeniable.

‘Then again, it makes sense given that this is the heart of the nation.’

This place was ‘Drasha’, the proud capital city of the Elven Kingdom.

The metropolitan area, acting as a bridge between dense forestry and advanced urban planning, expanded outward from the massive World Tree, projecting a distinct, captivating allure.

At this very moment, Harris found himself situated inside a sprawling facility.

The structure was beautifully woven into the framework of a massive tree—a concept completely alien to Earth engineering, even if it paled in comparison to the scale of the World Tree itself.

A broad stone foundation wrapped around the lower root system, while intricate wooden platforms climbed along the natural contours of the massive trunk.

Within this architectural masterpiece…

“Your name is Harris, correct? Word around here is that you traveled all the way from the Ion Continent alongside Lady Cecily, is that accurate?”

“I’ve been told that region is completely hostile to life. And that Lady Cecily found herself in an incredibly perilous predicament…”

“Yes, I caught wind of that as well. Rumor has it things would have ended disastrously if Lord Rapori hadn’t arrived in the nick of time.”

A group of younger Elves kept up an unceasing barrage of chatter around him.

‘Every single one of them technically has decades on me, but by their race’s standards, they’re basically teenagers.’

Visually, they seemed to fall anywhere between their mid-teens and their early twenties. Drasha Academy served as the institution where the most gifted youths of the Elven Kingdom were sent to train once they came of age.

It was an establishment designed to mold the future leaders and protectors of the realm.

By all metrics, Harris had been placed on the fast track to the elite tier.

“Hahaha… Yeah, that’s right… Oh, as for me, I managed just fine. My comrades were incredibly dependable. Truly.”

The overwhelming surge of social attention was leaving him feeling rather drained, but…

He reminded himself that these students had only ever experienced the wider world through the pages of texts and verbal lore, making their intense curiosity entirely justifiable.

He wasn’t merely a traveler from a neighboring town; he was a person who had crossed an entire ocean from an entirely different landmass.

Furthermore, they were now peers studying in the same facility.

“Back then, I made a living as a sellsword. I lacked even a basic understanding of spirit arts at the time, so my combat style relied almost exclusively on physical conditioning…”

The current lecture on theory had just concluded, giving way to a brief recess. Just as Harris began sharing a few tailored tales to help build rapport with his new classmates,

*Thud—!*

The abrupt, heavy sound instantly drew the attention of everyone in the room.

A young woman with deep blue hair had risen to her feet, slamming both palms down onto her writing desk. Showing zero signs of self-consciousness under the collective gaze of the room, she tilted her chin upward, casting a deeply condescending look across the space.

“The sheer volume in here is making it impossible to focus. Mind keeping it down?”

While her reprimand technically addressed the entire crowd hovering around Harris, her sharp blue eyes were locked directly onto his face.

The expression she wore was thoroughly hostile.

‘What is her problem? Why the intense glare?’

Even if the commotion surrounding him had genuinely disrupted her peace, such an aggressive outburst felt entirely uncalled for.

While he stood there trying to deduce why a complete stranger would harbor such animosity toward him, the crowd began to react.

“Ah… maybe we did let things get a bit out of hand…”

“Ahem… apologies for the disturbance.”

“We’ll catch up later, Harris. You can finish the story then.”

One by one, the students who had flocked to his side began to slip away quietly, visibly intimidated by her demeanor as they retreated to their respective workspaces.

The sudden silence certainly provided some breathing room, but the sheer awkwardness of the encounter left him completely bewildered.

‘She must wield a significant amount of authority around here.’

His eyes drifted back toward the individual who had single-handedly frozen the room’s energy.

Her long, vibrant blue hair was meticulously styled, her sharp eyes curved upward at the edges, and her posture carried an undeniable aura of absolute supremacy that went far beyond mere vanity.

‘Yeah, she definitely comes from high society.’

And she seemed like an incredibly high-maintenance individual at that.

Up to this point, nearly every Elf he had interacted with had been a model of courtesy and benevolence, making this encounter a jarring departure from the norm.

Once the daily instruction reached its conclusion, the situation developed further.

“Hmph—”

As she made her way past his desk, the woman paused briefly, turning her head to give him a slow, critical evaluation from head to toe.

Her eyes paused for a fraction of a second on the accessory adorning his wrist before she let out a dismissive click of her tongue. Turning away, she swept out of the lecture hall alongside a small entourage, her movements perfectly poised.

‘What on earth was that about?’

As he stood there trying to process the bizarre interaction, the low murmurs of the remaining students reached his ears, filling in the blanks.

Her identity was Shapiron Silvesty.

Unsurprisingly, her lineage was incredibly distinguished.

While the social structure of the Elves recognized no formal hierarchy outside of the revered High Elves, historical pedigree naturally granted certain ancestral lines an immense amount of social leverage.

This was doubly true for a house that had played a pivotal role in establishing the Elven Kingdom during the historical era of the Great Migration to the Enamel Continent.

Yet, buried within the rumors surrounding her background, there was one specific detail that caught Harris completely off guard.

‘Well, that is an unexpected twist.’

As it turned out, that haughty young woman was none other than…

The sole daughter of the High Elf ‘Rapori Granwood’, the very man with whom he had just shared a friendly acquaintance.