The Ninth Section: The Capital of Elves

  After walking for five more days, we finally arrived at our destination, the Elf City of Ampleforth, which means Sacred Land in Elvish!

  Shocking! That's my first feeling! The Elf Capital Anpufer gives me this feeling.

  The city of El'goroth, Anpufer, spans dozens of miles in diameter and is extremely large, forming a perfect circle. The city does not use stone or steel, but instead uses trees as building materials, which are living trees rather than lumber. The city wall is composed of a special type of tree that grows close together, with no branches, only thick and round trunks, each with a diameter of over 1 meter. There are more than ten rows of these trees, which are cut off at a height of over ten meters above the ground, forming a platform where El'goroth warriors patrol. The outer side of the city wall is covered with vines as thick as an arm, and there are many sharp thorns on the vines that are about 1 inch long, with a greenish color, apparently highly toxic. Outside the wall is a 500-meter-wide open space, with no trees, only grasslands and several roads. The grassland must be extraordinary, otherwise, there would be no need to build special roads. After all, Anpufer, the city of El'goroth, does not have a gate! Why would you need a road without a gate? It's clear that the grassland is problematic!

  Our arrival immediately set the entire elven kingdom abuzz, and soon they were packed onto the city walls and roads to welcome their princess. Our entourage was cheered and escorted into the city, passing over the city walls by floating slowly with magic. Inside the city, there were tree houses everywhere, each one a hollowed-out ancient tree dozens of meters in diameter, used as dwellings by the elves. The treetops all touched together, making the entire city seem like it was covered by a giant lid, although this lid had many gaps to let sunlight shine through to the ground. In the center of the city, there was an enormous tree house with a diameter of 500 meters and roughly the same height - probably the palace. Along the way, Mother enthusiastically greeted familiar elves, waving her hand excitedly and nodding constantly, as if she knew all these elven people, and we were carried by the crowd to the entrance of the imperial palace!

  As I walked closer to observe the palace, I found that it was not comparable to human palaces in terms of grandeur and majesty, but it had a unique rustic elegance. Its doors, windows, stairs, railings, etc. were all made from large trees that had grown naturally with some modifications. With its massive size, it had an air of dignity. As I observed this peculiar palace, my mother suddenly jumped up and hugged two elegantly dressed fairies at the entrance, bursting into tears. At this moment, the surrounding fairies also fell silent, with many wiping away their tears. They took a while to compose themselves after reuniting with joy. My mother brought me over and introduced me to them, saying: "This is my youngest son!" Then she told me, "Quickly call Grandma and Auntie!"

  "But who's the grandma and who's the aunt?" I 'innocently' asked.

  "Haha" Everyone around me was amused, no way the lifespan of the elves is over 500, Auntie is 120, and Grandma is 300, but Grandma's cultivation is extremely high, one of the top five powers on the mainland, so she looks as young as Auntie, it's really hard to tell.

  "This is Grandma!" After Mom had laughed enough while covering her belly, she pointed at the sprite wearing a crown and said

  "Hello Grandma!" I hastily said

  "Good, my grandson is so well-behaved." The grandmother said happily.

  "Hello, Auntie!" I said to another fairy person.

  "Good, little guy you're so cute! Come and let Auntie hug!" Auntie hugged me in her arms and gave me a big kiss.

  Wow! I can't take it anymore! It's too exciting, my little face is all red. Ah~ I really want to do it again!

  "Come on, hurry up and go in, don't stand outside!" Grandma said

  I was carried by my aunt to the living room on the second floor, where only a few elder spirits and our family could stay. Everyone sat down to listen to Mom's story! I looked around at the decorations, the chandelier was made of magic crystal stone, the windows were inlaid with the best glass (such glass is now as expensive as white silver), the floor was covered with magical beast skin, and everyone was sitting on a sofa, absolutely genuine leather. In short, everything here is very luxurious! Compared to it, at least the palace of the Great Han Empire looks shabby. They were still listening to Mom's story, each one concentrating intently. Finally, she finished telling the story of my 'miserable' experience. My aunt immediately jumped up, wanting to take people to destroy that archbishop. After being persuaded by everyone, I was moved for a moment, didn't expect someone else would stand up for me one day!

  "Come here and let grandma take a look!"

  "Alright!" I hurried over, this was the last chance after all.

  My grandmother grasped my hand and sent a surge of magic into me, which circulated in my body for several rounds before being withdrawn. She lowered her head to think for a moment, then said, "Let the elders take a look too!" I was thus tossed around for a while, and they murmured among themselves in debate for another while, until Grandma finally said to Mom, "This situation is rather tricky; you all stay here first, we'll go find some materials. If it really doesn't work out, I'll go ask the Fairy Queen herself - she's sure to be able to solve it."

  "Alright, but must we really disturb Her Majesty the Queen?" Mother asked

  "It's probably really needed!" The grandma nodded and said: "Alright, everyone take a rest first, I'll be hosting a welcome party tonight!"

  Everyone cheered and left, but Grandma stopped Auntie and said: "Write a letter to the Pope and tell him I'm very dissatisfied with this! Ask him to give me an explanation, or else I'll clean up his temple for him!" When she said this, a majestic aura burst out of her body, it seems that this is the true face of one of the five strongest people!

  I had some snacks with my mom and then came to rest in my mother's former bedroom.

  "Mom, who is the Elf Queen?" I asked

  "She is the queen of the elemental spirits, our two tribes are interdependent but do not live together, they are in the deepest part of the Spirit Forest, and we spirit humans are guarding the gate for them."

  "Is she even more fierce than grandma?"

  "Of course, the Elf Queen is a nearly divine existence, that's a super magician who can release 15th-level magic!"

  "Why isn't she one of the Five Great Powers then? And wasn't it said that 12th-level magic is already a forbidden spell? How can there be a 15th level?"

  "Haha, she's not human, but an elemental spirit. Like the dragon tribe, they don't participate in the human ranking system. Otherwise, wouldn't all the thousands of dragons on Dragon Island be stronger than the Five Greats? As for magic classification, we categorize it based on the amount of magical power used to release it. 12th-level magic is the limit for humans. A great mage can cast 11th-level magic, and if they can cast 12th-level magic, we call them a 'Law God.' In history, there have been 12 Law Gods, but none exist now. However, there was once a Dragon Law God who cast 13th-level magic; she had a special opportunity, so it's an exception. Then there are the successive Popes, whose Great Prophecy technique has power around the 13th level, but they borrow the power of the gods and need to pay with their life force as compensation. They won't take action unless absolutely necessary. The Dragon Tribe's elders, also known as the Dragon Kings, can cast around 13th-level dragon language magic. Black dragons and white dragons are exceptions; black dragon elders can only use up to 2nd level, while white dragons can use 14th level. Apart from that, the elemental spirit tribe is the strongest. The Queen can cast 15th-level super-restricted spells, while the Spirit King can cast up to 12th-level magic restricted spells. My mother has made a contract with a fire-elemental spirit king and can borrow its abilities. Do you understand now?" Mother patiently explained to me.

  "That's saying grandma is also 'Law God' La?"

  "It's fine, I suppose, that you've reached this level of power. But all the fairy queens in our history have had this ability, so we don't need to use human terms!"

  "Oh, I see!"

  "Alright, you're also tired, go to sleep first, there's still a lively show tonight! Mom will go and deal with things first." After saying that, mom left.

  I'm not sleepy at all, so I started chatting with the quilt on and under the bed.

  "What kind of bears does your family have at home?" I curiously asked

  "Home? We Great Earth Bears don't need that sort of thing. I've been wandering ever since Mother drove me away from her side 200 years ago!"

  "Oh dear, what a poor kid! Do you have any friends?"

  "Whoa! Got one!"

  "Really? I was just casually asking, didn't expect it to be true!"

  "Of course, we also have friends!"

  "Is it just a bear?"

  "No, it's a young green dragon, we are sworn friends!"

  "Have you been to Ryukyu Islands?"

  "No, we met on the snowy mountain at the edge of the Spirit Forest, its nest is there!"

  "Isn't the Dragon Clan living on Dragon Island?"

  "Most of them are in, and some who like cleanliness live on their own on the mainland."

  "How did you meet?"

  "How else could we have met? I went to the snowy mountain to wander around, it thought I was there to steal things and started a fight. We were both underage, neither of us had any way to restrain each other. I couldn't hit the dragon flying in the sky, and it had no way to break through my defense either. So we sat down together and chatted, and slowly became friends."

  "What an extraordinary experience!"

  Unconsciously, it was already evening, and my mother sent someone to take me to the party. I hurriedly jumped onto Gai's back and followed the person to my mother's place. At this time, the Elf City was bustling with excitement. One by one, the light balls formed by the illumination technique were placed under the eaves of the tree houses, making the Elf City shine like daylight. Everywhere was filled with the joyful songs and laughter of the elves. I found my mom and grandma in the square in front of the palace gate, they were hand in hand with ordinary elves, singing and dancing together, without any airs of royalty. When my mother saw me, she pulled me down from Gai's back and we jumped together. I was also infected by the joyful atmosphere, accompanying them until dawn. How many years has it been since I've had so much fun? For the first time, I felt hopeful about this strange world. What a wonderful night!