Chapter 39: Come, little, decaying Elf Mother Tree... Come here...

"This poor tree," Dixio said with heartfelt sympathy.

Shu Li nodded.

The tree had nearly shed all its leaves and looked utterly miserable, as though it had been ravaged by pests and severe malnutrition. It really was pitiful.

Any tree from the Faerie Forest would have been far more lush and flourishing than this one.

How strange. Why was there such a shabby-looking tree inside the Crystal Castle?

Elves and Fairies possessed a natural affinity for plants. They were all gifted cultivators.

Outside the city walls, the villages were surrounded by fruit trees and wheat fields, with thriving greenery everywhere. So why were the trees inside the Crystal Castle showing signs of withering instead?

Weren't Elves supposed to be skilled at magic?

If a tree wasn't growing well, they could either pray to the Wood God or cast wood magic and bring it back to life in minutes.

If ordinary Elves weren't powerful enough, they could always ask the Elven King to intervene.

Yet, incomprehensibly, this tree seemed to have been abandoned. Not only had the Elves failed to care for it properly, but it even exuded a terrifying aura of death.

It might be ugly, but it was genuinely pitiful. The longer Shu Li looked at it, the more uncomfortable he felt.

He left the window and returned to the bed. Taking his notebook from his storage ring, he began memorizing Elven vocabulary.

Although the Midsummer Festival came with a seven-day holiday, he couldn't afford to fall behind in his studies.

The other cubs could play to their hearts' content, but he couldn't.

His foundation was too poor. He had to complete the assignments set by Jingjing, their star student, every day just to keep pace with the other cubs.

How could the gap between one Fairy and another be so vast?

Shu Li sighed softly, lowered his head, and silently memorized the Elven words in his notebook alongside their Chinese translations.

Dixio usually studied with him, but since today was a holiday, he had no interest in learning. Seeing his leader working hard to memorize vocabulary, he left the room to visit the cubs next door.

The room next door belonged to Angel and Budno.

Stuffed from his meal, Budno couldn't be bothered to move. He sprawled across a soft pillow, drowsy and half asleep.

Angel was lively and restless. When he spotted an ornament on the table that resembled a slide, he immediately climbed up to play on it.

"Wow! Hahaha, this is so much fun! Budno, come play!"

After sliding down twice, Angel called for his friend to join him.

"No, no." Budno rubbed his overstuffed belly and languidly refused. He was so full that he feared he would vomit if he moved even slightly.

When Dixio arrived, Angel was tugging on Budno's hand, trying to make him get up and play with him while working off some of his meal.

Budno lay limp on the pillow like a beached fish, resolutely refusing to budge. His sharp eyes caught sight of Dixio, and he immediately shouted, "Dixio, hurry up and play with Angel!"

Unable to drag the chubby cub to his feet, Angel switched targets and pulled Dixio over to play on the "slide" atop the table.

The other cubs were all busy with their own activities. Not a single one was obediently taking a nap.

Aisha went from room to room, urging them to settle down.

"Little darlings, we're going to the island in the middle of Lake Shengze'an this afternoon. Hurry and take your naps, or you won't have enough energy for tonight's bonfire dance."

"Wow! A bonfire dance! I love those!"

The cubs cheered. Gently encouraged by Aisha, they obediently climbed into bed one after another.

When Aisha reached Shu Li's door and heard how quiet it was inside, she assumed both cubs were already lying down and sleeping. But when she opened the door, she found only Sperien sitting on the bed and studying diligently. Dixio was nowhere to be seen.

She approached the bed, bent down, and asked, "Sperien, is Dixio not here?"

Shu Li put down his notebook and rubbed his slightly aching eyes. "Dixio should be next door."

Fairy cubs were energetic and playful. Redhead had probably gone next door because he was afraid of disturbing Shu Li.

Aisha nodded to show that she understood. Her gaze swept over the thick notebook in the little cub's hands, and she smiled.

"We're on holiday now. Relaxing a little won't interfere with your studies."

"I know... I'll go to sleep after I finish memorizing these words," Shu Li said.

He wanted to play to his heart's content and enjoy a leisurely holiday like the other cubs, but his circumstances wouldn't allow it!

If he was slow at learning Elven, he had no right to indulge himself.

Before transmigrating, he could simply give up and laze around if he couldn't learn English. After all, his parents and brothers were there to protect him.

After transmigrating, failing to learn Elven would make him illiterate. Compared with all the other brilliant cubs, even he would feel ashamed of himself.

To integrate into this other world properly, he had no choice but to force himself to study.

Besides, his previous adventure in the forest had made him keenly aware of the importance of learning a foreign language.

If he hadn't been able to speak Elven back then, he probably wouldn't have been able to communicate with the magical beasts in the forest at all. Without communication, he never would have received help from Mr. Serpent or the plump bird.

In short, reality had forced him to grow.

Seeing that the little cub was determined, Aisha stopped trying to persuade him. She merely reminded him to rest early and conserve enough energy for the festivities that afternoon and the bonfire dance that evening.

On the way to the Elven Kingdom, Shu Li had heard the adolescent Fairies talk about the events held during the Midsummer Festival. Now that Aisha had mentioned them again, he found himself eagerly anticipating the evening's festivities.

"By the way, Aisha, what's wrong with the tree outside?"

Suddenly remembering the ugly tree beyond the window, Shu Li called out to Aisha before she could leave and asked curiously.

"The tree outside?" Aisha turned toward the window and pointed to the strange old tree in the courtyard. "Do you mean that one?"

"Yes." Shu Li put away his notebook, spread his wings, and flew to the window. Resting both hands against the transparent crystal, he frowned. "Is it sick? It's almost bald and hardly has any leaves. It looks listless, as though it's about to wither."

Aisha walked quietly to the window and sighed.

"It is the mother tree that gives birth to Elves."

"What?" Shu Li's eyes widened in astonishment. He pointed incredulously at the "ugly tree." "You... You're saying that's the Elven mother tree? How can that be?"

Fairies and Elves were both children created by the Light God. Aside from their physical differences, they were also born in different ways.

Fairies were born from flower buds, while Elves emerged from the fruit of the mother tree.

The Fairy Nursery was beautiful, filled with precious flowers, plants, and trees, and overflowing with vitality.

He had assumed the Elven mother tree would also grow in some special place, where the Elves would tend to it with meticulous care.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the Elven mother tree would grow directly in the courtyard where the Elven cubs lived. Not only had it not been properly cared for, but it was bare and completely devoid of vitality.

Looking at the shock on the cub's face, Aisha explained sorrowfully, "Ever since the War of the Gods ten thousand years ago, the number of cubs produced by the Elven mother tree has steadily declined. It went from bearing fifty fruits at a time to ten, then five, then one... Until five hundred years ago, when the mother tree stopped flowering and bearing fruit altogether. The Elves tried countless methods, but none of them worked. All they could do was watch helplessly as it withered."

"Couldn't the Elven King do anything?" Shu Li asked.

Aisha shook her head. "No."

If the Elven King had possessed a solution, the Elven mother tree would not be approaching death.

Yes, death.

No one knew what was wrong with the Elven mother tree, but it could no longer absorb the power bestowed upon it by the Light God. Once all its leaves had fallen, it would vanish into nothingness.

When that happened, there might never be another Elven cub.

Although Elves were a long-lived race, they could still die.

They could succumb to grievous wounds, be killed by a powerful enemy, fall victim to a terrible curse, or be corrupted by dark power.

There were now fewer than two thousand Elves. With no new Elven cubs being born, the Elven race stood on the brink of extinction.

After receiving that answer, Shu Li's frown deepened. He felt even more sympathy for the "ugly tree" outside.

"Then... what about the Light God?"

He remembered the scene he had witnessed in the illusion.

During Midsummer Festivals in the past, the Elven King had invited the gods to celebrate alongside the Elves. When the Light God descended upon the Crystal Castle and saw the Elven mother tree withering by the day, wouldn't he have tried to save it?

Aisha reached out and gently stroked the cub, then said regretfully, "After the War of the Gods, the passage connecting the mortal realm to the Hall of the Gods shattered. We could no longer invite the gods to celebrate the Midsummer Festival with us."

"What?" Shu Li's pale green eyes widened in surprise. "You... You mean... the gods no longer have any contact with the mortal realm?"

"That's right," Aisha said solemnly.

"But..." Shu Li scratched his head and asked in confusion, "Then how does magic work?"

Didn't they have to invoke a god's true name whenever they recited an incantation?

If the passage had shattered, how could the gods communicate with the mortal realm? How could they answer a mage's prayers?

Aisha froze for a moment, then laughed. "Magic relies upon magical power. An incantation is merely an incantation."

In other words, invoking a god's true name at the beginning of a magical incantation served both to express respect for the god and to command the natural elements to obey the mage.

Of course, there was still a chance that a god might hear the prayer, respond to it, and increase the spell's power.

That possibility, however, was vanishingly small.

Even Elves and Fairies, who were known as the favored children of the Light God, rarely received a response from him when casting magic.

This was the first time Shu Li had learned that the section invoking a god's true name at the beginning of an incantation wasn't strictly necessary. It was merely part of the standard format.

"Then when you recite an incantation, can you leave out the part praising the god?" he asked.

"Leave it out?" Amused by the little cub, Aisha laughed. "I'm afraid not."

"Why?" Shu Li didn't understand. Wouldn't reciting one less section reduce the spell's cooldown?

When playing games, players always complained that mages took too long to cast spells. They would try every possible way to enchant their equipment, reduce casting time, and increase casting speed.

Mages in the real world could take shortcuts too!

"Although incantations can be phrased in many different ways, their basic format and structure remain unchanged," Aisha explained. "If you alter them recklessly, the spell's effectiveness will be drastically reduced, or the spell might fail entirely."

Long ago, some mages had decided that incantations were too lengthy and hampered their attack speed. They had devoted themselves to researching instantaneous spellcasting, but unfortunately, no one had succeeded in the past ten thousand years.

Still, Aisha didn't want to dampen the little cub's enthusiasm, so she offered him a little encouragement.

"When you begin learning magic, perhaps you can give it a try. If you do succeed, you can teach us too."

Shu Li knew that Aisha was only humoring him, but he still gave the matter serious thought.

What if?

What if he succeeded?

Dreams could come true. Perhaps one day, he really would succeed.

After seeing Aisha out, he yawned, flew back to the bed, found a small corner, and burrowed beneath the soft blankets to take his afternoon nap.

Dixio returned shortly afterward.

Things had gotten completely out of hand in the room next door. The cubs had all fought over the "slide" and nearly come to blows.

The chubby cub had clearly said that his stomach was too full for him to play, but after seeing Dixio and Angel having so much fun, he hadn't been able to resist joining them.

As they played, the cubs started fighting over who got to go first.

When Aisha entered and urged them to take their afternoon nap, Dixio and Budno were locked in a staring contest. Whoever blinked first would lose.

But before either of them could win, the contest was interrupted.

Dixio's little mouth jutted out in an enormous pout as he flew back to his room in a huff.

He had planned to complain to his leader at length, only to discover that his leader was already in bed and asleep.

His mouth drooped unhappily. Looking thoroughly aggrieved, he lay down beside Shu Li and pressed himself against Shu Li's back to sleep.

Once he had slept enough and recovered his energy, he would challenge the chubby cub again.

Shu Li wasn't fully asleep. He cracked open his eyes and saw Redhead lying beside him, his cheeks puffed up like a little frog's. Reaching out, he patted Dixio's back and mumbled, "There, there. Don't be mad."

He didn't even need to guess. Dixio must have had a minor quarrel with Budno while playing next door.

Those two cubs seemed to have been at odds ever since the day they were born.

"Mmm..." Dixio's anger faded. He nuzzled against Shu Li, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Before long, Shu Li also sank into a deep sleep.

He had no idea how long he had been asleep when he vaguely heard an ethereal voice calling to him over and over.

"Come... Come here... little cub... Come to me..."

At first, Shu Li ignored it. He rolled over and continued sleeping.

But the voice persisted, as though it were whispering directly into his ear.

"Come here... little cub... I need your help..."

The noise woke Shu Li. He struggled upright and stared blankly out the window.

Although his body was moving, his mind had not fully awakened. Listening to that bewitching voice, he unconsciously left the bed and flew unsteadily toward the window.

At some point, the window had opened a crack wide enough for a little cub to pass through freely.

Shu Li flew toward the narrow opening, easily squeezed through it, and arrived before the Elven mother tree.