On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

A/N: I don’t know what happened—I can’t delete the garbage, which is the repetition of the same paragraphs!

———

“This is the brightest place in Amizanima Forest, the Dark Elves Kingdom, Lysimork!” Arieda exclaims.

I turn to Arieda and quirk my eyebrow in interest. None of us has got down from our mount even though we have arrived, and it is clear that no one can see the Kingdom that she has just boasted about.

I can see nothing but darkness in front of me, so I wonder if there is a certain Magic Barrier protecting the Kingdom, which hides it completely from anyone’s eyes.

That is highly likely to be the case, but I can’t be sure since even my Indigo Rank Mask can’t detect any Mana flow in front of me.

“You may not be able to see it now, but rest assured. You are about to see it.” Arieda turns to me. “Believe not always what your eyes perceive.” She puts her hand on her chest. “Sometimes your heart sees more than your eyes do.”

I shake my head faintly when I notice the other Dark Elves nod their head as if they are enlightened. I enjoy literature—don’t get me wrong—but I will rarely quote any poetic words that sound beautiful but actually an utter bullshit.

These people seem they do, so it is kind of a surprise to me. I never expected this Magical world still has this kind of people even though they can literally do anything with Magic.

“My heart just knows how to beat, so it can’t see.” I shrug lightly, ignoring Arieda’s slightly helpless smile.

Rumble.

When I feel the ground shaking, I instinctively turn to look at the front. I can see a spark of light blinking faintly; it is getting bigger and brighter in each passing second.

“Behold, the sight of our magnificent Kingdom!”

Before long, the shape of an extremely massive dome becomes even more apparent. The dome is black in colour, but I can somehow spot it clearly within the darkness in the forest.

In the next moment, the light on the peak of the dome explodes and covers the entire dome. The dome gradually becomes even more transparent, and only then can we see what it is covering.

There is a city—a country, or I should say, a vast territory filled with unique buildings in front of us. Most of the buildings are made from woods—some are even just houses integrated into a tree—but it still looks sophisticated.

Miles away from us, I can see the three big buildings with an impressive design and pointy roofs. I am sure they are the palaces of the three rulers of the Kingdom, one of which is where Arieda’s parents live.

People are passing by in front of us; and naturally, as Cursed Creations, Eliseus, Vibiane, and I attract their attention. Luckily, they are quick to shrug our presence off, so, at least, I don’t feel so outlandish.

Taking a deep breath, I can’t wait any longer to step inside the dome. I can already tell, for some reason, the air that I currently breathe in will taste different from the air inside.

“Welcome to Lysimork Kingdom, everyone,” Arieda mutters proudly.

With Elorand in the lead, we enter the dome.𝒐𝑽𝑳xt.𝑐𝗈𝔪

Whoosh!

The wind that blows my face feels like a greeting directly from the trees inside. As I expected, the air tastes different, and also smells different.

While the air on the outside is fresh, it lacks the sense of livingness that the air the Kingdom has. I could almost smell death outside; but here, I can smell life in the air—it is lively.

Other than that, the temperature here is considerably higher than outside. I can pee and watch my urine freeze outside; but here, it is just as cold as early autumn, which is quite warm considering this world’s average temperature.

That makes me wonder what causes the temperature to be different, which also brings me to the question of how this place is very well illuminated even though I can’t detect any Magic utilization. Sunlight, after all, can’t penetrate the forest.

“Oh… Interesting,” I mutter in astonishment.

“Magic is not always the answer, you know?” Arieda chuckles.

I find the answer not too long after. When I look up to the sky, I find the branches of the extremely thick and big trees covering almost all of it; these branches are the source of the light.

The branches themselves don’t shine, but their inside does. The Dark Elves must have peeled the bark or cut some chunk of the branches to let the light they contain inside out.

“Does it make you wonder?”

“Yes?” Eliseus surprises me by suddenly throwing a question when I am admiring the branches. “Yeah, it makes me wonder where the light comes from.”

“You do wonder a lot,” Eliseus remarks. “What is your hypothesis?”

“I have two. First, the cambium of the tree naturally shines. Second, the tree produces a certain sap that can glow. I am inclined to believe the former though, since any fluorescent substance needs to be exposed to light first before they can glow.”

“… I can barely understand the last part of your words.” Eliseus blinks her eyes and shakes her head. “Your hypotheses are both right, but it’s actually nowhere near as complicated. It is the part that the tree bark protects that shines.”

“Is it covered with some kind of fluorescent substance?”

“I don’t know what fluorescent is, but I think you are talking about the sap.” Eliseus looks up. “The leaves of the tree absorb the sunlight, and keep it in the sap. The part that the bark covers, the cambium, as you like to say, is the container of the sap.”

Humming to myself, I say, “Can I make a light stick with these branches?”

“Yes, you can,” Arieda chimes in. “You can’t do it without presenting the trees something though. In our experience, the trees prefer the male’s antenna.”

“Antenna?” I frown lightly. “What do you—oh… Nah, I’ll pass. It is not worth it. My junior has more worth than a light stick. Anyway, what is the required sacrifice for females?”

“It’s the same,” Arieda smiles pleasantly. “Some of our maidens have their lover’s cut just to get the shining branch.”

“…”

Gazing at Arieda silently for a couple of seconds, I turn my eyes away afterwards. She now looks like the girl that will do that to her partner, so I am in the process of cutting her off; I can’t befriend a soon-to-be crazy chick.

“Hahaha. I was just kidding, Mr. Layland.” Arieda laughs gleefully. “There is no such thing as cutting the male’s antenna to obtain the branch; it is not something sacred. You can take it freely, but we decide how much you can take.”

“Your joke is not funny, kid.”

Shrugging, Arieda turns to Eliseus and talks with her again. I refocus my attention to the road—we are heading toward the palaces—and ignore the tap on my shoulders.

I have spoken to Calean, the Elf behind me once, and I find him annoying. He has so many things to ask, but doesn’t realize that he often rephrases the same question.

I feel like talking to a block of cheese, so I ignore his attempt to strike a conversation with me from times to time. I am doing the same currently, but he has got creative with his way to make me speak.

“Hey, hey, Layland, how can you be so good at riding a Varadome? I mean, how in the world could you control it perfectly when we were climbing the trees?! It was so awesome, you know? I am not even that daring to ride it so fast.”

“Huuh…” I sigh. “You speak a lot, don’t you? If I were your father, I would name you Larynx instead of Calean.”

“Woah! That sounds cool—Larynx. Do you learn foreign languages? You have been saying foreign words a lot!” Calean pauses, before saying, “Oh, by the way, in Elven culture, the mother is the one who gives their child their name, so you have to be my—”

“Forget that!” I interrupt. “Let’s just… Let’s talk about Varadomes.”

“Oh! That’s what I have been waiting for!”

Harrumphing in annoyance, I start answering each one of Calean’s questions for the rest of the ride to the Palace. I answer them as short as possible to not waste my time explaining the same thing again.

Just like that, roughly ten minutes passed. Calean still has many questions about my skill in handling a Varadome, but I am ignoring him because we have already arrived at the palace—I will have to endure him until the King shows up.

“Now, we have arrived at my house!” Arieda exclaims. “Let’s get down, and meet my mother.”

As I get down from the Varadome, I take a good look at the Palace in front of me. It is not as big as our Demon King’s Castle, but it is tall enough to be considered a skyscraper.

In fact, the Palace is the tallest building here. It is even taller and bigger than the two other palaces on its sides.

Thud!

The door of the palace suddenly opens when we are climbing the stairs. Standing in the doorway is a regal looking, beautiful and charismatic female Dark Elf wearing a crown on her head and a lovely grey gown.

Arieda resembles her a lot, so I can tell the lady is her mother—one of the Queens of this Kingdom.

———

“This is the brightest place in Amizanima Forest, the Dark Elves Kingdom, Lysimork!” Arieda exclaims.

I turn to Arieda and quirk my eyebrow in interest. None of us has got down from our mount even though we have arrived, and it is clear that no one can see the Kingdom that she has just boasted about.

I can see nothing but darkness in front of me, so I wonder if there is a certain Magic Barrier protecting the Kingdom, which hides it completely from anyone’s eyes.

That is highly likely to be the case, but I can’t be sure since even my Indigo Rank Mask can’t detect any Mana flow in front of me.

“You may not be able to see it now, but rest assured. You are about to see it.” Arieda turns to me. “Believe not always what your eyes perceive.” She puts her hand on her chest. “Sometimes your heart sees more than your eyes do.”

I shake my head faintly when I notice the other Dark Elves nod their head as if they are enlightened. I enjoy literature—don’t get me wrong—but I will rarely quote any poetic words that sound beautiful but actually an utter bullshit.

These people seem they do, so it is kind of a surprise to me. I never expected this Magical world still has this kind of people even though they can literally do anything with Magic.

“My heart just knows how to beat, so it can’t see.” I shrug lightly, ignoring Arieda’s slightly helpless smile.

Rumble.

When I feel the ground shaking, I instinctively turn to look at the front. I can see a spark of light blinking faintly; it is getting bigger and brighter in each passing second.

“Behold, the sight of our magnificent Kingdom!”

Before long, the shape of an extremely massive dome becomes even more apparent. The dome is black in colour, but I can somehow spot it clearly within the darkness in the forest.

In the next moment, the light on the peak of the dome explodes and covers the entire dome. The dome gradually becomes even more transparent, and only then can we see what it is covering.

There is a city—a country, or I should say, a vast territory filled with unique buildings in front of us. Most of the buildings are made from woods—some are even just houses integrated into a tree—but it still looks sophisticated.

Miles away from us, I can see the three big buildings with an impressive design and pointy roofs. I am sure they are the palaces of the three rulers of the Kingdom, one of which is where Arieda’s parents live.

People are passing by in front of us; and naturally, as Cursed Creations, Eliseus, Vibiane, and I attract their attention. Luckily, they are quick to shrug our presence off, so, at least, I don’t feel so outlandish.

Taking a deep breath, I can’t wait any longer to step inside the dome. I can already tell, for some reason, the air that I currently breathe in will taste different from the air inside.

“Welcome to Lysimork Kingdom, everyone,” Arieda mutters proudly.

With Elorand in the lead, we enter the dome.

Whoosh!

The wind that blows my face feels like a greeting directly from the trees inside. As I expected, the air tastes different, and also smells different.

While the air on the outside is fresh, it lacks the sense of livingness that the air the Kingdom has. I could almost smell death outside; but here, I can smell life in the air—it is lively.

Other than that, the temperature here is considerably higher than outside. I can pee and watch my urine freeze outside; but here, it is just as cold as early autumn, which is quite warm considering this world’s average temperature.

That makes me wonder what causes the temperature to be different, which also brings me to the question of how this place is very well illuminated even though I can’t detect any Magic utilization. Sunlight, after all, can’t penetrate the forest.

“Oh… Interesting,” I mutter in astonishment.

“Magic is not always the answer, you know?” Arieda chuckles.

I find the answer not too long after. When I look up to the sky, I find the branches of the extremely thick and big trees covering almost all of it; these branches are the source of the light.

The branches themselves don’t shine, but their inside does. The Dark Elves must have peeled the bark or cut some chunk of the branches to let the light they contain inside out.

“Does it make you wonder?”

“Yes?” Eliseus surprises me by suddenly throwing a question when I am admiring the branches. “Yeah, it makes me wonder where the light comes from.”

“You do wonder a lot,” Eliseus remarks. “What is your hypothesis?”

“I have two. First, the cambium of the tree naturally shines. Second, the tree produces a certain sap that can glow. I am inclined to believe the former though, since any fluorescent substance needs to be exposed to light first before they can glow.”

“… I can barely understand the last part of your words.” Eliseus blinks her eyes and shakes her head. “Your hypotheses are both right, but it’s actually nowhere near as complicated. It is the part that the tree bark protects that shines.”

“Is it covered with some kind of fluorescent substance?”

“I don’t know what fluorescent is, but I think you are talking about the sap.” Eliseus looks up. “The leaves of the tree absorb the sunlight, and keep it in the sap. The part that the bark covers, the cambium, as you like to say, is the container of the sap.”

Humming to myself, I say, “Can I make a light stick with these branches?”

“Yes, you can,” Arieda chimes in. “You can’t do it without presenting the trees something though. In our experience, the trees prefer the male’s antenna.”

“Antenna?” I frown lightly. “What do you—oh… Nah, I’ll pass. It is not worth it. My junior has more worth than a light stick. Anyway, what is the required sacrifice for females?”

“It’s the same,” Arieda smiles pleasantly. “Some of our maidens have their lover’s cut just to get the shining branch.”

“…”

Gazing at Arieda silently for a couple of seconds, I turn my eyes away afterwards. She now looks like the girl that will do that to her partner, so I am in the process of cutting her off; I can’t befriend a soon-to-be crazy chick.

“Hahaha. I was just kidding, Mr. Layland.” Arieda laughs gleefully. “There is no such thing as cutting the male’s antenna to obtain the branch; it is not something sacred. You can take it freely, but we decide how much you can take.”

“Your joke is not funny, kid.”

Shrugging, Arieda turns to Eliseus and talks with her again. I refocus my attention to the road—we are heading toward the palaces—and ignore the tap on my shoulders.

I have spoken to Calean, the Elf behind me once, and I find him annoying. He has so many things to ask, but doesn’t realize that he often rephrases the same question.

I feel like talking to a block of cheese, so I ignore his attempt to strike a conversation with me from times to time. I am doing the same currently, but he has got creative with his way to make me speak.

“Hey, hey, Layland, how can you be so good at riding a Varadome? I mean, how in the world could you control it perfectly when we were climbing the trees?! It was so awesome, you know? I am not even that daring to ride it so fast.”

“Huuh…” I sigh. “You speak a lot, don’t you? If I were your father, I would name you Larynx instead of Calean.”

“Woah! That sounds cool—Larynx. Do you learn foreign languages? You have been saying foreign words a lot!” Calean pauses, before saying, “Oh, by the way, in Elven culture, the mother is the one who gives their child their name, so you have to be my—”

“Forget that!” I interrupt. “Let’s just… Let’s talk about Varadomes.”

“Oh! That’s what I have been waiting for!”

Harrumphing in annoyance, I start answering each one of Calean’s questions for the rest of the ride to the Palace. I answer them as short as possible to not waste my time explaining the same thing again.

Just like that, roughly ten minutes passed. Calean still has many questions about my skill in handling a Varadome, but I am ignoring him because we have already arrived at the palace—I will have to endure him until the King shows up.

“Now, we have arrived at my house!” Arieda exclaims. “Let’s get down, and meet my mother.”

As I get down from the Varadome, I take a good look at the Palace in front of me. It is not as big as our Demon King’s Castle, but it is tall enough to be considered a skyscraper.

In fact, the Palace is the tallest building here. It is even taller and bigger than the two other palaces on its sides.

Thud!

The door of the palace suddenly opens when we are climbing the stairs. Standing in the doorway is a regal looking, beautiful and charismatic female Dark Elf wearing a crown on her head and a lovely grey gown.

Arieda resembles her a lot, so I can tell the lady is her mother—one of the Queens of this Kingdom.