Chapter 149: The Elven Race

After experiencing life and death, one always feels an intense longing for home. In truth, ever since he enlisted, Kevin had wanted to return for a visit. But being stationed far abroad, even though he was free to leave the base at will, he never dared to travel too far. Now that he was finally on leave, naturally he no longer had to worry about such constraints.

Kevin's mother was a Light Elf. After marrying Kevin's father, she obtained Lubor citizenship, gave birth to Kevin in the city of Xilesi, and subsequently settled in a residence near the Stadt Library within the city. Kevin, of course, automatically acquired Lubor citizenship. When Kevin was ten years old, his father and his editor father were burned to death in a fire. Following that tragedy, Kevin moved back to live within the Elven domains with his mother.

Five years later, having mastered his self-taught studies, Kevin set out to travel the world. The Elven race could be considered his second home; every year he would return to visit, which was no difficult feat given today's convenient transportation.

Speaking of the Elven race, one inevitably recalls terms such as peace-loving, unworldly, physically beautiful, and dwelling in trees. In reality, the Elven race is an extremely complex species. Aside from the Light and Dark Elves, there are numerous other groups such as Cervidans (elves with a human upper body and a deer lower body) and Druids. From the aesthetic perspective of the human race, only the Light and Dark Elves could be considered attractive; as for the rest, they were all sorts of incomprehensible oddities.

As for being peace-loving and unworldly, those were matters of a millennium ago. The ancient Elven race was indeed a remarkably pure, sincere, and kind-hearted people. They worshipped nature, were strict vegetarians, and lived generation after generation within the Elven forests. They stayed far away from human cities and far away from wars, refusing to welcome outsiders into their domains, believing that the outside world was filthy and that entry would pollute their forests.

Within the ancient Elven race, there were no conflicts; they rarely even argued. Every elf was exceedingly kind. Even wild beasts approaching them would be tamed by the elves' aura, becoming gentle and affectionate. They were the darlings of nature, and to them, the greatest enemy was merely the wood-boring beetle in the trees.

They possessed endless springs of elven water and abundant provisions, never needing to fret over livelihood. They had no officials of any rank, only a symbolic Elven King. They had no contradictions between the strong and the weak; everyone was entirely equal. They practiced monogamy and were unswervingly loyal to love. They did not even possess a written script, only a spoken language. They lacked currency because they had no need for it.

They survived like trees for an unknown length of time. Evidence suggests they existed prior to the common era, and they may have lived through the War of Men and Dragons as well as the War of Gods and Demons. Yet due to their lack of a written language, these events have now been reduced to myths. Because there were no written records, those scenes of everyday life from the ancient Elven era also faded into mythology.

If there was ever a region on the entire continent that achieved a utopian lifestyle, it was the ancient Elven race. Yet today, a thousand years later, even the Elven race can no longer return to their former way of life. Indeed, do they even truly believe that their race was once like that?

Having survived two Holy Wars, the elves have assimilated with most of the continent's races, becoming profit-driven, secularized, and stratified. Their former kindness and simplicity have been reduced to mere slogans; though they strive diligently to realize them, a complete restoration is no longer possible. The conflicts between the Light and Dark Elves have begun to gradually surface.

Priests of the Church of Light believe that Light Elves are the embodiment of radiance because they revere the light, and they frequently disparaged the Dark Elves during their sermons. Meanwhile, many neutral parties, such as the nation of Lubor, hold the view that Dark Elves are merely descendants of ancient elves who spent year-round activities at the tops of trees and became tanned by the sun, while the other group spent year-round activities beneath the shade and thus remained fair-skinned. The fair ones preferred the company of the fair, and the dark ones preferred the company of the dark, eventually evolving into two separate races over the passage of time. If that were truly the case, it would be the supreme irony: those at the treetops who yearned for the light ended up getting tanned instead.

Within the Light and Dark Elven factions, each considers themselves the orthodox bloodline of the elves, asserting that the existence of elves with other skin tones must simply be due to impure lineage. Yet lacking historical documents, they find it difficult to provide substantial proof.

During times of war, Light and Dark Elves alike shared a bitter hatred for the common enemy and fought valiantly. But once the wars concluded, the two sides invariably found each other displeasing to the eye. Eventually, mutual contempt between the Light and Dark Elves reached a critical tipping point. Coupled with a myriad of contemporary international political pressures, the Elven race finally began dividing their territories. Minor frictions occurred constantly, and they were practically on the verge of establishing separate nations—though in reality, there was little difference from independent states, as they possessed their own kings, their own armies, and defined borders, merely continuing to proclaim themselves collectively as the Elven race outwardly.

The split between the Light and Dark Elves stemmed from numerous causes, and mutual disdain was merely a sentiment among the common folk. Today, numerous literary reports and accounts regarding the division exist, with individuals expressing their own perspectives based on their respective standpoints. Yet in Kevin's view, popular sentiment was only a minute part of the equation, vastly overshadowed by the squandering of financial, material, and human resources on the Super Celestial Warship, as well as becoming hopelessly bogged down in the quagmire of the Orc battlefield. Even so, however minute a factor it might be, it remained a very real component.

Since the Second Holy War, the Elven race could be said to have reached the pinnacle of strength. Possessing naturally long lifespans, the longer they lived under identical conditions, the more they naturally learned and the deeper their research became. They were nimble-footed, intellectually gifted, and endowed with fine innate talents. Regrettably, it was difficult for them to unite once more, which is why the preeminent empire today is the Lyon Empire rather than their own.

Regardless, the Light and Dark Elves remained on friendly terms with Lubor, so crossing the border presented no issues. However, despite the advanced state of teleportation arrays, there were currently no direct arrays leading abroad; one could only teleport to the border and complete the journey by carriage.

After crossing the border, another week of carriage travel followed before the vast forests of the Elven race finally came into hazy view. A carriage could not press on day and night, so every evening they pitched tents along the road to rest. Traveling such long distances could indeed be described as exhausting.

Each elven forest radiated outward from a Primordial Tree of Life at its center, functioning equivalently to a human major city. When the elves felt their population had grown too large and living space became cramped, they would venture out to select a suitable location, plant a new Tree of Life, and stimulate its growth with elven magic. After several years, a vast new elven forest would take shape there, serving effectively as the founding of a new city.

The carriage stopped three kilometers before the edge of the forest, and the driver announced that the territory of the Light Elves lay ahead. The Elven race did not bother with things like city walls; at the boundary marker grew a peculiar tree with a straight trunk, few branches, and a cluster of green leaves only at the very top. Vines wound around the tree, naturally forming characters that indicated this was elven territory.

Much like human boundary markers, except that human markers were only placed in terrain inconvenient for building city walls, whereas the elven race used living trees exclusively as their boundary limits.

*Whoosh!* An elf descended from the tree, brandishing a bow and arrow—clearly a sentry stationed here. The Elven race remained relatively xenophobic, harboring little fondness for other races visiting their homes. Yet in the modern world, persisting in isolationism and feigning mystery would inevitably lead to obsolescence sooner or later. Consequently, elves of both light and dark factions held conflicted feelings deep within.

Kevin calmly alighted from the carriage and presented his identification papers to the sentry. Finding no discrepancies, the sentry leaped back up onto the tree marker to resume his guard duty. Kevin was permitted to enter the elven domains, while the carriage turned around to make its return journey.

Every year Kevin would return for a visit, though he had skipped the previous year because he enlisted directly in the latter half of it. Returning now after a gap of a full year, he felt that everything here remained unchanged.

One should not assume that all elves still lived in trees; apart from a minority of high-ranking elves, most newly cleared elven forests lacked the conditions for growing massive numbers of tall trees. To save time and magic, the elves had also grown wise, learning to burn bricks and construct houses like humans. Of course, they retained a slight difference from humans: they never cut down trees, instead using living timber directly as the main beams of their houses, with the foundations rooted straight into living tree roots, giving their architecture a very distinct character. Nowadays, aside from the oldest elven forests, many newly established forests featured this hybrid style of architecture, blending the two approaches into something rather unorthodox.

Walking with familiar ease, Kevin headed toward his home. Along the way, elves of various appearances frequently passed by, casting curious glances his way. Although Kevin had lived here for five years, he had visited infrequently since leaving, and many no longer remembered him. There were exceptions, however.

"Hey!" A fruit suddenly plummeted from a tree overhead. With swift reflexes, Kevin stepped backward to evade it. Looking up, he saw a young elf leaping down from the branches.

"Little bro, you're finally back!" the young elf exclaimed excitedly. To human eyes, this elf—who only reached Kevin's waist—looked like a mere brat. In reality, however, he was already twenty-nine years old.

"Oh, it's Laisen," Kevin nodded, subconsciously reaching out to pat the youth's head. He was a childhood companion of Kevin's, having kept him company throughout those five years. It was simply that pure-blood elves developed slowly; a figure resembling a young maiden might actually be seventy or eighty years old, and someone looking like an unruly child was often older than Kevin. Yet while Kevin had grown into an adult, Laisen remained a mischievous kid. This was actually a perennial complaint within elven families, as every household had to endure a child's mischievous phase for over thirty years, especially when compared against human children.

"Let's go! Big bro is taking you to bomb some fish. You've definitely never tried that!" Laisen declared without room for refusal, pulling Kevin toward another path.

Kevin: "..." (To be continued.)