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The nature of the capital, however, was very much a surprise.

At first glimpse, I found myself thinking that I had just come across an ordinary meadow, a large tree, surrounded by some shrubbery. But with my senses, it took a second to realize it was just a scaling error. The city was far more distant than I realized, and what I took for shrubbery was trees. Huge, intimidating trees that on average, taller than a mile… There were thousands of such trees covering the huge plain, with houses on the branches…

Then, there was the tree at the center. Tree of Life.

I would have said a huge tree, but that would have underrated it to a criminal degree. No, huge were the trees that surrounded it, most taller than a mile, with houses on their branches.

The wooden titan at the center made them look like shrubbery, almost fifteen miles tall, its branches cutting through the clouds and touching the sky — and that was not an exaggeration. Enhancing my senses with magic, I could see that the branches were actually touching the planar border.

It was not hard to assume that it was responsible for providing most of the mana that was responsible for maintaining the constant cyclone of mana that protected the plane from the ravages of the primordial aether.

Fascinating, I thought even as I flexed my magic to create another hideout, this time smaller, with a beacon but with little defense. Here, the nature mana was much denser, and I didn’t want the risk of getting caught. The stronger the defenses, the easier for it to be detected.

That also went for my disguise attempt. If it wasn’t for the hundreds of elves entering and leaving the cover of the trees — both by flying and by walking — I might even have abandoned my mission and just saved Seldanna before she arrived in the capital.

Instead, I sent her a subtle magical message saying that I was about to enter the city along with her, and that she shouldn’t worry too much.

Creating an outfit for myself based on the elves that were entering the capital didn’t take long. I based my outfit the way their civilians — or, what I assumed to be civilians, walking around with no visible weapons — before I climbed down the mountain, dashing while concealed in magic, slowing down only when I got closer to the city.

I should be able to teleport to Seldanna in an emergency, but it was better to have alternative paths in case of an emergency.

Yet, even as I passed through the first line of trees, consisting of the smaller ones that were merely around a thousand feet tall, a smile found my face. In a world under the siege of the undead, I wouldn’t have thought I could find a peaceful neighborhood like this.

Unlike their tribal counterparts, the elves in the capital moved with a very distinct lack of hurry that I had only seen the noble scions back in the main material plane. Not that I blamed them — much — as the streets were not only lined with huge magical trees that constantly radiated nature mana, but also with huge treants that were slumbering under the trees, with huge weapons made of wood and silver next to them, ready to act.

One thing was certain, the security here was not a joke.

Pity it was completely geared for defense, and wouldn’t matter once the undead covered the rest of the land.

I ignored the greatness of their strategic mistake as I moved deeper into the capital. The inner parts were richer, both in mana, and in material wealth — evidenced by the decoration and the way the elves were dressed.

Also in security. I had to change disguises three times, and used the underground tunnel trick twice before I could even take a step into the inner city.

There, I could see that the trunks of the trees were decorated with silver, gold, gemstones, and other precious materials, enough to equip an army with top-tier weapons. It wasn’t to say that they were completely useless, as they enhanced the magical potential of the guardian trees somewhat; but from any practical perspective, the effort was not aligned with the final impact.

Arrogant.

As I pushed my way through another security point, this time manned by some serious figures that were decked in the same kind of armor that was worn by the commander of the strike force, disguised as a servant — and didn’t that awaken some nostalgic memories — when I finally left the trees behind.

All but one.

At the innermost circle, there was no tree but the Tree of Life. The shadow it cast underneath, and the roots that no doubt dug deep and wide, left no chance of survival — especially if my guess about its astral presence was at least partially correct.

Without the numerous trees to be hidden, sneaking into the tree was much more difficult. Luckily, the lack of trees didn’t mean the lack of plant life. The place was filled with all kinds of smaller plants, shrubbery, flowers, and tall grass.

And, to my convenience, maintained by an army of servants.

It was another sign of decadence that every single servant had some Divine Spark inside them. They were firmly in the Chosen territory, with Spark fully crystalized, but even a careless observation put their potential around ten points on my measurement scale.

A great waste, as the mages of the tribes weren’t as strong … and even the soldiers that were sent to the border weren’t as uniformly strong.

The signs of decadence were getting even more obvious, to the point of getting blinding. They were fighting a war that probably risked all their lives, yet they had the luxury of letting their mages work as gardeners without worry.

I sat in the tall grass, pulling nature mana to hide as I continued to observe, trying to see maybe I was missing something, that their gardening had a bigger importance … but no, it was just gardening, to make sure everything was perfect.

It looked perfect. Not only every single blade of grass gave a wild yet cultivated look, but also their magical presence was the healthiest I had ever felt.

I rolled my eyes as I took a step further, walking around the perimeter to find a safe path toward the tree. Just like the other houses, the titanic tree had many buildings located on its trunk, connected with bridges of wood and crystal — another beautiful yet excessive display of decoration — and I just needed to find a path for myself.

That proved to be more challenging, as the elves that had the right to step there preferred flying rather than walking, but the presence of the bridges convinced me otherwise. And, by juggling between a servant and a soldier outfit, I finally managed to find a bridge that was unattended by the soldiers, ready to climb.

But, before doing so, I put my hand on the trunk of the Tree of Life. I remembered the traitor admitting that other traitors stealing Divine Spark, and I wanted to examine it. I was careful in my probing, sending a slow and steady tendril to breach the outer layer … the only problem, it didn’t work as well as I had hoped.

Inside the tree was a veritable storm of mana and Divine Spark. Not the most confusing or intimidating storm — as I swam in Primordial Aether, which had been a much scarier experience. The Tree of Life reminded me of my own God Forest somewhat, but the nature of it was much more chaotic.

My guess, it was having trouble absorbing the constant new Divine Spark generated by the elves that surrounded it, locking it in a weird state. It prevented the tree from having any kind of sentience…

But also, it was enough to block my measurement capabilities to a significant degree. There were ways to bypass that, a few wards to support my sensing capabilities while sending a stronger probe would give me what I needed … Too bad it would also ruin my disguise.

I needed to find another way. Luckily, the spy revealed that the other traitors had been using the acorns to steal divine spark, and there was no way for them to succeed with the current level of protection. Meaning, there were spots with weaker natural resistance

I was already pushing my luck, and I didn’t want to get caught worse.

With a sigh, I started climbing the stairs, toward where I could feel Seldanna’s presence.

I had a beautiful elven priestess to save.

{Strength: 16 Charisma: 22

Precision: 16 Perception: 16

Agility: 16 Manipulation: 22

Speed: 16 Intelligence: 16

Endurance: 16 Wisdom: 16}

{Purified Divine Spark: 338}

{Pseudo-HP: 8000 Mana: 15000}

{ADDITIONAL SPARKS

Light - Chosen 7.4

Nature - Chosen 10}

{MINIONS

Guardian God Forest - 1452}

Elven Priestess - 70}

[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 666000]