Chapter 993 – Return to the Tribe

“It’s not a disguise,” Mo Lan laughed. “I successfully completed the bloodline atavism ritual. Consider it a side effect of awakening my high Elf bloodline!”

“You succeeded? You… really became a high Elf?” Polly’s face was full of shock. In her mind, the bloodline atavism ritual and high Elves were nothing more than legends.

Mo Lan nodded with certainty. “Heading back to the tribe? I’ve compiled the high Elf heritage into magic books and brought them back. There’s a lot of knowledge about nature magic in them—it should be useful for everyone!”

“Let’s go!” Polly rose to her feet without hesitation.

“How is everyone else in the tribe?” Mo Lan asked softly, gazing at the increasingly familiar trees ahead.

“Everyone’s doing well. After you left, no more slave-catching party members ever appeared in the Emerald Forest again! The forest is very safe now. Celine is studying herbology under Lady Lila. Dominic has become a patrol squad leader. As for me… I’m still the same as before… A few decades ago, Dominic and I fell in love and held a life-bonding ceremony. I’m working hard on my cultivation now, so that when the life cocoon matures, I’ll be better equipped to incubate it!”

Speaking of her child, Polly’s face was brimming with happiness and anticipation.

Mo Lan’s steps faltered slightly, her face full of surprise and curiosity. “When you were little, weren’t you always saying Dominic was annoying and immature? How did you end up marrying him and having a child?”

“I know, right!” The corners of Polly’s lips curled up, her smile tinged with nostalgia. “He really was too mischievous as a kid, wasn’t he? But after the slave-catching party incident, he became more and more mature. He trained very seriously too, though he was always getting hurt, so he’d have me practice Healing Magic on him. Then somehow, out of nowhere, he suddenly said he liked me… The Tree of Life witnessed our love. The life cocoon infused with both our soul energies has been growing on the third branch on the east side of the Tree of Life for several years now. Maybe you’ll get to see it hatch on this visit!”

“!!!” Mo Lan felt somewhat dazed. In the blink of an eye, Polly and Dominic’s child was about to be born!

For Elves, the speed at which those two had fallen in love and reproduced was practically on par with how fast her own strength had grown.

As they entered the outer perimeter of the tribe, Polly pointed at a treehouse up ahead. “Look! That’s Celine’s home. Just like Lady Lila, she’s cultivated an Herb Garden beneath her tree.”

Polly pulled Mo Lan up the vine wall and shouted toward the figure in the garden. “Celine!”

Celine was turning over some black silk ferns she had laid out to dry. Without even looking back, she called out, “Polly! How many times have I told you to use the front gate? You’re going to set a bad example for the young Elves!”

“Your garden gate is too far away!” Polly said. “Hurry, look who this is!”

Celine turned around, initially confused, then her eyes went wide with shock as she rushed over. “Moira, you’re back? Your eyes…”

Mo Lan explained the reason for her changed appearance, then let her gaze sweep over the meticulously maintained Herb Garden behind Celine. “The plants you’ve got here are even more poisonous than the ones at Lady Lila’s place!”

Celine smiled shyly. “After being ambushed by the slave-catching party, I’ve always felt insecure. I’m not good at much else, but growing poisonous magical plants to protect myself—that I can manage.”

“Poisons are indeed an excellent means of self-defense!” Mo Lan affirmed.

“Do you have experience with poisons too?”

Celine’s eyes lit up. She was about to ask more when Polly cut in, “Alright, Celine. Moira just got back—at least let her go see Chieftain Matil and the Tree Spirit first!”

“Oh, right!” Celine snapped back to her senses. “You two go ahead then. Let me tidy up these herbs, and I’ll be right behind you!”

Mo Lan and Polly exchanged a smile. On the way toward the center of the tribe, Polly said quietly, “Being captured by the slave-catching party really left a scar on Celine. Ever since then, she’s buried herself in poisons and can’t pull herself out. She even said she wanted to plant poisonous magical plants all around the tribe’s perimeter. If she wasn’t worried about our own people getting caught in it, she’d have started ages ago!”

“That’s not a bad thing! Only by becoming strong yourself can you stand fearless against outside threats!” Mo Lan genuinely hoped all her tribespeople would grow stronger.

Compared to other branches of Elves, nature Elves were far too insular.

The methods available to rangers and druids were gentler compared to other professions. At lower ranks, it was indeed difficult to derive any sense of security from them.

As they rounded a bend, the Tree of Life’s massive canopy came into view.

The tribe was the same as ever. Mo Lan immediately spotted Chieftain Matil standing beneath the tree and sprinted toward her. “Grandma Chieftain!”

“As long as you’re back safe!” Having heard the news of her return from the Tree Spirit, Matil had been standing under the tree waiting. Looking at Mo Lan’s changed appearance, her eyes glistened with moisture. “Tell me everything—where you’ve been all these years, what you’ve done. To have accomplished what so many Elves could never do, and so quickly—it must have been very hard.”

“Not hard at all!” Mo Lan glossed over the business of going after the slave-catching party and focused on her experiences in Quelariel, the City of Eternal Radiance, the Underground World, and Suramalan.

“You… were either receiving a heritage, digesting a heritage, or on your way to receive a heritage. That’s so like you!” Polly listened with a mixture of awe and embarrassment.

Matil listened attentively. “Good child. We’re all so proud of you!”

The praise made Mo Lan’s lips curl upward involuntarily, and she couldn’t suppress the smile no matter how she tried. “Grandma Chieftain, using the Resonance Device to receive heritage memories puts enormous strain on one’s psychic power. But I’ve made copies of all the magic books I placed in the High Elf Library in Suramalan, as well as the professional heritages I obtained from the other Elf branches, and brought them all back! From now on, if anyone wants to learn different magic or try different professions, they won’t need to leave the forest!”

As she spoke, she placed a storage ring set with a green gemstone into Matil’s palm.

Inside it was virtually all the magical knowledge she had acquired in the Seran world.

“Good!” Matil did not refuse. “I’ll have someone start building a place to house the books right away!”

“Then I’ll go pay my respects to the Tree Spirit first!” Mo Lan looked up toward her treehouse’s position in the tree.

“Go on. The Tree Spirit has been eager to hear news about the Mother Tree as well,” Matil said.

Mo Lan nodded and used Wind Elemental Magic to lift herself up to the platform outside her treehouse.

Inside and out, everything was just as it had been, as if she had never left.

She opened the door, walked to the innermost part of the treehouse, placed her hand against the trunk, and spoke using Wood Speech. “Tree Spirit Mother, I’m home!”

After chatting with Tree Spirit Mother for a long while, she finally emerged from the treehouse, a hint of puzzlement in her heart. “Strange—how come there are no new children of the Tree of Life? Could it be that Traci and Vasida were born in a different nature Elf tribe?”