Chapter 723 - The Sad Elf
writer:翔炎      update:2022-07-29 14:48
  “I saw a naked elf!”


  Roland: Huh?

  I’m not sleepy when you say this…… No, why is there a naked elf in this little town?

  Also, is this elf a male or a female?

  Roland looked a little confused.

  He was here to find the enemy of the Goddess of Magic, and the place looked like it had once been sealed.

  But the question was…… how did an elf jump out of there?

  He was supposed to be dealing with a human Mage from over a hundred years ago.

  The kind that could almost kill Mystra.

  Was he mistaken—was this place not where the seal was?

  Was the Mage sealed elsewhere?

  Looking at Roland’s slightly perplexed expression, Polisila said, “That male elf has such a great body, especially that whip, which is significantly larger than my husband’s. Unfortunately, it was so dark last night that I couldn’t get a good look at his face.”


  Roland was speechless.

  Elves were known for being slim, including the men.

  This only meant that her husband’s was really small.

  Not wanting to hear any of this stuff, Roland asked, “What happened to the elf?” “Gone.” Polisila sighed sadly. “I am only a magic apprentice, and even till now I haven’t been able to use magic beyond Hand of Magic, so how could I possibly dare to stop an elf in his tracks.”


  This was a good point.

  Elves had spellcasting abilities even as commoners because of their long lifespan.

  The best time for humans to learn was the period between the ages of six and thirty.

  But Elves were at their best learning age for life.

  So an adult elf, even a commoner, was way stronger than a normal human.

  Not to mention the elven professionals.

  “About which way did he go?” asked Roland again.

  Polisila shook her head. “He disappeared with a whoosh. I didn’t see.”


  It seemed that such a question would indeed be difficult for a magic apprentice to answer.

  Roland left this magic potion shop and once again went to the area near the sealed yellow mud field.

  He spread his mental power for a detailed, careful exploration.

  He finally found something else that was off.

  He saw several pots sitting in a secret compartment somewhere underground.

  Using Stone to Mud, he parted the ground and then summoned Hands of Magic to bring out the pots and opened the lids one by one.

  Roland then saw that it was filled with fresh blood.

  This led to the following display in Roland’s system interface.

  Item: Magically Modified Elven Blood (Epic)

  Effect: When consumed by ordinary people, it increases the upper limit of their lifespan by a certain amount. The exact value of the increase is determined by the user’s physique and whether or not they have a hidden bloodline.

  Roland froze.

  This thing was no ordinary item at first glance, so why didn’t he notice it before?

  He examined the exterior of the pot and found the subtle marks of magic arrays, then examined and studied it a little more and found it to be a hidden array.

  A divination one that could make people subtly ignore it and pretend they didn’t see it.

  Roland fell for it at first.

  But his high mental strength and the seriousness of his probing this time had led him to find these things.

  “Good stuff.”


  Roland stored the pot in his Backpack.

  In the game, anything that added lifespan was good, mainly because it could be sold for money.

  This kind of stuff didn’t mean much to the players.

  This was because as a professional increased in strength, their lifespan would also increase continuously.

  For example, Roland, who was now a Master Mage, had a life expectancy limit in the game of two hundred and seventy-three years.

  This item could be sold to game NPCs for lots of money.

  And it could also be used by Vivian, as well as Stephanie.

  Probably neither of them had a high life expectancy.

  Andonara didn’t need it; her lifespan was even a good deal higher than Roland’s. He then circled around the sealed place a few times before finally taking out a straight stick from his Backpack and sticking it in the dirt.

  “Benediction: point out the direction of the elf that left from this sealed place.”


  The stick fell backward to the west with a thud.

  Roland’s body swayed slightly, and the negative effects of Lesser Benediction came as expected, but they were blocked by Roland’s mental and magic power, and had no effect.

  It was a completely different experience than in reality. Proving, once again, how poorly Roland’s physical strength was in reality.

  Cloud Flight carried his body into the air and then flew westward.

  He had spread out his mental power high up in the air, floating about thirty meters or so in the sky, searching every inch of grass and forest below with his mental power.

  He had a feeling that the elf that had disappeared could surprise him greatly.

  In this way, he kept flying west, and after about two hours, he landed on the ground and used Lesser Benediction again to find the direction where the elf was, then adjusted his course slightly and continued on.

  Roland’s magic power limit seemed too exaggerated in the eyes of someone of the same level; it had been several hours since he had been flying and searching with his mental power all the way, and his magic power had not dropped below fifty percent.

  Then, in the late afternoon, he finally caught up with his target.

  A topless elf with a simple wooden bow, a ring of leaves around his waist, was running furiously.

  At that time, Roland’s mental threads had wound their way into the vicinity.

  This elf was clearly a professional, and one with a dual profession.

  He noticed Roland’s mental threads the moment they approached, then turned and ran backward.

  He quickly saw the white cloud chasing him through the air based on where the mental threads were coming from.

  “Mage!”


  The male elf’s face twisted as he backed up, shouting into the air as he did so, before drawing that simple wooden bow of his.

  There was no arrow, but the moment he pulled the string, a green arrow was fired, whooshing into the air and making a turn. The arrow pierced the white clouds without a sound.

  It was as if it was swallowed by something.

  The elf’s face paled, then he turned and ran forward desperately. He was so fast that even the leaves around his waist came off, the thing flinging out and about, casting afterimages.

  But it still didn’t work.

  Several huge Hands of Magic floated down through the air, easily catching up with him and pinning him to the ground.

  “Let go of me, you vile Mage.” The male elf struggled hard. “My people will come for me, you’re dead—the druids would never abandon a clan member who is lost in the wild.”


  He struggled desperately.

  It seemed that he wouldn’t give in.

  Roland slowly descended from the air and looked down at him. “I just have a few questions to ask you, don’t be afraid.”


  Hmm?

  The elf also stopped struggling.

  He saw Roland’s appearance and froze. “You’re not that demon?”


  “Of course not, I don’t know who the demon you’re talking about is.” Roland cast Healing, Calm, and a few other supporting spells on the elf to show his position. “So you don’t have to be so scared.”


  The elf stopped struggling, and Roland snapped his fingers, making the Hands of Magic disappear.

  The elf stood up, patted his bare body, and finally looked at Roland and said, “I sense that you smell like one of us.”


  “I can barely count as a half-elf.” Roland grinned.

  He did have elven blood in him. After all, that was a requirement for the Sword Dancer’s profession change.

  The elf sighed in relief, slumped down on the ground, and then hugged his legs and cried. “Great, great, one of my own—I don’t have to be abused anymore.”


  He cried sorrowfully.

  Roland took out spare clothes from his Backpack and tossed them in front of the elf, then took out some dry food as well as clean water.

  The male elf put on the clothes and said, “My name is Saimos.”


  Then he clutched his dry food and water and gulped it down, his eyes teary. Roland waited quietly. After about five or six minutes, the male elf finished what he was holding, then looked at Roland with an expectant expression, as if wanting more.

  Roland said, “Saimos, it’s not that I don’t want to give you something to eat, but you seem to have been hungry for a long time. If you eat too much, you’ll easily burst your stomach.”


  “Well, that might be true,” said Saimos, rubbing his stomach. Then he stood up, put his left hand on the right side of his chest, and bent down toward Roland and continued, “Thank you, wandering clansman, for giving me so much help. Just now you said that there was something you wanted to ask me, so please feel free to ask, and I will answer you as best I can.”


  The elves were more trusting of their own people, or hybrids with their own clan’s bloodline.

  Roland smiled and asked, “I’m curious as to why you’re in this area naked and looking so ragged.”


  “I was caught-he was a human Mage.” Saimos recalled his experiences with a clear timidity in his eyes. “He was no ordinary Mage, very strong and powerful. I had no strength against him, just as I was against you.”


  “What does he look like?”


  “Blond.” Saimos looked at Roland. “Just like you.”


  “What was his purpose in capturing you?” “An alchemical potion made from my elven blood.” Saimos clasped his hands together. “He used evil magic to draw a certain amount of blood from my body each day to make me weak without killing me. He also gave me something to eat each day, just enough to keep me alive.”


  Roland frowned.

  Saimos continued, “He kept me underground, so I didn’t even know how much time had passed because there was no light. There, every second that passed felt like a long day for me.”


  “And he just drew your blood” asked Roland, “and didn’t do anything else?”


  “Is that not enough?” asked Saimos rhetorically. “It is terrible torture to imprison a Hunter who yearns for wind and freedom in the darkness of the underground.”


  Roland waved his hand. “That’s not what I meant. I was asking, didn’t he abuse you?”


  “Physical abuse, there wasn’t any of that.”


  “When were you captured?” asked Roland. “I know you had no sense of time when you were locked up, but it’s July in Fareins’s Starfire Year.”


  Saimos froze for a moment. “I came here in May of Starfire Year.”


  It had only been two months!

  “So it’s only been two months, I thought twenty years had passed,” said Saimos, wanting to cry again.

  “Go back to the Elf Forest first.” Roland took out some more dry food and water and handed it to Saimos, along with a longsword. “It’s not that far to the Elf Forest.”


  Hunters were also decent melee fighters.

  Saimos took the longsword. “Thank you, clansman. What is your name?”


  “Roland.”


  Saimos committed the name to memory, then turned to leave quickly.

  He was really afraid of getting caught again.

  If he made it back to the Elf Forest safely, he probably wouldn’t want to come out to adventure in the human world again for decades.

  Roland, on the other hand, returned to the town and once again came to the sealing ground.

  By now it was night, and he thought about putting the pot back.

  Then he hid himself and waited quietly.

  There were no signs on the first and second day.

  Occasionally, some townspeople came over with shovels and tried to dig something out, but they looked like ordinary people, and after digging for half a day, they couldn’t even make a ten-meter-deep hole.

  It wasn’t until the third night, when the moon was high and the winds were chilly, that Roland finally encountered the man he was waiting for.

  A young Mage, blond and blue-eyed, came before the sealing ground.

  But as he got close, he stopped in his tracks, looked at where Roland was hiding and shouted, “Who are you?” Roland stepped out of the darkness, looked at the other man, and asked, “Jabezo?”


  The man gave Roland a deep look, then immediately turned around and left.

  Roland was about to go after him, but he saw that the other man’s body suddenly became transparent and that there were strange images around him.

  Like the silhouette of trees and a trail of black stone that didn’t exist in the town.

  It was like this man was already in another world.

  In reality, this was quite normal.

  This was a hybrid spell where spatial spells and illusions worked together.

  Plane Shift.

  It was a very powerful skill but with a big luck component.

  One could vanish into the other plane anytime, anywhere, but it wasn’t guaranteed that one would appear in a safe place. One could also appear in the ocean or in a swamp. Everything was random.

  And there was no guarantee where one would end up when coming back. There was too much randomness for the average Mage to use.

  This also applied to Roland.

  Roland didn’t expect the man to be so decisive.

  After walking into the other plane, the man’s figure would soon disappear from the main plane, and in order to find him, he would have to enter the same plane as the man.

  Roland didn’t chase him as he couldn’t find the man, and only the first few seconds after entering the other plane would the person be revealed.

  Then the man disappeared in the space of the other plane.

  Even Roland had no way of pulling this man out of his state of Plane Shift.

  The other party was too vigilant.

  He took the little stick out of his Backpack again and used Lesser Benediction.

  He had a nosebleed this time, and the stick was still vertical; there was no change at all.

  Roland sighed as he went back to old Beckrum’s house and rested for the night.

  As a result, Roland came down from the third floor the next day when playtime resumed.

  Then he saw the old woman with silvery hair, who was acting like a spoiled child.

  “I want a glass of wine, you haven’t given me one in six months.”


  The old woman gave off an odd vibe when she spoke, probably because she sounded so young.

  “I’ll go buy it now.” Old Beckrum stood up.

  Roland also followed old Beckrum out of the house, and on the way out, he asked, “Did you know that an elf came here two months ago?”


  “There was one, but he inexplicably disappeared, and no one could find him.”