Chapter 263: Friendly Forces and Undercurrents

Just as George felt a headache coming on, the Heavenly Realm Giant Eagle in the sky gradually flew lower, finally landing steadily on the square of the Inner City.

A long-eared Elf jumped down from the back of that giant eagle.

Of course, if possible, George might have mischievously called this androgynous creature “Rabbit Lord.”

Of course, even if he were present, George would never say this out loud.

Although Elves did not mind slight offenses, they would take revenge for serious insults.

Generally speaking, Elves showed joy but were not overly excited, and were curious but not greedy.

Due to their long lifespans, Elves could view everything with a broader perspective and would not nitpick over trivial matters.

However, when Elves pursued a specific goal, whether undertaking an adventure or learning a new technique or craft, they could remain focused and cold.

It took a long time to make friends with an Elf, and the same was true for becoming enemies; however, it was even more difficult for an Elf to forget a friend or an enemy.

Therefore, truly offending an Elf was quite a troublesome matter.

Although most Elves were beautiful, it did not mean their appearances were all quite androgynous.

In fact, the facial contours of the one currently in the Tavern were quite rugged.

Generally taller than Humans, an Elf’s body was slender and elegant, with pointed long ears being the most striking feature.

But thinking them weak was a big mistake, because an Elf’s slender limbs contained amazing explosive power.

Looking at their facial features, their eyes were wide and almond-shaped, and they possessed large, lively colored pupils.

What was even more unique was that their range of skin colors was extremely wide, with diversity surpassing that of Humans.

However, since an Elf’s skin color often matched the environment, Elves of the same group might look largely similar.

However, as the physical manifestation of the realm of heart and spirit, an Elf’s body would slowly change over time, and those Elves who stayed in the same area for a long time would find themselves physiologically attuned to the surrounding environment.

Their skin color and hair color reflected the local environment: Elves living in forests usually had green, brown, and russet hair, eyes, and even skin.

Whereas those by the sea would exhibit a subspecies with water-blue skin and pale green hair and pupils.

Elves cherished privacy and tradition; although they made friends slowly at both personal and national levels, once an outsider gained approval, the alliance between the two sides could last for generations.

Elves viewed establishing connections with races that had lifespans equal to or greater than their own as a great pleasure, and often made friends with Dragons, visitors from other Planes, and Fey Creatures.

On the other hand, those Elves who often dealt with short-lived races tended to be depressed, because they had to watch their companions pass away like waves.

After taking off the semi-covered helmet with pure white feathers inserted on both sides, the white long hair with a slight blue glow indicated: this should be a resident of several extreme cold settlements deep in the perennially snowy Northern Lands.

Born and raised on the frozen earth, and accustomed to being companions with ice grit, polar nights, and terrifying winters, they were usually called—Cold Elves.

What was surprising was his outfit, not the uncommon metal armor nor leather.

It looked like pieces of leaves were evenly connected to the clothes.

Adorned with delicate tassels, it was less like armor and more like a trendy close-fitting hunting outfit.

From this alone, it was not wrong to say that Elven clothing often embodied the beauty of the natural world.

Those Elves living in cities often adorned themselves with the most fashionable and trendy clothing.

In places where city-dwelling Elves lived mixed with other citizens, these Elves were generally fashion leaders.

However, if you thought the one before you was a character who wanted warmth over style, you would be very wrong.

This garment itself was not only light and beautiful but also had quite good protective capabilities.

Leaving aside the Enchantment on this armor, the material of this Darkleaf Cloth alone was comparable to ordinary dragon leather in some aspects.

Darkleaf Cloth was a flexible material, woven from a mixture of Darkwood leaves and bark processed into strips, which was then treated through a special Alchemy process.

The resulting material was not as tough as animal hides, but it was light enough, making it an excellent material for making protective gear.

It was comparable to Mithril, known as magical metal, in terms of interference with one’s own various movements and Magic.

Moreover, the weight of items made from Darkleaf Cloth was half that of similar items made using cured leather, fur, or hide.

Therefore, including thick cloth armor, leather armor, studded leather armor, hide armor, and other armors made with leather could be made using Darkleaf Cloth.

Since Darkleaf Cloth was relatively flexible, it could not be used to make rigid items—such as shields or metal armor.

Items made without leather, fur, or hide could not use Darkleaf Cloth.

However, in terms of strength, it still could not compare to true Mithril products.

Elves were gifted in crafts and arts, especially when handling wood, bone, ivory, and leather.

However, most Elves considered working with earth and stone to be an unpleasant rough work, and therefore tried to avoid engaging in forging, stone arts, and pottery.

When someone in a community had to do this kind of work, these unlucky fellows would find that even though they had done their best, their works were still regarded as “stupid things” by other Elves.

In most isolated Elf communities, these Craftsmen were even treated as inferiors.

It was under these circumstances that the creation of Darkleaf Cloth came about.

Of course, it was not entirely without flaws; there were almost no perfect items in the world.

Taking the armor worn by this Elf as an example, it had the common fault of most Elven products—it was expensive.

Calculating the cost without Enchantment, one couldn’t take such armor home without 1800 Gold Coins.

“Kaladrey has been flying in the sky for a day, how do you feel?” another Elf dressed similarly to him asked by his side.

Those nearly identical clothes, if one wanted to distinguish them, one could only start from the pattern designs on the corners of the clothing.

For Elves, such uniqueness in details seemed to be what they required.

“Nothing is more pleasurable than soaring in the sky and riding the wind. But now my stomach is a bit hungry, and besides, my little baby doesn’t want to be like yours, Tarashiel, who can find things on the ground at night,” the other Elf who had just landed stretched and said, “Having flown in the sky for a whole day, it’s time to eat a hot meal.”

“Then I’ll go up first! Hope tonight’s night scenery is as beautiful as last night’s.” Saying this, he took out his flute and blew it, and before long, a huge owl flew over from the distant sky.

It seemed that the reason he could patrol around in the night sky was this large animal companion.

Long-lived Elves were the beloved children of the natural world, similar to Fey Creatures on a simple level, but with quite a few key differences.

Fey Creatures possessed a direct connection with the flora and fauna of their homes, existing in the form of the immortal voice of the wilderness guardians; whereas Elves were flesh-and-blood mortals attuned to the surrounding natural tone.

Elves were committed to seeking a balanced way of survival in the wilderness, for which they had a far superior profound understanding than other races.

Half of this understanding was attributed to the mysterious unknown, but the other half was due to the Elves’ long life course—which gave them a broader perspective.

Elves could be active in the same area for centuries.

Elves had to learn how to maintain their longevity, and often found that living in harmony with nature was far more effective for extending life than forcing nature to submit to their will.

Although the connection between Elves and nature was not entirely utilitarian, nature would lovingly give them rewards.

Like the creature before one’s eyes, even if it received the blessing of Heavenly Realm power, their original bodies were not something just anyone could come into contact with.

At this time in the Tavern, George heard someone seemingly drunk and loudly proclaiming his views: “Those Mages in the city are all dangerous elements.”

“I think they must be engaging in some activity or Magic experiment that endangers us.”

“It’s even possible that they are secretly using us as their test subjects.”

“So everyone be careful when going out at night; if a few Adventurers like us go missing occasionally, no one will suspect it.”

“Brother, you need evidence when you speak! Otherwise, be careful those Mages come out to find trouble with you.” Someone immediately poured cold water on this loudmouth after he had been drinking.

“Although I can’t produce direct evidence, if the lords in the Inner City love these deliberate Mages so much, they could completely move their guild into the Inner City to prevent them from harming us Commoners in the Outer City.”

“And now the Sir seems to never ask about their affairs; I think they just care about the guild paying high taxes to themselves and supplying Magic Items to the Castle.” That person continued to spread his views.

But George frowned at this time.

This drunkard’s words just now seemed to intentionally sever the connection between the Inner City and the Outer City, deepening the barrier between the Inner City and the Outer City.

Such words seemed to be guiding people to think that the performance of the Knights in this city proved that they only cared about their own affairs and did not care about the interests of the fortress residents.

Although it was not known whether it was intentional or unintentional, these were all words that struck at the heart.

At this time, a thin man who looked like a merchant began to refute: “Do you know the reason why those Mages set up their stronghold here?”

“They are here to collect those rare materials brought by Adventurers from the Underdark.”

“If the guild were moved to the Inner City, how many Adventurers would be able to pass through that gate?”

“Without Adventurers coming to the door, this Mage stronghold would have no meaning.”

“And those materials in your hands, without Mages to buy them, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to sell them for a good price, right?”

“Or do you want to walk for 3 or 5 days to sell them in Karada City yourself?”

This merchant’s words immediately caused the wind direction in the Tavern to change.

After all, the previous claims of various harms were just speculations without any evidence.

But now this latter statement was truly related to the vital interests of the Adventurers!

So facing this situation, all sensible people had a scale in their hearts.

Any successful Caravan leader often had experienced guards who had survived for more than ten years, although a few were experienced merchants; in the areas they walked and every settlement worth trading, these people and the merchants they hired as trade agents were collectively referred to as agents.

Agents were suitable as spies—sources of information on water sources, campsites, and dangers, as well as arranging local storage, meetings with Blacksmiths, carters, Alchemists, and other useful Craftsmen, and people in hiding places.

These guys were experienced, but they would never do meaningless things.

Although George didn’t know why the one before him wanted to speak for the Knights, he would still tell them truthfully.

However, right now he was eating while carefully savoring the next lecture from that Elf Bard.

Immediately, the general situation of several schools was reflected in his mind.

Beast Rashness—PhindarStreeaka.

Technically speaking, PhindarStreeaka could not really be counted as a combat school, but was closer to a state of mind when entering combat.

Its meaning was “mindless recklessness,” which was also the name given by the Dark Elves to those rare Dark Elf Berserkers.

Due to the lack of skill and the exposure of potential disorder in Dark Elf society in the public eye, this was an unpopular school.

Usually, only small primitive Dark Elf settlements, or those serving the bizarre Dark Elf deity—Ghaunadaur—the leader of oozes and slimes, would use this school.

When the beastly nature was at its peak, the PhindarStreeaka school could not use abilities that required intelligence, so most of them used techniques similar to the Z’ressA’thalak school, although saying they “studied” this school was a fallacy.

Retribution—Sargh’elgg school had simple elements, but required a lot of training to master.

It used light weapons or the traditional rapiers of the Dark Elves; it was designed to maximize these weapons combined with the Dark Elves’ innate excellent agility.

The name of the school meant “valor in killing,” an exaggerated name to allow those with poor skills for whom this school was the only choice to gain a little confidence.

Some Sorcerers and Mages with combat awareness learned the basics of this school, and because Kiaransalee, Lolth, and Vhaerun all had preferred deity weapons suitable for this school, it was learned by many Priests.

This was the combat school most commonly used among typical low-level Dark Elf guards.

Essentially, every ordinary Dark Elf soldier who had only received basic training was like this.

Dangerous Peak—UstSreen, this simple combat style was called UstSreen, meaning “first danger,” emphasizing rapid reaction to the appearance of enemies.

Since vigilance was a state often maintained in Dark Elf society, this was usually the basic course taught in Dark Elf military academies.

This school often overlapped with other schools, because without other skills to pair with it, quick reflexes were not very useful.

Usually, in a scout squad, there would be a Dark Elf trained in this school, carrying a hand crossbow, dipped in sleep poison, to eliminate an enemy before the Dark Elf companions struck.

Riding Raid—Z’harThalac school meant “mounted war,” developed for riding Dark Elves, allowing them to patrol or attack in a mounted state to cope with difficulties and encounters.

Dark Elves generally rode wall-climbing lizards; compared to ordinary ground-walking warriors, the advantage of mounted soldiers was that they could pass through the Underdark areas in a three-dimensional manner.

Quite a few cavalry units used this school to fight.

And some used the Death Lance—a Spear attached with powerful death Magic, making it even more deadly.

Clever Trick—JivvinGolhyrr was similar to some methods of KyorlinPlynn; the JivvinGolhyrr school was a defensive school that relied on tripping and dropping enemies to expose their weaknesses, making enemies more vulnerable to subsequent attacks and able to see the location of weaknesses.

The name meant “fun trick,” coming from the cruel Dark Elves using it to kick certain slaves and submissive creatures into a lower status.

Skilled Dark Elves liked to use it to insult the enemy before giving a fatal blow, which was also why Priests of Lolth liked this method.

Apprentices of JivvinGolhyrr often learned the KyorlinPlynn school, and vice versa.

Seizing Capture—KyorlinPlynn, steady and cautious Dark Elves and those Dark Elves who needed to capture opponents alive for interrogation or purely enjoyed the process of bullying opponents all used the KyorlinPlynn school, whose name meant “watch and grab.”

This school used defensive strategies and used highly efficient disarming to delay opponents and weaken their effective combat power.

Many Dark Elf combat squads had at least one KyorlinPlynn expert accompanying them, so as to deal with the strongest master in the enemy team.

That Dark Elf continuously entangled the opponent until his companions cleared the rest of the enemy forces, and then cooperated to solve the most difficult opponent.

Many Priestesses of Lolth learned this school because they liked to capture prisoners for torture or sacrifice.

Next, the finale was the most famous Double Blade—DraaVelve.

In every city, only a very few Dark Elves were familiar with the DraaVelve school, because the talent required for this school was quite rare; the school name meant “double swords.”

This school required skillfully controlling balance between both hands; adherents of this school held a weapon in each hand and used one of them to block rather than just attack, which meant the blocking weapon acted more like a shield.

Some Dark Elves who did not possess perfect balance between both hands learned the basics of this school, hoping to eventually achieve mastery through harsh training or Magic.

The protagonist of the novel Dark Elf Trilogy—Drizzt Do’Urden—became a Master of this school due to his innate talent and because he apprenticed under the family weapon master.

George relied on his brain that had become clearer and clearer after crossing over to quickly record the information.

Although the aspects regarding cracking didn’t sound very effective, it also helped for his own analysis afterwards.