“What the—?!”

With a slice, the elf fell to his knees with a thud, clutching his cut open throat with wide-open eyes. Blood seeped through his fingers, but even then he stared with hate.

“What?” Eve scowled, kicking the elf's face. Turning around, he ducked just in time for an arrow to cruise above his head— “Nice shot,” Eve grinned.

PA—Jumping off the ground, his body bulleted through the air toward the other elf. The latter cursed, shooting a lost arrow before taking out a dagger. He crouched, slicing downward as Eve approached. He missed.

“Damned fly!” The elf jumped back, narrowly saving his right leg. With his sword biting at nothing, Eve jumped to the left.

BANG!

As he did, an arrow was buried underground. “Ha,” Eve half laughed, watching the elf with caution. Seeing the elf's arms and shoulders glowing green as he stretched back the bowstring, his feet moved. Seeing him fly in a zigzag on the ground, the elf muttered a curse and jumped back, grabbing onto the nearest tree trunk and flipping over. As he landed atop the tree trunk, he aimed his bow.

This time, his eyes started glowing green.

“What a monkey,” Eve huffed, keeping himself like a blitzing fly. The elf aimed for over a minute, as Eve couldn't find a way to climb the tree.

‘If I get near him, he instantly fires an arrow,’ Eve thought with a frown. He tried that earlier, he nearly lost his head— “Hm?”

Eve saw the elf moving, but he wasn't aiming at him. Instead, he was looking at the tied up man. Eve frowned, ‘Are you making a gamble?’

He smirked, pouring all his strength to his legs. Weirdly, he felt his mental energy shift toward his legs, but he ignored it in the heat of the moment—BOOM!

PUCHI—?!

Eve stared wide-eyed into the dense trees, not even having enough time to brandish his sword. At the same time, there was a piece of small intestine wrapped around his torso, and his body had turned red with blood.

“What the,” he turned around, only to see an elf falling to the ground. Looking closely, he saw a hole through the elf's abdomen. “What—” Eve questioned, but he was then free falling toward the ground.

Gathering his calm, he landed perfectly, rushing toward the elf body who had shock etched into his face. Shaking his head, he walked over the elf's body and approached the blankly staring man.

“Why the hell are you naked in the forest?” Eve asked with a scoff. The man had numerous mosquito bites all over his body, and he had a few cuts here and there too. They weren't cuts from a dagger, looking more like thorns got to him.

“Kill me,” the man said without blinking. “I want to rest,” he said with a sigh. “Just give me one of their daggers, or your sword. I'll do it myself, you don't —”

“Tch,” Eve scowled, stopping in front of the man. “You want my sword?” Eve asked, raising his sword and—SLAP.

“...”

“Feels good?” Eve cursed. “I don't care if you die, but I'm curious about your ability. Human, do you believe in gods?” He asked, tightly gripping his sword.

“Gods are worthless,” the man said, no anger, no blame, not even disappointment in his tone.

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“Is that so?” Eve raised an eyebrow. “What's your ability?”

“I have none,” the man replied immediately, much like a robot, an a.i.

“You have one,” Eve said. “Young man, you have potential. Don't waste it, I want to taste your full potential at least once, so don't die or fall to the gods. Carve your own path” Eve walked around the man, approaching the maze of trees.

“Let's meet again, young man,” Eve said and disappeared. Then, he returned, much to the man's puzzlement.

“You're still here?” Eve clicked his tongue. “Don't mind me,” he said, walking over to the elven bodies and dragging both of them away.

Seeing the tiny man dragging two bodies well over thrice his size, the man snickered. “Let's meet again, clay man,” he said, pushing himself up. His knees wobbled, and his bare body was sweating from the hot, humid air of the forest, but he ignored them. Even as sweat seeped into his bleeding wounds, he didn't hiss, nor did his face twist in pain.

“I'm Hammer,” he said and looked at Eve. Eve scowled. “Eve,” he yelled, before disappearing once again, leaving behind a path of blood.

Hammer smiled, turning around to leave the forest where he was reborn.

+

“Phew,” Eve let out a breath, seeing his clay soldiers approaching. “Took a damned while,” he shook his head, “carry them back home. I'm doing some experiments.”

Looking at the paling corpses, he squinted.

“I need to know how elves managed to gather mana, and how an elf became a god,” he said, mostly to himself.

Then, he closed his eyes after telling two clay soldiers to carry him as well. ‘What was that sudden speed?’ He wondered.

Tapping into his mental energy, he imagined a cup with water out of habit.

‘I need to strengthen my soul, or I'll keep grasping in the dark like this,’ he sighed, dismissing his imagination. This time, he was focused on feeling his mental energy.

‘Hm?’ Seeing his mental energy focused on his lower body. ‘Primal energy can enhance my strength?’ Eve felt his mind flying high, lost in the sky.

‘How come I feel no difference?’

“Hold on,” Eve said, making the clay soldiers carrying him to halt. Climbing down, he closed his eyes again, making sure that the primal energy was still focusing around his legs.

Bending his knees, he pushed off the ground—BOOM!

CRASH!

“URGH?!”

Eve clutched the tree bark, pulling his head and torso out of the tree he was planted in.

“Ha-ha—it works!” He grinned, closing his eyes to feel his mental and primal energies. He didn't even care to take out the splinters covering his body hedgehog-style.

Then, a frown was etched onto his face.

‘It consumes primal energy,’ Eve furrowed his brows, calling his clay soldiers to wait on him. With him splinter free, he was carried by the clay soldiers on the way back to their hideout.

‘I should've expected primal energy to be consumable, but this'll be a problem.’

He let out a long, tired sigh.

“One problem solved, more problems arise.”

After they got back to his “kingdom,” Kurgos asked what happened to the elves. Eve ignored him, asking back why elves could use magic.

“Well, Elves had been using magic for as long as the history books say,” Kurgos shrugged. “Is that weird?”

“It is,” Eve said. “Elves shouldn't be able to use magic.”

“Well, they are now,” Kurgos shrugged. “You asked the wrong guy for this. But I'm curious, what are the elves supposed to be like?”

Eve stared at Kurgos, sighing as he answered—after taking a bite out of his barbeque. Elf-style barbeque, the recipe came from Kurgos himself.

Yes, in this world, other species eat other species, even if they're similarly humanoid.

Kurgos himself only ate one stick of elf meat, saying that he didn't want to get used to it.

“Elves are supposed to be the guardians of nature. They embody the word ‘kind,’ and they use—”

Kurgos scowled. “Kind? They're worse than the ogres.”

Eve ignored him.

“They use natural energy and train as druids, elementalists, or sages,” Eve said and resumed his barbeque eating.

“Druids, I know of. They use mana to summon small wolves and birds.”

“They summon animals?” Eve asked, pausing mid-bite.

“Erm, what else would they summon?” Kurgos scratched his head with a confused look.

“Druids summon trees to fight for them. The better the druid, the stronger the tree. The strongest druid I know can summon a tree that engulfs a whole world, earning it the name of ‘World Tree,’” Eve said.

“The World Tree,” Kurgos mumbled. “Is that true? I've only heard legends about it.”

Eve nodded. “The World Tree is real, but without the druid that summoned it, it's just an uncuttable, humongous tree the size of the whole world.”

“You mean a planet?” Kurgos sighed.

“A planet? Whatever suits you,” Eve waved him off. ‘Planets, hmph. Worlds contain multiple planets, what planet?’

Kurgos shrugged, blissfully unaware. “And what are sages? And what was it again? Elementalists?”

“Sages are similar to Cultivators,” Eve said, throwing away the empty stick and picking up another barbeque. “They use natural energy to strengthen their bodies and minds, extending their lifespans.”

“They already live up to five centuries, what use would more lifespan be,” Kurgos muttered, making Eve scoff.

“The way of a sage is for the untalented elves. They sit atop mountain peaks, far from their forests, and meditate there for years on end. When they wake up, the lifespan they gained would've already been spent, so it's more like pausing time for them,” Eve explained.

“Ah,” Kurgos nodded, trying to tear the information into bits. Without waiting for him, Eve continued

“Finally, an Elementalist harnesses the very essence of a certain energy, before pouring all of their life force into it, dying without even seeing their creation come alive. Then, another Elementalist can command that creation called an Elemental, using it for battle until the day they themselves create a new Elemental,” Eve sighed.

“Unlike Elves, Elemental can become gods, and they're one of the only gods that I accept. Unlike the usual gods, Elemental gods don't care for anything, as they're nothing but weapons for the Elves.”

Eve closed his eyes, recalling the Fire Elemental he saw during the game tournament with Felix.

‘Felix said that Fire Elemental was the embodiment of fire, I thought it was an Elemental God back then,’ he snickered.

In his memories, the Elementals that became the “embodiment” of their elements are all Elemental Gods.

‘Humans and their ignorance. No wonder they spend their lives chasing after the truth, not knowing that they're being played by their own gods,’ Eve sneered.