Suddenly, everyone in the stadium was silent and wondered if they have hearing problems.

"You have not heard wrong. A spiritual being was really spoted, and by the dwarf king himself!", the Elder said.

"Spiritual... beings? Is it a joke?", some elves wondered. After all, spiritual beings are mere legends of a forgotten past.

"What do you mean? Spiritual beings are mere legends! Just like magic and qi cultivation!", one of the older elves in the audience shouted.

"I thought so too... But what you don't know is that an expedition was organized by the mayor himself to discover the truth! Do you know what the result was? Of the fifty men who left the capital, only three returned, including the mayor! And they confirmed the existence of the spiritual being!", the Elder said slowly, with grim facial expression.

"W-What!?", when they heard this, confusion broke out in the stadium.

"But how do you know that that are a spiritual being and not a new type of beast?", one elf shouted.

"Because we have old records about the white horned tiger. It is an spiritual being with magical abilities, it is able to briefly jump in the air and has leather so hard that no sword or spear can hurt it."

"Now think. If beings that we thought were just legends exist, what does that mean?", the Elder asked.

"...", no one could answer.

"Sigh... I believe everyone here has heard about the legend of the great extinction.", the Elder said when she saw that no one would respond.

"According to the legend, which seems more like a myth, tens of thousands of years ago, when magic and qi cultivation were real things, for some reason all the spiritual qi used for cultivation and all the cosmic qi used for magic suddenly disappeared. Over the years, all spiritual plants and spiritual beasts died because of this, just as all cultivators and wizards disappeared without a trace."

"Over the millennia, even the traces of what was once a great civilization disappeared, leaving only legends and myths from an ancient era."

"But now, one of the legends revived! This means not only a new possible threat, but also a sudden change in the world as we know it. The return of spiritual beings to this world means that, without a doubt, spiritual qi also returned!"

After she finished speaking, the Elder began to breathe heavily, as if it had put enormous stress on her.

Suddenly, another Elder put his hand on her shoulder and murmured something. The Elder who was speaking until then walked away.

"Cough, as you heard from Elder Kaami, the changes are immediate. Therefore, we must prepare.", the Elder who started talking on the sound amplifier was now an old man with short gray hair and black eyes.

"Despite that, we don't know if the cosmic qi has also returned, since it is essentially different from spiritual qi. To detect it, we will need to try to resonate with nature, just as the legends say.", the Elder said and then sighed.

"But Elder, isn't it just one spiritual beast? Do we really need to fear?", one young elf said.

"We need to prepare! You young guys might not understand but the older you get, the more you understand that any change on the world situation might mean war and death!", the Elder shouted.

While the elder spoke, Alonn had again fallen into a deep train of thought.

After all, it all is just too strange, the Elders seems to be hiding something, since they don't seem to have any doubts about the return of spiritual qi.

Moreover, since this is the reason for the proposal of the alliance, the Elders don't seems to like the idea. After all, they must have predicted the result of the vote with no one knowing about the spiritual being.

The more Alonn thought, the more he realized that the Elders' intentions seemed too obscure for a republican and democratic regime.

A thousand years ago, the elves' royalty was removed from power by a revolution, and since then each elf city has its own mayor chosen by its population. Democracy was a term created at the beginning of the revolution, to represent the population's power of choice.

The city chosen as the capital of the republic is chosen by the mayors of all cities every hundred years, in a voting. The capital serves as a commercial center that connects the entire republic to the two neighboring kingdoms. But in the end, the capital since the beginning of the republic has been Fjörd. Because of its geographical advantage.

Since then, all elven citizens have rights guaranteed by the law, and the population is no longer controlled by the rulers. Well, that just in theory.

Analyzing the current situation, Alonn understood that nothing is exactly as it is taught in school. Those in power will always try to manipulate the population in one way or another, just as his father said to him in a training session.

With that in mind, Alonn decided to listen and analyze the whole situation more calmly and deeply.

After several minutes of answering questions, the Elder then said: "I see that everyone has doubts, and this is very good! But everyone must understand that in a difficult situation like this, unity and order are necessary! Therefore, allow me to announce the last subject of the event!"

"From now on, the republic must enter into a state of martial law, as written in the law! The mayor of the capital will temporarily have full power over the elven army, and will be in charge of defending the entire elf territory! All the mayors of all cities have already been notified and will come to the capital to form the senate, where new laws will be decided so that we can adapt to the situation!"

"This is an outrage!", Several elves rose in protest.

"For a state of martial law to be implemented, a voting must be conducted with the participation of the entire population of the capital! How dare you do this!", one of the older elves shouted.

Stolen novel; please report.

"Cough, please calm down. This was decided due to the long time it would take for a vote to be conducted with the population of the capital. So, we Elders decided that in a closed voting, and the law allows this in an emergency.", the Elder tried to explain, but the public continued to complain.

"Silence!", suddenly, a gross and loud voice caught everyone's attention.

A middle aged elf man appeared beside Elder, he had blond hair and blue eyes. But what most caught everyone's attention is his status.

"M-Mayor!", almost all the elves present recognized that man.

"I see...", seeing the mayor on the platform, Alonn suddenly smiled and shook his head.

"This is not a joke! Why don't you calm down and think more deeply instead of making things worse!?", the mayor shouted.

"I personally fought against that spiritual beast, along with forty-nine well-trained soldiers. The result? Almost complete annihilation, we didn't stand a chance! Do you really think that what is being decided here is a mere political game !?", the mayor shouted.

"But how do we know if we are not being deceived !?", an elf suddenly shouted.

"Brothers and sisters! Seeing that everyone is questioning the situation makes me happy, because it means that the republican spirit still lives! But the situation requires efficiency, we cannot afford to waste time!", the mayor said and unsheathed his sword.

Alonn recognized the sword, since he was the one who forged it. But there was a difference, the blade of the sword had been split in two.

"When I fought against that spiritual beast, I was able to get close enough to strike a blow, but look at the result!", the mayor raised his sword high so that everyone could see.

"This is a problem that cannot be solved with the strength of a few brave ones. The Elves need to unite and prepare, we must not waste time because a monster like this can appear in our capital at any time!", the mayor shouted with a voice so loud that even those outside the stadium could hear.

After listening to the mayor, everyone present began to argue among themselves, but there was no more confusion.

Alonn, however, was frowning. Having forged that sword, he naturally knows how tough it is. For it to have been split in half... Is this really possible?

Moreover, Alonn still feels that something is being hidden. How can the Elders and the mayor be so sure that Spiritual qi has returned to the world?

"Sigh...", suddenly, a sigh woke Alonn from his train of thought. Looking to the side, Alonn saw a familiar face, it was a former classmate of his.

"Vrik?", Alonn spoke instinctively.

"Huh!? Alonn?", the young elf looked at Alonn in surprise. He has black eyes and white hair, as well as a very thin body.

"It has been a while!", Alonn spoke with a smile and went to where Vrik was.

"Yeah! The last time we saw each other was three years ago.", Vrik said with a smile.

"Ah, hello! Are you?", suddenly, a young woman went to Vrik's side and asked Alonn. She has long black hair and blue eyes.

"My name is Alonn, i'm a former classmate of your...?"

"He is my husband, and my name is Jemine.", the young woman said.

"Hoo? Congratulations for the wedding!", Alonn said with a smile.

"Thank you. But what about you? What have you been doing after you left school and went to the academy?", Vrik asked.

"I spent two years honing my skills there, and then I went to work at Smithy Fortress.", Alonn said a bit proud of himself.

"Hoh? As expected of you! But then? Did you find a wife for yourself?", Vrik said with narrowed eyes.

"Cough... Let's pay attention to what the mayor is saying!", Alonn suddenly changed the subject.

Seeing this, Vrik did not know whether to laugh or cry. He recalls that Alonn was always an isolated person in the classroom, and never took the initiative with the girls. Vrik thought that Alonn still finds it difficult to find a girlfriend or wife because of his personality. And he is right.

"What do you think about it?", Alonn then asked Vrik.

"The spiritual beast? I have my doubts.", Vrik answered.

"I too have my doubts. They are hiding something from us.", Alonn said with narrowed eyes.

For example, why did the Elders had make a voting with the present public to decide about the alliance? If the republic has entered martial law, this is certainly not necessary.

After listening to the mayor and the Elder speak and answer questions for a long time, some elves started to leave.

"Well, we need to go. May the world bless you, my friend.", Vrik said and left with his wife.

Seeing that he would not get the answers he wanted there, Alonn also left the stadium.

"Mother, father, give me your blessings.", Alonn said as he went though the door of his house.

"May the world bless you. Did you get a wife?", his father said from the kitchen.

"No! And i'm going to marry a book!", Alonn replied with a smile and went up the stairs. Deciding to talk about the Elders meeting at dinner. Moreover, the news travels really fast among the elves, so it won't be a surprise if his father already knows.

After changing clothes in his room, Alonn wondered what he was supposed to do for the rest of the day. As he had been promoted to the position of supervisor of a sector of the Smithy Fortress, he did not need to stay at work every day. Of course, this does not mean that he can be absent for as many days as he wants.

Looking at the bookcase, Alonn decided to spend time reading one of the books he had bought earlier.

He then searched for an interesting book to read, but ended up not being interested in any.

'Should I buy a new book?', Alonn wondered but then he remembered something.

'Right! How can I forget it!'

Alonn went to his wardrobe and opened a hidden compartment on the right side of it, inside the compartment were seven dusty books.

After dusting off one of the books, Alonn smiled when he saw the phrase 'Chronicles of a forgotten world'.

It's been a year since he read the last book of the series, and several years since he read the first.

'Chronicles of a forgotten world' is without doubt Alonn's favorite series. Moreover, it is no exaggeration to say that this was part of Alonn's growth as a person.

"Well then, should we?", Alonn said to himself and sat on the chair in front of his desk.

After turning on a lamp next to the desk, Alonn opened the book.

"Hmm?", but then, Alonn noticed that there was something different about the book.

'I don't remember the book having drawings...'

On the first page of the book, instead of an introduction to history, there were drawings.

What was drawn was basically a person sitting with his legs crossed, and there were... arrows symbolizing the circulation of something within the person's body.

Despite not understanding what this meant, Alonn continued to look at each of the drawings on the page, and then turned it over. On the other side of the page there were no drawings and instead there was a text explaining it.

"Feel the blood and what is beyond mortality? What does that mean?", Alonn wondered.

Alonn then got up and went to the wardrobe to get the other books which also had drawings and explanations on their pages, instead of 'Chronicles of a forgotten world'.

"What does this mean!? ", Alonn wondered, what was happening just escaped his understanding.

After calming down as much as possible, Alonn sat down again and continued to read the first book.

Although he did not understand at first, as he turned the pages, Alonn began to understand what it was all about.

"This looks like a mix of breathing technique, meditation and internal strenght training..."

Losing track of time, Alonn continued to read. In an hour, he finished with the first book, which seemed to have many sheets missing compared to when he read for the last time.

Moreover, Alonn felt that this was incomplete. With that in mind, he took the second book of the series and opened it.

"As I thought, this is the continuation of the first book.", Alonn murmured.

Again, Alonn lost track of time and continued to read with maximum concentration.

After reading nonstop for six hours straight, Alonn finally finished reading all the books. In addition, he found a note hidden on the back cover of the last book.

'May the world bless you, my dear reader.', was writen on the note.

"Well... Thanks?", Alonn murmured a bit out of sorts.

Suddenly, the note turned to ashes in an instant, surprising Alonn.

"W-What the-"

Without giving Alonn time to think, all seven books on the desk also turned to ash instantly.

With his mouth wide open, Alonn simply looked at the ashes on the desk without knowing what to do.

After a few minutes of silence, Alonn murmured: "Well, strangely enough... I can remember everything that was in the books. Am I really smarter than I thought?"

—Fearing Life, Coveting Death

The true journey begins!