Under the influence of the Dark Magic Association of the Dark Elves, the Light Elf Magic Council was officially renamed as the "White Magic Association." Since then, they began recruiting and training elves with magical talents on a large scale, focusing on training them in combat white magic for future needs.

In the years that followed, relations between the Light Elves and the Dark Elves were somewhat eased by the presence of that wall, and there were no more fierce conflicts at the border between the two tribes. The two elven tribes lived peacefully on the Elven planet for a long time, until that moment arrived, slowly breaking the peaceful coexistence.

"Oh? What happened between these two elven tribes later?" Hao Yun, who was listening intently, asked eagerly when Eilinna paused.

Eilinna asked Hao Yun not to be impatient, then, after finishing her drink, she continued.

As the ecological environment in the territory of the Dark Elves continued to deteriorate, more and more Dark Elves were forced to leave the lush grasslands and forests and adopt a new way of survival in the desert. In order to find shelter in the desert, the Dark Elves began to learn excavation techniques and gradually adapted to living in the dug caves.

Although this cave-dwelling lifestyle earned the Dark Elves a sarcastic nickname of cave-dwelling elves from the Light Elves, it must be said that the Dark Elves also gained a lot of technical knowledge in excavation and quarrying. So, the Dark Elves used these techniques to quarry stone and began to build houses primarily from stone for habitation. Soon, they moved out of the caves and into more sturdy stone houses, completely abandoning the derogatory title of "cave-dwelling elves."

With the unexpected acquisition of excavation and mining techniques by the Dark Elves, the underground mining areas they dug for stone were significantly deeper than before. Consequently, the Dark Elves also mined ores containing metals, thus gaining the technology to extract metals from ores and forge metal items.

Although the Dark Elves only mastered some simple smelting techniques and could not be used to extract metals from ores on a large scale, they were capable enough to use the smelting techniques they had acquired to produce more practical stone quarrying tools and, for the first time on the Elven planet, create military armor made of pure metal.

However, compared to the limited smelting techniques used to create metal armor and other military equipment, the Dark Elves at this time hoped more to improve their stone masonry skills with the help of these metal tools. Because the Dark Elves knew that all the skills they had acquired were all thanks to the efforts and selfless dedication of the twelve pioneers of dark magic.

Therefore, to express the highest respect for the twelve pioneers of dark magic and to demonstrate the supreme dominance and importance of the Dark Magic Association to the Dark Elves, the Dark Elves prepared to build a giant castle made of pure black gemstone, reaching a height of one hundred meters, before the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Dark Magic Association, and named this castle "Blackstone Castle."

From the moment Blackstone Castle was completed, it became a landmark building on the Elven planet. In comparison to the sprawling wooden mansion-style castle of the Light Elf White Magic Association, the Blackstone Castle was far more impressive. Not only did the Dark Elves, but even some architecture-loving Light Elves, regard Blackstone Castle as a sacred place of worship.

At this time, Blackstone Castle not only served as the exclusive residence of the Dark Magic Association, but also became a famous tourist attraction. Although one could only admire the towering Blackstone Castle from afar, there were still countless elves who came to admire this building, which was hailed as the greatest wonder on the Elven planet, every day.

Watching the Light Elves who came to visit in awe of the grandeur of Blackstone Castle, the Dark Elves were filled with pride. However, what all elves could not have imagined was that after Blackstone Castle was completed, it would not only bring them immense shock and pride, but would also lead this world down an endless road of misfortune. Because, from the moment Blackstone Castle was completed, disaster began to prepare to descend.

One day, Archbishop Anshelin of the Dark Magic Association was wandering around this historic castle. At this moment, she was thinking about how to more efficiently promote the process of her tribe's elves practicing dark magic. Suddenly, a crisp sound of stone cracking came from the empty corridor deep inside the castle, entering Archbishop Anshelin's ears. So, Anshelin immediately stood still and began to look around vigilantly, trying to find the source of the sound.

"Crack, crack!" Two more clear sounds of stone cracking came, and Archbishop Anshelin, thinking that there was a problem with the construction quality of the castle, hurriedly approached the wall, while quickly looking up at the dome of the corridor and the towering walls around, afraid of being hit by the crumbling stones.

However, after careful inspection, Archbishop Anshelin did not find any signs of stone fractures on the surrounding walls, so she shook her head self-deprecatingly and said to herself, "Alas! I must have been a little absent-minded due to the recent busy magic practice. How did I suddenly get scared by the sound I thought I heard? If I were to say it, I would definitely be laughed at by my colleagues in the association."

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The reason why Archbishop Anshelin thought she had just experienced an auditory hallucination was because the black gemstones used to build this castle were all top-grade stones selected by Dark Elf craftsmen. Moreover, before being used to build Blackstone Castle, these stones were tempered by the flames of dark magic and coated with a dark layer made by dark magic. Therefore, the texture of these stones was extremely hard, and under no circumstances could they be damaged.

Thinking of this, Archbishop Anshelin gently patted her face, which, although was deep purple in color, could not conceal her beauty and dignity, trying to make herself more sober. Then, she stepped forward, ready to continue. But at that moment, two more extremely clear cracking sounds entered Archbishop Anshelin's ears, making her immediately certain that the sound she heard was not an illusion.

Moreover, because the sound that entered Anshelin's ears was clearer this time, she could tell that the two crisp noises were not the sound of stones shattering, but rather the sound of something wanting to emerge from within the stone and breaking it from the inside out.

Since it was confirmed that the sound was not an illusion but indeed real, Anshelin stood still again and closed her eyes to carefully discern the method of the sound's transmission. After a few minutes, the "crack, crack" sound finally reappeared. Anshelin opened her eyes, furrowing her brows slightly. This time, she identified the direction from which the sound came. The sound of stones being broken seemed to be coming from the direction of the basement.

So, Anshelin quickly walked to the front of the corridor, where the spiral staircase leading to the basement was located. Then, taking three quick steps, she descended to the basement's subterranean level before the sound of stone cracking could occur again, arriving at the basement's basement floor.

At this moment, two more crisp cracking sounds rang out. This time, the sound was much clearer than the previous ones. Anshelin could now be very sure that the sound was coming from the basement below her. She continued down the spiral staircase towards the basement and, according to the direction of the sound, quickly descended to the basement's sub-level four of Blackstone Castle.

To Anshelin's delight, just as she reached the sub-level four, the "crack, crack" sound reappeared. This time, Anshelin accurately identified the source of the sound, which was the data room specially equipped for this sub-level.

"Hmph! I want to see who dares to cause trouble here!" After confirming the source of the sound, Anshelin narrowed her eyes slightly and walked cautiously towards the data room. In the meantime, she drew a metal wand shaped like an arrow from the cuff of her large black mage robe and prepared herself for combat at any moment.

The double doors of the data room were not closed, and through the slightly ajar doors, Anshelin could see that the room was bright and there seemed to be no traces of any suspicious figures moving inside.

"Crack, crack!" Two more crisp sounds came from the data room.

Upon hearing the cracking sound, Anshelin immediately slipped through the gap between the two partially open doors and entered the data room. While pointing her wand towards the interior of the room, she shouted loudly, "Who's there?! Come out!"

To Anshelin's surprise, as soon as she entered the data room, the strange cracking sound abruptly ceased. And in the direction pointed by Anshelin's wand, apart from several data racks placed vertically against the wall and several large test benches placed against the wall, there was nothing else in the room.

"Weird? Could it be that some part of the wall really has been damaged?" After not finding any suspicious intruders, Anshelin murmured to herself as she checked whether there were any signs of stone fractures on the surrounding walls, cautiously approaching the wall where the cracking sound had come from.

Anshelin took a deep breath and then swiftly stepped out from behind the data rack placed at the end of the room.

"Huh? What's that?" Anshelin furrowed her brows again in puzzlement, looking towards the corner where there was only one test bench besides the data rack.

Anshelin's confusion stemmed from the fact that there was indeed a large crack on the stone wall in front of her wand. And from this outwardly protruding crack, it seemed that something was indeed trying to emerge from the middle of the two-meter-square stone. Anshelin finally confirmed that the sudden cracking sounds had indeed come from here.

Since no suspicious intruders were found here, but Anshelin remained vigilant, she cautiously approached the wall, ready to see what exactly had caused the wall to crack open.

Anshelin bent down slightly and carefully examined the cracked wall. Soon, she noticed a small piece of metal with a strong texture at the center of the slightly protruding crack. Judging from the shape of this metal edge, there should be a small box made of metal trapped in this stone. However, how did this small box get trapped in this stone? Anshelin was very curious about this.

At the same time, she vaguely felt that the small piece of metal in front of her seemed to be emitting some kind of energy. This energy was quite special. Instead of making Anshelin feel any danger, it gave her a feeling that she was being summoned by that energy.

Anshelin retracted her wand and took out a dagger from the wide cuff of her robe. She inserted the dagger into the crack in the stone wall and began to try to pry open the cracked wall completely. Thanks to the fact that this dagger was made from a part of the metal specially tempered by dark magic for the construction of Blackstone Castle, it enabled the dagger to slowly pry open the black gemstone along the crack.

However, even though this dagger was so unique, it still suffered serious damage during the process of prying open the cracked wall. Fortunately, before this dagger was completely scrapped, Anshelin managed to clean up the outline of the metal box embedded in the stone wall and finally, relying on the brute force exerted by her enhanced by dark magic, forcibly pulled out the metal box that still had half of its body embedded in the stone wall.

Seeing that she successfully retrieved the box from the stone wall, Anshelin didn't show much excitement. She first used her hands to feel the rough surface of the small metal box and found it quite heavy. Then, she attempted to rotate the lock on the box, which had no theft-proof function whatsoever. Then, with a crisp metallic unlocking sound, the lock on the small box opened.

Anshelin was stunned by this sight. Clearly, she hadn't anticipated that the mysterious small metal box, which she had retrieved from the stone wall at the cost of losing a high-quality dagger, would open so easily. However, since the box was already unlocked, Anshelin wasted no time and boldly lifted the lid of the box without hesitation. Inside the metal box, she saw another wooden structure, a smaller box, and a book with a wooden shell, all of which were black.