"So, from that moment on, you became a Dark Elf?" Haoyun asked.

Elinna gestured for Haoyun to let her finish before continuing, "Anselin took me to the laboratory beneath the castle and, after conducting a series of elaborate tests on me, told me that although I am a Light Elf, I possess extremely high talent in black magic. Archbishop Anselin was very excited and said that having the ability to practice both white and black magic talents simultaneously is extremely rare, even impossible."

"She told me that I am the most unique existence in this world. If I want to seek truly powerful strength and become a real strong individual, I should consider practicing both black and white magic. Then she formally asked me if I was willing to become a Dark Elf."

"We were in a state of complete hostility towards the enemy at the time. How could I abandon my position and join them? It was absurd. Therefore, I naturally refused her question sternly."

"At that point, Anselin didn't say anything more after my refusal. Instead, after I had rested for a while, she took me back to my hometown. When we reached the airspace near our family's territory, Anselin commanded the corpse-flying beasts to hover in the air and pointed to a valley not far from our family's territory, saying—our commitment to our family's honor and loyalty to the White Magic Association will not bring us true salvation. In the eyes of the Light Elves, we are just worthless cannon fodder."

"Ugh! I didn't know what Anselin was talking about at the time, until I followed her gaze and saw large numbers of Light Elves following the army towards the inland, away from the border, through the valley that must be passed through when entering and exiting the area where our family's territory is located."

"At the same time, it seemed that the Light Elf army, obviously coming to support, did not seem to intend to launch an attack on the Dark Elf army that surrounded our family's territory and rescue our clan members. They were just busy reinforcing defensive fortifications near that valley, so they could be fully prepared for defense before the Dark Elf army occupying our territory advanced again."

"Hmph. Anselin's actions made it clear to me. My family had become abandoned by the Light Elf tribe and used as tools to delay the enemy. Now, the value of the Adaigua family's people is just to delay those Dark Elf armies as much as possible. As for whether the elves in our family's territory are alive or dead during and after this period, at least from the attitude shown by those Light Elf armies, they don't seem particularly important."

"Sacrificing some lives to save more lives, this is a method that would be used in wars in the mortal realm. Whether it is to preserve more living beings or to gain more sympathy and attention for oneself in the war, this cruel and ruthless method is a reasonable operation that conforms to the logic of warfare among living beings in the mortal realm," Dao Lao commented.

"Yes," Elinna reluctantly agreed, "Sacrificing the small for the greater good, our Adaigua family still has this understanding. However, the way those families forcibly pushed our family into the abyss of death through moral coercion, and the behavior of other Light Elves who tacitly consented to it, indeed makes people feel very upset."

"So, from that moment on, your stance began to waver, right?" Dao Lao asked.

Elinna pursed her lips and said, "Yes, a little bit. The actions of the other families made it impossible for me, who was still immature at the time, to understand. However, the loyalty engraved in the bones of the Light Elf tribe also prevented me from turning to the enemy under Anselin's instigation."

Then, with a tone containing anger, Elinna continued, "So, Anselin instigated her subordinates to administer a potion to every person in our family's territory, which applied a curse of black magic. After that, everyone in the territory was like poisoned, weak and unable to stand, only curling up on the ground groaning in pain."

"Anselin told me that if I did not agree to join the Dark Elf tribe and become her most loyal servant, she would help lift the curse on our clan members. They would suffer both mental and physical torment under this potion curse until their lives were completely burned out by the curse, and they slowly died in pain."

"Seeing my clan members suffering from the curse because of me, I naturally felt very guilty. Therefore, in order to save the lives of my clan members, with no other options, I finally had to agree to join the Dark Elf tribe. Anselin promised that as long as I behaved well, she would regularly distribute a little antidote to each of my clan members to alleviate their pain. At the same time, she promised that after I completely loyal to her, she would completely lift the curse on my clan members and help them restore their bodies to their original state."

At this point, Elinna seemed to recall some unpleasant memories, and her thoughts drifted back to her memories of her previous life.

In order to save her family members, the people in her territory, and the townspeople, Elinna hurriedly bid farewell to her family members who were suffering from the curse of black magic and joined Anselin back to the Black Stone Castle. There, Elinna underwent a ritual similar to a blood sacrifice, signing a guardian covenant with the Dark Elf tribe, formally joining the Dark Elf tribe, and swearing eternal loyalty to the Black Magic Association.

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Thus, Elinna became a special existence with identities from both the Light Elf tribe and the Dark Elf tribe. Of course, because Elinna pledged loyalty to Anselin, even though she still had the identity of a Light Elf, she was completely severed from any relationship with the Light Elf tribe. After the ceremony, Elinna followed Anselin back to the data room on the fourth floor underground of the Black Stone Castle, where Anselin opened up and detailed to Elinna what had forced her to go into seclusion again.

According to Anselin's account, she was severely betrayed by the elders of the Black Magic Association and sealed here. Because Anselin had always been conscientiously managing the affairs of the Dark Elf tribe and racking her brains to find a breakthrough in practicing black magic, she became disheartened and despondent after being betrayed by the elders. Therefore, Anselin simply cast aside all her doubts and continued to focus on practicing here. She hoped to await the arrival of death while enjoying the pleasure of practicing black magic.

It's unclear how long passed, but Anselin, who was meditating, suddenly heard the sound of stones cracking. Anselin was immediately startled because this sound was extremely familiar to her. It was the same sound that guided her to discover the mysterious notebook in the first place. However, this time, the sound was not coming from the surrounding walls but from beneath her meditation spot.

Anselin immediately crouched down, listening carefully for the source of the sound, and quickly confirmed that she was not experiencing auditory hallucinations. The "crack, crack" sound was indeed coming from underground. Anselin became alert and prepared to immediately dig open the ground to investigate.

Previously, based on the records in the notebook, Anselin had led people to dig a cave downward from this room for the purpose of exploring the Dum Ore Vein. Therefore, there had always been a tunnel leading underground from this data room. However, considering the stability and safety of the foundation of the Black Stone Castle, after the exploration was completed, Anselin had people seal off a large section of the tunnel that connected to this batch of data.

However, since the excavation and sealing of this tunnel were both supervised by Anselin herself, she was very familiar with the situation of this tunnel. Moreover, as a Dark Elf, she was also a qualified expert in cave excavation. Therefore, Anselin effortlessly dug through the tunnel along its original route and once again returned to the underground chamber built for exploring the Dum Ore Vein.

As soon as Anselin entered the underground chamber, she heard the "crack, crack" sound again. This time, the sound was clearer, confirming to Anselin that it was emanating from the Dum Ore Vein in front of her. So, without any rest, Anselin immediately got to work again. Soon, she dug out a deep and long tunnel in the Dum Ore Vein.

However, what Anselin did not expect was that as the excavation work continued deeper, the "crack, crack" sound became fainter and eventually disappeared completely. Seeing the pitch-black darkness in the mine, with occasional dim green light flickering on the surface of the Dum Ore, but still not hearing the mysterious sound again, made Anselin extremely anxious.

Anselin kept searching for the direction where the sound might be coming from and even excavated multiple branches in the mine. However, no matter what she did, she could never hear that mysterious sound again. Anselin became somewhat discouraged, and combined with working continuously for a long time in an excited state, she felt exceptionally exhausted due to the huge physical exertion. So, feeling physically drained, Anselin prepared to sit down and rest for a while. But after a short while, she fell asleep from the overwhelming fatigue.

Anselin didn't know how long she had slept in the mine, but the reason her consciousness woke up first in her dream was because she suddenly felt a piercing cold. Anselin instinctively curled up and woke up from her sleep, shivering involuntarily. For Anselin, who thought she had made some progress in practicing black magic, feeling such bone-chilling coldness was indeed an unusual phenomenon.

However, Anselin didn't think too much about it at this moment. Instead, she immediately sat up to meditate, intending to dispel the coldness in her body by gathering the black magic energy within her. But as soon as she started meditating, Anselin was stunned by her own sensation. Because, as Anselin began to mobilize the energy within her body, she suddenly felt a huge surge of energy rushing out from her body.

Anselin opened her eyes suddenly, looking incredulously at her hands and checking her body. One, because she didn't understand why there was such a powerful force in her body? Second, because she was suspecting if she was still in a dream? And the powerful force she felt now was just a dream. After confirming that she was not dreaming, Anselin tried to meditate again with her eyes closed. As expected, she soon felt the huge energy hidden in her body again. And this time, along with feeling this energy, Anselin instantly had a feeling of enlightenment.

So, Anselin didn't hesitate anymore, greedily enjoying the powerful energy surging out from the depths of her soul, savoring the pleasure brought by the powerful force. Just like that, after an unknown period of time, Anselin finally heard the long-lost "crack" sound again. But this time, the "crack" sound didn't spread from the surrounding Dum Ore Vein but from deep within her heart.

After hearing this "crack" sound, a smug smile appeared at the corner of Anselin's mouth. Because Anselin knew that this "crack" sound represented that she had once again broken through the bottleneck of practicing black magic. Now, Anselin's black magic had finally reached another level. It was precisely because she successfully reached this level that Anselin had the foundation to comprehend two advanced black magics: Dark Curse and Dark Necromancy.

"Crack, crack," Elinna munched on elf biscuits, as if just recounting the past of the Elf planet had greatly exhausted her physical strength.

"After recounting her miraculous encounters during seclusion, Anselin also described how she killed everyone in the Black Stone Castle and turned them into zombies, making them her puppets. She even dragged out several fresh corpses from a large cabinet in the data room, personally demonstrating how she turned those bodies into zombies," Anselin said as she licked the cookie crumbs remaining on the corners of her mouth.

Haoyun was afraid that Elinna would go into detail about how Anselin turned corpses into zombies, so he quickly asked, "So, did Anselin ever mention to you what exactly the power she inexplicably gained is?"