Rydel was terrified when he saw the squirming scar of the old man. He hadn’t personally seen the Life Worms, but he had asked Grand Elder Pyria how they were suddenly against a giant serpent on their way.

They had assumed that the worms were only a method to blackmail the powerhouses, a way to control them.

“Do you have a worm living inside you?” Rydel wanted to clarify the matter.

“W-well, yes, I guess.”

“Did that Priest put it inside you?”

“N-o, n-not really.”

“Then who?”

The old man looked around again.

“T-the, t-he, the Church! They want to kill us! The worms devour your innards, what else would they feed on. They tell us that it’s for our greater good, but it’s all lies.” The old man furiously whispered.

Rydel watched as the old man vented with a strange expression. He sounded like a conspiracist trying to impose his weird theories on the world.

“Does everyone have those life worms inside them from where you are?”

“Yes, absolutely! Only the clergy of the Church of Humility doesn’t have it. It is rumored that some nobles don’t have it either, but I’m not so sure about that.”

Rydel didn’t know what to do with this information-he’d have to consult the Elders to see if they could decipher what these Life Worms were all about. His initial theory is that they somehow sucked the vital essence of their host. That’s why the Priest consumed them, to boost his cultivation.

However, this would be a demonic technique. Rydel didn’t think a Church that defined itself with a heavenly virtue would resort to practices like that.

“For now, warn everyone from the ship to leave. We have won the war.”

Rydel turned back and used his wings to propel himself into the sky. He only took a detour to watch how the humans were.

Their de facto leader was a little bit crazy, and the Life Worms were alarming, but they weren’t in danger of dying anytime soon.

They had already contacted Elder Aubron that they didn’t need more reinforcements from the capital.

Rydel flew over the devastated beach. A massive portion of the previously white sand had turned into molten glass, pockets of golden fire still burned. The majority of the fire got extinguished after losing their source of spiritual energy when the Serpent died.

The air was heavy with dust. The big rocks strewn around had disappeared in the conflict. The beast that hadn’t died fled at the start, adding to the feeling of desolation that impregnated the coast.

A battle between D-grade powerhouses had changed the scenery forever.

Rydel entered the forest and looked into the trails of his Clan. It wasn’t difficult to find the trace of their passage- they hadn’t tried to hide it precisely.

He found Elder Roshia at the back of the group. She was making sure that no elf got left behind in the confusion.

“Elder Roshia! We don’t have to continue running. We won!”

Roshia saw him landing next to her but still didn’t express relief.

“Did someone… pass away?”

“No, we have the greatest elves at the helm. They could push the Priest until their limit long before I came. My help was only the tipping point.” Rydel said with pride, hiding his feeling of guilt inside.

Only when she got the good news did she allow herself a brief expression of respite before hardening again.

“That’s great to hear. We better come back to the coast then. It isn’t safe here without the protection of Galather and Gran Elder Pyria. With all the commotion that we have caused, it’s guaranteed that we have stirred more than one beast’s lair.”

The Leoheim Forest was massive. There were countless lairs with peak E-grade beasts that could swarm them at any moment. Thankfully, after living there for a long time, the Elphyra’s Clan knew what territories were dangerous to cross and what not.

It didn’t mean that they had safe passages. Beasts were highly territorial, but they constantly roamed other grounds to seek challenges and expand their packs.

Beasts around here didn’t have much spirituality. They hardly managed to comprehend a Daodrop, something crucial to be strong enough to have a chance of passing The Trials. They also commonly have fighter classes that only gained experience by killing other foes.

Even if they got stuck in the bottleneck of the E-grade without forming any Daodrop, they might have the chance of elevating their base attributes by consuming the spirituality of other beasts for an extended period. In rare cases, they managed to promote the purity of their bloodline and had their base strength increased.

Before coming here, they had the deterrence of the aura of multiple Ascended, and not even the other Ascended Beasts would dare to mess with them. They didn’t have that protection at the moment.

The Elphyra Clan hurriedly turned back with caution as they weren’t being threatened directly. Forest elves were nimble in forests-everyone moved without making any noise and almost without altering the terrain. It was a great contrast to the enraged elves running for their lives before.

They had fled because they didn’t have any other options. Their meager strength wouldn’t have helped the Grand Elder. They’d have been used as targets, making the battle more difficult for her.

If there were a minimum possibility that staying would have helped in the early battle, the elves would have laid their lives with gusto. This is also why Rydel’s parents didn’t insist very much on his idea.

The two pillars of the Elphyra Clan couldn’t die. They were also their clanmates and family. They couldn’t die.

Rydel arrived next to his parents and lifted Naveena, hugging her close to his chest. She noticed his mental state, she wordlessly used a tail to wrap it around his wrist and the other two to gently caress his arms. They both smiled at him in greeting before continuing their march.

Shael was next to them, and she intently gazed at him with a hint of admiration.

Rydel shrugged it off as if what he did wasn’t a big deal. However, he was ecstatic inside by being noticed by his crush. It momentarily averted his conflicted feelings.

‘You aren’t a forest elf.’ Shael sent him a spiritual message.

‘Why do you think that?’

Rydel had learned how to send spiritual messages after evolving into E-grade. He had learned the technique a while ago but couldn’t use it because of his low spirit at that moment.

‘Forest elves don’t have wings.’ Shael deadpanned.

‘It could be either a class skill or an ability.’

Shael thought about those possibilities before responding.

‘I don’t think so. Your class doesn’t seem related to any flight, and you don’t have the capabilities of forming something as complex as wings with your current abilities.’ Shael analyzed.

‘Why not? I have to say that I’m quite awesome.’ Rydel smiled, showing his teeth.

Shael raised an eyebrow and didn’t respond.

Rydel’s smile stiffed a little bit.

‘I’m not a forest elf.’ Rydel finally admitted.

‘Go on.’ Shael had a small smile at her minor victory.

‘I’m an Astral Elf.’ Rydel continued when he saw no reaction from her. ‘I mutated as a reward in The Trial-after forming the Daodrop of Moonlight coupled with different resources that increased my affinity, and I turned into some kind of star elf.’

‘You are pretty strong. Your race bonus had to be pretty big.’

‘That’s something that I’m quite curious too. I don’t know how high the bonus of high elves is, so I don’t know how my race is compared to yours.’ Rydel said in expectation.

‘… do you want to exchange the information?’ Shael tentatively asked.

‘If it doesn’t bring you any problems, I’d like to, yes.’

‘It’s not something that is lightly shared, as it could incur jealousy to narrow-minded people. But it isn’t a closed secret either, your Elders probably know the information.’ Shael thought about it a little more. ‘It’s worth the trade to know the details from an unknown race.’

‘It doesn’t seem very smart to me if you put it like that. To casually give you my secrets in exchange for something that I could ask a little around.’ Rydel pointed out.

‘What else do you want then?’ Shael rolled her eyes. ‘True, it could give you an advantage if nobody knows your exact stats, but in the end, people will gauge your attributes when you are fighting anyways.’

‘First of all, I want this to stay between us.’

‘How do you know that I’ll keep my word? You barely know me.’

‘Easy, if this information gets around, I’ll immediately know that it is because of you.

I’ll get to know that you aren’t trustworthy.’

‘Aren’t you being a little too open? You’d better say that I’m someone worth trusting.’

‘I’m an honest guy, and so are you. If not, you would have just accepted the deal without telling me anything.’

‘I don’t want you to complain that you’d been scammed.’ Shael shrugged. ‘What else did you want?’

‘A date.’ Rydel said with determination.

‘Aren’t you being a little hasty to ask for a date without barely knowing each other?’

‘Times waits for no one.’

They stood in silence for a while.

‘You know you can’t romantically pursue a high elf, right?’

‘I know.’

Both stopped jogging, creating a lake with elves running around them. They gazed at each other’s eyes intently for minutes.

‘I want to go to a quiet clearing.’ Shael finally said before she continued running. Rydel had a happy smile for an instant before returning next to her.

‘Consider it done.’

‘What are you waiting for? Show me your race.’ Shael exasperatedly said.

[Astral Elf (E): Spirit +30%, Perception +20%]

Shael’s big upturned eyes opened in shock.

‘How is that possible…?’

Rydel didn’t say anything, merely smirking at her response. She lightly flicked his shoulder. It hurt like hell.

Rydel wasn’t a close-combat fighter like her. Her strength should be several times higher than his endurance.

‘Quick, stop being surprised and show me yours.’

Shael stared at him with annoyance but complied anyway.

[High Elf (E): Strength +30%, Endurance +20%]

This time it was Rydel’s turn to become surprised.

‘It’s the same bonus, just with different attributes.’ Rydel exclaimed.

‘Not really- there are two variants of high elves. Lady Allyna and I have the more physical one, which is the one that you are seeing. Lady Melora and Lord Nyvorlas have the other variant that raised dexterity and perception.’ Shael paused. ‘The latter variant are usually either rogues, to take advantage of their dexterity, or mages because of their high perception that allows them to launch complex and difficult spells.’

‘That means that I’m a new race with a completely different bonus than yours has.’ Rydel pondered the implications. ‘This should give me at least some qualifications.’

‘For all we know, your race might be incompatible with the rest of the elves. Maybe you are bound to remain single forever.’ Shael gave him a teasing smile.

‘Absolutely not.’ Rydel replied with resolution.

‘We’ll see about that.’

Both stopped their talk. They have come back to the coast again. The last embers of golden fire had already extinguished.