"Lord Luna, does this Life Tree belong to you?"

"It does."

After hearing that, Elder Aran suddenly knelt down on both knees. After seeing this sight, Arbane and Alea didn't even stop him, but proceeded to kneel down as well.

Luna couldn't make heads or tails of this. Weirdly enough, not even Sura had any idea. Noticing their confusion, Elder Aran stood up and explained.

"Lord Luna, Lady Sura, what I'm about to tell you both is the most closely guarded secret of the Elves. I hope you consider this as a sign of good faith." Elder Aran had a solemn expression on his face. Arbane and Alea seemed a bit unsure, but eventually nodded towards the Elder, expressing their agreement.

"Lord Luna, this tree belongs to you on the level of a soul connection, correct?"

"Indeed. It lives and dies by the . Should I die, so will all of it."

"All of it?"

"Yes. Including this one, we have five in total."

"Eh?!" The three Elves yelled out in unison. It took them a minute to recover from their shock. "Five!?"

"Yes. One, two, three, four, five. Five." Luna specified.

Tears started falling uncontrollably from the Elves as Elder Aran spoke again. "When our Race was awaiting to be released from that dome, even the most miraculous of situations we could have hoped for, was only limited to meeting a 'ONE' candidate that could be reasoned with, at least. But to actually have five life trees. Lord Luna, I originality came here to negotiate with you, but now.. Please allow our Elven race to serve you faithfully! In exchange, allow us to be the caretakers of the Life Tree!"

Luna was wondering what a "ONE candidate" was, but even more surprising to him, was when Elder Aran mentioned the word "serve."

This old monster whose level is unknown even to him, wanted to SERVE him?

"Elder Aran, for someone as powerful as you, why would you wish to serve me when we can just be allies? What is a 'ONE' candidate?"

Elder Aran composed himself again before continuing. "You must not have known yet, neither will Lady Sura. After all, the Asuran race has always been above and beyond the rest, exempting them from these matters. ONE stands for Overlord of the Next Eon. In every onset of this new world, there are numerous 'ONE' candidates. More specifically, they are the leaders of a , big or small. Did you know that in every world, it always starts out as one super-continent? Eventually they are all broken apart, because they are to made use of as a stage for candidates, in the event of the new world starting on that planet, albeit, something seems off about yours, you mentioned it has only been a few weeks, yet I'm seeing creatures from the void that didn't show up in ours until months later."

"It's because something has happened that has even the Gods that we know of, to be in a panic." Sura answered.

"I see. That would seem to be the best and only explanation I could think of. There's no point in worrying about it too much. Even if we knew what's happening to them right now, we wouldn't be able to help."

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"Right. Elder Aran, you were going to share with us the secret of the Life Tree?"

"Ah, yes. Lord Luna, I hope you don't tell even your most closest confidantes about this. If you could give me your word about this, I promise our race will forever be in your service."

"You have my word, Elder Aran. I can promise you that my people and yours will be as one. As such, we will treat each others as equals."

Arbane and Alea could only smile bitterly. Prior to the onset of the new world on their planets, the Elves were head and shoulders above the rest. Their general population look at disdain towards the Dark Elves, and even more so towards the human race. When the war started on their planet, the human race was beat back quite easily, but they quickly adapted and occupied the mountains, resorting in guerilla tactics, until one day, an expert emerged from the human's side, eliminating everyone who blocked his path. It was quite the humbling experience for the Elves who suffered a humiliating defeat.

This has always been the advantage of the human race. They could be considered as the weakest race individually, but they multiply so fast that eventually someone pops up and just takes the world by storm.

They believed that this person in front of them, Luna, was one such person. There was no way a Life Tree would be born naturally in such a low level planet, so it could have only been rewarded to him through preset conditions made by the Gods. The fact that he had five in total, speaks volumes to his capability. Not to mention, when Luna was wary of them earlier, they also felt the aura of a True Dragon emanating from him, as well as the fact that he was being considered as the father of the daughter of this planet along with his seemingly close relationship to an Asura.

"Thank you, Lord Luna. This Life Tree, the reason why it hasn't produced any 'fruit' as of yet, is due to two things. One, it has to be cultivated through a technique known to us Elves. Two, the so called 'fruit' you were expecting, isn't exactly fruit. Us Elves are born through the Life Tree."

"Eh?" Not only Luna, even Sura was taken aback. Good thing this tree didn't produce any "fruit" that hey would have plucked and eaten, or else they would have actually ended up munching on Elf fetus.

"It's true, Lord Luna. Actually, five is the magic number for Life Trees. If you'll allow me to, I can relocate the trees to be in close proximity of each other. Usually it should be one on each corner, than a fifth one in the middle. If only we had a it would help with the speed of growth of the infants so they can actually be of help, but even still, with five Life Trees, I can promise you that we'll have enough people to defend this island."

Luna was debating on whether he should drop another bomb worth of news at this Elder, but after thinking about it, he did so anyway. "Ah, about that. We also do have a cradle."

"Ha... Haha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The Gods have truly left us a way out! We are no longer going to be the last of our kind! Lord Luna, it is my honor so serve you now more than ever. Please accept my oath of fealty!" Elder Aran knelt down once more.

"So be it. Elder Aran. As of today, I'm officially announcing you as a member of the ."

"Yes! From this day forth, we Elves will fight by your side. The over one hundred thousand of us remaining, and the ones that will be born!"

Luna and Elder Aran shook hands. What was supposed to be a talk regarding a possible alliance, ended up in the humbled Elven race to swear their loyalty to Luna. With this, the issue of fully conquering the Negros Island while having enough defenses to secure it, was resolved.

"By the way, Elder Aran, you mean to say that Elves cannot procreate without the Life Tree, correct?"

"Yes and No. The next thing I'm about to tell you is the second secret of the Life Tree."

This day was definitely full of surprises. Luna thought that while the four were incredibly valuable, it couldn't compare to the military advantage that Maxene would eventually bring with her taming. But who would have thought that this thing had so many secrets? The Gods truly left no information.

He could only keep on striving for more as fast as he can. Had someone beat him to the punch, and received those Life Trees instead, they would not have the necessary foundation. With the advantages they have now, they could finally start expanding and securing this Island.

"Elder Aran, the life tree has another secret, you say?" He could only ask and wait in anticipation as the smile on the Elder's face indicated that he was glad to be the one to share this good news with Luna.