Chapter 101: Assimilation Complete

"Oh, it's nothing! Please, go on." Hughes also realized he had lost his composure, quickly collected himself, and gestured for Willie to continue speaking about Alkeri.

"Yes, it's true that some of the larger auctions do have elves, and half-elves as well. From what others say, these elves are much the same as ordinary people, and the ones sold at auction are almost always female elves!" Willie said, glancing at Hughes as he spoke, afraid he might have said something wrong.

"Aren't you afraid of provoking a war between the two races?" Hughes had never once thought of the elves as a race that could be easily bullied.

"Back in the day, there were plenty of people who captured elves, but now there are very few. And even when there are, most of them are half-elves. The elves all live in the Eternal Forest, coexisting with the dwarves!"

"Humans only dare to move around the outskirts of the forest. If someone goes in and gets discovered, they're basically dead. The elves won't start a war on their own, but if humans enter their territory, they won't show any mercy either." Willie told Hughes everything he knew in detail.

"But milord, once you reach Alkeri, it's best you don't go to the Eternal Forest!" Willie warned him kindly.

"Why?" Having lived two lives, Hughes was naturally interested in the elven race. Now that he knew the Eternal Forest was home to elves, Hughes had even been planning to go and take a look.

"You wouldn't know, but in recent years the relationship between humans and elves has grown more and more tense. Not long ago, there was even a small-scale war with an empire. Though the elves are few in number, with the help of the dwarves, the troops the empire sent were no match for them at all. In the end, it took a considerable war indemnity before the conflict was finally extinguished!" Willie could also see that Hughes was interested in the elves, or else he wouldn't have kept asking.

"And why was that?" Hughes increasingly felt that this Willie must have some connections — an ordinary person wouldn't know such details so thoroughly.

"It was all for the sake of the elves' Eternal Ancient Tree. They say a leaf from that tree can bring the dead back to life, though no one has ever actually seen it, so there's no telling whether it's true or not. But that hasn't stopped people from searching for it!"

"Eternal Ancient Tree..." Hughes tried to recall whatever information he had on the Eternal Ancient Tree, only to find that the data he had collected contained no description of it whatsoever — merely a few scattered records stating that the first generation of elves was born from the fruits borne by the Tree of Life.

"Tree of Life... Eternal Ancient Tree..." Hughes felt the two must be one and the same object. This had to be the very lifeline of the elven race.

"Hmm?" Willie, standing beside him, heard Hughes muttering something but couldn't quite make it out.

"It's nothing! I'll be heading back now." Hughes, having gathered just about enough information, decided it was time to return.

"Yes, milord. If there's anything else you'd like to ask, you're welcome to come find me anytime. I won't hold anything back!" Willie said with a cheerful look at Hughes.

---

"Hmm." Hughes felt that he still needed to visit the Eternal Forest. Throughout the entire Extreme North, only the Moonlight Garden possessed an incomplete high-level meditation method. Hughes had originally planned to come to Alkeri to see whether he could gather enough material for his chip to refine and complete a meditation method of his own. But after hearing Willie's words, Hughes felt that was no longer possible.

So Hughes decided he would go to the Eternal Forest to see if he could trade with a race as ancient in heritage as the elves. He was confident that as long as he offered sufficient terms, the elves would not refuse.

"Who would have thought the inheritance of the Extreme North would be called complete!" Hughes thought about Willie's words, and then considered that even the Shadow Ring did not possess a single high-level meditation method. If even that kind of inheritance was what the people of the Alkeri continent called "complete," Hughes could hardly imagine just how scarce wizards and how impoverished their knowledge of wizardry must truly be.

"But that's fine too. At least I'll be safe." Hughes thought to himself. He was already a third-level apprentice, and with his Guardian Guidance, with so few wizards on Alkeri, there really weren't many who could pose a threat to him.

In the days that followed, Hughes often chatted with Willie, casually steering the conversation toward matters of Alkeri whenever he could.

Hughes also learned Willie's identity — the eldest son of a merchant guild. Serving as a captain was his trial as the heir.

The longer Hughes spoke with Willie, the more he could feel Willie's obsession and fervor for wizards.

Hughes could also tell that Willie wanted to bring him into his family. But Hughes had no intention of that. Not to mention the promise he had made to Gegalle, even just the various things Willie had described over these past days had been enough to make Hughes want to see the world for himself. So whenever Willie asked whether Hughes had any interest in joining some faction, Hughes deliberately evaded the topic.

Willie, as the heir of a merchant guild, had dealt with merchants since childhood, so he naturally understood Hughes's meaning. But he wasn't worried. For now, he just needed to let Hughes see his sincerity and offer enough of a price; he refused to believe Hughes would remain unwilling.

Willie's desire to recruit Hughes was partly because there were too few wizards on Alkeri — with Hughes on board, their guild could climb to the next level. More importantly, his position as heir would be secure.

Willie's father had more children than just him, and each one had to undergo a trial. Only the best would be qualified to inherit.

Willie was not the most outstanding in the family — both of his elder brothers surpassed him in every way. Willie had originally been on the verge of giving up, but then he met Hughes.

From the moment Hughes displayed his sorcery before him, he had resolved to recruit Hughes no matter what. As long as Hughes agreed to join his team, the outcome of the trial would no longer matter. Having Hughes alone would be enough.

That was also what puzzled Hughes. Although the number of wizards Willie spoke of in Alkeri was indeed scarce, his persistent desire to recruit Hughes seemed a little too intense, which left Hughes deeply puzzled.

Hughes's strength was at the top among third-level apprentices, but he refused to believe that an entire continent like Alkeri, with an area several times that of the Extreme North, could not produce a single third-level apprentice, nor even one official wizard.

---

This made Hughes begin to doubt Willie's words somewhat, so he secretly asked others as well.

But those people all seemed as if they had agreed beforehand — either they recounted the same things, or they said they didn't know. This made Hughes suspect that Willie had already spoken to everyone on the ship in advance.

Hughes gradually reduced how often he went to Willie, while it was Willie who kept trying to win him over, coming around at every chance, occasionally bringing Hughes some fruit and using that opportunity to exchange a few words.

Hughes also knew that fruit was a rarity out at sea, and one should not strike a smiling face. Seeing Willie behave this way, Hughes found it hard to say anything harsh, so he merely dealt with him perfunctorily. Still, he resolved that once he arrived on the Alkeri continent, he would keep his distance from Willie.

One day, while meditating in his own room, Hughes felt a sense of fullness welling up in his mind and knew that his spirit runes were nearly complete.

"Beep! All spirit runes have been fully assimilated!"

"Beep! Hughes.Bruche — Strength: 7.0, Agility: 8.60, Constitution: 10.31 (increased), Spirit: 12.0, Mana: 12.0 (mana synchronized with spirit). Status: Healthy."

"Finally, all of them have been assimilated." Hughes looked at his attribute panel with deep emotion. After more than a year, Hughes had finally assimilated all eighteen of his spirit runes. The two months he had spent on this ship, meditating day and night, had finally been completed.

"This data is quite a bit higher than the average!" Hughes thought, looking at his spirit attribute. According to the information collected by the chip, the peak spirit for an ordinary third-level apprentice was 10 points. To increase it further, one would have to wait until becoming an official wizard.

"When it comes right down to it, it's all because of these eyes of mine." Looking at his abnormally high spirit, Hughes knew it was all caused by his strange violet eyes. Now all that remained was to meet Gegalle and see whether that person could give him an accurate answer.

Hughes immersed himself in his sea of consciousness, gazing at the eighteen peculiar spirit runes, then withdrew from meditation and touched the bottle of Vitality Potion.

By all accounts, Hughes had now fulfilled the three conditions required to advance to an official wizard.

The Vitality Potion had always been carefully preserved in his keeping. For the first-level defensive spell template, the chip had already analyzed the Elemental Body. And the standard for spirit, Hughes had long since met — now he had exceeded the standard line by a considerable margin.