Chapter 149: Lingering (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem
"Tree elves?"
The dryad stopped for a second and started to search through its memory. He responded after several minutes.
"They moved to another place a while ago, and people have no idea where they went. The tree elves have their own special method of preventing outsiders from tracking them down, and they will build a Secret Garden after arriving at a new forest or new area. The first time I met the tree elves was about 130 years ago, and they were so cute and gentle. Ah… The nostalgia… Time really flies. I remember the days they danced on my hands, and I would be woken up by their incredible melodies every day."
The dryad sighed. "But what you don’t know is, their voices are heavenly, so people might lose their mind just by listening to them sing. Also, they brought me fruits from time to time, and roasted meat nearby. It was truly a great time. They coated the loins of the boar with jam… Haven’t had something like that in years…"
"You’re not answering my question."
Angele only needed to know where those tree elves had gone.
"Let me think… Give me some time…"
The dryad put a hand on his forehead. It seemed like he was having some trouble with recalling things from the past.
"Our time dimension is different so I need to do some calculations… It’ll take me years to arrange my hair or just turn around… You humans only need seconds to do something like that, but I can’t. My life expectancy is so long that I forget things quickly…" the tree mumbled as it swung its branches.
"Time dimension? You mean our activity circles? Have you ever met a wizard before?"
Angele was a bit surprised.
"Of course, I talked to several wizards the last time I woke up. They stood beside me, discussed their studies, and acquired some information from me. However, they didn’t… Oh! Yeah! I remembered it!" the dryad suddenly shouted out, its voice so loud that it almost numbed Angele’s body.
"They’re still in the Andes Alliance, but they"ve built another Secret Garden. Are you looking for Tikka Soyun?"
"Tikka Soyun? Is that the name of their Secret Garden?" Angele asked.
"Yes, Tikka Soyun. It means shelter in their language. Most of their Secret Gardens use this name. They should be more creative with their naming." The dryad started saying random things again.
"I gave them many suggestions when they were still here, but they just wouldn’t listen. Also, they spent only one year deciding the name… But I spent several years thinking of them… Should’ve called it Murlo Roast or Elf’s Orchard. Sounds much better, right?"
"Do you talk random things to anyone that comes to you?"
Angele was speechless.
"Well, they wouldn"t be able to wake me up without the keepsakes. A keepsake helps me adjust my time dimension, otherwise, I wouldn"t notice anyone here. This place was once a town but people disappeared for some reason. Oh wait, actually, there was an earthquake, a fire, and a huge black bear… Ah… I wanted its meat…"
"One more question." Angele interrupted. "Do you know about the Chaos Language?"
"Chaos Language? What’s that? Never heard of it." The dryad looked confused. "Well, I can’t answer your question. I think it’s some secret of the wizards. Ask me something else. I’m old you know and I forget things. Omicade once said that I might have some brain disease, but I don’t think so, you know what…"
Angele was disappointed, he stopped the tree from saying more useless things. "Hey, do you know how to remove the impurities in my mentality? I drank too many potions."
"Impurities… huh… Let me think…"
The dryad narrowed his eyes and started thinking.
He stared at Angele for several minutes.
"Sorry, I was thinking about something else…"
"…" Angele’s patience was being tested. He almost got a headache from talking to the tree.
"Concentration of mentality, eh? I know the method…"
The dryad saw Angele staring at him and decided to focus on the question.
"What is it?" Angele asked in a deep voice.
"Umm… Well… First, you need to strengthen your conviction, and then use pure energy to penetrate those impurities. If you can keep doing that for long enough, your mentality will s.h.i.+ft, and the impurities will be gone after being permeated by the pure energy."
"So, it’s a method that only formal wizards can use? The others will die if they insist on using the energy radiation."
Angele’s brow furrowed.
"Radiation? Yeah, you’re right. Only formal wizards can handle such strong radiation. Also, it takes time, maybe years? For me, it’s just the amount of time I use to scratch my head. You probably already know that dryads like me will…" The tree finished answering the question and started changing the topic again.
Angele nodded and ignored the rest of the words the dryad said.
The method was actually much simpler than he had thought. He could use the chip to transfer radiation energy to his body, but only one element could be used. He wondered if the enchanted ring’s radiation had helped him to develop the affinity for Wind energy particles.
"Thanks for your explanations." Angele bowed to the tree slightly. "If I didn’t see it for myself, I wouldn’t believe that there was a dryad that loved roasted meat."
"Haha! Is that so? I’m different, eh?" The dryad laughed, satisfied with Angele’s words. "Here, take this with you!"
A small piece of wood dropped to the ground.
Angele picked it up. It was the wood piece he had handed over earlier, but the words had turned into a map. A black mark was left on one location which said: "Tikka Soyun".
Angele smiled at the tree, turned around, and left the place.
He raised his head before entering the tunnel again. There were several purple swallows rotating in the sky, but for some reason, he did not notice them while talking to the tree.
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Angele found the location on the map right before it got dark. It was a large field beside a river. There were several wooden houses lined up on the side, but they were probably abandoned a long time ago.
Angele walked around and checked the houses but found nothing valuable. It seemed like the tree elves had left the shelter a long time ago, so he decided to head back.
It was getting dark. Angele returned to the location where he had parked his carriage, finding that the energy particles around were untouched.
He jumped into the carriage and tried to track his mother down with the tracking spell, however, the only thing he got was just an indication of a direction.
The tracking spell could only track people’s location within three years of their disappearance. The spell was developed and modified by master Liliana. She taught Angele a special set of knowledge that was required for learning the spell model, so even if someone stole the model, he would not be able to learn it.
The night fell, and Angele hung several oil lamps on the front of the carriage. Although the horses did not need the light, he still wanted to see if there was anything blocking the path.
The moons were covered by the clouds. Angele held the reins in hands, driving the carriage carefully. He was also checking the surroundings constantly. With high Mentality, he could perform such a task with easy.
Nothing happened that night. Angele sat on the carriage and advanced on his route back.
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Two days later.
A gray carriage slowly went down the road between the vibrant bushes. The sounds made by the wheels and horse hooves were extremely loud in the morning.
Angele held the reins in his hands as he glanced at the trees on the right. He could see the wooden watch tower clearly in the gaps between the trunks.
A panel saw was quietly lying beside a large pine tree. It seemed like the hunter had finished his work. The area was deadly silent, Angele couldn"t even hear birds twittering.
He scrunched his eyebrows. "Halt…"
Slowly stopping the carriage, he jumped off it, and then quickly walked to the large pine tree.
Angele touched the dew on the blade of the saw and knew that something was wrong. The hunter hadn"t come back to pick up his tool after the rain had stopped, which meant something had happened after Angele left the watch tower. He probably hadn"t listened to the advice.
Angele’s expression changed. He looked at the watch tower, raised his right hand, and created a twisted silver dagger.
Holding the dagger in hand, he started walking to the tower. He climbed up the small hill and arrived at the entrance after several minutes.
He pushed the door open and carefully entered the room.
The campfire in the middle of the room was extinguished a long time ago. There was only a pile of black ash under the metal rack, but the hunter was not here.
Angele crouched beside the campfire and dipped his finger into the ash—it was cold.
He glanced around the room and saw some dark red liquid on the ground. Putting his right hand into the liquid, he sniffed it.
"Blood…"
The trail of blood led him to the staircase.
He walked up the spiral staircase and found the body of the hunter halfway.
The hunter sat on the stairs with hands on his knees, a pool of blood gathered below his feet.
Angele’s expression changed. He suddenly felt someone blowing chilling air onto his neck.
*Chi*
Blue light dots flashed in Angele’s eyes, and he pursed his lips in a strange angle.