"Silverleaf Forest is on fire?" Vilanthe stood up abruptly. She immediately found the map of the territories, locating several villages near Silverleaf Forest.
"We must evacuate the people from these villages."
Viscount Savio looked at the anxious young princess and comforted her: "The flames may not spread outside the forest. This is not the first fire in Silverleaf Forest. The elves inside will extinguish the flames soon."
Vilanthe frowned, "I know they will protect the forest, but you should know that the speed of a forest fire is very fast. If you run away when the fire is at your doorstep, you won't be able to escape."
Viscount Savio continued to persuade Vilanthe: "If we make a big fuss and forcibly evict the villagers, and in the end, the village is not damaged, your prestige will certainly be affected."
Vilanthe retorted: "What prestige do I have? In their eyes, I am just an unfamiliar princess who has nothing to do with their lives. How can I lose something that doesn't exist? Besides, prestige won't be wiped out because of this small matter, but it can start to be built from this small matter."
Viscount Savio finally showed a hint of being moved, but Vilanthe's next words made him pause: "Please dispatch the army, escort the villagers from the villages near Silverleaf Forest to leave, and send people to fight the fire."
When a nearby forest catches fire, the surrounding territories will undoubtedly dispatch manpower to extinguish the fire. But the situation in Silverleaf Forest is special, firstly, Silverleaf Forest is far enough from the city, there is no need to worry about the forest fire affecting the city, and secondly, the elves have always guarded the forest well. Forest fires are not the first occurrence, and what the armies of Femington have always done is wait for the elves to extinguish the fire.
Viscount Savio knew that Vilanthe's mother came from Silverleaf Forest, and Vilanthe would definitely not let the forest fire burn. The Viscount sighed: "Yes, I will follow your orders."
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Compared with water magic, the dragon's bloodline made Ina more proficient in manipulating fire.
Above the raging fire that seemed to burn the world, the silhouette of the dragon rose into the sky. The dragons, which had disappeared from the Moro continent for more than three hundred years, have now appeared before the world again.
The black dragon's golden eyes flickered like a raging candle as if they were piercing through the endless smoke and flames. Its scales flexed, and in the firelight, those pitch-black scales seemed like flowing crimson gold. Every inch of muscle was filled with strength and beauty. Its hard-membraned, spiky wings flapped, causing the air to flow rapidly, creating wild winds under its wings. With ease, it flew into the sky to overlook everything. The dragon raised its head, and a massive roar echoed throughout Silverleaf Forest.
The inhabitants near Silverleaf Forest caught sight of the gigantic dragon shadow, beneath the clouds illuminated magnificently by the flames, and above the ferocious tongues of fire devouring everything.
They covered their ears in the earth-shaking roar, no longer doubting the lord's order to leave. Too terrifying! This was truly terrifying!
The black dragon's neck flexed and extended, and golden-red flames spewed out from its mouth. Unlike the mundane fire below, this was the real dragon flame.
The golden-red dragon flame clung tightly to the rampant forest fire, competing with it for the available fuel. The dragon flames, though they had left Ina, still obeyed her like an arm's command. Gradually, the dragon flame encircled the forest fire, cutting off its contact with the surrounding trees.
The momentum of the forest fire grew weaker and weaker, but even if it couldn't spread out anymore, the trees within the encirclement could still burn for days and nights. This time was too long, so what Ina had to do was definitely more than just prevent the forest fire from overflowing.
While manipulating the dragon flame to enter the encirclement, she brushed past the burning trees. Where the dragon flame went, it was as if a fast-forward button had been pressed. The trees quickly burned to nothing, leaving only black and gray charcoal. This method was very effective. Without the wood to fuel the fire, the flames became weaker and weaker.
At this time, Lofir once again manipulated the waters of the Mel River to surge up, and a sudden rain fell in Silverleaf Forest.
The forest fire was finally extinguished. The forest was still billowing with white smoke. The once lush green forest had now become a pure black silhouette. No insects chirped or birds sang. It was eerily quiet.
The elves didn't disperse just yet. They had a lot of work to do. They needed to patrol the burned areas to prevent the fire from reigniting and collect saplings and seeds to restore the original forest. The ashes of the trees fell into the soil, and they would be reborn in another way.
Ina didn't expect to encounter Lofir in such circumstances. For Ina, fighting alongside elves against the black dragon trying to gnaw at the World Tree was just over a year ago, but for Lofir, it was already more than three hundred years ago.
As the high priest of the elves, Lofir had a lot of contact with the players. In fact, most of the important tasks were given by Lofir. He had a cold and beautiful face, but he wasn't really that tough. Players loved to tease Lofir, only to be pinned to the ground and beaten up by him.
As for why Lofir suspected Ina of setting the fire, it was actually because Ina took the blame for the players.
In the game, luck is a hidden setting. And elves, obviously, are the most favored race by all designers, so players inferred that the luck of elves must be higher than that of other races.
The vigorous (and idle) players began their experiments.
Every forest carries the risk of fire, but Silverleaf Forest, as the elves' territory, would greatly contradict the luck setting if it could be burnt down by a single fire.
So the players conducted a comparative experiment, creating fires in the Silverleaf Forest and another forest with nearly the same conditions but devoid of elves. The results were strikingly clear: in the normal forest, the success rate of starting a fire was as high as 70%, but the same method succeeded only twice in Silverleaf Forest, a rate as low as 5%.
Of course, players were just curious and not terroristic pyromaniacs. They would extinguish the fires they started before they got too big.
However, their experiments indeed confirmed for everyone that elves are the favored children of the Creator. But why would such large-scale fires occur in Silverleaf Forest now, as people say, this was not the first in recent years.
"Why have you become a black dragon?" Lofir frowned at Ina. The elves and the dragon clan actually had no enmity. It was just that there was a crazy black dragon in the dragon clan that had inappropriate ideas about the World Tree, so the elves allied with human players to defeat it.
"I killed that black dragon and became like this," Ina vaguely explained, "This is not important, I'm still me."
Seeing Lofir seemed to want to continue questioning, Ina hurriedly threw out her question first: "Why has Silverleaf Forest had such frequent fires, and, after such a big event, why hasn't the Elven King appeared?"
Lofir's eyes were weary: "The creatures of this continent are no longer favored."
[You have received the clue: Elves - Forest Fire, task progress 3/4]
So far, Ina has received three clues: Goblin - Whispering Mine, Orc - Frosty Plateau, plus the one just received, Elves - Forest Fire. As for the last clue, Ina had a guess in her heart.
She really wanted to tell the system that it didn't matter if her little restaurant didn't level up, there was no need to create a situation where everyone could hardly survive. She had already saved the world once, and it hadn't been long, so why was the world about to be destroyed again?
Lofir walked past Ina, whispering, "Come with me."
What Lofir brought Ina to see was the World Tree. The World Tree is not actually in Silverleaf Forest. This place is just an anchor point that can enter the space where the World Tree is located.
"How big is the World Tree?" Ina, who had seen the World Tree, knew it well. Standing under the World Tree, she felt like a speck of dust in the universe. This was a vast and endless space, where a huge tree exuding a crystal-like emerald glow stood alone. Touching the trunk, she could feel the surging life force. Looking up at the World Tree, she couldn't see its entirety, just like an ant can't depict the appearance of an elephant.
But seeing the World Tree again this time, she was still deeply shocked.
"Is it... is it dead?" Ina looked at Lofir in disbelief.
The World Tree represents the prosperity of the entire plane of the Moro Continent. When the World Tree is thriving, Moro is naturally full of vitality. When the World Tree withers, the continent is in jeopardy.
But now the World Tree is like a huge piece of black basalt, deathly silent, dry, and lifeless. Logically, if the World Tree turned into its current state, the Moro Continent should have been destroyed long ago.
Lofir shook his head, "It hasn't completely withered, just fallen into a deep sleep." He asked Ina to look down at the bottom of the tree, and Ina noticed, beneath the dark trunk, there was a small coffin that looked insignificant by comparison.
Inside, a beautiful elf was lying quietly, with waist-long hair the color of moonlight and a silver laurel crown emitting a soft glow.
The Elven King?
"When the King discovered the signs of the World Tree's withering, he timely intercepted a trace of the life energy of the World Tree, allowing it to fall into a dormant state instead of complete withering, but he also fell into sleep with the World Tree."
"When did the weakening of the World Tree begin?"
Lofir shook his head, "We don't often open the passage to check on the World Tree. The opportunity for discovery was when all races on the continent encountered different difficulties. Human prophecy mages came up with a very pessimistic conclusion and came to Silverleaf Forest to request a look at the World Tree."
Ina nodded knowingly, "If I'm not mistaken, that time should be when the Old God's relics were opened?"
A hint of sarcasm appeared on Lofir's face, "After discovering that the World Tree was rapidly declining, all races were looking for solutions. Humans, worthy of being the wisest race, learned from their prophecy mages that the declining World Tree couldn't support the activities of so many creatures on the continent. But if there were fewer creatures, perhaps it would last longer."
"So that's why they decided to trick other races into the Old God's relics?" The Divine Realm is an independent plane, unrelated to the Moro Continent. The World Tree is like an old tree that is shaky and about to fall, still laden with heavy nests. Humans do not want this tree to fall, nor do they want their nests to fall to the ground, so they choose to kick off the nests of other races to make this tree last a little longer.
"Other races are already in a difficult situation, but humans have the most land, the most professionals, and the army. They are the ones who will last the longest. So, after the opening of the Divine Realm, other races have regarded the Divine Realm as a lifesaving straw, but they have fallen into the plot of humans."
"But they are not doing well either. In the past few hundred years, wars and famines have never ceased."
Lofir said with disdain, "This is already stolen time, much better than those races in the Divine Realm."
"Do you know what the Divine Realm is like?" Ina asked curiously.
"The passage has been completely sealed, but there was a Silver Dragon with the talent of space who once briefly transmitted a message that the Divine Realm was like a purgatory."
Ina looked complicated. Was the human's behavior despicable? No doubt about it.
But at the real point of life and death, every human would be grateful to the high-ranking officials of the human empire who made this decision.
They can continue to live on this continent without knowing anything, without having to bear the guilt.
Although she had asked a lot of questions, Ina was particularly curious about one thing.
"Did the Dragon race also encounter any troubles? So that they had to abandon their home and move into the Old God's relics?"
A hint of embarrassment appeared on Lofir's beautiful face: "They should purely believe in the nonsense that the place is full of gold, and their strong power can overcome all conspiracies, so they have moved there with all their belongings."
Ina: This reason is not surprising at all.