The Great Forest Temple.
Sethryn and his elven companion instantly appeared in an expanse.
Lysar was dazed from the rapid travel and her head still spun so much that she tottered. Sethryn held her hands to support her until she was able to stand on her own.
They had arrived.
In front of them were two pillars. Giant pillars that were as tall as ten to fifteen meters in height.
Other than these pillars, there was nothing else but greenery in this place.
Lysar shook her head and blinked her eyes many times. She removed her hand from Sethryn's grip and walked a few steps forward to test if she was still dizzy from the teleportation.
A little stunned, but she could manage herself well enough to not need support.
Sethryn stood akimbo for a while before finally walking up to the pillars.
"Lysar," he called. "I don't see any temples here. Are we in the wrong place?"
On second thought, they had gotten to the place with the map function: teleportation skill. There was no way they were in the wrong place.
But where was the Great Forest Temple?
Sethryn, still doubtful, checked his map to make certain of his current location. He tapped on it to see what information the Synapse would give him.
[ Player's Location: The Great Forest Temple ]
<< The Great Forest Temple is a sanctuary. It is believed by the elven race to be the shrine of their ancestral spirits. >>
Sethryn looked at the pillars, not with admiration but with a curious look. He ambled towards the one closest to him on the right side.
The pillars were tall and crafted from stones and emeralds, buried deep in the ground with a five-meter long gap separating them horizontally.
He ran his fingers through the carvings that were impressed on one of the pillars. The inscriptions appeared to be written in an ancient elven language that he could not read much less understand.
The carvings were identical on both pillars, meaning it was the same message.
"We have to pass through the gates."
"What gates?" Sethryn asked, not exactly sure what the elf meant.
"There."
Lysar pointed at the space between the two pillars. There was nothing there but it seemed Lysar knew something that Sethryn did not know.
"Is that the gate?"
The elf bobbed her head, "Mm-hmm! At least that is what the writings say."
Of course, she could read those strange letters.
She was an elf and it was obvious that she would understand the carvings. Sadly, Sethryn failed to note such an important detail but fortunately for him, it did not deter their plans.
He moved in first to walk through the path and it seemed like nothing was in his way. Before Sethryn could walk through, his body jammed into something.
An invisible wall.
If it was only jamming into the wall that was the issue, then that was no problem at all.
The mere contact he had with this strange barricade sent a tide of magical energy zinged through his body like an electric shock andflungg him about ten metres backwards.
[ Damage Detected ]
[ You Have Been Exposed To Strange Mana ]
[ Caution: Strange Magical Energy Detected ]
[ Life Points Reduced By 12.5% ]
...
...
...
"Ah, what was... that just now?"
Sethryn winced in pain. His back ached with a sharp sting from the impact. He could no longer feel sensations in his left arm as it tingled and felt heavy.
His vision blurred and he was hearing resounding noises that sounded like wave interferences.
All the notifications that flashed in front of him were missed as he did not see any.
Sethryn managed to sit up, trying to go from that posture to standing but his body would not let him. He fell back to the ground immediately.
He was stunned by the surge of mana that had travelled through his body systems. It felt similar to his first experience with mana — Simha's mana — but this time it was much more impactful.
"Freaking hell,' he grumbled, "my head hurts. Feels like a hundred drums battered at the same time."
His disconcordant hearing was the first of his many disorientation to clear.
"Are you alright?"
It was not waves that he was hearing earlier but Lysar's voice calling out to him. His sight gradually cleared afterwards and he could see the elf's face clearer than when he just woke.
"What happened?"
Lysar took him by the hand and pulled him back on his feet as they walked back to the pillars.
"The gate of the temple rejected you."
Sethryn was too stunned to even think deeply about what the elf said. He merely glanced at her and faced forward again.
"It rejected you because you're not one of us. That was the same reason why the goblins never succeeded in getting past the gates of the Great Forest Temple.
"They were not elven blood."
"Saviour," Lysar muttered, attracting the player's stunned gaze as they locked eyes.
"The only way you can get through is if we become one."
"Become... one?" a feeble whisper was released from Sethryn's mouth.
"Like... have... sex? Or do you mean... marriage? The two of us?"
Lysar's cheeks turned red instantly and she started to stutter, avoiding eye contact with Sethryn, she turn and fixed her gaze focused in front.
She was flustered by Sethryn's bold statements.
"N-No... no... no no. N-Nothing like that," she said, disaffirming what Sethryn assumed from her words.
"What do you mean by becoming one then?"
Lysar cleared her throat.
"If what it says is true then only my mana needs to be felt by the invisible wall. That's all it will take."
"And me?" Sethryn asked.
"I can cloak you with my mana. That way, yours will be masked and you won't be singled out as a stranger."
Sethryn was amazed by the elf's intellect having falsely reckoned her to be nothing but a crybaby.
"You can do that?"
"Mm-hmm, I should be able to do it," she replied the rather now inquisitive saviour of hers.
"How did you learn to do it?"
Lysar could tell from all the successive bullets of questions that Sethryn had an interest in magical energy although she could not say why that was so.
"Maybe, he's just the curious type," she thought, brushing it off as a trivial matter.
"I listened," she answered.
"But I have no experience with it as I've never done it before. I only know it in theory."
"Well, you have to pour everything you have into. It has to work or we are done for."
Lysar did not understand the sense of urgency in Sethryn's voice until she turned back. Sethryn's back was turned to her and his shield was already equipped.
Ahead of them were goblins that were emerging, heading their way as fast as they could.
"Hurry up, Lysar."