"Vivie was the only Great Elf of the Rainflower Family, wasn't she?" Russell pondered in bed at night.
Elves were categorized into two types.
One type was plant-based elves, and the other was mushroom-based elves.
Within the mushroom-based elves, fungal cordyceps nurture mushroom insects, which can evolve into mushroom birds, and mushroom birds are the final evolutionary stage for mushroom elves.
In plant-based elves, plant cordyceps give birth to Spirit Insects, which can evolve into Little Sprites. Little Sprites can further evolve into Great Elves, beings with spirit and intelligence able to speak.
However, evolving into a Great Elf was incredibly difficult, and in the entire Shadowflame Grand Duchy, the number of Great Elves was even scarcer than Bipedal Flying Dragons.
But once you have a Great Elf, it means the family will continuously have a stream of Spirit Insects and Little Sprites being born.
