It was a warm, sunlit stretch of woodland.
The trees were neither as ancient and massive as the old trees of Taiger Forest nor as dreamlike as the Light Trees of Elven Village. They were simply ordinary trees, exuding a peaceful, unremarkable tranquility.
Because of that, sunlight could finally pass through the trees overhead and pour down from the sky in beams, illuminating the forest.
Fairies fluttered about here, but unlike outside, they were not overly excited or energetic. As though savoring the serenity of the woods, they drifted slowly back and forth.
At the very center of this scene stood a temple, entering everyone's sight.
"Is that the Goddess of Nature's temple?"
Shien gave the temple an appraising look.
At first, Shien had thought he was looking not at a temple, but at ruins.
It had neither a magnificent exterior nor excessive decorations. Instead, like ancient ruins, it possessed only old earthen stone walls and solemn, enormous stone doors.
Many tree roots and vines coiled around the outer walls and stone doors.
Other than those roots and vines, the temple's earthen stone walls and doors were carved with only some mysterious patterns.
After examining them for a while, Shien realized that the patterns seemed to depict parts of Elven history.
For instance, there was an Elf resembling a Queen seated upon a throne, accepting the worship of countless kneeling Elves.
For instance, there was a Goddess-like being descending from the heavens, while Elves below offered worship.
And there were also diagrams resembling an evolutionary process, showing fairies gradually growing as they flew before finally becoming Elves.
A temple like this truly did resemble ruins.
There was even a plaza around the ruins.
At that moment, Shien's group had arrived at the plaza, directly before the temple gates.
"..."
Sophie,