A Temporary Victory

Kalei naturally couldn't waste the time Arenia and the others had bought him with their lives, so he began rapidly gathering natural energy.

Kalei had originally thought the natural energy here was tainted by shadow power and would be difficult to gather.

But to his surprise, although some of the corrupted natural energy couldn't hear his call, the rest, which remained uncorrupted, welcomed his arrival with open arms.

It quickly gathered around him and actively called to more natural energy from the distant forests and mountains, inviting it to join them.

Kalei drew all this surging energy around himself, but unlike usual, he didn't give it any orders or instruct it how to attack or defend.

He remembered his mentor once saying that natural energy possessed an ancient will of its own. Like the winds and streams in the wilderness, it could unleash its greatest power only by following its nature.

Sure enough, some of the natural energy soon surprised him. Sensing the ancient consciousness imprisoned within the Magic Tree, it began gathering toward the tree of its own accord.

At first, there were only a few faint green glimmers, twinkling in midair like fireflies. But as more and more natural energy joined them, the lights gradually merged into a surging flood, flowing like a winding stream toward the Magic Tree's roots.

At first, the effect was barely noticeable. But as more and more natural energy gathered, the Magic Tree soon began to feel its influence.

The Satyr leader hiding in the Magic Tree suddenly realized his control over it was weakening.

Startled, he came to his senses, his anger abating.

He realized he had fallen for those pointy-eared fools' trick, which infuriated him. He wanted to make them pay, but first he had to deal with that boy—the one who posed a serious threat to him.

A powerful sense of danger drove him to force the Magic Tree to move toward Kalei at all costs.

Kalei felt the ground trembling beneath him. He knew he was about to face a difficult test. Should he retreat or stand his ground?

In the end, he chose to stand firm. From the moment he made up his mind, more natural energy acknowledged him, gathering together into an even mightier flood.

The flood surged out of Kalei's body, turning into streaks of green light that streamed toward the approaching Magic Tree.

Endless green light seeped into the Magic Tree, awakening the consciousness sealed within it.

As the Magic Tree's consciousness awoke, the Satyr leader clearly felt his control over it plummet.

"No... No..." The Satyr leader let out a furious cry and forcibly commanded the Magic Tree to attack Kalei. But with his control weakened, the tree moved as slowly as a snail, and Ugo stopped it with his tremendous strength.

When he tried to control the Magic Tree again, he found that natural energy had cut off his will. He had completely lost the ability to command it.

The Satyr leader hadn't expected everything to take such a sudden turn. Shock and fury surged through him as he jumped down from the Magic Tree and cursed, "Damn you, little brat from the Nightdew family! You keep ruining my plans. I'll kill you sooner or later!"

Kalei hadn't expected the Satyr leader to know his family name. His thoughts stirred. He opened his eyes and asked, "Who are you? How do you know my family name?"

The Satyr leader burst into laughter. "Guess!"

Kalei desperately wished his status panel could tell him the Satyr leader's name and background. Unfortunately, the panel could only estimate his strength and was otherwise completely useless.

But when he heard the other man's laughter, a familiar scene surfaced in his mind. He suddenly looked up and shouted, "You... You're the Satyr who led the attack on our village forty years ago!"

The Satyr leader said smugly, "That's right. You guessed it."

Kalei's eyes narrowed. He rose to his feet in fury. "So it was you! You demonic lackey! I'll kill you!"

The Satyr leader sneered. "Oh, you want to kill me? Your father, Malka, was an idiot. I didn't expect you to be just as stupid."

Kalei froze, then hurriedly asked, "So you ran into my father that night. What did you do to him?"

The Satyr leader grinned viciously. "You want to know? Go ask in hell!" As he spoke, he pointed at the Magic Tree, then vanished from sight.

The others were about to pursue him when Kalei suddenly sensed something unusual coming from within the Magic Tree. He sensed it briefly, then his expression changed. "No good! That traitor triggered the shadow power inside the Magic Tree. It's going to explode! Run!"

Everyone was startled and immediately turned to flee. Arenia and the others were far from the ancient tree, so they quickly escaped the blast radius. Kalei, Ugo, and the three Furbolgs were too close. They had only taken a step or two when a muffled thud sounded behind them.

Kalei thought the Magic Tree had exploded. He couldn't worry about the three Furbolgs and prepared to use the Blink spell he'd only recently learned to escape. But nothing happened behind him. Instead, he heard the long-missed voice of the system.

"You have received a message from Anlong, the Ancient Magic Tree: Thank you, young Druid. You saved me with your courage and wisdom. May the Spirit of Nature watch over you forever."

"You have earned the favor of the Spirit of Nature. The Spirit of Nature has bestowed upon you a Seed of the Soul Ancient Tree."

"You have obtained the special item Seed of the Soul Ancient Tree. This seed will exist within your body in spirit form and must be activated before it can be used."

Kalei turned around and saw that the Magic Tree had indeed exploded. But at the moment of the explosion, the now-awakened Anlong had purified it at the cost of his own life.

The purified energy drifted slowly through the air like fireflies filling the sky.

The nearby spirits of nature seemed moved by Anlong's sacrifice. Countless tiny threads of light converged from every direction, carefully gathering Anlong's scattered soul fragments from the air and condensing them into a crystal-clear seed. Before everyone's eyes, it floated slowly toward Kalei, then finally merged with his body.

Kalei could clearly feel the seed inside him, containing Anlong's ancient and gentle will.

He hadn't expected the arduous battle to end this way. His feelings were complicated: he regretted Anlong's sacrifice, yet felt delighted by the gift he had received.

But the Satyr leader's parting words about his father completely banished that joy, leaving him unable to feel happy.

All these years, he and his mother had been unable to find his father. Now it seemed his father's disappearance was directly connected to those Satyrs.

The Satyrs had likely taken his father away. But why had they taken him, and how was his father now?

Questions whirled through Kalei's mind, but there were no answers. He could only sigh inwardly, set them aside, and focus on what was happening now.

The anticipated explosion never came, and everyone regrouped.

Felicia asked softly, "What just happened?"

Kalei told them what had really happened, and only then did they realize the Magic Tree had sacrificed itself to save them all.

They felt both relieved and saddened.

Jinli chuckled from the side. "You're one lucky little guy. You got yourself a soul pet just like that—and it's a soul tree, no less."

Luna asked, "What's a soul pet?"

Jinli said, "You don't know? Hunters have three kinds of pets: ordinary pets, magical beasts, and soul pets."

"Ordinary pets are everywhere. Magical pets usually have to be raised by their owners, while soul pets are a rare stroke of luck. They can dwell inside their owners and grow stronger alongside them. Your captain's Soul Owl counts as a soul pet, too."

Luna looked at Arenia, who smiled and nodded.

Only then did everyone realize that Kalei had obtained something extraordinary. They all marveled at his good fortune.

Kalei hadn't expected such an unexpected windfall, and he was naturally delighted.

After talking for a while, they discussed what to do next.

Although the Magic Tree had been purified and the source of the corruption plaguing the land had been removed, the other corrupted Furbolgs remained a threat to both the Bristlelimb Tribe and the Night Elves.

Linda lowered her bow and said, "That's strange. While we were fighting them, corrupted Furbolgs kept hearing the commotion and coming to investigate. Why haven't any shown up now?"

Jinli leaned against the wall, wiping the grime from her blade. "Could those guys have heard how the fight went and run off?"

Arenia frowned. "That's possible, but something else might have happened, too. We should go check. What do you think?"

Everyone agreed.

Chief Ugo was most concerned about the corrupted Furbolgs, so he was more than happy to go.

So they followed the entrance the Ebony Priest had used earlier and left the now-purified cavern, heading toward Bearclaw Valley.

Along the way, they discovered that the place was just as Ugo had described: full of passages and branches, extending in every direction. Without Ugo and the other Furbolgs to guide them, they would easily have gotten lost.

Led by Ugo, they took several winding passageways and discovered that the Furbolgs in the underground maze hadn't left. Nearly all of them had fallen unconscious.

After examining them, everyone discovered that the shadow energy inside the Furbolgs had been cleansed. But because they had suffered the effects of the shadow energy for so long, their blood and vitality were severely depleted, leaving them in a coma.

This outcome surprised Kalei and the other Night Elves, but they could accept it.

The three Furbolgs with Ugo, however, were overjoyed. They had no desire to wander around anymore and were eager to save their purified kin.

After sharing a life-and-death adventure with Ugo and the other two Furbolgs, Kalei and the others naturally couldn't stand by and do nothing.

They did what they could to help.

With Kalei and the others' help, Ugo saved over a hundred Furbolgs that afternoon and rescued the Bristlelimb Tribe from the brink of destruction.

As night fell, Kalei and the others said goodbye to the Furbolgs.

Though these fellows looked honest and simple, they were shrewd inside. Knowing Kalei and the others were eager to get home, they didn't try to hold them back.

Before Kalei and the others left, however, they offered a generous reward for the Night Elves' efforts: an Arcane Scroll documenting how to create an Ancient Magic Tree.

The scroll was worthless to the Furbolgs, but priceless to the Night Elves.

Kalei and the others gladly accepted the priceless treasure and agreed that Kalei would deliver it to the Cenarion Circle. It would surely help him greatly in joining the Circle!