The Legend of the Elven Chalice

"What did you say? They weren't members of the Redcoats?"

Fang Heng was quite startled to hear that.

After the battle ended, the first person to find him was that cute, round-faced foreign girl—or rather, a young French girl. Her ID was chosen rather casually: Sky Blue Fantasy, just like her dreamy azure eyes, framed by long fluttering lashes.

And she stared curiously at Fang Heng—

Her gaze was so bold and direct that Fang Heng became terribly embarrassed, not knowing where to look.

"Pfft—" The girl could not help laughing when she saw how flustered he was.

She wore a white blouse with puffed sleeves, cinched tightly at the waist by a gleaming leather belt. Her ample chest seemed ready to burst through the fabric, while below she wore a red-brown plaid skirt and high boots. She was still quite young, with a face that was not conventionally beautiful but exceptionally endearing, dotted with faint freckles and flushed red like an apple.

After the summoner had fled, the Red-brown Elephant-nose Beetles under her contractual control soon vanished after exceeding their maximum range. Without the influence of the Crushed Red Crystal, the remaining beetles went mad for a while before scattering on their own.

Though a few stubborn ones remained.

The others were still cleaning up the aftermath, so they had sent this young lady over first to thank him. After all, if Fang Heng had not intervened, these trainees would certainly have died here today. Of course, the girl herself was also full of curiosity about this Combat Artificer. Still, when she had been the first to climb down from the boulder, push through the bushes, and see Fang Heng, she could not help being startled.

Even Fang Heng himself felt a little embarrassed and touched his cheek.

Calling him ragged would have been putting it mildly. His alchemist's robe, dyed dark green by plant sap, had been torn into strips and hung from him like a ghillie suit. If he carried a forest longbow on his back, anyone who did not know better might have taken him for a Tier 4 Ranger of the Dense Forest.

Fortunately, he still had clothing underneath, so he was not completely exposed. He had retained the last shred of an alchemist's dignity.

"Wait," Fang Heng said, then confirmed once more, "Miss Sky Blue, those people really weren't from the Jefflitte Redcoats?"

Sky Blue nodded.

"But they were clearly wearing Redcoat uniforms..."

"These people are quite famous around Elpaxin. Mr. Combat Artificer only needs to ask around to find out who they are."

"Because they impersonate the Redcoats?"

"No, because they're notorious," Sky Blue replied. "They often attack passersby. If Mr. Combat Artificer hadn't stepped in so righteously today, we would have been tricked by them too. That scared me to death—"

She even patted her chest dramatically, setting off a turbulent wave that made Fang Heng hastily look away.

Fang Heng recalled something. He walked over to the female swordsman's corpse. It was turning into specks of starlight and fading away, becoming impossible to touch. He bent down to inspect her left arm and noticed something unusual.

Although the female swordsman wore the battle robe of the Jefflitte Redcoats, there was no bronze insignia on her left arm.

These bronze insignias were made by alchemists. A system scan would reveal their creators' IDs. Their makers were all core craftsmen of Major Guilds, making them almost impossible to forge.

Fang Heng now somewhat believed Sky Blue's explanation.

Sky Blue followed over curiously as well. Seeing the female swordsman turn into motes of light, she cried out dramatically, "Oh my God, Mr. Combat Artificer, you actually killed their boss! No wonder they ran away."

"Miss Sky Blue, do you know her?" Fang Heng turned and asked.

Sky Blue shook her head. "I only know that the others called her 'Boss.' No one knows her real ID, but she was the strongest among them."

Only then did Fang Heng understand. Earlier, he had thought the Jefflitte Redcoats had fallen so far that even their official members performed worse than their peripheral members.

Still, he looked regretfully at the video he had recorded halfway through, then casually turned it off.

Of course, he could have pretended ignorance and thrown some dirt on the Jefflitte Redcoats. But Fang Heng believed Mr. Quilod would certainly not support him doing that.

Of course, as for Miss Scarpe... that was another matter.

Sky Blue watched the female swordsman's body disappear completely before recalling something else. She told him that the other side actually had a very formidable assassin whose ID was Twenty. These people held grudges—she tactfully warned him that they might retaliate.

An assassin? Fang Heng scratched his head. That was a little too exciting. Who could guard against a capable assassin? Thinking back, he had not seen an assassin among those five people. The person must have been absent. If they had been present, Fang Heng's first ambush might not even have succeeded.

But Fang Heng quickly realized he was just scaring himself. Elpaxin was so large that they might not be able to find him at all, not to mention those people had never seen his real body.

He could not help shaking his head and laughing silently.

"But you really are amazing, Mr. Combat Artificer," Sky Blue said loudly beside him. "Their boss is quite famous around Elpaxin—a Level 7 Tier 2 Swift Swordsman. Even without those Red-brown Elephant-nose Beetles, Miss Etila might not have been certain of defeating her head-on. Yet you took her out in just a few moves, like this—bam, bam!"

She even gestured dramatically, imitating the sound of the Walker. It was both ridiculous and amusing.

The girl's eyes were filled with curiosity. "Are Combat Artificers really all this powerful?"

"Just call me Ed," Fang Heng said, sweating profusely. "Also, who is Miss Etila?"

"Alright, Mr. Combat Artificer—no, Mr. Ed," the girl said, blinking playfully at him. "Then in exchange, you have to call me Sky Blue too."

But she suddenly stopped and looked past Fang Heng.

Fang Heng turned in the direction of her gaze and immediately felt himself being seized in a tremendous embrace. It was not that the person hugging him was exceptionally strong, but that she was too emotional—so emotional that she was almost trembling.

A woman's delicate fragrance completely enveloped him, a faint scent like bay leaves.

He only felt as though he had crashed into a soft wall, a gentle ocean. A powerful heart beat beneath it. He could even feel the trembling fullness beneath the thick layer of cloth, and compared to that, the French girl's chest was practically nothing.

But Fang Heng did not have a single improper thought. His mind went blank as he nearly suffocated from being unable to breathe.

The system displayed a red warning, informing him that his vital signs had become unstable due to oxygen deprivation—

He could clearly feel the excitement of the woman holding him, as though she was almost unwilling to let go. Then a trembling voice full of emotion came from above him—excitement, relief, bitterness, and disbelief. Fang Heng had never imagined so many emotions could be woven into a single cry:

"Kid, is that really you?"

"..."

Fang Heng wanted desperately to speak, but he could not say a word.

Fortunately, Sky Blue was beside them. She cautiously reminded her, "Miss Etila, I-I think you've mistaken him for someone else..."

"Ah?" The girl holding him froze.

Only then did she let go, pushing Fang Heng slightly away before lowering her head to examine his face closely. When Fang Heng saw those breathtaking emerald-green eyes, he realized she was the elven girl hunter he had seen earlier. But she was a forest elf, much taller than him.

The expression deep in the girl's wild emerald eyes gradually froze.

I'm done for, Fang Heng thought. He had personally witnessed how formidable this elven girl was. He obediently closed his eyes in advance, preparing himself for a slap.

He was very familiar with this sequence. It was a standard melodramatic routine.

But strangely, nothing happened for quite a while—

Until he heard choked sobbing. He cracked one eye open curiously, only to see in astonishment that the girl clutching his shoulders had begun crying her eyes out.

"What is this...?"

"Miss Etila probably mistook you for her younger brother, Mr. Combat Artificer," Sky Blue said as she seemed to realize something. She stuck out her tongue sheepishly. "...Sorry, Big Brother Ed."

After Sky Blue's explanation, Fang Heng finally understood what had happened.

The elven girl was named Etila, a forest elf born in the seventh generation. That meant she had been born around one hundred and thirty years ago in the Giant Tree Hills—naturally, she was a native of the First World.

She had come to Elpaxin to search for her younger brother, who had run away from home half a year ago.

Sky Blue finally said in a soft voice, "...Actually, Mr. Kid's body was discovered last month. He was found in the ruins beneath Traveler's Forest along with a group of other adventurers."

Fang Heng could not help looking sympathetically at the elven girl in the distance. He thought she must have been unable to accept that outcome.

But Sky Blue shook her head. "That's not it. Miss Etila tracked her brother all the way here from the Giant Tree Hills, but she only found one record of Mr. Kid's resurrection in the temple records across all those places."

"Huh?" Fang Heng was stunned. "How is that possible? Natives can resurrect five times, can't they? And the Zone of Silence doesn't affect them either, does it?"

"That's why Miss Etila is still here," Sky Blue replied. "Until she uncovers the truth, she won't leave—" She paused. "As for us, we happened to be here investigating the obelisks and completing our trainee graduation examination. Miss Etila is truly a very kind person. She and Mr. Parker were willing to help us complete our three-month pilgrimage for free, so we've all been supporting one another—"

"Wait, what are these obelisks?"

"Big Brother Ed hasn't heard about the obelisks?" Sky Blue looked at him strangely.

Fang Heng shook his head blankly.

He had spent the entire Long Summer in the Sea of Trees in central Taren, with his mind full of the Descendants of Flor, the Rainbow Alliance, and the Elven Ruins. Only upon suddenly hearing about other matters did he realize that Aethelria was not just Taren.

Of course, the Long Summer War between the Descendants of Flor and the Rainbow Alliance counted as a major event among First World Chosen, but judging from Sky Blue's tone, some other, even more eye-catching events seemed to have occurred during that time.

"The legend of the seven obelisks started spreading around Rainbow Bay about half a year ago. Big Brother Ed really hasn't heard of it?" Sky Blue frowned. "...Wait, let me think. How did that ballad go again?"

As if answering her question, someone began singing a gentle ballad nearby. The song drifted over from not far away: "Beneath seven obelisks lies buried the secret of the Elven Chalice Numenor. Where twelve stars shine: eternal life, endless wisdom."

The remaining two emerged from the bushes. The tall trainee carried the unconscious Paparal crossbowman on his back, while the one softly singing was the youngest trainee at his side.

The latter held an enormous book and clumsily adjusted his glasses. His voice was clear and pleasant, though he seemed a little short of breath. "...This poem was first sung around Rainbow Bay. Later, people truly followed the ballad's guidance and discovered an obelisk in the Abyssal Sea. There really was an incomplete map carved on it."

"Yes, yes, that's it—" Sky Blue quickly nodded. "The secret of the Elven Chalice lies beneath the seven obelisks. This rumor has spread among all the Chosen around the Sea of Clouds, and everyone is rushing toward Rainbow Bay."

"The Elven Chalice?"

Fang Heng had never heard that name. Of course, Aethelria was a world filled with secrets, so it was perfectly normal for him not to have heard of some artifact from several eras ago.

But judging from the fact that the chalice shared a name with the Numenor Elves, if it truly existed, it should be a symbol no less significant than the Sea Forest Crown or the Holy Sword of Morning Light.

Still, Fang Heng remained skeptical. He had personally witnessed the Sea Forest Crown appearing in the world, and if the Sea Forest Crown existed, then its corresponding counterpart, the Holy Sword of Morning Light, should also exist somewhere in this world.

Two supreme treasures appearing at the same time was already an exceedingly rare occurrence.

As for this Elven Chalice, it was still only a rumor. Although the obelisks' existence did prove something, it did not mean much. There were far too many similar legends and rumors in Aethelria. They spread across the vast lands from Rainbow Bay to the southern Sea of Clouds—in taverns and alleyways, in whispers beneath eaves, passed from mouth to mouth by bards—too many to count...

Sky Blue seemed to see what he was thinking and said softly, "Miss Etila's younger brother supposedly left home to search for the Elven Chalice. He joined the expedition that first discovered the obelisk in the Abyssal Sea, and he left behind a resurrection record in a temple there."

Only then did Fang Heng begin to understand.

He looked in that direction again and asked quietly, "So there is also an obelisk in Traveler's Forest, and Miss Etila's brother came here because of it? And you came to investigate that obelisk too?"

"Wow, you're so smart, Big Brother Ed. You guessed it right away," Sky Blue said rather dramatically. "That's exactly why we came. We've even decided to make it the subject of our graduation examination, right, Tata?"

"Tata?"

Fang Heng froze, thinking she knew his Dragon Soul. He instinctively looked toward his left shoulder, only to discover that the fairy lady was not there. Come to think of it, she had disappeared earlier. Was it because she did not want strangers to see her?

He was completely baffled.

But the little boy holding the large book nodded. "We heard there is an obelisk in Traveler's Forest. The Adventurer's League has also issued a related quest, offering one hundred points to any adventurer who finds clues to it."

"Tata's name is Jita," Sky Blue whispered to him. "Don't let his tiny appearance fool you. He's a genius with an exceptional memory, and he dreams of becoming a naturalist in the future."

"Ji-Jita?"

"H-hello, Mr. Ed," the little boy said shyly, hurriedly returning the greeting. "Thank you for helping us earlier—ah!" He was so flustered that when he lowered his head, his glasses fell off as well.

He hurriedly began fumbling around on the ground.

Sky Blue kindly picked them up and handed them to him. The little boy took his glasses, blushed, and apologized to them both.

"Wait, your name is Jita?" Fang Heng looked at him curiously.

"I-is there a problem, sir?"

"No," Fang Heng scratched his head. "I just feel like I've heard that name somewhere before, and somehow my liver is starting to ache—"

The little boy looked at him in confusion.

Without a doubt, this was a sign that the protagonist's liver was about to fail.