The World Tree atop the hill could no longer remember how many years it had existed.
Long ago, when Forest Trolls still ruled this forest, it had already awakened to self-awareness and quietly watched over the forest.
The energy of the Forest Trolls' Voodoo leaned toward darkness and death.
Such evil magic deeply displeased the nature-loving World Tree.
Whenever it encountered those long-eared, green-skinned creatures who used Voodoo, the World Tree would find ways to kill them.
However, the World Tree had no proper means of attack.
At most, it could quietly swat passing Troll Witch Doctors to death, then bury them underground as fertilizer.
Doing that too often was unwise, as it could easily arouse the Forest Trolls' suspicions.
Although the World Tree could strike with tremendous force, its attacks lacked variety, and it could not withstand a siege by large numbers of Forest Trolls.
Fortunately, the Forest Trolls were soon driven away by High Elves from elsewhere.
The High Elves cherished the forest and even protected it with a Magical Shield.
Besides keeping outside enemies out, the Magical Shield also improved the climate.
The World Tree loved the pleasant climate, with its mild winters and cool summers.
Unfortunately, the pale-skinned, long-eared folk only enjoyed studying arcane magic and had no interest in listening to its lessons on nature.
As time passed, the World Tree stopped interacting with them.
Of course, relations between the two sides were not strained. They simply kept to themselves.
When Herad tested his Arcane Golem near the hill, the World Tree was hardly going to pick up rocks and throw them at him.
After finishing his tests on the Arcane Golem, Herad leveled the pitted ground before leaving the forest clearing.
Apart from the bare patches left by the leveling, the clearing had returned to its original state.
The gentle natural energy released by the World Tree soon made the flowers and grasses grow back, filling in those glaring bare patches.
A World Tree that could control plant growth would be an incredible asset to farming and livestock raising!
After restoring the clearing, the World Tree once again disguised itself as an ordinary large tree.
Despite its quiet exterior, its mind remained very active.
At that moment, it was relaying messages through the plants and trees, sharing what it had seen and heard with the ancient trees nearby.
The young man who willingly repaired the minor damage he caused had piqued the ancient trees' curiosity.
High Elves did not wreak havoc on the environment.
But one who voluntarily filled in the holes he dug was still a rare sight.
The Spirit of Nature, whose eyes and ears covered the entire forest, began watching this unusual High Elf.
Herad knew a little about the World Tree's abilities.
But he would never have imagined that it possessed surveillance methods even more formidable than a Druid's!
Fortunately, the Spirit of Nature bore him no ill will and merely observed his daily activities in silence.
Back in his quarters, Herad immediately began his tedious daily training.
After that, he never set foot outside the Moon Temple.
The ancient trees were exceptionally patient and could keep watching something or someone for a long time.
Yet Herad was so busy training that he barely even left his quarters.
Even the ancient trees were dumbfounded by such a training fanatic.
After several days without seeing him, their patience finally wore thin, and they returned to their daily work of maintaining the forest's ecosystem.
During those days of diligent training, Magic Messengers kept arriving from Herad's number-one follower, Lirath, and his family.
Every discussion revolved around the Spell Tournament.
Taking part in the Spell Tournament was no great matter.
But securing a place among the top finishers would be a real source of pride!
It was roughly equivalent to placing in the World Cup back on Earth.
Lirath knew that Herad had been working hard lately.
Although he had no idea how much stronger Herad had become, he was confident that Herad could place.
Most of his family members praised him for earning a spot in the tournament.
Then they encouraged him to train hard and strive for a good placing.
The Dawnblade family produced many warriors, but few spellcasters.
Herad's talent for spellcasting was actually quite high, making him someone the family prioritized nurturing.
If he could place in the Spell Tournament, it would certainly bring them great prestige!
However, many High Elf families produced large numbers of spellcasters.
The odds of a genius emerging among those families' younger generations were high.
The tournament would be a clash of geniuses!
Securing a place among the top finishers in the Spell Tournament would be extremely difficult!
While Herad immersed himself in training, people outside conducted extensive research into how the Spell Tournament entrants might rank.
Bookmakers preparing to take bets carefully studied the contestants' past performances, divided them into tiers, and identified the favorites to win.
It was rather like betting on the World Cup back on Earth.
The difference was that no one would throw a match here.
Most contestants would do everything they could to defeat their opponents.
In particular, contestants from the great families had no interest in financial temptations.
They had no shortage of money. What they wanted was honor.
Their sole motivation was to bring glory to their families!
Lirath, an underage elf, spent his days indulging in all sorts of frivolous pursuits.
Gambling was one of his specialties.
He sent Herad the predicted rankings circulating outside and indignantly ranted that those gamblers had no eye for talent.
Seeing that he had not made the gamblers' rankings, Herad immediately had an idea.
In a magical world, money could not do everything.
But no one would complain about having too much of it.
So he scraped together everything he could, selling whatever he could spare, and managed to raise ten thousand gold coins. Then he summoned the loyal followers from his family and Lirath's circle.
Every one of the followers Herad had gathered looked carefree and undisciplined.
Although they seemed unreliable, Herad still distributed the gold coins among them.
There was no helping it. Most High Elves were like that, so he had little choice.
Besides, looking carefree did not mean they could not get things done.
"Remember this: bet on me to win every match. As long as you do as I say, you'll make a fortune this time!"
All his followers nodded earnestly, thumping their chests and promising to follow his instructions.
"And don't let anything slip after you win. If word gets out, we'll be in trouble. We'll never hear the end of it!"
After solemnly stressing that crucial precaution, Herad saw them out of the Moon Temple.
His followers rode off swiftly on their Hawkstriders, each going to raise more money.
Herad had not said they could only work for him.
Naturally, investing their own money as well would earn them more.
As for where their confidence came from, the odd-looking Arcane Golem in his room had explained everything.
Enjoying food, drink, and entertainment did not mean they were useless fools.
Such an unusual Arcane Golem could only have been made by Herad.
The fact that Herad was at least as strong as an intermediate mage gave them absolute confidence.
However, they did not have nearly as much money as Herad.
They usually spent freely, and most had only saved a few hundred gold coins.
Even Lirath, a member of the Windrunner family's direct line, had less than a thousand gold coins.
Though their starting funds were a little meager, putting that money into the betting pools would be enough to earn them a tidy fortune.
Under the guidance of Lirath, their resident expert, the usually idle young elves spent quite some time preparing.
Quietly milking the bookmakers would require a detailed plan.
Within a few days, they knew all the groups preparing to take bets in Silvermoon City inside out.
Lirath's second-oldest sister, Sylvanas-the renowned Dark Lady from the game-shook her head helplessly as she watched her brother and his disreputable friends wander around all day.
Although Sylvanas was very strict in how she handled things,
she had no particularly effective way of disciplining her underage brother.
She could only wait until he came of age, then bring him into the ranger forces for some proper tempering.
As a member of the Windrunner family, Lirath was certain to amount to something.
It was merely a question of how long he would need to be tempered.
High Elves had all the time they needed to grow.
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