Lucas also understood that he was at a disadvantage against races with innate advantages over humans. Seizing the opportunity to secure an agreement that they would stay out of his territory for ten years was already a favorable outcome for him.
To give himself some breathing room, Lucas had asked for another ten years. After returning, he abandoned the idea of continuing to fuse profound mysteries to become a deity. For now, he had to use the Earth Element to break through to deity level first.
The elves Paya and Otto also stayed on the mountain where Lucas cultivated, and Lucas tacitly accepted their presence. He neither guided them nor made things difficult for them.
In the first year of Lucas's seclusion, Little Kitty Rihanna also broke through to the Saint level.
The elves' Saint-level former priest returned to their Southern Continent with the still visibly angry Taya, the ninth-rank Elf Mage, and the eighth-level warrior who had guided her.
Upon returning, he went with Taya to see the Elf Race's tribe chief and High Priest. The High Priest had thought that with the Former High Priest handling matters, recovering the Life Pearl should have been easy. But when she saw the obvious dejection on Taya's face, she quickly realized that things might not have been as simple as she had imagined.
Still unwilling to give up, she asked tentatively, "Did you recover the Life Pearl?"
The old priest with the graying beard shook his head and found a seat. He said bluntly, "We misjudged him. That newly advanced human Saint isn't some rookie who has only just entered the Saint level."
The High Priest said uncertainly, "Surely that's impossible? We deduced that he advanced to the Saint level by eating a Fruit of Life. Going by that timeline, it