This was supposed to be a spar.
Why was he suddenly radiating killing intent?
Elspear’s pupils, contracted to pinpoints, stared directly at me.
The moment I met his gaze, every hair on my body stood on end.
‘He is coming.’
Elspear lightly kicked off the ground, his entire body enveloped in green energy.
It truly was a light step.
It did not appear to contain any strength at all.
Yet with a single leap, he was already standing behind me.
“......!”
CLANG!
I barely reacted in time, turning around and blocking Elspear’s wooden sword with my right hand as it swung toward my head.
A clear, resonant sound rang out, like an empty metal can being struck.
However, I could not afford to relax.
‘Another one is coming.’
The thorns I had seen sprouting from the wooden sword earlier were already writhing, preparing to burst forth once again.
My eyes widened as I immediately summoned mist over my right arm.
[Haze - Martial Shadow]
CRRKK.
The thorn stopped just before my eye.
Had I failed to block it, it would have pierced straight through.
Just as I opened my mouth to tell him to calm down—
“You bastard...!”
Elspear poured a surge of green energy into his sword all at once.
BOOM!
The black mist surrounding his wooden sword exploded in every direction beneath a brilliant green light.
The green energy before me shone as though it were about to erupt.
The resulting force sent me sliding backward.
“Urgh.”
The pain was excruciating.
It felt as though my insides had been churned into a tangled mess.
I forced down whatever was rising in my throat and looked at Elspear.
He lowered his sword behind him and took a stance before dragging the blade along the ground and slashing upward.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
Cold sweat ran down my skin.
Dense, dark green Mana formed a crescent along the path of his sword.
As though time itself had slowed, I instinctively understood.
That attack could not be blocked with Haze.
Even if I blocked it, only my right hand would remain intact.
The rest of my body behind it would be destroyed.
In that case—
[Haze - Haze Blade]
I would counterattack instead.
Before Elspear could complete his upward swing, I swiftly slashed my claws toward him.
Five blades hurtled toward Elspear.
They would reach him.
They would strike before his sword rose completely.
However—
“...Impossible.”
The blades of black mist crumbled before they could reach him.
My eyes trembled violently.
He had not performed any special maneuver.
The blades had merely touched the dark green Mana spilling from his sword as he swung it upward.
Yet that alone had caused the black mist to evaporate.
Grinding my teeth, I stepped forward.
[Synchronization Rate: 2.1%]
Yes.
The fact that Haze Blade had failed was rather shocking.
However—
My strongest weapon was my right hand itself.
Elspear’s sword had already risen above his head.
The crescent-shaped blade of energy was complete.
An attack that could not be stopped with Haze rushed toward me.
It tore through the ground and split the air as it shot directly at me.
‘I cannot dodge it.’
With my sluggish speed, I could not completely evade the approaching attack.
Even if I tried, I would still be injured.
Therefore, I would not dodge.
I would block it.
I could block it.
Even without Haze—
As long as I had Black Dragon.
As long as I had this right hand.
An attack like this—
[Synchronization Rate: 2.2%]
I could stop it.
“RAAAAGH!”
SPLURT! SPLURT!
Blood erupted.
Not from my right arm, but from my right shoulder.
From the legs supporting me against the ground.
From the veins and blood vessels throughout my body.
Blood burst from every part of me that could no longer withstand the strain.
However, I did not fall.
I would not fall.
[Natural Healing]
My Common Skill refused to allow me to collapse.
I did not stop driving my fist against the massive slash that continued pressing forward.
And as a result—
“Haa... Haa...”
Elspear’s strike, which had seemed utterly impossible to stop, shattered completely.
The moment I destroyed it, I kicked off the ground and stopped my fist directly in front of Elspear’s head.
As he stared at the Black Dragon’s fist halted before his face, his contracted pupils slowly returned to normal.
Then the wooden sword slipped from his hand.
“...I lost.”
I had genuinely thought I was going to die.
The moment Elspear surrendered, the strength left my legs, and I collapsed onto the ground.
Elspear scratched his cheek, summoned green energy, and walked toward me.
“Could you come closer? I will heal you.”
I did not even have the strength to speak.
Without saying a word, I leaned toward Elspear.
Healing energy seeped into my bones.
Only after my strength returned did I let out a long sigh.
“I won, right?”
“I suppose you did.”
Elspear spoke quietly as he healed me.
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
“I lost control and attacked you in earnest.”
“......”
I narrowed my eyes at Elspear.
What was wrong with him?
Did he have some kind of split personality?
Contrary to my suspicions, Elspear stared intently at my right hand and spoke.
“That right hand. What exactly is it?”
“What about it?”
“The moment I faced it, I lost my reason.”
He had lost his reason?
I stared at Elspear, silently demanding that he explain himself.
Elspear merely gave me an awkward laugh.
“The moment I sensed the ominous aura flowing from that right hand, my body moved instinctively.”
Hmm...
In other words—
‘It was because of Black Dragon?’
Elspear had started acting strangely the moment I activated Black Dragon.
And apparently, the reason was simply that I had activated Black Dragon.
‘What does he mean by an ominous aura?’
I did not feel anything like that.
Now that I had recovered enough to move, I lifted my right arm and turned it from side to side.
However, I could not see even the slightest trace of an ominous aura.
The right arm within my vision merely looked like the grotesque limb of some beast.
“...Can we really leave this place like this?”
The surrounding area had been devastated by our spar.
Even if it was merely an empty clearing, could we truly leave it in this condition?
As though my concern were ridiculous, Elspear restored the destroyed terrain with a casual snap of his fingers.
“That should do it, right?”
“......”
It certainly did...
I nodded silently.
“And I should apologize first. I am sorry. I needed to determine whether you were a human with power.”
“Why did you need to determine that?”
“...Because only you, a human, can awaken Elfinire.”
What was that supposed to mean?
Elspear chuckled when he saw me tilt my head.
“I have a favor to ask, human. No, Han Mir.”
“You know my name?”
“I may not look like much, but I am the Guardian of Mother. I hold the greatest influence after the Chieftain and the Elder.”
Elfinire ranked far, far below him.
Elspear laughed deep in his throat, glanced around, and scratched the back of his neck.
“Please. I want you to awaken Mother’s Blessing slumbering within Elfinire.”
“I understand that you are asking for my help, but...”
“What is it?”
“What exactly is Mother’s Blessing?”
“......”
Even if he suddenly asked me for help, I could not do something I knew nothing about.
At my objection, Elspear lightly clapped his hands together and spoke.
“That is true. Only elves can receive Mother’s Blessing.”
“......”
He seemed rather strange as well.
Was it really acceptable for someone like him to serve as a guardian?
“This will take a while to explain, so let us go to my house.”
***
Elspear’s house stood directly in front of the clearing.
After entering the small but cozy home, Elspear offered me tea...
No, it was a milky-white liquid.
“Broth?”
“It is my special homemade broth. It is delicious. Try it!”
It was probably delicious, but I no longer wanted to eat or drink anything.
I brushed the offer aside with a smile and stared at Elspear.
Under my gaze, Elspear put down the broth he had been sipping and slowly began to speak.
“First of all, only High Elves have the word ‘El’ in their names.”
“...Is that so?”
Every elf I had met so far had ‘El’ in their name, so I had assumed it was simply an elven tradition.
“High Elves are also not born to parents like ordinary elves.”
“Then how are they born?”
“Once every few decades, or perhaps even every few centuries, Mother shakes her branches. High Elves are born from within the fruit that falls at that time.”
I wanted to tell him to stop lying.
Even Park Hyeokgeose was at least said to have been born from an egg.
How could a person possibly be born inside a fruit?
I wanted to tell him to say something believable, but Elspear’s expression was more serious than I had ever seen it.
“That is why every High Elf is separate from the others, yet at the same time, we are all family. It is also why we call the World Tree Mother.”
“...Let us assume all of that is true. What exactly is Mother’s Blessing?”
“As I said, High Elves are born from the fruit of the World Tree. Because of that, every High Elf inherits a talent resembling Mother in a specific field.”
Elspear silently placed his hand upon the dining table.
At that moment, the processed wood began to writhe and twist into a grotesque shape.
“Fascinating, is it not? All I did was infuse it with ordinary Mana.”
“This happened from that alone?”
“Mana is the power of life, and Mother, as the World Tree, constantly keeps that Mana pure. I simply possess a greater quantity of Mana, like Mother does.”
Even dead plants mistakenly believed themselves to be alive when infused with the Mana of elves, the masters of all plants.
Elspear merely used that property in combat.
“The Chieftain and the Elder each possess a talent resembling Mother as well. But Elfinire has yet to awaken hers.”
“...Was the Chieftain’s ability to detect lies also one of those talents?”
“Correct.”
He smiled at me as though impressed that I had understood.
“High Elves usually awaken Mother’s Blessing at around ten years old. Yet Elfinire has not sensed even the slightest hint of hers, despite being over twenty.”
Elfinire had taken it upon herself to become a warden in place of her deceased family.
At the same time, she also carried the position of Elsid’s future Chieftain.
She already bore far too many burdens upon her shoulders, yet she still had not awakened Mother’s Blessing.
That fact had made Elfinire impatient.
“Wait. Before that, I want to ask why Elfinire has to become Chieftain.”
“That is simple. A High Elf destined to become Chieftain is unusual from the very fruit in which they are born.”
Ordinary High Elves were born inside pink fruit.
However, a child destined to become Chieftain was born inside a golden fruit.
Elfinire had also been born from a golden fruit.
Therefore, whether she wanted it or not, she was destined to become Chieftain.
“The Chieftain, the council of elders, and I believe that Elfinire has failed to discover her Blessing because of the shock she experienced as a child. You already know about that incident, do you not?”
I nodded silently.
Elumia had already told me about it.
“Then please, Mir. I want you to use your power as a human to help Elfinire discover her Blessing.”
I looked at Elspear, who had risen from his chair and bowed his head before me.
Only then did I understand.
Elumia, Elsesto, and Elspear.
All the other elves as well.
I finally knew the true reason they had all treated me so favorably.
“Haa...”
I let out a long sigh and looked toward my bag in the distance.
It was filled with the food I had received at the market earlier.
“I do not like accepting so much kindness and then pretending it never happened.”
“Does that mean...?”
“I will do it.”
I needed to earn the recognition of the man before me anyway.
In other words, refusing had never truly been an option.
Elspear’s face immediately brightened at my remarkably casual answer.
And then—
[Earn Recognition from Elspear, Guardian of Mother]
[Achieved]
[Success]
[Moving to the next floor.]
A notification appeared in my vision, informing me that I had completed the condition for the sixth floor.
However, the system did not stop there.
Immediately after the notification confirming the sixth floor appeared—
[Floor 7]
[Earn Recognition from Elfinire, Warden of the Forest]
The condition for the seventh floor appeared before me.
I nodded after reading the system message.
So that was how it worked.
Only now did I feel that I understood why I had been unable to leave the tower since reaching the fifth floor.
‘From the first floor through the fourth, the tower functioned like an elevator, moving upward one floor at a time.’
However, beginning with the fifth floor, the tower’s floors had become more like a continuous slope.
From the fifth floor to the seventh floor where I currently stood—and perhaps even beyond—
The floors were no longer clearly separated.
Instead, they flowed naturally into one another.
Without realizing it, I had been fulfilling various ‘conditions’ and climbing the tower under my own power.
‘At this rate, I probably will not be able to leave until I reach the end of the tower.’
Then where was the end of the Verdant Tower?
Was it the tenth floor, just like the Tutorial Tower?
Whatever the answer, I hoped I could reach the conclusion quickly.
Only then would I be able to leave the tower.
I had thought I would be out soon, but it seemed this would take quite some time.
Surely Seong Yumi had not tried to contact me already.
I clicked my tongue softly, my thoughts tangled.
That night—
I naturally ended up staying at Elspear’s house.
Although I had not felt tired in the slightest, I fell asleep the moment I lay down on the bed.
And I had an unusually vivid dream.
“......”
It was a dream of the World Tree and Elsid burning.
A dream of the elves being exterminated.