“A general direction?”
Xingyao hugged the little girl in his arms tightly, listening nervously, afraid of missing a single word or phrase.
“Mm, Xingyao, do you know the Ancient Elven Language?”
“Ancient Elven Language?”
Xingyao raised an eyebrow, exchanging a confused glance with Fumier in his arms—both of them could see the puzzlement in each other’s eyes.
“Mm, the Ancient Elven Language. The language of the Elf Race has actually undergone changes over time. Many words once used have since changed in pronunciation and writing. Perhaps what your father continued to research lies within the Ancient Elven Language.”
Yi Lin nodded and continued.
“The Elf Race is actually a very ancient people, possessing a legacy that surpasses what modern humans and elves can imagine. Before the Middle Ages, elves had many names—like dwarves, like giants, like witches, or even gods.”
“It’s not what the Human Alliance promotes now—that elves invaded human territories in modern times and brought monsters with them. No, that’s not how it was. Elves have existed since the very moment of humanity’s origin, and so have monsters. Ancient elves and monsters formed humanity’s most primordial objects of reverence and fear.”
Yi Lin glanced at the three girls lost in thought and calmly spoke these deeply impactful words. Then, she took another sip of tea.
“Then, why are there no records of these things in the great library of the Blood Elves? Is it because the Blood Elves don’t have ancient elf ancestors?”
Fumier mimicked Xingyao’s mannerism, tapping her chin, asking in confusion.
“I can’t explain that well either. I only know that the Blood Elves of ancient times were the ‘vampires’ that have been distorted in many literary works of Xizhou. I can only roughly speculate that, for some reason, the Blood Elves—like us Moon Elves—suffered a break in their inheritance.”
“Or perhaps… your elders wanted to hide the existence of ancient Blood Elves from you? Of course, these are just baseless speculations.”
Yi Lin explained patiently. As the elder among these young elves, she naturally bore the responsibility of teaching them.
“Then… how should we find the Ancient Elven Language and confirm its meaning and pronunciation?”
This time, it was Xingyao’s turn to ask a question.
“That’s also what I was about to say. Although the elves’ inheritance has been broken, notes and even magic circles left behind by ancient elves still exist. We can try, just as humans study ancient scripts, to start from the meanings and shapes of modern words and do our best to deduce their meanings and uses.”
“The Ancient Elven Language and modern Elven Language are not entirely disconnected. For example, words your father already deciphered—like ‘Ignite’ and ‘Shadow’—perhaps in ancient times they represented characters that could invoke magic power of the corresponding attribute.”
Yi Lin’s words suddenly made everything clear to Xingyao. Right, why could some Elven Language words invoke magic power while others couldn’t? Now, with ‘Ancient Elven Language’ as an evolutionary blueprint, everything seemed much more reasonable.
And now, all they needed to do was find traces left by ancient elves, and studying those traces would yield significant progress. Yay!
Yay, yay what? Isn’t this even more mystical than methodical trial and error?
It wasn’t like Yi Lin would just pull out some antique and tell them, “This is the authentic work of ancient elves. Go study it with all your might!” or something.
“I have here a record of an ancient magic circle from a nearby elf settlement. You can try studying it to see if you find any novel discoveries.”
Yi Lin produced a piece of paper from who-knows-where, covered in strange symbols. These symbols, when arranged and combined, formed a circle. If one didn’t look carefully, they’d think it was some kind of asymmetrical aesthetic designed to torment people with OCD.
“This… it seems like we can’t see anything from it at first glance…”
Xingyao took the paper, spread it on the table, and examined it together with Yi Shiyue and Fumier. No matter from which angle one looked at it, it would be hard for anyone to understand.
“No rush. The content here isn’t of much use to me either. If you want to study it, I’ll copy another one for you to take with you later.”
“Mm, okay, thank you, Grandmother!”
Xingyao expressed her gratitude earnestly.
“But, Grandmother, how did you and Fumier both know that the Star Elf would descend upon the Satellite City? I asked Fumier, and she said it was inadvertently revealed by the elders of her clan. Does that prophecy contain such information? Or is there some original text or something for me to study?”
Xingyao temporarily set aside her study of the ancient elves’ magic circle—staring at those things for too long gave her a headache—and turned instead to ask about the other purpose of this visit.
“That news I also heard by word of mouth. It seems to be a widely circulated claim. As for where the source lies, I’m not too sure either.”
Yi Lin paused, then continued.
“Judging from the results, that information was quite reliable. But from the perspective of the elves and the Human Alliance at the time, almost no one paid attention to such widely spread news. That’s also why the two sides didn’t come to blows.”
Xingyao nodded.
This also resolved a doubt in her mind. It wasn’t a completely wasted trip.
As for what happened next, it was easy to explain. By the time Xingyao and her group had mastered the Star Elf Stone, and both sides were preparing to begin their covert maneuvering to obtain the Star Elf Stone from them, an unheard-of midnight-level humanoid monster descended.
Its arrival disrupted everyone’s plans and turned Xingyao into a Star Elf. From then on, all the factions maneuvering in the shadows came up empty-handed. By the time they reacted again, she had already regrouped and regained her footing.
If anyone wanted to control her now, they’d not only have to face her small team and the unfathomably powerful Hongye Qiu, but also constantly guard against sneak attacks from other factions. The situation fell into a deadlock, which gave Xingyao plenty of breathing room.
So that’s how it was. Everything made sense now.
“It seems you’ve connected many things, Xiao Yao.”
Yi Lin nodded approvingly. Even though both of the girl’s parents had left, this young lady had managed to hold her family together—not only taking good care of Xiaoyue and her younger sister, but also growing to where she was now.
In Yi Lin’s eyes, she wasn’t just a ‘Star Elf,’ but a familiar junior—someone her granddaughter deeply loved…
“After dinner, you should leave early. We’ve said enough nostalgic words, and I believe you already understand your own importance. There are still quite a few elves nearby, so it’s best to avoid trouble under the cover of darkness.”
Yi Lin waved her hand. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to keep them longer—it was for the safety of the young girls. The longer they stayed here, the greater the risk.