Fainyx walked slowly down the wooden stairs, his mind racing as he deeply processed the chaotic events of the evening.
'Geez... why in the world am I suddenly invited to the imperial palace all of a sudden? Don't tell me the King simply did not believe the official guild reports regarding how I accidentally stumbled upon those rare herbs in the forest... oh man...'
As he continued walking, his thoughts shifted heavily toward the nature of the ruler himself.
'King Clervaux is absolutely not someone I can afford to mess with, no matter what happens... and besides, since I am officially invited to the royal banquet, it means a very specific layout for me.'
His father, Duke Arthur, and both of his troublesome older siblings and also his aunt and uncle would undeniably be present at the venue, and what was far worse...
'Master Yong will definitely find out about my identity if he happens to spot my presence there, sigh... I guess I have absolutely no choice but to physically appear at the palace, but I desperately need to modify my current disguise. I cannot let my own family find out about the color of my silver hair and my unique violet eyes.'
It was actually an exceptionally good idea to completely obscure his hair and eyes from public view.
His dark leather mask already included a magical lens that effectively hid his true eye color, and his body-alteration magic allowed him to seamlessly shift his physical features depending on what color or facial shape he needed to present.
But what specific adult face should he copy for the royal event?
'I don't really have a regular face that I should copy... and I absolutely cannot risk replicating the face of a real citizen in this city... unless...'
As he began to weigh the dangerous calculations in his mind, he suddenly bumped directly into the familiar figure of the elf lady once again.
She offered a bright, welcoming smile, her light green eyes looking up at his mask.
"Since you are officially finished with your private meeting upstairs, can we please have a quiet conversation over there, Mr. Fain?"
She pointed a slender finger toward one of the vacant wooden tables situated in the far corner of the busy adventurer lounge.
Fainyx gave a silent, brief nod of his hood and followed her across the crowded floorboards until they both sat down on opposite sides of the table, making direct eye contact.
The elf lady let out a soft cough to clear her throat, nervously adjusting her green hood before she began to question him.
"Ehem... I guess we have already successfully introduced ourselves to each other during our chaotic meeting last time, so now I truly want to ask you a highly important question Mr. Fain...."
Fainyx pulled out his cheap notepad, writing with his quill in a casual manner.
[ That is perfectly fine, miss, as long as it is an inquiry I can logically answer. But if your question proves to be highly inappropriate or intrusive, I am definitely not going to give you a response. ]
"Alright, that is fair. Now, what I truly want to ask you is this..."
The heavy silence stretched between them for a brief moment as she hesitated, before she finally opened her lips to speak the words.
"Are you... by any chance... a. elemental spirit?"
'Eh? An elemental spirit?'
Fainyx was completely caught off guard by the bizarre theory, his violet eyes blinking behind his mask.
[ What exactly makes you ask such a strange thing? Why do you want to know about that? ]
For now, he knew he needed to maintain his usual nonchalant, unbothered demeanor to keep her from digging into his background.
In reality, his adult mind wanted to burst out into a loud laugh right now, but he forced himself to hold the emotion in.
"Um... to tell you the truth, I can actually smell an incredibly distinct scent lingering all over your body..."
Elyra explained, her voice turning soft as her cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment.
"Uh... please accept my apologies for sounding a bit weird, but what I truly mean to say is this..."
She let out another dry cough, her expression suddenly turning completely serious as she leaned across the table.
"We elves have been the primary caretakers of the sacred World Tree and the elemental spirits since the ancient era.
Spirits are actually pure beings of raw elements that were originally born directly from the leaves of the World Tree itself.
They all possess entirely different types of unique powers and ancient abilities, but their core nature has always been a naturally loving, gentle type of creature. Sometimes they choose to form physical vessels as humans or animals, and for thousands of years, they have lived as the ultimate guardians and close companions of the elven race..."
She paused, a wave of profound sorrow filling her light green eyes.
"...But exactly two hundred years ago, a horrific catastrophe happened to those elemental spirits. They began to perish rapidly due to a mysterious, dark force, and now, the spirit race is almost entirely extinct in this world. There are currently only five minor elemental spirits left alive in our entire elven homeland..."
'Hm... that historical detail is actually entirely true based on the game.'
Fainyx thought to himself, his mind tracking the information.
'The spirits are practically nonexistent during the events of the main game storyline, but to think there are still five of them barely holding on in their sanctuary... I guess something truly devastating happened back then during the previous era.'
"So, that is why I must ask you!" Elyra whispered desperately, her hands gripping the edge of the table.
"Are you secretly a high spirit disguised as a human adventurer? If you are, how exactly did you manage to break that ancient curse and stay this incredibly healthy?"
'Is she talking about the residual curse left behind by the previous Demon King? What in the world am I even supposed to say to her... I absolutely cannot let her find out about the presence of Lumi sleeping inside my cloak, otherwise she might try to snatch him away to take Lumi to their homeland... or unless... alright, I think I can safely use this situation to my advantage.'
He gathered a thread of his mana and gave a sudden, quiet snap of his fingers under the table.
Instantly, an advanced, completely transparent barrier of sound-nullifying magic formed around their seats, locking both him and the elf lady inside an isolated pocket of air.
Elyra's eyes went completely wide with pure shock as she sensed the sudden, overwhelming pressure of raw energy.
"T-this magical signature! Is this ancient spirit magic?!"
– You truly are an exceptionally perceptive elf, to think you could notice my hidden presence so easily. I have dropped a sound barrier around this table so the surrounding humans won't realize our conversation or hear a single word we speak.
Fainyx used a magic to alter a voice, using his advanced mana to artificially lower the frequency of the voice, making the tone sound incredibly deep, echoing, and ancient.
"!? Y... you truly are a... a real spirit? And you can perform chantless spirit magic so effortlessly?!"
– Obviously.
The deep, ancient voice resonated through the barrier, completely solidifying the lie.
'To think that Master Ruth's brutal, exhaustive teachings about the unique magic formulas used by other ancient species would help me out in a weird predicament like this...'
Fainyx thought with a hidden sigh of relief.
Master Ruth had spent months back at the estate forcing him to memorize the complex mana structures utilized by the various non-human species of Aetheria.
"You possess an absolute, abnormal aptitude for every single type of magic formula in this world, kid,"
Ruth had said proudly back then, hitting him with a textbook.
"And since you have already mastered human circle magic formulas, I am going to teach you the ancient magics of the other races next. Be prepared to suffer, kid."
And that was exactly how the incredibly hard lessons had been given to Fainyx, allowing him to successfully master not only human circle formulas and elven spirit magic, but also high-grade draconic formulas and lost ancient magics.
He hadn't minded learning a few extra species-specific magics back then, thinking that in the dark future where he might be forced to completely hide his noble identity, utilizing non-human magic would be the perfect way to throw his enemies off his trail.
'But to think I would actually be forced to use it this early in the capital... well, I guess my current official identity is an ancient spirit for now.'
"...Oh! Where are my absolute manners... I sincerely apologize for my disrespectful behavior, my lord!"
Elyra stammered, her voice trembling as she quickly bowed her head deeply across the table.
"To think... I would be granted the ultimate honor of meeting the hidden Spirit King himself!"
'Uhh, what exactly does she mean by a Spirit King?! Those mythical entities died out thousands of years ago in the lore, so please do not turn me into that kind of legendary creature!'
Fainyx screamed internally, his stoic mask twitching.
'Ugh... I guess I have absolutely no logical choice but to just go along with her misunderstanding for now... it is already far too late to correct her.'
–Why exactly did you want to know about my origins, elf? What is your purpose?
"U-um... Actually... the ancient World Tree personally ordered every single elf who left the elven sanctuary to... to find a hidden spirit,"
Elyra explained rapidly, her hands shaking as she kept her head lowered in reverence.
"She told our elders... that she clearly sensed the birth of a remarkably powerful new spirit exactly three years ago... and we were given an absolute mission to find that spirit. She explicitly said that... no matter what happens, we need to bring that being back to the sanctuary at all costs..."
'Three years ago... wait... exactly three years ago?' Fainyx's thoughts suddenly froze as a realization hit his mind.
'Don't tell me...'
He focused his mana senses onto his left shoulder beneath his cloak. Lumi was currently fast asleep against his collar, his tiny furry nose twitching softly as he drifted off into a deep slumber.
It was already exceptionally late in the evening, so the little spirit was naturally exhausted.
'Oh man... Lumi's birth inside the aetherium three years ago is the exact reason why the World Tree reacted... but this is actually a good outcome. If the elves ever saw Lumi's small form, they would definitely try to snatch him away to take him back to that place, so it is highly fortunate that I successfully disguised myself as the spirit entity instead.'
"U-um... is it possible for you to please come back to the elven homeland with us, my lord?"
Elyra begged, her voice breaking as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.
"Our mother said that the newly born spirit might possess the unique power to save the remaining five elemental spirits... they currently only have a few years left to live before they fade away completely... please... I beg of you to save them..."
She kept her head bowed flat against the wood, her shoulders trembling with a deep, lingering sadness.
'Hm... what exactly should I do about this... everything seems to be happening all at once on the single night I chose to step outside the mansion...'
Those five remaining spirits... they actually never appeared a single time during the events of the original hardcore game.
Based on the standard plot, the spirits had completely perished before the protagonist Orion ever enrolled, which caused the ancient World Tree to lose the vast majority of its core power.
The weakening of the tree eventually led to it perishing entirely under a raid by a low-level demon squad that had gone astray after the Demon King's defeat, leaving the elven race completely without a guardian or protector.
That specific game world path was actually exceptionally bleak, as the elves never managed to save their mother tree, and even the ancient dragons never appeared properly, leaving only a single child dragon that was unfortunately slain by the protagonist.
Fainyx couldn't help but feel a deep sense of pity for their tragic fates.
'Well, I can easily choose to help them out a little bit to change that bad route, but how exactly can I fix it...'
Then, a thought clicked in his mind.
Those five spirits... did they truly suffer from a physical curse?
– Tell me the details, elf... what exactly are the physical effects of this so-called curse on the remaining spirits?
"T-they constantly feel incredibly weak, and they can no longer manifest any of their spirit magic..."
Elyra explained, wiping her eyes as she looked up.
" Spirits heavily rely on pure, dense mana to sustain their life force... but because of the curse, their bodies can no longer absorb a single drop of mana from their surrounding environment. As the days and years pass by, they only get weaker and weaker until... until they permanently fade into dust."
– Is the ambient mana inside your elven homeland abundant?
"Yes, it is exceptionally rich... but their cores simply cannot take it into their bodies anymore. Even when our elders tried moving them to different high-mana locations across the continent, they still couldn't absorb a single bit of it from the air..."
'Hm... they can't absorb ambient mana from the air into their bodies... wait, digested mana... oh, actually... I might possess a perfect practical solution to this problem. It might not work perfectly, but it is definitely worth a try.'
– I cannot leave this human territory right now.
"W-why not, my lord?!"
– I cannot accompany you to that far away elven sanctuary, and I have absolutely no desire to leave this city right now.
"B-but their lives are—"
– However, there might be an alternate way for you to successfully save their lives without my physical presence.
"T-there is?! How can we do it?!"
she gasped, her eyes shining with sudden hope.
Fainyx quietly opened a small, invisible tear of his spatial Aetherium beneath the cover of the sound barrier, reaching his gloved hand inside to retrieve a collection of ten heavy red apples he had recently stocked up from his private forest.
He placed them gently onto the wooden table.
– This is a rare, mystical fruit called an apple. They possess an incredibly high concentration of pure, stabilized life mana inside their flesh.
Using a razor-thin blade of chantless wind magic, he cleanly sliced one of the glossy red fruits into a few small, perfect pieces, making sure to carefully remove the seeds from the core before sliding a piece across the table.
– Try a piece for yourself to understand.
Elyra looked down at the bright, glossy red fruit that she had never seen before in her entire life. She hesitated for a brief second, then picked up a small piece and took a quick bite.
"!?"
The exact moment her teeth bit through the crisp flesh, a massive explosion of sweet, refreshing juice coated her tongue, tasting absolutely heavenly.
'This fruit! This is actually so incredibly delicious... and also, is this feeling...?!'
She froze in her seat as a sudden, vibrant wave of pure, clean energy immediately began to spread through her veins.
"This incredible energy... it is pure mana! But how is this possible?!"
– These specific fruits naturally contain dense, high-quality life mana sealed directly within their physical cells. Since the energy is digested rather than absorbed through the lungs from the air, their weak bodies might easily be able to process this type of nutrition if they consume it.
He slid the remaining nine heavy red apples across the table into her lap, looking at her solemnly through his mask.
–This is merely a logical possibility, and I cannot guarantee if it will completely cure their condition, but for now, return to your elven sanctuary immediately and give these fruits to the dying spirits.
"T-thank you so much, Spirit King! Words cannot express our gratitude!" Elyra cried out happily, clutching the apples against her chest as if they were precious gems.
– I am not a king. You need to understand that fact.
"Nope, you are definitely the Spirit King! The five ancient spirits back home explicitly told us that anyone who can perform chantless spirit magic can automatically be termed a king! They all said it!"
'Why in the world would those ancient spirits even say a ridiculous rule like that? Even Master Ruth easily taught me how to perform spirit magic, so does that mean he is a hidden Spirit King too?'
Fainyx thought, letting out an internal sigh at her stubbornness.
– Spirit magic formulas can technically be learned by anyone with the right training.
"That is completely impossible, Spirit King! Only true elemental spirits are biologically capable of utilizing spirit magic formulas, my lord!"
'Eh... is that actually true?'
Fainyx's thoughts suddenly ground to a halt, a sudden wave of confusion hitting his mind.
– Are you entirely certain about that rule? Have you never seen an ancient dragon utilize spirit magic formulas during your meetings?
"Hmm... I have actually met many ancient dragons during the grand council meetings before, and one of the oldest dragon lords explicitly taught our elders about some advanced spirit spells that even we elves couldn't manifest. "
" They all explicitly stated that only spirits can cast spirit magic formulas. Just like everything else in life, for example, a human can only utilize human circle magic, and a dragon can only cast draconic formulas."
" As for us elves, we merely borrow the natural ambient power of the environment, so we call our spells nature magic."
'Eh... then how exactly...'
Fainyx's mind completely blanked out as a terrifying realization began to settle in his thoughts.
' Wait a minute... '
Master Ruth had easily taught him the complex formulas for spirit magic back at the estate, but the old dragon had never once physically demonstrated the spells himself.
And furthermore, Ruth had never utilized a single human circle spell either, relying entirely on his own draconic formulas.
'That means... I have been effortlessly casting species-exclusive magics this entire time? Does that layout make my body an absolute anomaly in this world?'
'Eh... this is incredibly bad...'