Chapter 186: Will Humans and Golden Elves Have Reproductive Isolation? (Two-in-one)
Hundreds and thousands of stars hung high in the sky, illusory and dreamlike, illuminating the dim eternal night. It was like a vast sea of stars.
Heiser walked through the Royal Court, her surroundings of silent buildings bathed in a layer of clear and cold starlight.
“It actually succeeded…”
Even now, looking at the brilliant river of stars above the Lost Island, Heiser still felt a sense of trance. So many unbelievable things had happened in the past half-year.
From encountering the black-haired youth who called himself Shaya in the Astral Realm. To following Shaya and learning magic, truly entering the hall of Arcane, and indulging her thirst for knowledge in the pursuit of truth. And now—manifesting the maiden’s wish she had uttered with a childish voice by the beach in her youth into reality.
For these past few months, she had remained on that tall mountain. The simultaneous operation of hundreds of sun furnaces and the distribution of magic crystals. Any slight error in this process could have led to the catastrophe Shaya called a nuclear explosion. While this magic was an unparalleled super-spec forbidden spell for killing enemies, it would be a world-ending disaster if it lost control and affected allies.
It was precisely because of this that Heiser had been on edge these days, daring not to relax for a moment. Only at this very moment, with the operation of the hundreds of sun furnace arrays nearing stability, did she dare to relax for a moment and return to the Royal Court.
Logically, after completing such a complex and meticulous task that allowed no room for error, even the strongest mental power should feel fatigued. However, at this moment, all fatigue and laziness in Heiser’s heart were filled with surging joy and anticipation from the depths of her soul. Having perfectly completed a task that even Shaya admitted was extremely difficult—she was sure Shaya would look at her with new eyes then.
Moreover, the initial knowledge of Arcane had already begun to spread within the Elf Royal Court. Once the matter of the Lost Island was settled—she could then, as Shaya said, follow him. And become the first member of the wizard’s tower he intended to build.
With such thoughts, the Golden Elf’s footsteps naturally quickened.
“Heiser, Heiser…”
Heiser herself noticed her own exhilaration and couldn’t help but chuckle. In the nearly thousand years before this, she had long grown accustomed to studying and being alone. After the initial elders of the Council Hall had passed away, leaving her alone to shoulder the heavy mission, Heiser’s closed-door cultivation often lasted for decades or even a century. She should have long been accustomed to loneliness and solitude, spending sleepless nights with experimental data and literature.
“But it’s only been a few months since I’ve seen Shaya, and I’m already this impatient?”
“This really isn’t like me.”
She gently patted her cheeks, trying to dispel the chaotic emotions from her mind. However, the more she tried to calm down, the more tangled her thoughts became. Her mental power, which she had always prided herself on for being as vast as the sea, capable of thoroughly deciphering the principles of worldly construction, could not explain her current predicament at all.
“According to the stories written by the Gray Elf bards,”
“If an elf’s joys and sorrows are swayed by someone of the opposite sex.”
“Happy because of him, sad because of him, lost in thought because of him…”
“Then, that must be love.”
“So—”
“Have I fallen in love with a human?”
The Golden Elf’s footsteps paused slightly, and she spoke in disbelief. She touched her face, feeling its burning heat. After a long while, Heiser’s mental power flickered, and she constructed a “Calm Mind” spell model, forcing herself to calm down.
“I think I really have fallen in love with Shaya.”
“When I think of him, my heart races.”
“And whenever it concerns him, the speed at which my mental power constructs spell models slows down.”
“These are irrefutable proofs.”
Heiser whispered with absolute certainty. Her rigorous thinking as a wizard, analyzing all things in the world with Arcane rules, prevented her from denying this obvious fact. Her heart rate and bodily functions were all confirming this.
“Since I understand my true feelings.”
“Then, the next thing I need to do is to find a way to make Shaya like me too.”
“This process will be long, after all, Shaya’s origins are too mysterious… Who knows if he already has a lover, or even a wife and children in his own race.”
“And I don’t know if human societies accept polygamy.”
“However, I do have an advantage.”
Heiser murmured to herself.
“After all, Shaya himself said that I am special.”
“When that tower, belonging only to wizards, is established… I will have plenty of time to stay by his side and gradually figure out his preferred type.”
“I just don’t know if he will care about the racial differences between humans and elves.”
“Also, I don’t know if the children of humans and elves… will have the reproductive isolation he mentioned.”
The Golden Elf’s footsteps paused slightly. Lost in thought, she had already arrived at the residence she had arranged for Shaya in the Elf Royal Court. However, the small house currently appeared exceptionally empty, showing no signs of habitation.
Without even entering, Heiser knew Shaya was not inside.
“Did he go out for something?”
She wasn’t particularly surprised. After all, when they were drifting along in “Shaya’s Flying House” before, Shaya would often disappear alone, actually going to the depths of the Astral Realm by himself. Shaya’s reason to Heiser was that Yin and the others were bored in the Soul Pact Space and needed to be taken out to the Astral Realm to exercise their familiars and give them some fresh air.
Normally, Shaya would leave her a note when he went out alone. She wondered for what reason he hadn’t even left a note this time. This thought flashed by.
The next moment, a distant bell sounded from the magnificent tower at the center of the Elf Royal Court. It was the announcement for the opening of the Council Hall elders’ meeting. The Council Hall meeting of the Lost Island was held once every fifty years. Elders representing the interests of their respective kin from various branches of the Elf Royal Court would gather in the Council Hall to discuss the Elf Royal Court’s plans for the next fifty years and various resource allocation issues. However, compared to the previous time node, this Council Hall elders’ meeting had arrived a bit earlier.
“Perfect, I can also take this opportunity to formally introduce Shaya’s identity to the clan.”
Heiser didn’t think much of it and walked directly towards the central tower of the Royal Court. That was where the Council Hall was held. After all, if Arcane and magic were to be popularized throughout the entire Royal Court, it would absolutely require the help of the other members of the Council Hall.
…
The Council Hall meeting was held on the top floor of the tower. It also represented the absolute pinnacle of power in the entire Elf Royal Court. A huge, ethereal blue bonfire illuminated the grand hall on the top floor. Ancient bronze stone pillars were engraved with patterns of the sun, moon, ice, and elven gold, representing the dominant powerful races in the Elf Royal Court such as the Sun Elves, Moon Elves, and Ice Elves. Only these major elven branches were qualified to elect their elders and decide the major affairs of the entire Royal Court.
Heiser traversed the long, empty, and silent corridor. Then, she pushed open the ancient bronze door at the end of the long hall. The great door of the Council Hall creaked open. Beyond the door sat eight elves of varied appearances around a long table. There was the Moon Elf with silver-white long hair, whom Heiser had met on the tower before and who had stopped her from opening the Royal Court’s grand library. There was also an aged Sun Elf elder and a seemingly gentle Forest Elf woman…
Heiser’s gaze lingered on the faces of these current Council Hall elders one by one. Many faces in this session of the Council Hall were quite familiar to her. Among these new generation of powerful elves, the ancestors or elders of many of them were the elders who had once placed great hope in her and entrusted the future of the entire Elf Race to her without reservation. Flowing with the same bloodline, even their appearances had been inherited.
Thinking thus, Heiser walked gently past the long table of the Council Hall to her seat and performed an elegant greeting specific to the Elf Royal Court.
“Long time no see, fellow members of the Council Hall.”
“Please forgive my lateness, as I have spent considerable effort on a certain project during this time.”
“However, I have also brought an encouraging piece of news for the Lost Island.”
“I wish to introduce to you a great discovery, known as magic, which is capable of changing the entire Lost Island, and even the future of the Elf Race…”
Before Heiser could finish the words she had already prepared in her mind. The next moment, the Golden Elf’s eyes narrowed slightly. Although they had similar appearances to the elders who had taught and raised her, for some reason, since arriving at the Council Hall, Heiser found that in the eyes of these people she should have felt close to, their gazes were so unfamiliar. There was no closeness or trust between kin. There was only indifferent coldness.
In the next instant, Heiser knew that this was not a hallucination or her own wild thoughts. It was a concrete and cold reality.
Pitch-black chains spread out from the surrounding void. Black iron chains, one after another, laden with immense mystery, sealed all spatial fluctuations. They prohibited the activation of all abilities such as flickering, teleportation, and spatial jumps. At the same time, the sharp tip of the pitch-black chain came whistling through the wind. Then, before Heiser was prepared and without any power to resist, it pierced her wrist. It instantly bound all of Heiser’s extraordinary authority as a Golden Elf with the chains laden with immense mystery, rendering them useless.
Heiser recognized this chain. It was one of the oldest Holy Relics passed down in the Elf Royal Court. It had the effect of sealing all extraordinary abilities of the person bound by the chain. In the past, those who were willing to be pioneers, exploring the outside world at the risk of pollution and madness, would bind themselves with this chain before attempting anything. This way, if an individual lost control during exploration and experimentation and went mad, they would be restricted by this Holy Relic chain and would not become a disaster that could destroy the entire Royal Court with their powerful strength.
However—at this moment.
In Heiser’s eyes, the chain itself and the figures of the Council Hall members around her, who should have been her colleagues, gradually merged, becoming increasingly cold. The Holy Relic used a thousand years ago to suppress madness and for self-sacrifice. A thousand years later, it was used without hesitation against her own kin.
“Be careful.”
“After all, she’s an old hag who’s lived for a thousand years.”
“Even if she’s suppressed by the ‘Chains of Heaven,’ who knows if she’ll have any other tricks up her sleeve.”
The answer to Heiser’s bewildered and confused gaze was only that cold voice, devoid of any ripple. However, at this moment, Heiser had no intention of asking the other party “Why are you doing this?” Because she suddenly recalled the strangeness of Shaya’s residence earlier. It wasn’t that Shaya had gone out to walk his familiars. Since the Council Hall had already decided to act against her, Shaya, who had been staying in the Royal Court, was naturally their primary target.
If it were outside the Lost Island, Heiser would not worry about Shaya encountering any misfortune. These members of the Council Hall were merely ordinary legendary powerhouses, and they had to rely on Holy Relics even to ambush her, let alone Shaya, whom even she could not see through.
But—this was the Lost Island. All non-elf races were greatly restricted upon entering. Shaya had even struggled to actively release his magic before. He originally did not want to come to the Lost Island. It was because of her persistent pleas, half-coaxing and half-acting cute, that Shaya finally endured the suppression of the rules and came to the Lost Island. For a matter that had nothing to do with him, and no connection to him at all. Reasonably and emotionally, he could have simply stood by and watched… the so-called future of the Elf Race.
“What… what did you do to Shaya?”
Heiser heard the tremor in her own voice.
“Shaya?”
“You mean that human who came with you?”
Perhaps knowing Heiser’s strength, as if wanting to make her completely despair mentally and give up resisting. The leading Sun Elf elder waved his hand gently, manifesting an illusory scene.
The next moment—Heiser saw the black-haired youth bound by shackles in a cage, his life or death unknown. At that instant, the Golden Elf’s heart plunged into an ice cave.
