Is this really a Game?!

Reign and the others were slowly making their way through the gray part of the Ironbark Woods, they had decided to visit the elves, after all, an ally in these times could be a great help and they wanted to get one fast.

Reign previously spoke to Aethion who told them it would be alright to go now, three days had passed so going to visit the elves would be fine. After all, it's not just humans that have to go through different events and challenges during the game, as they had previously learned from Magokur, intelligent monsters that came here also had their reasons for coming and goals that they wish to fulfill.

If they could establish a friendly relationship with the elves it would truly be helpful, the Ironbark Woods was huge and if the players could perhaps stay with the elves during the night it would make leveling a lot easier. The elves were known to be peaceful so before they can find out exactly why they were here and what their goal as they were not going to push the topic.

Slowly they passed the area they had previously been to, they went towards the same way that the elves took when they left, Elajeon had previously shown them approximately where their base was on the map that Wolf carried with him, by using the map they were certain that they were close to the elven base.

Lo and behold after a couple more minutes of walking and fighting against some monsters they managed to get to the base. A transparent bubble covered it, a sight familiar to them as it was the same kind of protection their castle had. The elven base was just what one would expect it to be, a huge tree that stood in the middle of the forest while being divided from it by a river that passed nearby, it forked right before the tree before joining back into one stream, clearly separating the base from the rest of the forest.

The tree was surrounded by a couple of smaller trees, of course even though they were smaller they were each about 70 – 80 meters tall, a height that was incredibly difficult to find on trees before the game started. The main tree which acted as the main base was over 200 meters tall while being over 10 meters in diameter. The gigantic tree stood well above the rest and they were able to see it quite some distance away, Reign believed that even without the map they would have been able to find the base without much difficulty.

On the other side of the river, they were able to spot elves right away, there were some children and women that were sitting near the river while talking and laughing. Two guards were standing diligently while observing the surroundings, the very second they spotted Reign and the others they said something to the others which made them get up and run back to the base.

The guards took up their weapons as they glared at Reign and the others with a cautious gaze. Reign quickly pulled his hands up to show they meant no harm but that didn't achieve the effect he had wished for as the guards were still cautiously pointing their weapons at them. Suddenly one of the guards changed his gaze as he looked at the seven people in front of them, he quickly put his hand inside a pocket on his armor before taking out a leaf-like parchment. Looking at the parchment and the humans in front of him multiple times his gaze softened before he beckoned to the other guard to put down his weapon.

"Humans, you are the ones that saved lieutenant Elajeon, you have to excuse our behavior, the forest is dangerous and enemies are everywhere." The guard said as he smiled at Reign slightly. Figures could be seen running towards them from the base, amongst the 10 people that were coming Reign could recognize Elajeon in their midst.

"Friends, you have finally decided to visit, please, do enter." Elajeon waved at them as the protective bubble around the river suddenly rippled, the stones that lay on the bottom of the river suddenly rose up and formed a bridge that was wide enough for 3 people to walk side by side.

Reign and the party crossed the bridge before shaking hands with Elajeon who came to greet them, with a wide smile he beckoned them to follow after him and the other elves. Amongst the elves there were some that seemed quite relaxed while some exhibited caution when looking at Reign and the others, it was to be expected of course since they were strangers.

"I had told my brethren of what had happened, our leader wishes to meet you, it seems that she has something that she wants to discuss with you," Elajeon says as he brings Reign and the others in the base.

The base of the elves was actually very similar to the base of the wood folk that Reign and the others had stumbled upon a long time ago. They lived on the trees, instead of building houses or hollowing the insides of the trees the elves instead used their nature magic to manipulate the trees and create houses from the many branches that they had. There were many bridges that connected all the trees and houses as elves could be seen walking around.

Of course, there were people living on the ground as well, the thick and long roots of the trees were brought up to the surface as they coiled around to form huts that the elves could live in, it was a breathtaking sight for Reign and the others as they slowly walked through the base. Curious glances were sent their way from the elves that were living in the base, some of them had never even seen humans before and they were incredibly curious after seeing them, of course after spotting Elajeon and other guards and captains together with them they didn't dare approach them right now.

Elajeon did his best to show them the different styles of houses while explaining how they build them, he also explained why they were all here, except for being a bit vague, he apologized for that before telling them that their leader would explain everything later.

It turns out that the way the elves arrived here was similar to Magokur, some of them came from planets where their homes were destroyed and they had no hopes of survival, coming here was a second chance of sorts. Some were simply picked and teleported without any explanation while there were some that volunteered to be here, similar to how Eldar and soldiers did.

Finally, they arrived at the center of the base where the enormous tree was standing. Many sky bridges could be seen connecting it with the other trees, the difference between this tree however was that the bridges would go all the way inside the tree. It seems that this one was hollow inside, contrary to the other ones.

There were many paths that led to the tree, even on the ground there was a huge gap in the tree from which people could enter, Elajeon however led them to a different path. They all first jumped on a huge leaf that was put at the bottom of one tree, the leaf acted like a spring and sent them flying up, a mysterious force acted on their bodies the second they touched the leaf and it made sure that they would land on the tree properly without being hurt.

After landing on the tree, which was in fact the biggest one next to the central one, they crossed the bridge and entered the inside of it. They were in for a shock after entering however as the inside of the tree seemed many times larger than the outside, a huge space was found inside of the tree and hundreds of elves were walking around, some seemed to be researching something while others were busy arguing.

Guards could be seen at the entrance and when they arrived at the fence they could see that they were incredibly high up. Over a hundred meters down they could see numerous floors and elves that were walking around, above would probably be the same.

As they had expected a similar sight was found above, there were even rooms on the floors, probably sleeping quarters for the elves that resided inside the huge tree.

"Spatial magic." One of the elves that were with them suddenly said.

"What?" Shadow asked the elf while looking at him curiously.

"The tree, the inside of it is reinforced with spatial magic, that is the reason why the inside is so big."

"Right, wasn't the castle the same, I remember Eldar telling us that the inside of the castle was also bigger compared to outside, even though it's not as evident as this." Wolf suddenly pitches in their conversation.

"Boy, you have to be careful now." Aethion's voice suddenly echoes through Reign's head.

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"I can feel her mana, the leader of these elves, I know her." A serious voice could be heard from Aethion as Reign could feel that he was a bit nervous.

"You know her?"

"Yes, tch, this might be a bit tricky." Aethion clicks his tongue before continuing, "She's a crafty old fox with whom I crossed paths many times in the past, you could say she was one of my biggest enemies back when I was a necromancer."

"I see."

"Don't take it so lightly boy, before I was defeated I used to be a Transcended, she probably still is, do not dare underestimate her boy."