Chapter 150: Chapter 130: The Quirky Elf【Second Update】
The food at the General’s Mansion tasted quite good, but it still fell short compared to Little Zi’s cooking. Alec, however, found himself envious of Long Yi when he saw the female demon maid who served him.
After eating and taking a short break, Alec excused himself to train the Flying Dragon squadron. In the afternoon, Ai Lin decided to take Long Yi around the Imperial City. Having eaten too much, Bajie chose to stay at the General’s Mansion, enjoying the comfort of the lavish bed with Xiaoyou.
The Imperial City of the White Dragon Empire was one of the most prosperous cities in the world. Its success was the result of the Empire’s long-established emphasis and support on commerce, leading to the creation of a large group of people with massive wealth. The Empire collected taxes from these wealthy individuals, further boosting the nation’s prosperity. Meanwhile, they continued to introduce policies encouraging businesses, allowing those wealthy individuals to make more money. As such, the commercial prosperity of the White Dragon Empire was unparalleled.
Now, the world knew that businessmen from the White Dragon Empire were among the best. The Empire’s commercial contracts even served as standard templates for people around the world.
Walking through the streets, Long Yi could see the clear signs of prosperity and luxury.
Of course, being penniless, he could only appreciate it from afar.
Suddenly, a shop caught Long Yi’s attention.
"Shining Silver." Long Yi remembered the name; it was the shop where Joseph had bought an Elven dagger when gambling with Ai Lin. It was on this specific dagger that Long Yi had found a screw.
Wait a minute, those damn elves couldn’t have dismantled my fighter jet and made all these crappy daggers, could they?
Long Yi shuddered at the sudden realization.
"Let’s go and take a look!" Long Yi said.
Ai Lin, being a lover of beauty, couldn’t resist. Her upbringing had been strict. She had barely handled these luxury goods that had to do with elves, but there was no harm in window shopping, right?
Upon sensing their arrival, the doors automatically opened, making Long Yi feel as if he was back on Earth.
The interior was spacious with no counters, only a series of neatly arranged display stands. Each stand had a weapon floating in mid-air, rotating slowly.
Even Long Yi had to commend the attention to detail dedicated to creating such a high-end atmosphere. At first glance, one could tell that the items in the store were prohibitively expensive.
Several richly-dressed customers were pointing and whispering in front of some weapons. Yet, there was not a single elf by their side. Only two elves stood afar, conversing amongst themselves without acknowledging the customers.
The rule of the shop was simple. If you liked something, you paid and took it. Elves weren’t going to explain anything to you. Rely on your own eyesight to pick what you wanted to buy. There would typically be no fakes in these shops, but whether or not you could use what you bought was none of the elves’ concern.
Interestingly, this unique selling method was highly appreciated by the wealthy shoppers.
As Long Yi scanned through the weapons, he spotted three different types of screws, some spring washers, and traces that seemed to be from a lathe within a short time. However, he found it strange that the elves had a lathe. If so, why didn’t they utilize it to manufacture the cylindrical parts? Those parts that should’ve been perfectly round appeared to have been made by hand.
This won’t work. I can’t just stand by and watch, I have to ask questions!
"Hello, I have a question to ask." Long Yi approached the two elves and spoke up.
"Please do.", they said.
The two elves stopped their conversation at once, turned to look at Long Yi, and spoke simultaneously. They had no expression on their faces, not even showing interest in Little Zi who was following Ai Lin.
Indeed, these elves were completely unlike Master Yavenny!
"I want to know where the elves obtained the screws on this dagger." Long Yi wasted no time in directly getting to the point.
"They are a gift from the Silver Dragon.", the elves replied without being taken aback by Long Yi’s straightforward question.
"Then, may I know where the Silver Dragon is?" Long Yi continued to ask.
"The Silver Dragon resides in the Elf Forest.", the elves replied.
"So, where is the Elf Forest?" Long Yi felt victory was close at hand.
"We don’t know.", the two elves replied.
"Huh?" Long Yi couldn’t believe his own ears. "You don’t know?"
"Yes, we don’t know.", the elves assured him.
"But aren’t you from the Elf Forest?" Long Yi didn’t understand their claim.
"Yes, we are indeed from the Elf Forest. However, the Elf Forest where the Silver Dragon resides is not on the same plane as ours."
"The upper Plane?"
"No, the Elf Forest might appear anywhere. It depends on the will of the World Tree. We can only know where the Elf Forest is when the World Tree calls out to us. Now, the Elf Forest is in the phase space, and we can’t determine exactly where it is."
The two elves spoke.
"So, if the World Tree appears, can you tell me where it is?" Long Yi tentatively asked.
"Of course not." The two elves responded.
"This...well...thank you!" Long Yi expressed his gratitude. Dealing with elves was simple; they didn’t use any form of pleasantries, their efficiency was startling.
The two elves once again began conversing in Elvish. It seemed they were not at all perturbed by Long Yi’s presence.
Long Yi was surprised by the elves’ frankness, almost making him wonder if they were pulling his leg. But now, it seemed pointless for them to deceive him. A forest that allows him to enter the phase state - this peculiar phenomenon was probably the elves’ way of self-protection.
Although this answered Long Yi’s question, it only brought up another problem. Only elves could sense the call of the World Tree. He wasn’t an elf, so what was he to do?
Could he approach it from the angle of phase space? Like, could he drag the World Tree out from there?
As soon as he had this thought, Long Yi chuckled to himself. Spatial magic was one of the most mysterious forms of magic in this world, perhaps only second to temporal magic. The phase space, even more so, was the critical issue for countless spatial magic researchers. The space was constantly oscillating between extreme stagnation and extreme collapse. It was said to hide substantial power, and any mage who could open a space channel could obtain power from there. But over the years, aside from one space disaster, scholars had gotten nothing out of it.
As for rookie Long Yi, there wasn’t much hope.
He’d have to put this matter aside for now.
"Wrong! I’m such an idiot!" Long Yi smacked his own head. If I can’t go find the elven forest, can’t the elves of the elven forest come to find me?!
Long Yi hurried back into the shop, where the two elves were still chatting.
"Excuse me, if the World Tree appears, could I ask for your help?" Long Yi asked.
"Please explain." Responded the elf.
"I would like to tell the World Tree that I have the Silver Dragon’s other turbofan engine."
When they heard Long Yi’s words, the two elves visibly hesitated. For the first time, Long Yi saw a different expression on their faces.
"Human, are you serious about what you just said? You should understand what these words mean to us elves." The two elves stared into Long Yi’s eyes, their tones becoming slower.
"I don’t know what it means to you elves, but I’m serious. I’m familiar with the Silver Dragon, its lost turbofan engine is in my possession, as is an air-to-air missile worth $400,000."
Long Yi declared.
"Please prove it." One elf said.
Immediately, Long Yi opened his bracelet, and the projection of the turbofan engine appeared.
The two elves exchanged a glance, then they bypassed Long Yi, heading toward the admiring customers.
"The business hours for Shining Silver are over for today. Please leave immediately." The elves began to ask people to leave.
"Hey, we’re old customers, here to give you money, at least let us finish looking before we go." A man, who seemed to prefer clothing made of gold and silver, laughed.
"Please leave." The elf replied.
"Young lady, it seems you don’t quite understand, our boss isn’t any stranger. Three-tenths of the weapons sold by Shining Silver each year are collected by our boss!" The boss’s sexy and glamorous woman companion spoke up, unconsciously puffing out her chest which was several times fuller than that of the elf.
This idiot...
Long Yi couldn’t believe that there could be someone that stupid in this world. Elves measured their age in millennia, and for a human who couldn’t live over a hundred years to call them "young ladies’, wasn’t that completely ridiculous?
Some clever spectators were already aware of what was happening and began to depart, while the boss and the woman remained standing in place.
"Young lady, does that man happen to be your significant client? I advise you to be discerning, there are many impostors nowadays pretending to be wealthy. But sincere lovers of elven art like our boss, who are young and rich, are few!" The woman continued to babble.
But the next moment, two elvish long knives were pointing at the two people’s throats.
"Please leave." The elf’s tone remained calm and devoid of emotion, but the gleam on the blade was no joke.
Reluctantly, the two who had initially wanted to stay, could only leave in a dismal state. But before leaving, they glared at Long Yi and swore to remember him. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please vote or give a monthly ticket at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
