Chapter 259: Arwen, the Firstborn
In total, during those long winter months, Ethan managed to collect just over 3500 free gacha tickets and 200 regular ones.
Most of these had come from his regular activities with his wives—activities that, unfortunately, did not result in any premium gacha tickets.
Still, he was happy.
His eyes slowly turned to one of the most powerful items he possessed: the Tree of Life.
[Item: Seed of the Tree of Life
Description: A legendary tree, created as a blessing from the goddess of life and the goddess of beauty to their creations, the elves.
It has the ability to designate an area around itself as a sacred zone, greatly increasing mana density, the health of all surrounding living beings, and the chance for greater talents to emerge, as well as boosting fertility, recovery speed, and much more.
Additional: Elven citizens may randomly arrive in Goldenveil after planting a Tree of Life.
Additional: The Tree of Life passively heals all diseases affecting living beings in its vicinity.
Additional: Trees of Life must be planted near magical veins.
Additional: Trees of Life require at least one high elf to maintain them. They will die without the care of a high elf.
Additional: The presence of a Tree of Life in your territory will raise your territory’s relationship with the Elven Confederation to ’Friendly’.
Rank: SSS]
Along with building a divine forge to attract the dwarves, the Tree of Life sat at the very top of Ethan’s priority list.
It would not only ensure a positive relationship with one of Estria’s most powerful factions, but would also improve soil fertility, boost the health of his people, and, of course, draw a far greater number of elves to Goldenveil.
Of course, Ethan would not be fooled by this improvement in relations with the Elven Confederation.
On the one hand, it was a positive development, since the elves would act at the first sign of danger to the Tree of Life.
On the other hand, there had already been cases of human groups that had somehow managed to plant a Tree of Life on their own.
On more than one occasion, the elves had wiped out entire human noble families simply because of the risk that those humans might end up killing the Tree of Life.
This was one of the main reasons why the relationship between humans and elves remained so complicated.
The elves generally cared little for human diplomacy, always isolated in their forests and valuing balance above all else.
When that balance was disrupted, they simply took action, without exchanging so much as a word with the human factions.
Ethan still remembered the story of a duke who had gathered elementals in the kingdom of Solene in an attempt to sacrifice them and force an advancement to the sixth stage.
Such a sacrifice would have turned the entire region into a barren desert in exchange for the noble’s power.
Normally, the great central empires would respond to such cases through diplomatic channels, which would usually result in the duke’s arrest and subsequent conviction.
The elves, however, learned of his actions before the central empires did.
In a single night, they massacred the duke’s entire family, along with more than ten thousand soldiers who attempted to resist.
They offered no explanation, and simply left when they were done.
In the end, the kingdom of Solene only refrained from invading the elven forest because, fortunately, it had uncovered the duke’s actions before retaliating.
Even so, the elves’ lack of diplomacy and complete disregard for human laws left the relationship between the two sides quite strained.
"Ah... with a high elf directly tending to my Tree of Life, I highly doubt I’ll run into any problems with that." Ethan shook his head, a faint smile curving his lips.
He had to proceed with caution, of course, but as long as he made that high elf his wife, he’d be fine—especially since the system classified elves as an external force.
Focusing his gaze once more, Ethan opened the system’s inventory with a simple thought and pulled a single premium gacha ticket from within.
His luck stat had been sitting at 99/100 for many months now. It was time to change that.
Holding the gacha ticket firmly between his fingers, he tore it in half with a single decisive motion, his heart hammering against his ribs as anticipation surged through his veins.
[You used 1x premium gacha ticket...
Spinning...]
In the next instant, an intense golden glow flooded Ethan’s office, bathing every corner of the room in an almost blinding light.
His entire mansion shuddered beneath the sheer force of that energy.
He felt the density of mana around him explode in an almost palpable pulse, the hairs on his arms standing on end.
Then, with a soft thud, a notification screen materialized before him.
[Congratulations! You have received: 1x Arwen, the Firstborn. (Rank SSS+)]
Race: High Elf
Age: 124,860
Level: 121/200 (Fallen from level 800)
[Name: Arwen
Description: Arwen, the Firstborn, was the joint creation of three goddesses.
Life and Death sought to create a race to maintain balance in the world, and to that end, they reached out to the goddess of beauty, who, together with them, could provide sufficient energy for the creation of a new race.
Arwen was born as the priestess of life, death, and beauty—the first of her kind, the eternal queen of all elves—bearing the heart of the forest within her chest.
Unfortunately, with the birth and rise of the races created by the god of war—who united into a single empire whose sole purpose was to fight against and exterminate all other races in a glorious final battle—she took action.
Using the heart of the forest, she blew up her own body, taking the entire great green-skin army with her, preventing Estria’s death and averting a war between the god of war and the three goddesses.
Rank: SSS]
[You have received a new quest: "The Heart of the Forest"]
[Quest: The Heart of the Forest
Description: At her birth, Arwen received the Heart of the Forest, which, upon the destruction of her body, gave rise to the Eternal Forest.
Unify the Eternal Forest and recover the Heart of the Forest! (Arwen’s Talent Rank will increase if she receives the Heart of the Forest)
Rewards: 1000% XP, +250 Premium Gacha Tickets + 1,000 Common Gacha Tickets, + 1x Heart of the Forest (Rank: ???), + 1x Random Skill (Rank SSS)]
