Chapter 53 Beneath the Tree, Bones; Summer Has Arrived in the Misty Moon Forest

Ancia was stunned. She leaned closer to examine it and realized that the four words peeking out from the gaps between the various plant books were indeed "To Ancia".

She hesitated for a moment, but couldn't resist her curiosity. She gently lifted the heavy book above and pulled out the paper.

No, that's not paper, it's an envelope.

The faint glow on the handwriting under the moonlight looked familiar; it came from the glow-in-the-dark ink they made together.

The envelope contained only a single sheet of paper, the entire page of which was written with glow-in-the-dark ink.

[Anxiya, Greetings.]

I would love to invite you to the Misty Moon Forest to see the place where I grew up, but the disease of the Tree of Life has not yet been resolved, so I have put this idea on hold for now.

Summer in Misty Moon Forest is beautiful. When the Tree of Life is still healthy, fireflies will dance around the branches at night, and the silvery light on the leaves will reflect the moonlight. The evening breeze is also gentle.

In Mirror Lake, there is a giant mirror-shaped water lily. Three elves can lie on a single petal at the same time. A faint white mist emanates from its stamen, and most of the mist in the Misty Moon Forest originates from it. I think you might find it interesting.

If it has rained, light-colored mushrooms will grow under the trees. Some of them taste pretty good in soup, while others are very bitter. We can judge the taste of each mushroom and choose the most delicious king of mushrooms.

...

If we meet again in the first summer after the Tree of Life has healed, I will formally invite you. With the Tree of Life as our witness, I have a song I want to sing for you.

The letter was short, containing only a description of the former Mistmoon Forest. It is unknown when the letter was written or what Ellan's feelings were when he did not send it.

Ancia held the letter for a long time, then took out her bottle of glow-in-the-dark ink from her system inventory, wrote a sentence on the letter, and after the ink dried, she put the letter back into the envelope and placed it under the original book.

*

Knock knock knock.

A soft knock sounded on the door. "Are you awake?"

It was Erlan's voice.

Ancia opened the door and noticed the more pronounced dark circles under his eyes. She raised an eyebrow slightly. "You didn't sleep all night?"

Ellan was more tired than yesterday, but the blankness in his eyes had disappeared. "We interrogated her all night, but Vivian didn't say anything. She just sat in her cell with her eyes closed, resting. Minos took all the blame, saying that he ordered Vivian to do it, but he didn't explain anything more. There's no further progress for now."

Ancia nodded and handed him a bottle of energy potion. "Let's search their place; maybe we'll find some new clues."

Airland finished his drink in one gulp. "I've already arranged for someone to go. Minos's treehouse is smaller, so the results will come out faster."

They went to Minos's treehouse first, but found nothing except for some joint signatures opposing Erlan. Erlan only glanced at the joint letters and waved for the guards to put them back.

As an elven elder, Vivian's treehouse is closer to the barrier of the Tree of Life, and the rooms are much larger.

No unusual items were found in her room; everything was neatly arranged, and the room had a faint, pleasant fragrance.

Ancia stood on the platform and looked out. Her gaze suddenly fell on the tree. As a wood mage, she felt that the vitality in a certain area at the base of the tree was slightly more lush than in other places. However, the growth of plants in the forest had stopped. Her expression changed, and she tugged at Ellan's sleeve. "Have someone dig at the base of the tree."

Ayrland also noticed the slight anomaly. He paused, then ordered the guards, "Dig up the base of the tree."

In the deep pit dug under the tree, the skeleton of an elf gradually came into view.

All elves, upon death, are returned to the Mother Tree by their companions, where they are transformed into energy and revert to fruit. In recent years, no new elves have died in the Misty Moon Forest, so it is self-evident who this skeleton belongs to.

Erlan crouched down and looked intently at the skeleton. From its tall figure, he could almost recall what it looked like when it was alive.

If Vivian is lying here, then who is in the dungeon?

Aerlan's eyes were filled with sorrow. He closed them briefly, and when he opened them again, only icy coldness remained. "Bring Minos here."

When Minos was brought over, he was still numbly repeating in a hoarse voice, "It was all my doing, it has nothing to do with Vivian, let her go..."

Ellan grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to the edge of the pit. "Look carefully, that thing in the cell isn't one of our companions!"

Minos froze upon seeing the skeleton. He broke free from Ellan's grasp, jumped into the deep pit, and knelt down. His trembling fingers touched the bones, and he looked up at Ellan, shouting, "Who is this? Ellan, no, Your Majesty, tell me, who is this?"

He still refused to believe the truth, but Erlan directly shattered his illusions: "This is the real Vivian."

Elves are born from the Mother Tree and return to the Mother Tree. Any way of disappearing away from the Mother Tree is considered an insult to the body, and burial deep underground is the most severe punishment. They will never see the Mother Tree or the moonlight again for the rest of their lives.

Minos let out a beast-like wail, and Ancia never imagined she would hear such a shrill scream from the mouth of an elf with such a beautiful voice.

She seemed to understand how "Vivian" in the cell entered the Tree of Life's barrier. She also remembered what the elf cubs had said: only elves and those whom elves love with their lives could enter the barrier.

Ancia: "Minos, this body has been lying underground for at least three years. When did you start cooperating with 'Vivian'?"

Minos was pulled out of the pit and looked at her in a daze. His mind was in a mess and it took him a while to process what she was asking. "...Three years ago, before the Tree of Life began to mutate, we fell in love."

Ancia: "What did she ask of you?"

Minos said with difficulty, "The Tree of Life is sick. She told me that the Tree of Life's illness can only be cured after she becomes the Elf King and wields the power of the Moon Crown. But Elran can neither find a way to cure the Tree of Life nor abdicate. If we help her, we can save the Tree of Life."

Without Ancia asking further, he gradually recalled Vivian's words, "She said that Erlan had found the sacrificial ritual left by Beatrice, which could give birth to a new Tree of Life. But I know that the success rate of that ritual is very low. Erlan... he may not be a qualified Elf King, but he shouldn't die. So I split the tribe, gathered a group of elves, and incited them to oppose Erlan and support Vivian to become the new queen. As long as Vivian ascends the throne, she can save the Tree of Life, Erlan will not die from the sacrifice, and everyone will be happy."

Minos regained consciousness, but became utterly dejected, losing all his mental support and becoming nothing more than a walking corpse. "What Vivian repeatedly mentioned, besides the throne, was the Moon Crown. Perhaps that's what she truly wanted."

He was the elf who knew Vivian best in the world, and his testimony provided new clues.

Ancia's mind was filled with scattered clues, like pearls scattered on the ground, only lacking a single thread to connect them. "Go to the dungeon and interrogate 'Vivian' again."

In the dungeon.

"Vivian" sat on the wooden bed, leisurely flipping through the books she carried with her, occasionally revealing a gentle smile. From the outside, she was no different from the Vivian of the past.

Ancia: "Minos has confessed that you came to the Misty Moon Forest for the Crown of the Moon."

Vivian paused in her book-turning, a hint of doubt on her face. "Minos said that? His love came out of nowhere, and so did his betrayal."

Hatred flashed in Erlan's eyes. "You're not the Vivian you used to be, so what betrayal are you talking about?"

Vivian: "I have all her memories, so how am I any different from her?"

Her logic is self-contained, and it's pointless to continue entangled in it within her worldview.

Ancia: "What method did you use to make the Tree of Life diseased?"

Vivian's lips curled up. "Guess?"

She won't say it on her own initiative.

Ancia calmly pondered what crucial clue was missing.

Crown of Moonlight...

Tree of Life...

Vivian's unusual behavior...

She quickly recalled every encounter with "Vivian" in her mind, finally grasping at a glimmer of inspiration from the fragmented memories—

When she took out the Wedge of Radiance, Vivian took that step forward!

Similar scenes connected, and Ancia recalled the thief in the Monster Mountain Range coveting the Wedge of Radiance. She decisively took the Wedge of Radiance out of her system inventory.

Through the magic-suppressing barrier, Ancia noticed Vivian's subtle changes. She clearly saw that Vivian's pupils turned scarlet the instant the Wedge of Radiance appeared, and then returned to normal.

The guess was confirmed, and Ancia said with certainty, "You are a demon."

Vivian licked her lips, no longer hiding her longing for it. "You guessed right."

When she sympathized with the Tree of Life, the strange feeling of fullness and nausea made Ancia want to vomit. Now, as she recalled it, a seemingly impossible but the only correct answer slowly appeared in her mind.

Ancia looked at "Vivian" and said, word by word, "Your method of polluting the Tree of Life is related to gluttony, so any method related to healing is useless and will only cause the Tree of Life to absorb more indigestible energy, accelerating its decline."

Vivian finally looked Ancia in the eye, a malicious smile that was completely different from before appearing on her face. "Oh dear, what a sharp little rascal. Consider this a win for now. That's enough for now."

As soon as she finished speaking, her body disintegrated into a dark energy stream and completely vanished into the air.

Aerlan's magic was a step too late to stop her. He said with a grim face, "The puppet of the Lord of Gluttony..."

His magic began to surge, but Ancia's hand on his shoulder calmed him down. "Calm down, Airan. The most important thing now is to heal the Tree of Life."

Ancia arrived at the Tree of Life. She raised her staff, and golden and green magic intertwined and enveloped the Tree of Life little by little. She explored upwards from the roots, and finally, at the center of the trunk, she sensed the life magic being frantically devoured.

She opened her eyes abruptly, "Aierlan! There!"

With a flap of his wooden wings, Erlan took to the air, flew to the location marked by magic, dug open the tree trunk, and took out a small piece of the beating purple heart from the heart of the tree.

Ancia's two-colored magic transformed into a dagger, which she plunged into the heart. She then took out the Wedge of Radiance and pressed it onto the purple heart. Under the continuous output of magic, it unwillingly melted into ashes.

The Tree of Life's insatiable appetite finally vanished, and the overflowing energy transformed into meteors that flew over the forest, then fell as energy rain, returning to the Misty Moon Forest itself.

The branches and leaves rustled in the drizzle. The withered and cracked branches and trunk quickly recovered their fullness. The unusually robust leaves fell off and new buds sprouted, stretching out their veins.

Summer has arrived in Misty Moon Forest.