The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 91 Above all things, only God.
After hearing Grete's question, Serka Radiance scratched her head, looking somewhat troubled:

"Can a human mage become a sword chanter? I honestly don't know."

"Our sword chanter tradition was tailor-made for elves. Just learning the basics of swordsmanship, movement techniques, and sword song magic takes decades, which is far too long for your human lifespan..."

She stopped mid-sentence.

He recalled the astonishing speed of development that the human kingdoms had achieved over the centuries.

Perhaps, given humanity's astonishing learning speed and adaptability, becoming a sword chanter doesn't take that long?
"In short, whether human mages can accept the legacy of a swordsman is something I'm not entirely sure about," Serka said, slightly embarrassed.
"At least among our Sun Elf race, the tradition of sword chanters is considered a secret and is strictly forbidden to be passed on to outsiders."

"If you humans are truly interested in becoming sword chanters, perhaps you could ask the current Moon Elf Queen's brother, Seymour Moon Whisper."

“Prince Seymour is also a sword chanter. Moreover, as a peerless genius who has the potential to become a mid-level legend in the future, his level of swordsmanship and sword song magic is far superior to mine.”

"Even the [Elf Moonblade], a royal heirloom of the Moon Elves, might one day recognize him as its master!"

"I'm not sure if the Moon Elf race forbids teaching the swordsmanship to outsiders, but His Highness Seymour was willing to teach you humans arcane magic back then, so he should be willing to teach you the art of swordsmanship now!"

As far as Serka knew, more than 300 years ago, it was Seymour, who was then the Moon Elf Prince, who visited the newly established city-state of Eldoron with hundreds of attendants, and taught magic to mankind.

However, the knowledge imparted is limited to arcane magic and does not include the skills of a swordsman.

Those who first came into contact with magic possessed true superhuman power and became an unshakeable privileged class.

They proclaim themselves as gods of mankind, and consider themselves a different species from other lowly commoners.

After two centuries of preparation, these noble mages finally built the floating city of Eldoron, which now stands high in the sky, completely isolated from the commoners on the ground and far from the threats of orcs and goblins.

At that time, human mages had no concept of the relationship between different planes; in their minds, gods lived in the high heavens.

Ascending to the heavens is the ritual of becoming a god!

This "great ascension" also caused a major setback in the level of human civilization in the river valley.

After more than 100 years of changes, the influx of human settlements from other regions, the destruction and reconstruction of many villages, the landscape had transformed into the scattered human settlements that existed before Elian's journey.

"【Elven Moonblade】? Could it possibly recognize Seymour as its master?"

Little Grete didn't understand Seka's words, but he roughly understood that it meant that Prince Seymour was a very skilled swordsman.

"What if, in the future, the human kingdom of Eldoron and the elven royal court truly establish diplomatic relations as my teacher, His Majesty Elion, envisioned..."

"We will ask His Highness Seymour to teach us humans the skills of sword chanters!"

Little Grett said earnestly.

In his mind, the stronger Eldoron was, the better. Only when the nation was strong enough could humanity rise on this land and deal with all kinds of threats.

"Seka, wait, wait, wait!"

Princess Lia, who was listening to their conversation, suddenly noticed something amiss:
"Seka Radiance, you're actually a swordsman? I've never seen you use a sword to kill anyone before!"

—That's what she originally wanted to say, but then she realized she'd never even seen Serka engage in magical combat, so she changed her words:

"But Seka, I've never even seen you hold a sword!"

Serka shrugged and answered naturally:

"I don't plan to go up and fight in melee. It's too dangerous to go up and fight in melee. It's better to stay in the back and cast spells."

"If you don't fight in close combat, why are you studying the legacy of the Sword Singer?" Leah was completely confused.

"That's for learning agile movements so we can better dodge enemy attacks!" Serka Radiance replied matter-of-factly.

"Uh……"

Leah was stunned for a moment, and felt that the other party's reasoning was sufficient and difficult to refute.

This also matches the impression I've formed of him over the past few days.

Just as Lia was about to say something, Elian's urging voice came from behind her again:
"Alright, you've finished filming. You can come and collect your magical artifacts (staff, magic wand, holy symbol) and spell material packs now."

The three spellcasters retrieved their belongings without incident.

Apart from Serka, who seemed carefree and happy, the other two elven legends looked slightly embarrassed and gloomy as they recalled what had happened that night.

"It's a pleasure to work with you three guests." "Cooperating with humans is indeed a better choice than waging war against them."

Elian smiled and extended his right hand toward Princess Lia, who was the highest-ranking and strongest among the three and could serve as their representative.

Leah extended her right hand, slightly embarrassed, and shook hands with the human in front of her.

This was the first time Lia had shaken hands with someone from another race.

The future King of the Sun Elves and the current King of Humans gently clasped hands to celebrate their first collaboration.

"Thank you... thank you for your kindness and wisdom, King of mankind."

As they shook hands, Leah suddenly remembered the pain she felt last week when four fingers on her hand were chopped off, and she felt a phantom pain, shivering slightly.

After quickly withdrawing her hand, Leah smiled helplessly:

"King of Humanity, to be honest, I really don't understand your human race anymore."

“I know that all races in the world follow a template: elves are beautiful and noble, possessing rich and abundant emotions; orcs are rude, savage, bloodthirsty, and warlike; goblins are cowardly, wicked, and lewd; the great goblins are a militaristic race, with their own military kingdom in the west; the metal dragons are upright and kind, while the five-colored dragons are evil and greedy; dwarves are all stubborn and inflexible, rigid and vengeful, reacting strongly to any jokes about them…”

"But I don't understand you humans at all."

El-Erian's smile deepened:
"Could you tell me what you don't understand, Your Highness?"

"Well..." Lia recalled Elian's projection onto the Elven court and his experiences during this expedition to the human kingdom:

"When I first approached your land and saw the undead legions covering the mountains and plains, my first impression was that the human race must be a corrupt and evil race that worships necromancy."

"Well, you might not know this, but among us elves, necromancy is a very sensitive field. Especially magic that can create the undead, which is considered an absolute taboo that desecrates life!"

"But your human kingdom of Eldoron seems to care absolutely nothing about this..."

El-Erian laughed and spread his hands: "Because these zombies and skeletons are useful. We only care about what's useful."

As if infected by Elian's friendly attitude, Lia's tone softened considerably:

"Yes, I also noticed this trait of you humans during the previous magical competition between humans and elves."

"The human battle mages you sent out have clearly undergone professional and systematic combat training, and may even have been born for this role from the very beginning. They may have started learning magic with the intention of fighting against enemy spellcasters."

El-Erian nodded: "That's right. We humans have no divine protection, and each human being is very weak. We need everyone to play a useful role in society so that we can survive on this land."

Leah smiled faintly:

"That's not how it is among us elves."

"In the realm of elves, viewing magic with an overly utilitarian perspective, like you humans, treating magic merely as a tool and greedily pursuing worldly success, will only invite ridicule."

"For us elves, magic is an art. It is no different from poetry, painting, and sculpture, only more dazzling and magnificent."

Little Greta couldn't understand this viewpoint at all:
"What does this mean? Isn't magic supposed to be a tool for us to fight off enemies and live better lives?"

This child, born in Rolling Stone, remembers clearly:

More than a decade ago, before Elion spread magic across the land, what a hellish existence the people on the surface of the earth lived.

Magic changed everything. Magic drove away the orcs and goblins, defeating those evil enemies. Magic made the undead work in the fields. Magic built house after house.

It was magic that allowed them, humans, to stand on the earth with dignity!

“Magic does indeed have such a function. The civilian magic of our elven city is definitely more powerful than that of a newly established country like yours, but…” Leah paused halfway through her sentence.

The elven priestess, Guirasser, added to the princess's words:
"However, these mundane goals are ultimately just embellishments and cannot replace a greater objective."

"We will all die eventually. We will all return to the embrace of Avangard. We will all reach that blissful divine kingdom."

"Only when the physical body dies and the soul, having relinquished its power, arrives in the Kingdom of God can we be considered truly adults, and only then can our lives truly begin."

"The thousands of years in the mortal world are merely the infancy of us elves, a preparatory stage before the beginning of a truly great journey."

"In the mundane world, all success and failure are meaningless."

"The only true meaning lies in fulfilling the will of the gods!"

(End of this chapter)