Elven cultivators

Green Heights, the border region.

As dawn broke through the eastern ridge, the sun peeked out and bathed the slope in a pale gold hue.

Una sat cross-legged on a flat gray stone at the edge of the hilltop, one hand supporting her chin, idly gazing at the water curtain floating in the air in front of her.

The water curtain was about half a person's height, with a faint bluish luster at its edges.

The scene moves smoothly along with the perspective of the mirror bird in flight, capturing the landscape at the junction of hills and plains.

From a high vantage point, the details of the official road are clearly visible, with one or two wild rabbits occasionally darting through the grass and quickly disappearing into the depths of the withered vegetation.

Beside Una's feet, a gleaming falcon lay sprawled on the withered grass between the rocks, its eyes half-closed. Every now and then, it would tilt its head and preen the feathers at the base of its wings with its hooked beak, its posture lazy and content.

Una stared at the water curtain for a while, then couldn't help but sigh in frustration.

"If I had known this mission would be so boring, I wouldn't have taken it. I would have gone to the Underdark instead, where at least I could fight underground creatures from time to time."

The team members behind him exchanged helpless glances upon hearing this.

Captain Una is indeed worthy of being Lord Roman's disciple; her warlike nature is practically identical to his.

However, they only dared to think these words to themselves; no one dared to say them out loud.

Morrick scratched the back of his head and grinned, "There's nothing we can do, Captain. Ever since our clan wiped out the Steelmane tribe, most of the slave-hunting teams have stopped daring to show their faces in this area. Before, we'd fight every few days, but now we're lucky if we run into each other once or twice a month."

Since the news of the Steelmane tribe's destruction arrived, the happiest people, besides the half-elves, were probably the Goldenback Ape tribe.

Their tribe's original chieftain was killed in battle while being pursued by the Steelmane tribe.

After that battle, the Goldenback Ape-Man tribe was severely weakened and had no choice but to abandon their ancestral homeland and flee south, eventually falling into a slave-hunting trap on the Tide Sound Plain.

The memories of that time remain vivid for Morric.

The ape-man boy harbored deep hatred for the slave-hunting team and the Steelmane tribe.

Fortunately, all those shadows have now dissipated.

The mountain that once weighed heavily on their heads was uprooted by the Silver Moon Clan in a devastating manner.

Those slave-hunting teams that once hunted them down have long since disappeared.

Whenever Morric thought of these things, an indescribable sense of peace would well up in his heart, and his sense of belonging to the clan would also deepen.

He raised his head, his gaze passing over the undulating contours of the hills, and landing on the distant, faintly visible checkpoint.

Outside the checkpoint, one could occasionally see small groups of people walking along the official road towards this side, with their families in tow and carrying large and small packages.

Those were all half-elves who had come to seek refuge.

Their small team, along with several other small temporary camps in the hills, were reception points set up by the clan to receive these half-elves.

According to the normal procedure, the half-elves will be verified at the checkpoint and then guided to the camp for temporary accommodation, awaiting further airship transfer.

Morric withdrew his gaze and looked at Una's retreating figure, a sense of emotion welling up within him.

Unlike him, Una is already a formal disciple of the Primordial City, and a personal disciple of Lord Roman.

Among the disciples who entered the sect in the same batch, Una's talent and strength can be ranked in the top ten, and among the disciples who came from vassal races, she is even more likely to be ranked in the top three.

As for the first, it is naturally Ivy, who possesses the Taiyin Body.

Thinking of Evie, Morric felt a strange, indescribable emotion welling up inside him.

Since Ivy was identified as a spirit, she moved into the inner city of Primordial City, and they have hardly seen each other since.

He could only hear her name occasionally from other people's conversations.

Ivy is said to have refined spiritual energy a long time ago, and is now said to be in the late stage of Qi Refining, with her strength increasing at the fastest rate among the younger generation of the entire clan.

Even Captain Una is inferior to her.

He himself is not yet a disciple of the Primordial City.

Although my spiritual root was identified before I took the qualification test, I haven't accumulated enough contribution points yet.

Compared to Ivy, he is now far behind at a much lower level.

Morric took a deep breath, suppressing the subtle bitterness in his heart.

He looked up, about to say something, when he suddenly heard Una let out a soft "hmm".

"What's wrong?" Morrick instinctively stood up and looked towards the water curtain.

Una didn't turn around; she simply pointed her index finger at a corner of the screen.

The water curtain then magnified, clearly revealing the shaded area of ​​low shrubs on the eastern side of the hill.

More than a dozen figures were moving silently along the shadows of the rock wall.

They moved with extreme caution, deliberately taking each step lightly, keeping their bodies low to the ground, using the rocks and dry bushes along the way to conceal their outlines, and occasionally stopping to listen to the sounds around them before continuing to move forward after confirming that it was safe.

Even more noteworthy is that there is an extremely faint blur around the edges of these people's figures, as if they are seen through a thin veil soaked in water.

If you look at them from a slightly greater distance, you might easily overlook their existence.

It is obvious that some kind of magical means of concealing one's identity was used.

Unfortunately, the Mirror Sparrows currently used by the clan are all spirit beasts bred and improved by the Beast Garden. Their average abilities far exceed those of ordinary Mirror Sparrows, and they even have a certain ability to see through illusions.

Ordinary magical methods cannot escape their detection.

"Legitimate caravans always travel through checkpoints and main roads; these people clearly aren't from legitimate sources." Una's tone held a hint of eagerness.

Several team members gathered around, and one guessed, "A slave hunting team?"

"It doesn't seem like it." Another team member shook his head. "What slave-hunting team would dare to approach our territory now? That would be suicide."

"I don't think so either. Look at the direction they came from. They clearly came from the direction of Green Heights and headed out of the hills. It's more like they're leaving the border."

"A smuggling team?" someone whispered.

Una had already stood up from the rock, clenched her fists and clasped them together in front of her, making a dull thud, and laughed, "Whether they're a slave hunter team or a smuggling team, since they're on our turf, we can't just leave them alone. We'll find out by catching them and interrogating them."

Without waiting for anyone else's response, she turned around, strode over to the Hikari Falcon, and leaped onto its back.

Startled, the hawk flapped its wings twice, then steadied itself, let out a low cry, and spread its wings, causing the pebbles under its claws to roll slightly.

"I'll go first, you guys follow."

Before the words were even finished, the hawk had already taken off, and the wind it stirred up scattered several withered leaves in all directions.

Una's figure shrank rapidly in the morning light as she sped off toward the thicket on the eastern side of the hill.

Morrick and his teammates exchanged glances, then without further delay, grabbed their weapons and ran down the slope.

They were not slow, but the Kaguya Hayabusa was faster.

When they arrived at the foot of the rock wall, they saw more than a dozen people lying haphazardly on the open ground, their weapons scattered everywhere.

Una was squatting next to one of them, poking the leather armor on the other's shoulder with a finger, looking rather bored.

"Not a single one of them is capable of fighting; there isn't even a peak Iron-level fighter."

Morric was both amused and exasperated.

Why would someone at the pinnacle of Black Iron do smuggling?

He could easily become a military officer in any town with his abilities; there was no need for him to engage in such shady dealings.

Shaking his head, Morrick glanced around and came to a man who seemed to be the leader. He squatted down, tore open a hidden pocket in the man's collar, and casually threw the several magic scrolls that were exposed on the ground. He then felt around inside his belt and quickly pulled out a palm-sized gray dimensional bag.

He opened the dimensional bag and inspected it, then looked up at Una: "These guys really are a smuggling team; there are quite a few spirit fire talismans in the dimensional bag."

"Spirit Fire Talisman?" Una raised an eyebrow.

The other team members exchanged glances, their expressions becoming more solemn.

Although the Silvermoon Clan does sell Spiritfire Talismans, they only do so with established partners who have signed long-term agreements, such as long-standing allies like Grayrock Fortress. They never do retail business.

Moreover, those forces didn't get a large share of the Spirit Fire Talismans to begin with; they didn't even have enough for their own use, let alone for others.

I don't know where these people got such a large number of spirit fire talismans from.

"Tie him up and take him back." After a moment's thought, Una quickly made her decision, waving her hand. "I'll contact the Primordial Spirit Realm right away."

The team members responded immediately and quickly tied up the smugglers, leading them towards the camp at the top of the slope.

When they returned to the camp, a flying boat descended from the horizon and landed steadily on the open ground outside the camp.

Accompanying them by boat was a new team that would take over the post from Una and her group.

After a brief handover between the two groups, Una and the others escorted the smugglers onto the airship.

The Flying Boat quickly took off again, carrying the group towards the Primordial Spirit Realm.

By the time they returned to the City of Primordial Beginning, it was already nearly evening.

After disembarking from the flying boat, Una handed the prisoners and the dimensional bag to the elven guards who were there to meet her. She then bid farewell to her teammates, walked straight through the outer city, and returned to her courtyard on the edge of the inner city.

She paused slightly as she pushed open the courtyard gate.

Beside the stone table in the courtyard, Roman was reclining in a wicker chair, legs crossed, nibbling on a piece of fruit. Seeing her enter, he raised his chin, a smile spreading across his face.

"You're back."

"Teacher, you've emerged from seclusion?" Una exclaimed in surprise as she quickly walked a few steps and sat down opposite the stone table.

Roman looked her up and down a few times, then nodded in satisfaction: "Your breathing is much more stable than when we last met. Looks like you haven't been slacking off lately."

"Of course," Una laughed. "I don't want to embarrass my teacher."

As she spoke, she poured herself a cup of tea, took a big gulp, and briefly recounted her encounter with the smuggling team at the border that day.

"Smuggling of spirit fire talismans..." Roman nodded thoughtfully. "You did the right thing. This kind of thing really should be investigated thoroughly."

She changed the subject, "I'm going on a long trip soon, so you should focus on your studies during this time."

Una asked, "Where is the teacher going?"

"News has come back from the Iron Hill Kingdom that a powerful creature has been discovered. I'm going to investigate."

Una suddenly realized.

The clan has been searching for traces of powerful creatures for the past few years, supposedly on orders personally given by the clan chief.

Many legendary experts from the clan have been mobilized for this.

Roman stood up, stretched, and said, "I'm leaving tonight. You stay in the city and don't cause any trouble while I'm gone."

"I know."

Una responded, but couldn't help but mutter to herself.

She felt that the teacher was much more likely to cause trouble than she was.

……

The next morning, shortly after dawn.

After finishing her training, Una came out of the meditation room, ready to go to the Hall of Service to see if there were any suitable quests from the Dark Regions to take on.

Before she even reached the courtyard gate, the communication talisman at her waist vibrated.

Una took it out and infused it with a wisp of spiritual energy.

The talisman unfolded automatically, and Morrick's voice came from within, filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"Captain, have you heard? Yesterday, we found a weapon imbued with a spirit on those smugglers we arrested!"

Una stopped abruptly, a look of surprise flashing in her eyes.

Soul?

Of course she knew what a spirit was.

It is said to be a core material for forging powerful magical artifacts.

Over the years, the clan has sent many people to search all over the continent, and even legendary experts have occasionally taken action themselves, but they have never been able to find many items.

This thing is extremely rare.

Surprisingly, it was found on a smuggling team.

"Is the news confirmed?" Una asked.

"Confirmed. The document office has already verified it. They issued a mission early this morning to investigate the origin of that weapon, and the reward is quite high."

Morrick's voice held a hint of eagerness. "Captain, shall we participate?"

"Of course I'll participate," Una said without hesitation. "I'll go to the Hall of Affairs to pick up the mission now. We'll meet in the C4 settlement later. Please inform the others."

"it is good."

After ending the call, Una rushed to Chengshitang.

When I arrived, I found the hall already packed with people and bustling with activity.

Seeing this, Una was somewhat surprised.

Although Chengshitang is usually quite lively, it is rare to see it as noisy as it is now.

It wasn't until she learned the detailed mission information at the counter that she suddenly realized what was going on.

There was no other reason than that the rewards for the mission were too generous.

Simply investigating the source of the Soul Weapon will earn you a large amount of contribution points.

If you can bring back the Soul Weapons, you can obtain varying amounts of contribution points depending on the quantity and size of the Souls.

Those numbers would make even the most elite disciples of Taichu City envious.

"So everyone was attracted by the mission rewards."

Una understood.

It seems the clan really values ​​spirit weapons, otherwise they wouldn't have offered such a generous reward for the mission.

Una immediately accepted the mission, and after receiving the relevant mission information, she left Primordial City and headed to the meeting point.