Vision

As Isabelle focused on establishing a link with nature through the enchanted mud on her forehead, she felt a strange presence that seemed to linger within the mud. It was a fleeting feeling, able to sense it for a moment and losing sight of it in the next. She could faintly tell that if she wanted to successfully establish a link with the earth, she would have to completely lock on to this ephemeral presence with her own spiritual aura.

That, however, was in no way an easy task. She could only probe the boundary of the enchanted mud bit by bit. It only covered a small physical area on her forehead, yet when she tried to probe it with her aura, she could only advance millimetre by millimetre, making this small area seem like a huge area, far too huge for her to be comfortable with.

Bit by bit her aura advanced, cornering the fleeting presence within. Exhaustion slowly started to creep up over her as time passed, but just as she was about to give up, Isabelle caught sight of the fleeting presence once more.

This was her last chance! She had to grab hold of it right now!

Drawing upon all of the mana left within her, Isabelle decided to stop probing bit by bit from the edge, and forcefully pierced straight towards the fleeting presence. As though stupefied by the sudden offensive, the fleeting presence seemed to not be able to react in time, staying still for a moment before trying to fade out once again.

However, how would Isabelle allow it to fade out? If that were to happen, there was a high chance that Isabelle would not be able to perfectly establish the link to nature!

Her aura rapidly advanced, instantly wrapping around the presence, cutting off all angles of retreat. Sensing that it was trapped, the fleeting presence stopped hiding itself as well, completely revealing itself to Isabelle. At this moment, the surrounding changed into one of pure white, as though there was nothing else in the world except for the presence before her.

It was in the form of a young girl, with pointed ears and sharp facial features. It looked familiar to her, then she realised – it was her. Isabelle was slightly surprised, but continued gazing at it expectantly. She had managed to lock onto the fleeting presence, so what will happen now?

"You have a surprisingly deep reserve of mana within that small body of yours," a gentle voice sounded out in Isabelle's head when she looked into the eyes of the presence before her. The young girl's mouth did not open a single bit, but there was no doubt that she was the one speaking directly into Isabelle's head.

"Who are you?" Isabelle had a general idea, but wanted to hear words of confirmation from the other party.

"As you have guessed, I am the Avatar of Nature. You could also say that I am the guardian spirit of the elves," the young girl seemed to gaze right into Isabelle's soul. "You really gave me a huge surprise there. Even though this is just a small strain of my spirit, I never thought that you would be able to corner me like this. You have done well."

"Thank you for the compliment," Isabelle couldn't help but feel good upon hearing the praises. "May I know if I have successfully completed the Heartlink ceremony?"

"You have managed to complete the Heartlink ceremony the moment you managed to start probing the enchanted mud that was applied onto your forehead. It was made to represent the core of nature itself, a brilliant idea that your ancestors came up with. However, the more you manage to uncover by probing with your aura, the greater your success rate. With how things are now, though you couldn't be said to have perfectly completed the Heartlink ceremony, you are the one who had been the closest to doing so in the past thousands of years."

The expression on the Avatar of the Nature remained indifferent as she answered. However, excitement slowly built up with Isabelle.

It had to be known that elves would receive a boost to their capabilities upon completion of the Heartlink ceremony! The closest to perfect completion in the past thousands of years? Did that mean she would receive an unprecedented boost from this point on?

"As you have guessed, you have already experienced a blessing from nature that would allow you to climb to heights unheard of in the past. You will be able to tell the difference when your senses return to reality. This is for the best too, as you might just be the one sent from the heavens to deliver the world from the approaching darkness," the Avatar of Nature seemed to have read her mind as it continued.

This time, rather than excitement, curiosity started to take over Isabelle.

"What do you mean? Is there danger approaching?" Isabelle couldn't help but ask.

"It might be easier if you see it for yourself," with a wave of her hands, the young girl faded out of sight once more. The white world around her slowly transformed, turning into a vast desolate land where vegetation was sparse and the ground was scorched into mere sand.

Just as Isabelle was wondering about the sudden change in environment, a shadow seemed to appear from beyond the horizon. A soft rumble gradually grew louder and louder as the shadow grew larger. Isabelle was shocked when she finally managed to make out what the shadow was!

It was a huge army of monsters! They were humanoids with pointed ears that resembled that of elves, yet wings sprouted from their back and claws grew from their fingers. Their bodies were red in colour, and every snarl revealed two rows of sharp fangs. Muscles bulged from their huge bodies, and the collective march caused the earth to quake in a loud rumble.

"They are demons. And only just the lowest tier of them too," the voice of the Avatar of Nature suddenly sounded in her mind once again.

"The lowest tier of demons? What about the high tier ones? Do they look the same?"

"There are some high tier demons within the army before you as well, but no they vary in appearances from the low tier demons that have minimal levels of intelligence. The high tier demons are not to be trifled with. Even with my powers, I cannot guarantee your safety in their presence," the answer sounded out once again.

"That might be true in the true presence of the high tier demon, but it should be all right here, shouldn't it? We are in my mind now after all!" Isabelle grinned, as she flew towards the approaching army.

"Wait! Be careful! Things are not as simple as you think!"

Connected to this spiritual world by establishing a link with her mind, Isabelle was now in her spirit form. Thus she was able to float and fly around freely in the skies. As she flew over the marching demon army, none of them seemed to have noticed her, as though she was invisible to them. When she was finally right above the marching army, she could finally feel the severity of the problem.

This demon army was endless! Even from the skies, she could not see the end of the line as the army stretched all the way past the horizon.

"Is this army real?" Isabelle shivered at the thought. Not to mention demons, even if the kingdom of Spireland were to face such a huge number of foxes, they would still be overrun!

"This army is real."

Though she already expected it, she was still secretly hoping to receive a different answer. Isabelle was speechless. How would they be able to stop an army like this? The one sent from the heavens to deliver the world from the approaching darkness? Her? What a joke! Even if she called upon the entire kingdom to take up arms, they still wouldn't be able to put up so much as a decent fight!

"Do not lose hope," the voice continued. "While the individual is weak, the whole is strong. With allies, you could succeed. If the world could band together, there is still hope of repelling the Army of Darkness!"

"But how am I supposed to do that?" Isabelle found that the words made sense, but no matter how talented she was, how could it be possible for her to find such powerful allies? And she had never taken even a single step out of the kingdom of Spireland!

"Even I am not omniscient. You would have to rely on yourself to accomplish this. I can only provide as much assistance as possible, but even that is limited."

Isabelle let out a sigh in disbelief, but just then, she felt a cold sense lock onto her. It was completely filled with killing intent, applying a pressure so tremendous that she felt pain surge through her entire body.

"We've been found! It's a high tier demon!" the Avatar of Nature exclaimed in alarm. "Get away from there!"

As the voice sounded out in her mind, Isabelle could feel a stream of energy forming a veil that circled around her, protecting her from the killing intent that was heavily pressuring her. With that, the pressure eased immediately, allowing Isabelle to recover her senses. She did not have time to think about how she could be attacked in a world that should have been safe, nor did she bother tracing the killing intent back to find its source, Rather than that, all she could think of was to immediately turn and retreat at the fastest speed she could muster!

"Can't you get me out of here?" Isabelle shouted.

"I could send you back out, but the high tier demon had already locked onto you. If I were to send you back, there is no guarantee that the high tier demon's trace on you would be lost. If it were to be able to continue locking onto your location, then it would be able to find you in the physical world! That would be too dangerous!"

"Damn it!" Isabelle cursed in her heart as she continued to flee.

Despite putting distance between them, she could feel that the killing intent was still locked onto her! She started to feel that what the Avatar of Nature said was probably true. She needed to lose the trace! Otherwise, she knew that no matter how far she went, the demon would be able to find her!

With that thought in mind, Isabelle stopped suddenly fleeing.

"What are you doing?" the voice called out in her head once more.

Isabelle did not answer. Instead, she closed her eyes and concentrated once more. This was the second time that she had focused this hard today, and for completely different reasons too.

There was no better solution that she could think of; she needed to forcibly cut off the trace of the high tier demon!

Unfortunately, she had previously expended the majority of her mana in trying to establish a link during the Heartlink ceremony. This meant that she had a lot less to work with. Even then, she reckless drew upon the rest of her mana reserve, deciding to empty it in one go!

As though realising what she intended to do, the Avatar of Nature questioning her as well. Isabelle could then feel the energy that was surrounding her rapidly condense into her, providing her with a sudden spike in energy level.

This much should be enough!

Isabelle forcefully compacted all the energy into a singularity within her, and then suddenly released it, allowing it to explode out from her in all directions like a nova. It created a powerful blast that swept through the air, wiping the trace that was locked onto her as well!

The moment the trace was removed, she felt the surroundings change once again. The Avatar of Nature had wasted no time in transporting her out of the spiritual world, preventing the high tier demon from locking onto her once again. If it managed to do so, then there really might not be a way to escape anymore!

---

Isabelle opened her eyes slowly. She could see the bonfire burning beside her, but it seemed a lot smaller compared to before. In fact if one observed carefully, it would seem as if someone had knocked the bonfire over, causing burning wood to land all over the plaza. Her vision started to focus as she saw everyone staring at her with wary eyes, and some even had magic shields put up in defense.

"Father?" Isabelle called out weakly. She had expended every last bit of her mana reserve, and that had taken a huge toll on her. She felt so exhausted that she could lie down and sleep on the ground right now!

"Isabelle, are you all right?" King Cential hesitated for a moment before releasing the magic bubble that surrounded him, cautiously walking over to his daughter. He had no idea what just happened, and couldn't help but feel apprehensive about the situation.

"I have something important that I need to tell y-" Isabelle murmured halfway before she finally lost strength in her legs, falling to the ground unconscious.