Chapter 7: Immortal Spirit Root!?

While I was lost in thought and daydreaming, I felt the soothing feeling flowing through my body slowly disperse, breaking me out of my dream and causing me to open my eyes. With my eyes now open, I noticed my arm stretched out, touching a beautiful tree, and that's when I remembered what I was doing before I got absorbed in the soothing feeling this tree gave me.

Once I felt the last bit of the soothing feeling leave my hand, I let go of the tree and backed away as I wanted to see what color the leaves were to know the rank of my Spirit Root. But when I backed away a couple of meters, I couldn't see any leaves; all I saw was complete and utter blackness surrounding the tree.

'What happened to the leaves?' Thought Elif in slight confusion.

Not knowing what was happening, I turned around and looked over at my family, hoping their reaction could give me some idea of what had happened, but when I looked at them, they seemed shocked as well.

'It seems like they don't know what's going on either; maybe it's because I'm mutated Elf like what grandmother said? She told me that mutated beings are always special in some way.' Thought Elif as he conjured up his own idea.

As I walked toward my family, I was suddenly in my grandmother's arms again. I would usually complain about her doing this to me, but I was currently more concerned about the rank of my Spirit Root right now.

"Ugh, grandmother, do you know what the rank of my Spirit Root is?" Asked Elif in excitement but also a slight annoyance.

"Well, dear, you know how I always said you were special?" Said Tiana in a weird tone of voice.

"Yeah, you said that I'm a mutated Royal Elf, so that means I'll be really special. Does me being a mutated Elf have something to do with why the leaves are invisible?" Answered Elif.

"We are not one-hundred percent sure if that's true, but it is most likely the reason, but you've gotten something wrong; the leaves aren't invisible." Replied Tiana.

"What do you mean they're not invisible? There is only blackness where the leaves used to be." Stated Elif, while looking up at his grandmother in confusion.

"Son, why don't you use your 'Minds Eye' ability that you like call it, and try sensing the tree." Mentioned Marcus, still shocked at the revelation of his son's Spirit Root.

Listening to fathers idea, I closed my eyes and activated my Minds Eye; when I did, a three-D image of my surroundings was immediately transferred to my mind, allowing me to sense everything with extreme detail. Zooming in on the image of the tree, I could sense that leaves were indeed still there, but they were all pure black. Opening my eyes, I was still confused about what this meant when compared to my Spirit Root, so I went ahead and questioned my Spirit Root Rank again.

"Can someone tell how this correlates to my Spirit Root rank!?" Asked Elif with slight irritation in his voice.

"Yes, we'll tell you, so just calm down, Elif." Replied Maria, with slight embarrassment at ignoring her son.

A few minutes later, were sat down on a bench in the same forest as where the Acacia tree is, but this time I was no longer in my grandmother's lap; instead, I was in my mother's lap while my little sister was still in fathers arms and both of my grandparents are sitting across from us drinking tea.

"Now that we're somewhere better to speak, allow us to tell the results of your Spirit Root." Said Tyler.

Hearing grandfather finally about to tell about my Spirit Root, I ignored everything else and focused all of my attention on him, which got a chuckle out of everyone.

"So Elif, there are seven different ranks of Spirit Roots, starting from the worst is, Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Saint, Divine, God, and Immortal, but each rank can be further separated into minor ranks, which are Low, Medium, and High." Declared Tyler while looking at his grandson.

"So then, which rank is my Spirit Root?" Voiced Elif with anticipation.

"Your's is the highest rank, an Immortal Spirit Root!" Said Maria as she interrupted Tyler, causing him to glare at her.

"And not just any Immortal Spirit Root; yours is a high Immortal Spirit Root." Said Marcus with a massive grin on his face.

When I was told that my Spirit Root is the highest and not just that, but it's the best a Spirit Root could possibly be, I got super excited and started imagining all the cool things I could do. Then I realized that even though I have the best Spirit Root possible, I don't really know how it involves with cultivation. Actually, now that I think about it, the only reason I want to cultivate so badly is to be able to stop grandmother from suddenly teleporting me into her arms; I don't know what else cultivating is good for.

Calming down my excitement, I embarrassingly ask grandfather about cultivation.

"Umm, grandfather, what is cultivation?" Muttered Elif with his head pointing down.

I kept my head down when I voiced the question as I found it embarrassing that I would constantly pester them to teach me how to cultivate when I didn't know anything about it. When I didn't get a response after a while, I looked back up only to find everyone looking at me, I thought they were going to make fun of me, but luckily they didn't.

"Well, of course, you don't know what cultivation is; you're only four years old, and besides, it's also a tradition of the Royal family that the crown Prince and Princess can only officially learn of cultivation after the age of four." Voiced Tiana, taking a sip of her tea.

Breathing a sigh of relief at not getting laughed at, I tilted my head in confusion at grandmother's words.

"But can't everyone cultivate? Why am I not allowed to know about it till I'm four?"Asked Elif in confusion.

"It's a tradition, that's the reason, dear, but if you want to know more about it, you should go to the Royal Library, as now that you've turned four, you're allowed access to every floor of the Royal Library." Replied Maria, while rubbing the top of Elif's head.

"Now, going back to your Spirit Root, I'm sure you probably don't know how incredible it is to have an immortal rank Spirit Root, so I'll give you an example, make sure to pay attention." Said Tyler as he started to explain the importance of an Immortal Spirit Root.

Hearing grandfather speak, I focused back on him and ignored how mother would constantly rub my head.

"First things first, you need to know how rare an Immortal Spirit Root is; in this world, you're considered a genius if you're born with a Divine rank Spirit Root, but that's for ordinary people. As an Immortal level hegemony, our standards are far higher, a Divine rank Spirit Root is considered below average, and only people with God-rank Spirit Roots are considered talented. Most Royal Elfs that were born previously have had a God-rank Spirit Root, and that's the same with all of us, although the four of us were all born with a high God-rank Spirit Root." Said Tyler as he took a sip of tea before continuing from where he had left off.

"Even though Maria, your mother, was born with a high God Rank Spirit Root, she is considered one of the most talented Royal Elves ever to live." Stated Tyler.

When grandfather mentioned that mother was one of the most talented Royal Elfs to exist, I was shocked as mother has never once acted talented in any shape or form, but then again, I haven't been alive for long, so maybe that's why.

"But while your mother is extremely talented, I can't compare to any of the Royal Elfs that was born with an Immortal Spirit Root; the difference between us is just too big." Replied Maria as she was still rubbing Elif's head.

"Then if mother is considered one of the most talented Royal Elfs ever to exist and you can't compare to any the Royal Elfs that was born with an Immortal Spirit Root, doesn't that mean there weren't many Royal Elfs born with an Immortal Spirit Root?" Said Elif, questioning his grandfather.

"Yes, you're right, Elif, out of the hundreds of Royal Elfs that have been born within the Elven Immortal Empire since the Primordial Epoch, there have only been five Elves ever recorded to be born with an Immortal Spirit Root, and that's including you." Announced Tyler with pride.

When he said that, I was surprised that so few Royal Elfs were born with an Immortal Spirit Root, but then again, maybe that shows how impressive it is to be born with an Immortal Spirit Root.

"Who were the other people that were also born with an Immortal Spirit Root?" Asked Elif.

"Well, one of them was someone you met when you were just born, Ancestor Zal." Replied Marcus.

"Ohh, are you talking about that old women father?" Asked Elif in acknowledgment, but what he didn't know was his question surprised his parents.

"How did you know Ancestor Zal was a female, Elif." Questioned Maria.

I tilted my head in confusion at why mother asked me such a dumb question.

"What do you mean, mother? Only five people have ever held me before, and she is one of them; how could I forget that?" Replied Elif, while looking up at Maria in confusion.

"Why are you surprised, dear? Elif has an Immortal Spirit Root, which means his soul must be equally powerful to be able to contain such a powerful Spirit Root." Stated Tiana in obviousness.

"Anyways, continuing from where your father left off, Ancestor Zal is one, Ancestor Gans in another, and the last is Grand-ancestor James; those three were all born with a low Immortal Spirit Root." Said Tiana.

"But that is only three of them, grandmother; what about the last one?" Asked Elif.

When I asked grandmother about the last person to have been born with an immortal Spirit Root, I saw her face morph from her smiling face to a serious one, along with grandfather and both of my parents; their eyes were filled with passion, reverence, and respect.

"She was born with a middle Immortal Spirit Root, and she is the oldest, strongest, and wisest of the Royal Elf's ever to exist; she is our Progenitor, Progenitor Lordess!" Declared Tiana with utmost respect and reverence at pronouncing her name.