New Home

Ellie walked through the forest, glancing upwards to watch as the sunlight formed beams as it tried to make its way through the heavy leaf canopy above. The fireflies around her appeared to be an all-day event due to the heavy gloom the shadows created, giving the forest a dusky

feeling. The elves who walked ahead whispered to each other in a language she could not understand. They had introduced themselves to her as Andurril and Scyllia, Nature Improvement Scouts under the service of the elven court. Their job was to enhance the vitality of the land by removing obstacles damming up streams, planting saplings, and herding wildlife to more suitable areas. Ellie rifled through her bags and looked at the trinkets she had found earlier, but aside from the small attack bonuses they brought her, they didn't do much, and they took up a lot of room. The 29 stat points she had gotten earlier were still unused since she didn't know how the elves would react if she suddenly grew stronger while walking behind them. They might lock her up to study her secrets. Scyllia turned around and mumbled something while crushing a glowing acorn in her hands, the green light from earlier reappearing around her body.

"After we get you registered with the city, do you have any ideas where you'll go afterward?" pardon my rudeness, but you don't seem like a fighter, and you don't look like you have a class or job of any kind."

"I didn't even know people had classes. I was born like a week and a half ago," Ellie said while shooing away a firefly that seemed determined to fly into her nose.

"That doesn't make sense. You look much older than that. Granted, I have no idea what you are, but you don't look like an infant." Scyllia said while frowning slightly in confusion.

"I ate some crystals and grew up fast," Ellie said while shrugging her shoulders.

"Are they the kind of crystal that glows?" Scyllia opened her eyes wide, surprised that there were crystals underground in the forest.

Ellie reached into her mouth and pulled a small glowing blue crystal out of her inventory, giving it the appearance that she had pulled it from her throat. She had thought for a long time about how she would explain her inventory to people, and from her talks with Garren, she had learned that some creatures had special abilities that didn't seem to make any sense. So she eventually came up with the idea to pretend that she had unlimited storage in her mouth, like a popular pink character from her world.

Scyllia's eyes lit up and she did a little dance while holding the crystal, while Andurril just gave a confused expression while looking at Ellie's mouth. He walked over and opened her mouth, looking inside with a perplexed frown on his face. He looked at Scyllia before saying something that sounded like a question. Scyllia started laughing and her eyes started to tear up before she elaborated to Ellie.

"He asked if your mouth is a crystal mine," she explained, causing Ellie to laugh, and pull another one out of her mouth to throw around.

"Nope! I just have the ones I stuck in there earlier for storage." Ellie said, and put the second crystal back into her inventory.

Ellie and Scyllia chatted happily as they walked while Andurril gently held the crystal Scyllia handed him, as if he was afraid any large movement would break it. The path eventually widened up, and a big stone wall with many pretty carvings depicting elves, the moon, and plants. Vines grew up the side of the white marble wall, intertwining haphazardly, but giving the wall a sense of beauty not commonly found on Earth. Elves and various bestial races lined up outside the city wall, carrying bags or guiding carts full of goods. A musician danced with a string instrument, and sang a jolly tune, while the line goers clapped to the beat, before tossing coins into a hat.

"Welcome to Eluna," Said Scyllia, as she guided Ellie to a smaller guard entrance to the side of the main line.

The door to the side entrance creaked open, leading into a medium-sized room with a few desks and a man with brown hair, and spectacles sitting behind a counter. Looking up, he leafed through a book to his side, before looking between Ellie and Scyllia with an inquisitive gaze.

"Mr. Danis, I found this lizardfolk floating through an underground stream, she tells me she isn't even 2 weeks old yet, also she gave us this," Scyllia plopped the blue crystal on the desk in front of the man. He raised his eyebrows, before saying something that sounded vaguely positive, from the tone. Ellie sat down in a chair at the side and just fiddled with her trinkets until scyllia needed her. 5 minutes later, the man finished his conversation with them and crushed a glowing acorn in his hand, that same green glow appeared around him as well.

"Ms. Ellie, I hear that you have some magic crystals in your possession, am I correct?" Mr. Danis spoke up in a polite tone, kind of tiredly.

"That's right, I was hatched near them"

"Well that's good news, would you be interested in selling these crystals to the city, we use them for lighting and research. Plus, if you can direct us to where the crystal hive is located, we can give you a portion of the mining yield every season, as the finder." Mr. Danis explained while pushing his glasses up with one hand.

"Hive? Are you telling me these things are alive?" Ellie said, remembering how the crystals seemed to grow out of the walls.

"Not exactly. You see, when magic collects in one spot it can turn into a plethora of natural phenomena," he explained, bringing a small book over to her. "A crystal hive is what you get when magic crystallizes into a mineral. Many types of magic hives exist, some dry up and never replenish, some absorb mana around them and create new crystals over time, and some even can target creatures and drain them of all mana to create a sort of ecosystem. I assume that where you live is the last kind, as most crystal hives can adapt to the circumstances around them."

"That explains a lot, but you'll have to talk to Garren, who is doing research down there in the caves, he found them before I even did," Ellie replied. She didn't want them to go down there and take away his precious research materials.

"Oh. that's where Garren went," he said tiredly. "I never know where he goes to do his research, but every time he comes back he ends up finding some new big discovery for the town. He's one of our greatest researchers, but he gets sidetracked sometimes trying to cure the weakness that ails most of his vampire brethren. The city gives him research funding every year to further his studies into the subject but he consistently stumbles on irrelevant discoveries that can help the other researchers, so most people around here call him the accidental genius." Mr. Danis chuckled a little, before guiding Ellie through the process of getting a citizen identity card.

"Mr. Danis, I'm willing to sell most of the crystals I have on me right now," Ellie said, holding her card in her claws.

"Great! In that case, go down to the supply warehouse and get your crystals totaled up. If you have a few good ones, you may be able to buy a small hut on the outskirts." Mr. Danis said while bringing her through a side door into the city.

He pointed out a big brown mud building in the distance and sent her on her way to go find a man called "Brick" with a note that explained what she was doing there. As she walked, she looked around and noticed that it didn't look like a city at all, it looked more like a big grass field with the occasional tree and building placed haphazardly to the side, connected with carefully cut cobblestone roads. In the distance, some multi-story residential buildings cropped up, but the city was spaced out in order to create a more natural feel as if they just set up some houses in the woods. Ellie reached the large building, feeling a bit nervous, as the sheer size of the door in front of her was a little intimidating. Slowly, she pushed it open and walked onto the warehouse floor.

It was then that a gruff voice said from above her "What do you want?"

(author's note: I have no idea if I'm allowed to mention other brands directly, hence the "pink character" earlier)