Stick the trial in your...

Dragon's Teeth Mountains

Eliz had chewed her thumbnail lightly and looked at her status window. Everything had looked good, except for the wording of her new role. What had bothered her was more what she had been a 'Threat' of. The original script? After the fight she had had in her dream, could this be it? Did the other side find out they wouldn't break her, so they marked her as a threat?

She thought about it for a moment but couldn't find any other explanation. Eliz finally stopped chewing her fingernail, and a vicious grin appeared on her face. "Not bad," she said half-aloud to herself, staring at the system window with wicked satisfaction. "Just wait, you piece of trash. I'm not done yet. I just set my other target. I'm going to become a Global Disaster." She chuckled softly as she said it.

"Yuuu..." Eliz suddenly heard a sound. She closed the system window and looked to her leg where a sausage-like creature was sitting, turning one of its eyes to look at her curiously.

Eliz's evil thoughts quickly passed when she saw the cuteness. "Ah, you came to see me?" She smiled, picking up the animal and sitting it on her lap so she could pet it comfortably. The petals were soft, the animal's body was warm to the touch, but it gave the feeling of a reptile rather than something furry. Eliz didn't mind; it still felt good to pet the animal.

"What are you, anyway? Hm?" Eliz looked at the beast thoughtfully, then decided to try Potential on it.

Broccoli

Trait: Forest Protector, Dragon Apprentice, Stalker

Potential: Long Dragon, Rainbow Dragon, Dragon

Eliz's eyebrows twitched when she saw that. A dragon? The Forest Protector was a unique purple color, the Dragon Apprentice was a golden legendary, and what was with the Stalker? Eliz eyed the cute and innocent-looking creature dubiously.

As far as potential was concerned, he had two golden ones, and only Dragon had a brown color. So no matter what happened, he would always become a Dragon. Eliz was starting to get a rough idea of what the colors meant. Gold was definitely the best, legendary, and brown was below average. It seemed even creatures like dragons could be average after all.

"So you're a dragon?" Eliz asked.

Broccoli turned his head at her. "Yuu..." He replied, looking at her with one eye.

"Miss, can you tell?" A voice sounded behind her, and Eliz looked back at Draikini who had stopped hiding in his house. His face was still displeased; gone was his original joy at the visit. Draikini had originally seemed like the kind of carefree muscleman who didn't think too much about things. In the end, that wasn't the case.

Eliz thought she had gotten quite a bit better at judging people. It was just her illusion. "Hmm. Yes. But I'm a bit curious; I don't know much about dragons. At the beginning, are they all like that? This one looks a bit like a caterpillar." She looked at Broccoli, taking his front paws in her hands and lightly rubbing them with her thumbs.

"So they have different kinds of evolution too? I suppose what they evolve into depends on the environment, diet, and maybe something else?" Eliz continued, taking inspiration from certain fictional monsters in her world and a certain boy whose name sounded like Ketchup. The Potential of Broccoli also gave her quite a hint.

Eliz kept stroking its paws delightfully, and only after a moment did she realize she wasn't hearing a response. She looked up to see Broccoli staring at her, and Draikini was staring at her as well. Eliz was a little inwardly startled; had she said something strange again? No window had appeared, so Eliz hadn't revealed any secrets again just by a random thought, had she?

"What?" She asked.

"Not many people know that," Draikini replied.

Eliz snorted in amusement. "I suppose. I guess dragons aren't common pets."

"Pets? You think Broccoli is a pet?" Now Draikini was amused.

She hesitated and looked down at Broccoli on her lap; Broccoli blinked at her somewhat unfocused. Sure enough, his Stalker trait. That was rather strange. Eliz frowned and then looked at Draikini and then back at Broccoli. Broccoli was stalking Draikini?

Then she finally shrugged. "If it walks like a goose, clucks like a goose, it must be a goose. Until it proves otherwise, it's still a pet to me." Eliz answered simply, not wanting to dwell on it.

Draikini was amused by her statement and laughed, which finally eased his frown. "Not a bad statement." Eliz picked up Broccoli, rising to her feet and turning to the elf. She noticed Alarr moving nonchalantly nearby, sending cautious glances their way, ready to intervene if anything happened.

Eliz averted her eyes from him and glanced at Draikini again. "How about we talk about the World Tree again?"

The frown returned, and he sighed heavily. "Really, there's any World Tree..."

Eliz licked her lips and concentrated. "Don't you try that on me. I know it's here." She used her Light Elf language to her advantage. She gave an audible jerk when she heard her voice. She understood the language as if it were her native tongue, but she was surprised that it sounded like she was singing. The beginning of the sentence always sounded prolonged, and towards the end, the words sped up.

When she spoke in the language of the light elves, Broccoli jumped out of her arms in surprise, and even Draikini backed away in surprise. The muscular Elf was part surprised and part startled, for the language of the Light Elves was known only to the Elves themselves. The language was only meant for pureblood Elves, so even the Elves that came from mixed marriages were not taught.

So for a regular human to know it was simply unthinkable. It was like putting a national treasure in the hands of a dirty child. It wasn't a heinous crime, but it was extremely disrespectful and outrageous.

"You... who taught you that?" Draikini asked, staring at her with wide-open eyes.

Eliz still hadn't transitioned into normal speech and continued to speak her perfect elven. She shrugged. "From no one. From the book."

Draikini frowned deeply and took one long step that brought him close to Eliz, looking down at her. "Impossible. You could never learn our language to that level from a mere book." He replied sternly.

Eliz was not intimidated by Draikini's closeness and size. He gave off a completely different aura than before when she first asked him about the World Tree. "Why, how, and from whom is not something you need to know." Eliz was lazy to make up some stories and fateful encounters. "You have to take us to the World Tree. I know you're one of the guardians. I want to do this all the easy way; we're not here with bad intentions, so just hear me out first before you take your dismissive stance."

Draikini narrowed his eyes as he stared at her. "Girl, you're playing with fire here. The World Tree is sacred to the elves. Even if the World Tree was here, getting to it isn't that easy." He suddenly fell silent as the blade of a large sword suddenly appeared between them, pressing against Draikini's pectoral muscles.

Eliz and Draikini both glanced to the side where Alarr stood with a frown on his face and a drawn sword. "Stand back." He commanded coldly and continued to uncompromisingly grind the flat side of his sword against the elf, who relented and took a few steps back.

Alarr watched him for a moment before glancing briefly at Eliz, his eyes scanning her before lowering his hand. "Don't get more than a meter closer to her." He growled at Draikini. The latter blinked, the sudden change in situation catching him somewhat off guard.

"Huh? What? Are you two in a relationship or something?" he asked.

Alarr's frown deepened, and he expected Lady Elizabeth to deny it immediately, but there was silence on her part. So he finally glanced at her and found her looking at him thoughtfully, one eyebrow raised and a half grin on her face.

His heart trembled slightly, but he calmly turned away and looked at the muscular elf again. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm... We are her guardians. Just keep your distance from her. If you don't comply, I'll start to see you as a threat and deal with you." He maintained his professionalism but was somewhat confused by Lady Elizabeth's reaction.

Eliz, on the other hand, was amused. She could see Alerra's face twitch when Draikini asked about their relationship. Teasing Alarr with his hard shell was just fun.

That was why Eliz said nothing and watched his reaction, which wasn't as funny as she had hoped. Maybe if it was a different moment, she would have taken advantage of it and teased him more, but she was having a rather important conversation with Draikini right now, and it wasn't the time for that.

"Thanks, Alarr. I'm sure he's learned his lesson. Can you step away again now?" She asked him, wiping the smirk from her lips.

Alarr looked at her. "Are you sure?"

Eliz nodded. "Yes."

Alarr hesitated for a second before moving away from them but still stayed close enough to intervene if anything happened. Holm and Raiana joined him, and they all stared in the direction of Eliz and Draikin.

"Yuu..." Broccoli boomed as he sat at Draikin's feet.

He looked down and nodded. "Hm. Looks that way to me too."

Eliz raised an eyebrow. "What? What did he say? Wait... do you understand him?"

Draikini nodded. "Broccoli said there's good energy flowing between you and him."

"Ahem!" Eliz cleared her throat in surprise, then looked towards Alarr. It wasn't that she hadn't noticed that he was a handsome man, but he was rather unapproachable, and even if Eliz had time for a relationship right now, she definitely didn't want to be hitting on him as some desperate woman.

"Well. Whatever. Now back to the point," Eliz made no comment. "World Tree."

Draikini sighed. "You're really not giving that up."

Eliz nodded. "Absolutely not."

Draikini rubbed the back of his neck. "All right. If that's the case, then I'll perform my role as a guardian. If you want to get to the World Tree, you'll have to go through a series of trials. Dangerous and difficult trials."

Eliz's face contorted in annoyance when she heard that. "'No way. Stick the trial in your ass! We're not doing that." She refused, and Draikini was speechless at her response.

Then he raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. Draikini had lived for quite a long time, but he had never met such a strange human. This was the first time someone had given him a headache. "If you don't complete the trials, you won't be able to access the World Tree." He sighed.

Eliz definitely refused to do something like this. Shannon hadn't said anything about the trials. Were they making fun of her? Did she look like a trained monkey? "Let me put it this way, Draikini. I was invited here by the World Tree. I know it has a problem that I can solve. I absolutely refuse to run around and take some ridiculous trials just to prove myself worthy of seeing the World Tree." Eliz frowned. If she'd known he was going to ask her to do this, she'd have skipped trying to do it the good way and just done it the bad way after his first rejection.

"You were invited? By the World Tree?" Draikini didn't believe her, which was easy to tell by the tone of his voice.

Eliz put her hands to her sides and lifted her chin proudly. "Exactly."

"You think..."

Eliz immediately interrupted him. "I don't care if you believe me or not. This is simply the truth. The dark mages have infected the World Tree with dark mana. The World Tree has gone silent because it is busy suppressing the contagion. I assume you elves are in a state of confusion and panic now that the Tree has stopped speaking to you, right?"

Draikini was silent, staring at her.

"I am right, am I not? Do you think that if I hadn't actually spoken to the World Tree, I would know this?" Eliz pressed him.

Draikini remained silent and thought for a moment longer, finally letting out a long sigh. "Alright. But you still have a test to meet. There's no way around this." Draikini uttered.

Eliz frowned but supposed she could tolerate one trial. "Fine. It depends on what it is, but I'm willing to take one." She nodded.

As she said that, Draikini's head ached again. Willing? She wanted to the World Tree, why was she the one who was willing? She really knew what was going on with the World Tree, which was something she shouldn't have known, but he still didn't completely trust her.

"You need to find and talk to the Forest Protector," Draikini said seriously.

Eliz blinked. "Oh?"

Her eyes slowly drifted down to Broccoli. Isn't he the Forest Protector? Her Potential had told her that clearly. What was that supposed to mean? Isn't that a little too easy? Then Eliz curled her lips in amusement. If Draikini isn't trying to trick her... then maybe this is something even he doesn't know?