"What you have to do is awaken their elven physiques," Naia said, looking at the couple. She paused and stared a bit more deeply, and her eyebrows rose a moment later.

"It seems like you two are in the process of that, as well. It cannot be a full transformation, but there have indeed been some modifications."

"Pardon?"

"Our generation would have a cap in what would be the manifestation of the bloodline," she said. "It is the same with me. The little elven blood in our bodies could grant a superior physique, longer lifespan, and an occasional burst of power."

"Have you experienced this?"

The two looked at each other and then at her, nodding.

"For those two kids, in the future, they would have to go through something similar but a hundred times more intense," she said.

"Their current state is a preliminary awakening forced by a massive amount of stress and overuse of their power. Think of it as a rope that was not yet matured, yet had to carry a lot of weight."

"This process involved creating a new ’rope’ to reconnect the old ones," she said. "And it is bound to not be peaceful."

There was silence, and everyone’s hearts felt heavy. "Would...the children be able to handle it?" Althea asked.

Althea didn’t know the limits of pseudo-elven bodies, so she tried to calm herself down by convincing herself that their bodies would be okay.

Humans were resilient, right?

Naia sighed. "They wouldn’t survive as they are."

"What?"

Althea and Garan, along with every adult there, were pale and on the verge of panicking.

Althea grabbed Naia’s hand, emerald eyes full of pleading. "You know...how to fix it, don’t you?"

Naia paused, but slowly nodded. "I cannot claim to know everything," she said. "But my family gathered as much information as we could about the ancestral race, so I do know some things."

Most of the information about the ancestral race had been lost during the war, where humans attacked the surviving pseudo-elf clans after the Fall of the Elves.

Those humans had divided the ’loot’ —whether it was the remaining pseudo-elves themselves or their scrolls—so it took hundreds of years for the remaining survivors to recover enough references to fill a small bookshelf.

Then, a few decades ago, another attack happened, and they lost even more.

"As far as I know, there are several things needed for a child with potential to awaken the elven physique," she said.

"There’s not much information about this because compatible children hadn’t appeared in several hundred years..." She paused, her eyes landing on the slumbering cherubs. "Until now."

"There are some formulas recovered for something like this, but three materials are a bit troublesome, even for us."

Naia looked complicated at them and then at the children. She couldn’t help but sigh. "Actually, the word troublesome is underrated. You could say it would be near-impossible.

"Even if we mobilize most of the city’s resources, it might still take several years or a decade to get two of three of these items, and I am not sure the children can wait that long."

At this point, Althea was about to cry while Garan’s face was pale, bits of ice forming around him. The other adults were extremely somber, and some girls were already crying in despair.

"I’ll do anything," Althea said, forcing her tears down. She knew that, as a mother, she had to stay strong until they found a solution to this. "Please...please tell me everything. I’ll find a way."

"One of the items is called the Urfrukt. It’s a type of fruit, said to be the origin fruit of orcs," Naia said. "It has long been undetected, and the location seems to be hidden. Even orcs say it’s a legend."

This alone made it seem impossible to find. The word ’legendary’ was never reassuring.

"Another would be powder from Merfolk Crystal," she said. "It’s a type of crystal found very deep under the sea. According to the scrolls, the amount of crystal powder should be a small bowl per person, but it’s best to get more if you can."

The Merfolk Crystal was a legendary crystal found under the sea. It was, allegedly, located deep within the mermaid kingdom. The mermaids were said to be very protective of it though, Naia warned, and they might have to find other ways to gather it.

Another item tagged as ’legendary’...

And...mermaids?

This was getting too fantastical, and people were starting to doubt whether these items existed at all. But...what could they do?

These legendary things were literally the only hope they had.

"Be careful of mermaids," she said. "Each one is born with the strength of a level 10 human, and by adulthood, the average is level 30." Everyone’s eyes twitched.

Then again, this made sense since they heard sea monsters were much stronger than those on land. Mermaids were the only intelligent life form at sea, and they had to go against an endless number of monsters. It was natural that they had evolved to this level.

"And lastly, there is the Elyssian Stone, which is the item that you might have the best chance of finding," she said. "There are the most detailed records for this item, unlike the other two, which were mostly just mentions.

"Of course, by ’detailed’, I simply mean a few paragraphs’ worth of information." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The Elyssian Stone was a rare mineral that was said to contain the essence of life.

"It’s found...at the far west, beyond the desert," she said. "As for the exact location, there is no indication."

The are beyond the desert was a dead land where most of the Undead were. The people in the room were aware of the Undead and they couldn’t help but shiver in disgust.

They knew the Undead here was different from the Terran zombies, but it didn’t mean they were any less disgusting.

That said, perhaps the stone could be the reason why the Undead remained moving even after death?

Theoretically, even if the fallen civilization had come from a nuclear apocalypse, would their cores be so docile that they could be used? How would it keep them moving?

Anyway, each of these ’legendary’ items was no joke. Not to mention, each one was located in different parts of the globe.

This world wasn’t like Terran; it was much, much bigger and much more dangerous.

Traveling to these places, let alone finding the actual items, would take a long time.

"How long do we have?"

"Give or take less than a decade. I cannot really estimate as I have never encountered this before," she said.

Ansel and the others looked at Naia. "I can help!"

"Me, too!"

Naia shook her head, causing them to quiet down. "I forgot to tell you, all these things probably have special aether signatures, undetectable to most," she said. "That is to say, people could pass over them without noticing their importance."

Many treasures, even if they were inanimate, could develop some self-protection passives. This would prevent just anyone from encountering them at all.

"Only those with elf-blood would have enough sensitivity to detect—and handle any of these items," she said. "This means that you, Althea and Garan, would have to obtain these things yourselves."

...

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A/N: Adventure arc is heeerree! I am excited but my drafts are still under development xD Hopefully I don’t cause more plotholes, but do point them out if you see em!