Don't Mess with That Dragon

Before the Elf Kingdom was assimilated, the impoverished kingdom was unable to provide the Mother Tree with enough Magic Resources, leading to its gradual withering day by day. The leaves turned yellow and fell, the branches became sparse, and fewer buds grew each year.

The Elf Queen had long been worried about the Mother Tree's condition, watching helplessly and feeling anxious, but besides adding to her worries, she could do nothing about it.

During the millennia of hiding in exile, the Elves had lost their courage to forge ahead.

Nesting in the kingdom space supported by the Mother Tree, receiving its protection, they had lost the courage to venture outside.

Using the excuse of invincible and powerful foreign enemies, they cowered under the Mother Tree's protection, eking out a living.

They couldn't even gather the Magic Resources that the Mother Tree needed for growth.

Before that, they were like a group of vampires, existing by sucking the lifeblood of the Mother Tree.

Surviving in the kingdom space by relying on the Mother Tree's centuries of continuous contribution.

But all of this changed after the kingdom's downfall.

The Elves, who were assimilated into the Dragon Nest Tribe, found a new life under its system.

For the newly established Dragon Nest Beastman Tribe, struggle, enterprise, and striving embodied the spirit of the tribe.

The once somber Elves, after undergoing military training and transformation by the Dragon Nest Beastmen, began to face the challenges of life with a new attitude.

Under these circumstances, relying on the Dragon Nest Tribe, the Elves gained access to a variety of discarded Magic Power materials.

Parts unwanted in Magic Potion materials, slag left from forging Magic Ore, magic-infused soil from veins, and even excrement from various Magic Beasts and Giant Beasts—all considered waste by the Dragon Nest Beastmen—became fertilizer for the Mother Tree's growth.

Thus, the Mother Tree was freed from the predicament of insufficient resources.

These items, difficult for the former Elf Kingdom to obtain as Magic Resources, were easily accessible for the Dragon Nest Beastman Tribe, conveniently providing a place for daily waste disposal with the Elves' help.

Owing to this, after the Elf Kingdom's assimilation, the Elves received a large amount of Magic Power waste from the Dragon Nest Beastmen, allowing the Mother Tree left here to flourish even more vibrantly.

An ample supply of Magic Power waste brought many changes to the Elf Mother Tree.

If the past was a fading, twilight obsession, the present Mother Tree exuded an aura of vibrant vitality.

Looking at the more flourishing Mother Tree after becoming part of the Dragon Nest Tribe,

And thinking about the many Elven citizens now, whose faces bore heartfelt smiles, made the Elf Queen Eve feel her own ineptitude even more.

During her reign, she couldn't provide a prosperous and stable life for her people, nor a healthy living environment for the Mother Tree; instead, they gained all this after the kingdom's downfall.

What an irony this was?

She was unfit to be the king of the Elven race.

"Sigh... child, you are not to blame for all this; you need not be so hard on yourself, taking all the responsibility onto your shoulders."

As the Elf Queen was repenting in her heart, a gentle, soothing voice, reminiscent of a mother's, resonated from the depths of her heart.

The Elf Queen Eve was taken aback, and she looked up in astonishment at the Elf Mother Tree before her.

From her intimate connection with the Elves, intuition told her that the voice from the depths of her heart came from the Mother Tree right in front of her!

But before Eve could say anything, the gentle voice echoed again within her:

"Child, a distinguished guest has arrived, please return."

Within the gentle voice, the Elf Queen felt a mild force act upon her, allowing no room for negotiation, and she was promptly ushered out of the grand hall.

As Eve felt puzzled,

simultaneously,

Whoosh!

A massive torrent swept across the high sky, causing the lush branches of the Mother Tree to rustle, rising and falling like green waves.

Feeling the majestic Dragon Power from the sky, the Elf Queen Eve knew,

it was the Lord of the Dragon Nest Tribe, His Highness Blue Dragon Austin, who had arrived.

Outside, Eve, who was sent out, bowed to the Mother Tree and the enormous figure that landed next to it in the sky, then withdrew with complex thoughts.

"Greetings, Your Highness Austin, Little Tree thought you would come much sooner after that battle, but perhaps I thought too much."

The gentle voice resonated within Austin's mind,

communicating through Spiritual Power, making the voice's gender indistinct.

"That was my oversight; I should have visited sooner, to pay my respects to you, O elder."

Despite being the victor himself, and knowing that the Elf Mother Tree had surrendered to him as a captive, Austin bore no conceit.

After all, the tree before him had grown for at least a millennium.

Compared to its age, he was just a child, and addressing it as an elder wasn't unfitting.

"Your Highness, such a title as 'elder' is too grand for Little Tree."

After some pleasantries, they discussed the recent situation of the Elf race.

During the conversation, Austin learned that the Elf Mother Tree indeed knew a lot of things.

Owing to the Mother Tree's way of production, it could pass on some important information from the previous generation, similar to the Dragon Race.

Given this, Austin dove straight to the topic.

"I'm curious, what was the relationship between the Elf race and the Pure-blooded Beastmen a thousand years ago? And what exactly was that covenant with the Pure-blooded Beastmen? If you know anything, elder, could you please tell me?"

"This story is long."

The Elf Mother Tree's voice was filled with sighs, as if recalling memories from an ancient past.

"Does Your Highness know what the original nature of the Pure-blooded Beastmen and the Elves was?"

Austin shook his head.

These things, he indeed did not know.

The Dragon Race's inherited memories contain many survival techniques and some common knowledge.

These things could be learned from the scholars on the Seta Continent with a little inquiry.

Austin listened intently.

He knew that the Elf Mother Tree wouldn't ask this question without a purpose.

Indeed, the voice of the Mother Tree soon sounded in Austin's mind:

"Long, long ago, on the Seta Continent, Pure-blooded Beastmen did not exist, nor did the Elf race. Even the Half-Beastmen, who now commonly live in the Kawa Great Forest, did not actually exist."

"We were, in fact, designed and created."

"Pure-blooded Beastmen were originally designed and created as war weapons. The Elf race, including myself, were also designed and created as tools for production. And the Half-Beastmen were the failed experiments during the process of designing and creating Pure-blooded Beastmen..."