NOVEL NEXT Chapter 91. Raise Of The Tree City.
Inside the Crystal Cube world.
While Cedric went to study the knowledge he got from Earth, Elisa has been busy managing the city that is slowly being built around her.
At first, the city is pretty easy to manage. But as more elves gathered around her location, Elisa felt the situation started getting hectic.
Still, she didn't complain all that much. After all, even being busy managing the elves are still better than being bored out of her mind.
While she is using her power to increase the growth speed of a fruit tree, one of the elves walks towards her.
"Elder Elisa, an elf that has just entered the city, and said she wanted to meet you." The male elf said while saluting Elisa.
'Sigh, I can never get used to these elves calling me elder. I am still young, you know?' Elisa complained in her mind. But she didn't insist for the elf to change how he addressed her. It's not like she didn't want to, but they insisted on giving her a title.
The last time she asked them to call her only by her name, the discussion has led to her gaining a more ridiculous title. So, Elisa has surrendered to the elf's whim and let them call her as elder.
She gently rustled her branch while asking, "Who is it?"
"She introduced herself as Ghiana. She asked me to mention the name 'Lydia' to you."
'Mom?' Elisa's body trembled when she heard the name.
"Quickly bring her here!"
The elf heard Elisa's excited voice and quickly ran to bring Ghiana to her.
Soon, an elf that looks like a fifteen year old girl arrived in front of Elisa.
The moment she saw that elf, Elisa asked in confusion, "Mom?"
"Elisa?" Ghiana looked at the tree in surprise because the voice she heard from the tree was both familiar and strange at the same time.
The fact that Elisa actually has become a tree also doesn't help her shock.
Although the god has told her that Elisa has turned into a tree, looking at it and hearing about it is a different thing altogether.
It took a moment before Ghiana came to her senses.
She asked with a concerned look, "How have you been?"
Hearing her mother's concern, Elisa started complaining like a bursting dam.
Whether it's how she spent decades alone in the forest, how she can't move most of her body, or how she felt Cedric has missed the elven body that she should've possessed, Elisa let out all of her complaints.
All the while, Ghiana mostly listened to her daughter's complaints while occasionally chiming in.
Once Elisa finished sharing her grievance, Ghiana asked, "Can you still turn into a human or elf? No matter what, this is a magical world, so having a shape shifting tree shouldn't be impossible, right?"
Elisa rustled her branches, "No, I've asked that god and he said I couldn't transform into humanoid form. At least currently I can't do it."
"Look at the bright side. At least I am no longer sick and I also have several amazing abilities. The situation now has also turned much better that there are some elves living around here. At least I won't get bored."
Ghiana looked at her with sad eyes. "I am sorry, I should've arrived sooner. It must've been hard for you these last few decades."
Elisa fell silent for a moment, "Don't worry mom, It's the fault of that stupid self proclaimed god anyway."
Ghiana slowly walked to the tree and hugged Elisa. "It's okay now, I'll accompany you in this new world too."
Elisa simply let her mom hug her for a long time.
But their reunion is cut short by a scream from the outer periphery.
"Ahhhh!!! Demons!"
Elisa immediately used her ability to move her consciousness into a nearby plant, located near the source of the scream.
Near Elisa's main body, Ghiana jumped on top of a nearby tree and looked in the direction where the scream came from.
When she saw a giant wingless bird with a bat face, Ghiana said in embarrassment, "I am sorry honey, I've met that demon once and it seems that demon has followed me while I am traveling. It seems that the demon is especially smart and it secretly followed me to find the location where other elves gathered."
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Elisa heard Ghiana's apology, "Don't worry, I can handle it easily."
Elisa used her power to control the tree nearby that bird-bat demon to twist and turn. The branches of those trees turned into ropes that bound the demon in place.
With the demon bound, Elisa used her power to cause the grass under that demon to grow faster. Once the grass became taller, she strengthened it and entangled the demons with the strengthened grass.
After the demon got entangled by multiple plants, the elves soon took action. They used their blessed power to attack the demon without any mercy.
Elisa too controlled several especially strong and sharp tree branches to pierce into the demon's body.
It didn't take long before the demon got killed by the combined attack from Elisa and a few elves.
Returning her focus to her main body, Elisa saw Ghiana standing on top of a tall tree near her while looking in the direction where the fight happened.
Right now, her face has paled and she looks a bit nauseous.
Elisa moved her branch to pat Ghiana gently on the branch, "Mom?"
Thanks to Elisa, Ghiana broke from her stupor.
She looked at Elisa with red eyes, "How many times have you been fighting like that?"
"Demon attacks don't happen all that often. So, I've been fighting against demons like that around dozens of times." Elisa answered. But when she saw her mother's look, she added, "But don't worry though, all of the fights have been easy with me abusing the demons because I am much more powerful than them."
"Still, it must've been extremely difficult for you."
"Yeah, the demons are extremely annoying, and I kinda miss the internet. On Earth, although I spent most of my time in the hospital, at least I can surf the net. But in this god-forsaken world without any internet, I can only pass the time by going into a daze." Elisa tried to change the topic.
"I never realized my daughter has such a serious internet addiction," Ghiana said playfully. Still, she kept Elisa's word in her mind because she felt guilty for not meeting her sooner.
"Hehehe." Elisa laughed in embarrassment.
Ignoring Elisa's embarrassment, Ghiana asked, "Then, do you mind if I stay in the city?"
"What about your current families? Won't they be concerned if you " Elisa asked because she knew that her mother had been reincarnated into the body of an elf's daughter.
Elisa has heard her mother telling stories about the time she had just arrived in the world and turned into a baby. That means she should've got a new family in this world.
Ghiana looked sad when she heard Elisa mentioning her current family. "There's no need to worry about my new family. During the village's attempt to migrate toward the elven city, both of my parents fell under the attack of demons."
"What a pity, I can't meet my new grandparents." Elisa tries to crack a joke but the conversation suddenly turns awkward.
They talked for a bit more before Elisa called Niel who has become a sort of leader among the elves. "Please give one of the nearby empty houses to Ghiana and help her get used to our city."
"Yes, elder Elisa." Niel brought Ghiana along and went to one of the empty houses that were located nearby.
***
For the next few days, Ghiana tries to get used to the city while spending a few hours each day to accompany Elisa.
In her previous city, most of the houses consisted of tree houses surrounded by fences as the city wall. But the city under Elisa's lead used plants as the wall, with traces of modern concepts mixed with the elf's love for nature. Adding Elisa's ability to it, the resulting city is a feast to the eye.
The houses here can also be said to be a tree house. But unlike other tree houses where they built a house on top of a tree, the houses here are literally made out of living trees.
Ghiana has seen Elisa helping some elves build their houses by controlling the growth of a plant and making them twist into the shape of a house.
The city also has a road made out of extremely strong wood that almost equaled a stone in terms of hardness.
After Ghiana observed and understood the elven city Elisa had built, she decided to lend a helping hand.
With Ghiana's help. The elven city under Elisa's control became even more modernized.
Now, there is a complete city-wide sewage system that utilized the excrement as fertilizer for the surrounding farms, and a fire system utilizing magical plants.
Ghiana also built a complete clean water system that utilized the river that's located a distance away and a special magical plant with extremely strong osmosis ability as biological water pumps and water filters.
The water that's sent upward gets stored in a tall tree with balloon-like leaves that work as a water reservoir. Finally, bamboo-like plants are stuck on the balloon leaves. Those bamboo have a hollow interior and are connected to all the elven houses in the city. With the help of gravity, water will flow through the empty bamboo tube and spread to every elven house.
She even combined the clean water with the special fire plants to create a hot water system.
To maintain the elven city's beauty, Ghiana and Elisa requested several elves to help them decorate the city-wide plumbing system.
The combination of art and function has caused the elves to open a brand-new world. Slowly, the artistic trend in the elven city shifted from only creating beautiful things to creating functional beautiful things.
Besides creating a water system and other helpful systems, Ghiana also redesigned the city. She separated the city into parts with specific functions, so it would allow expansion without causing mess.
Seeing such a miraculous sight caused all of the elves living in the city to gasp in amazement. Especially since they have also contributed to it.
When Ghiana's city renovation project ended, her reputation almost equaled Elisa who had protected them from demons for years.
Every elf acknowledged both her talent and knowledge, with some even wishing to learn from her.
***
Several days since the city has been renovated.
Seven tall elves of varying genders can be seen following an elf girl that's one size smaller.
The seven elves kept on repeating words like, "Please teach us more things", "How can I be as smart as you", and other similar words.
Ghiana looked at the seven elves who looked much older than her while holding her mouth from twitching.
She left those seven elves and walked towards Elisa alone.
When she arrived at Elisa's massive tree body, Ghiana heard Elisa's voice.
"Well, mom, it seems you've gotten some followers," Elisa laughed upon seeing Ghiana's distress.
"How about you accept those people as your students and continue your old job as a university lecturer? I can create a school building for you."
"Do you want me to die from exhaustion?" Ghiana rolled her eyes.
Although there were only seven elves that kept on bothering her. Ghiana knew that once something like a school is opened, it'll pique many elves' interest. It won't be a surprise if hundreds of elves get slightly interested and join the school.
Furthermore, an elf's 'short-term interest' is longer than a human's 'short-term interest' because they lived much longer.
Ghiana guessed most elves that got interested in the school could persist for half a year at the very least.
That means she'll need to teach hundreds of students alone for half a year before some elves drop out from boredom.