CHAPTER 258: JOURNEY TO THE SORENSEN MOUNTAINS

"What's gotten into you today? You're usually the calm one," Moira said, straightening the back of her rocking chair as she fixed her gaze on Avia, who stood by the window, staring off into the distance. "Something about the corruption? I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts. Who knows? Maybe I can offer some insight."

Startled from her reverie, Avia turned slightly, her voice tinged with a trace of hesitation.

"I was just thinking about a particular property of the ‘corruption'... The simplest way to halt its spread is by supplying it with vitality. If the corruption truly exists, and yet has remained dormant all these years, then it must not have spread. Which means..."

She trailed off, then turned to face Moira fully and relayed what Holo had told her—the corruption rumored to be spreading through the Sorensen Mountains.

Moira's expression grew serious. She listened carefully, brow furrowed in contemplation.

"The details your old acquaintance Holo shared... They mostly check out. A sect of the Church of the God of Life does indeed dwell in that region. And yes, it's inhabited by dark elves—that part's true too. So, his information regarding the corruption is... reasonably credible."

After a thoughtful silence, Moira tapped her fingers gently against the wooden table and offered her judgment.

"But if what Mr. Holo says is true," Avia countered, "and the corruption has already overtaken a large swath of forest, wouldn't the elves of Liaheim have noticed by now? That doesn't make sense, Madam Moira..."

Moira shook her head. "Not necessarily. Even a large forest is still small compared to the vast Sorensen mountain range. And the elves of Liaheim... they tend to ignore the Sorensen Mountains."

Her voice cooled. "There is prejudice among the elvenfolk. Most do not acknowledge the dark elves as kin. It's one of the rare flaws in their otherwise balanced temperament.

"Thus, the Liaheim elves rarely concern themselves with the affairs of the dark elves in Sorensen. And if the corruption was checked early on, it's entirely plausible that no news would have made it out for years."

Moira's insight helped ease the doubt in Avia's mind.

"You're right, Madam Moira. If we assume the corrupted lands do exist, and yet they haven't spread—then by the corruption's own nature, that can only mean one thing..."

She met Moira's eyes.

Vitality. Halting the corruption was a simple matter of supplying it with life force at its boundaries. That was precisely what those deranged cultists from the Church of Life had been doing: sacrificing all forms of life to feed the corruption's insatiable hunger for vitality.

So then, what kind of presence could have continuously, over so many years, supplied such a massive, ever-growing demand for life force in the Sorensen Mountains?

Both Avia and Moira turned their gazes toward the distant mountain range beyond the window. Between their treehouse and the mountains rose a mighty, living colossus—the Tree of Life.

Minutes later, Wang Yu and Avia set off through the streets of Liaheim. Wang Yu clutched a map; Avia followed close behind.

"That... that hypothesis actually makes a lot of sense," Wang Yu muttered. "The only problem is that it's still just a hypothesis. Damn it, why is it always us getting dragged into this nonsense? We're supposed to be waiting in Liaheim for Skyborne City, and now this mess—connected to Holo's homeland, no less. We can't just stand by and do nothing."

"We'll definitely have to verify things for ourselves," Avia replied calmly. "Too bad the professor and Elder Gewen are off in the dwarven kingdom. We could've asked them for help—or at least petitioned the elven elders. But given the distance, communication is impossible."

That last part irked Wang Yu more than anything: the pitiful state of long-distance communication in this world.

Standard magical transmission might work between Aleisterre to the domains by its border, but any farther—say, all the way to Selwyn's capital—required a host of expensive upgrades to the magical transmission devices.

Worse, the resource cost didn't scale linearly. It skyrocketed exponentially. Past 300 kilometers, it was nearly impossible to maintain contact by any conventional magical means. Only a handful of high-ranking clergy, empowered by divine magic, could bridge such distances.

Wang Yu had once mused whether they could just build relay towers like Earth's cellphone towers, stationed every so often to extend range and create a continent-spanning network.

But then he understood why that wouldn't work here. On Earth, peace and relative safety allowed information to flow without constant fear of interception. In this world, however, wizardry, forbidden arts, and even curios made intercepting—or distorting—those messages laughably easy.

And, crucially, in this world... things could actually crawl through the wires to kill you.

Forget data leaks—here, void entities or divine spells could ride magical current straights into your living room. Building a magical network was equivalent to leaving portals open in your home for demons to pop out of.

If Earth had to deal with that, Wang Yu doubted the internet would've ever gone public.

Unfortunately, the dwarven kingdom lay far beyond the 300-kilometer threshold. And to make matters worse, the Tree of Life's presence had long since turned the Liaheim elves away from faith in the gods—so divine magic wasn't an option either.

Sending messages by messenger avians would take weeks. There was no way they could reach Sieg for help.

"Damn it," Wang Yu cursed again. "We're outsiders here. We've got residency permits, sure—but the elves don't exactly welcome foreigners. Even if we report it, who's going to believe us? We've got no proof—just hearsay."

That left them with few options—just themselves, and a handful of allies in Liaheim.

As they spoke, they arrived at a small wooden house nestled within the elven quarter.

Wang Yu rapped lightly on the door. Footsteps sounded within.

"Oh! Mr. Wang Yu—it's been a while," said Sif as she opened the door, her fine elven features lit with genuine delight. "I was just thinking of visiting you. Is something the matter? Please, come in."

Wang Yu waved off her offer with a wry smile.

"No need—we won't stay long. We came because we need your help. It's about the Sorensen Mountains, and what we suspect may be tied to recent changes in the Forest of Origin and the Tree of Life."

At the mention of those names, the joy faded from Sif's face and was replaced by solemn focus. Though she'd recovered from her sister's death at the hands of the berserk war-tree, the wound remained.

"If it concerns the Forest of Origin, you have my full attention. Please, speak."

She wiped her damp hands clean on her tunic, her posture straight and firm.

Wang Yu stepped aside to let Avia explain. In a few succinct words, the girl outlined the suspected corruption and their hypothesis linking it to the Tree of Life.

"I think what we need is a guide, someone familiar with the Sorensen Mountains," Wang Yu concluded. "Since we're strangers here, we'd need someone local. Do you happen to know anyone?"

It was a tall order. Most elves avoided the Sorensen region entirely. Who in Liaheim would even be familiar with the region?

"Please wait here," Sif replied quietly. She disappeared into her house.

A few minutes later, she emerged again—this time in her old ranger attire, bow slung across her back, quiver secured, a curved blade sheathed at her waist.

"Few in Liaheim know the Sorensen Mountains well. But I happen to be one of them. I trained as a ranger there when I was young. The dark elves aren't as dangerous as the others say. I can be your guide."

"You're a lifesaver," Wang Yu exclaimed gratefully.

"I owe you a debt. And even if I didn't, after what you've told me, I can't sit idly by."

"Then there's no time to waste. Let's stop by our place, grab supplies, and head out. The sooner we confirm what's going on, the better."

As the trio made their way back to Wang Yu and Avia's residence, they spotted a familiar figure standing at the door, a mid-sized metal case in hand.

"Madam Moira!"

"Aunt Moira!"

Avia and Sif spoke in unison.

"Just dragging this heavy trunk all the way to where you lot are staying nearly did in these old bones of mine," Moira said, her voice calm but faintly breathless. "As for what you're setting out to do, I can't go with you. All I can offer are these potions—for my two yet-unpolished disciples, and for the child of an old friend."

She gave the box beside her a pat, then passed it to Wang Yu, who was by far the strongest among them.

"These potions are among the highest-quality ones I've seen..." Wang Yu marveled as he opened the metal case. Inside were tiered compartments lined with vials, each carefully fitted into its slot. A quick glance told him they were all highly practical concoctions, and quite a few were particularly precious. These were sure to be a great help on their journey.

"I'd rather not see my genius disciple—or my dependable one—running into trouble. And now that there's a new child I've come to care for... Don't you rush off doing anything reckless, understand?"

Moira shook her head with a casual air, but her words were lined with genuine concern.