Crunching sounds echoed atop the hills as the group climbed in silence.

The leader of the group was Gratiana, leader of the Elven Guardians of the Western Shore of the Continent. Behind her were the forty-eight Elves that she led, and all of them were ascending the rather tall hill. The deep and thick forest had grown distant behind them, and their gaze was set on something that existed beyond this final obstacle of theirs.

Finally, after reaching the top of the hill, they cast their gazes down and set their eyes on the civilization that existed below.

The Elven Community.

The sight itself was breathtaking.

From the apex of a towering hill, one could behold the radiant world woven into the verdant embrace of nature's splendor. A mix of colors danced beneath the azure sky, as the sun's golden rays caressed the lush foliage and kissed the earth below. The community sprawled across the landscape gracefully, spreading for at least a mile, while surrounded by a barricade of flowers and lush plants. The kinds of houses that stood at the center of this plain were made seemingly out of a mix of stone and plants.

There was nowhere you would look that evidence of nature couldn't be seen.

At the center of the community was a massive structure. The compound alone took up a lot of space, but the building itself was not as small or compact as the others that surrounded it.

That was The Shrinethe place where the Elves went to worship Nature, or perhaps to commune with The Oracle.

The place appeared sacredmore sacred than the rest of the houses that littered the community. Based on sheer size and mass alone, the population had to be a few hundred thousands; a considerable figure indeed, but nothing compared to Races such as Humans whose population was at least in the millions.

The abodes here were spread-out, though, with every home having their own compound, and more than enough space for leisure.

All in all, as primitive as it seemed, this place was a paradisea haven of nature.

Everything about the community could be succinctly expressed in a single word.

Beautiful.

As the Elves cast their gaze on their home with pride and a strong sense of affection, they slowly shifted their gaze to a group of three humans, who were standing on a completely different hill while also staring down at their society.

Rey, Esme, and Karaall three of them were smiling as they looked at the Elven Community.

Gratiana gulped as she looked at the three humans.

'This is the first time that humans have laid eyes on our Community before. I will surely be punished by the Esteemed Council. Unless' Her eyes focused on Rey, whose expression of pure confidence made her clutch her chest a little.

'....'

Gratiana felt a bit of cognitive dissonance within her.

On one end, she still desired to uphold the will of her people, as well as the rules established by the Community. However, she also wanted to do the will of the man who had managed to conquer her.

Both of these contrasting positions made her unable to arrive at a decision.

Still, deep within herself, she had a certain thought.

'I wish you good success in your endeavor, Rey.'

***************

'As expected of Ater. He described it well enough. This is the real deal.' Rey smiled to himself as he looked at the world that spread out beneath him.

In this place, there were hundreds of thousands of Elvespreviously a lot more before the war reached such a state of intensity. As the sunset bathed the community, he felt it depict a certain kind of beauty that a modern city could not offer. Rey wasn't emotional about the sight or anything, but he found it pretty nonetheless.

'It's here that I will proceed with the second phase of the plan.'

After his deal with the Elves, he had called back Kara and Emil, and the former was able to give him the gist of the situation.

'We have more than enough mineral resources, but that isn't all we can obtain from this place.' Rey's thoughts trailed as he recollected the details of what Kara told him.

'The Dungeon that exists here is only the symptom of the true goodies that exist on this continent. Somewhere in this place is a pocket full of incredible Mana and even rarerpurer Minerals.'

But, that wasn't all there was to obtain here.

'The Magic that the Elves possessspecifically Runic Magicwould really help in the production of the raw materials and refining them into the perfect tools.'

Currently, while the Reaper Group had the best equipment possible for the production of Enchanted Items through refinement of raw materialseven better than the Royal Council'sthey still fell short when it came to processing mateirals as pure as the kind found in the Eastern Continent.

'Apparently, the last time they refined the minerals we got as a reward from the Elves, they ended up overworking the machines.'

If they desired to work on schedule, and also consistently churn out quality products, they had to seek out a more sustainable means of production.

'According to Kara, the best way to do this is to build a refinery here, using that pocket of goodies here as a base to power the refinery.'

Spatial Magic could be used for the transportation of raw materials, and even final products, which was why Runes were essentialfor better use, and effective management of resources.

All of this required, more than anything, the cooperation of the Elves.

'I sincerely doubt the Elves will agree to any of what Kara proposes unless I have them under my control. Still, it's not like there are no other ways to go about things. Her suggestion just works the best and saves costs.'

Plus, they could evade a lot of taxes, while keeping their production sites safe from sabotage from competitors or any other party with malintent.

'The first thing is to find The Oracle and get a cure for Alicia. Once that is done, we can proceed with the refinery idea.'

Rey could feel himself slowly getting impatient as he looked at the civilization that had all of his answers. "Just wait a little longer, Alicia'