'we're almost there...'

Alvin that was in front squinted his eye a little as he felt the surrounding mana grow denser and denser until suddenly it felt like he hit a thin layer of water face first and the wide clearing suddenly revealed 8 meter tall walls that looked like they where grown out of trees on top of theses walls he could see patrols of eleven soldiers that carried great bows that was taller than themselves

'we actually made it in 2 days... that has to be some sort of record'

Alvin briefly thought back at the the hards.h.i.+p they all had gone though the last 48 hours, first of all they had not slept for over 30 hours, and even now they had been running for 13 hours straight without break but it had been well worth it as they had cut the estimated travel time down by half, normally it would take a patrol squad 4 days to travel from the outpost to Green river and this was even a optimistic time limit that a.s.sumed they didn't run into trouble on the way such as a stray magic beast as they were required to kill any magic beast that entered the safe inner forest if they ran into one

'maybe it's just our luck that's good'

the group didn't run towards the nearest gate, they simply ran straight towards nearest section of the wall as they took out their barrier keys and suddenly the wall opened op a pa.s.sage which they swiftly pa.s.sed though and arrived at a street on the other side of the wall

"okay stop"

as soon as Alvin gave the command he sat down on the ground and rested

"so... tired..."

Alvin looked over and saw Chloe was sprawled on the ground in the middle of the street as she complained

"and... so hungry, Isabel do you have any nutrient pills left?"

Isabel also sat on the ground, and even though she looked less exhausted then Chloe she still looked pretty tired

"no sorry I ate my last one a couple of hours ago, what about you Rex?"

Isabel looked over at Rex that was the only one that was still standing, even though he was leaning against the wall

"sure i still have some left... here you go Chloe catch"

"thanks Rex"

after resting for 2 minutes Alvin stood up

"okay let's get the report over with, then we can sleep afterwards"

"""yes captain"""

Alvin helped Chloe of the ground and then he led them further into Green river, as they walked they soon pa.s.sed the desolate outskirts of the village and soon the road turned from a dirt road to a stone paved road that was surrounded by 3 story buildings made out of wood and stone that served as stores and apartments, the amount of elvers on the street going about their daily lives also became more and more as they walked towards the center of the village, as they walked they greeted most of the elvers that walked past, even if the total population of Green river was almost half a million most of the elvers that lived in Green river knew each other at least by name, in particular the oldest elvers in the village all either treated each other as old friends or old enemies or rivals, soon the group reached the center of the village were a ancient stone bridge that was 50 meters wide spanned a great river that was almost 200 meters wide, in the middle of the river stood a giant ancient tree that was about 2 kilometers tall, with a crown that covered more than half of the village in shade, this was the tree the forest was named after the Mother tree

"we're almost there... remember leave the talking to Rex"

Chloe gave a small nod, she was slightly nerves as this was only the second time she had met the elders, as they reached the middle of the bridge the group walked towards a opened gate that was covered in elegant carvings that led into the Mother tree, as they stepped into the tree they arrived in a giant hall that had all 4 walls carved with the story of Green river all the way from when the 5 elders founded the village almost 1 million years ago, and after Alvin spoke with a receptionist they were led into a waiting room and soon a old elf with wrinkles and gray hair came and led them further into the Mother tree, and after walking through a long complex route the elf gestured towards a closed door before he left them

"well then let's get this over with"

Alvin opened the door and led his team into a dimly lit hall with 5 elevated wooden thrones that looked like they had grown out of the floor in the middle that was surrounded with a half transparent golden fabric and keeled down with the others before he spoke out

"the 6th barrier patrol team have arrived to report"

"then let us hear what you have to say for yourselves"

when one of the elders spoke out the 4 of them shuddered slightly as their expression hardened

'this is bad...'

Alvin could clearly hear the power and underling furry the elders voice carried and tightened his fists while Rex began speaking

"2 months ago, we the 6th barrier patrol team was on a standard patrol in the barrier forest when we observed a smoke column to the north and decided to change our route to investigate"

"your reasoning?"

"first we suspected a forest fire but later the fire went out without spreading, form there we a.s.sumed it was a outsider invasion and proceeded to scout out their numbers"

"continue"

"yes, after arriving at the source of the fire we found a recently cleared area and a cave which we investigated and found empty besides the hide, bones and meat from a cla.s.s 6 giant berserk bear that was sorted and stacked up in piles, we also found another pile of bones that seemed to be failed crafting attempts"

after a few seconds of silence another voice spoke up from behind the golden fabric

"are you sure it was a cla.s.s 6 berserk bear?"

"yes, and judging from the size of remaining intact bones it had almost evolved into cla.s.s 7"

"...continue"

"from there we a.s.sumed that one or more outsider had set up camp in the cave and decided to wait for them to return while we set and ambush, after about 2 hours one outsider showed up which we a.s.sumed was human, and after confirming he didn't know of the treaty we a.s.sumed he was lying and engaged him in combat"

"what happened then, how did one outsider mange to overpower all of you?"

"well... after being wounded the outsider turned out to be a half dragon, he also kept a cla.s.s 9 Shadow death panther cub which he had made a contract with by somehow merging his mana with it"

after Rex finished speaking the elders remained silent for almost a minute before one of them spoke up again

"...continue"

"after Isabel and Alvin was incapacitated I instructed Chloe to escape while I engaged him hoping to buy some time for her to escape, but after fighting I discovered no way to win so I surrendered to the outsider"

"...why were you sure you had no way to win?"

"the outsider had me matched in swordsmans.h.i.+p and had yet to use any fire magic so i amused he was holding back to make me surrender"

"continue"

"yes, after I surrendered I found out he is named Mars and... that he was a living G.o.d"

"a living G.o.d!? are you sure?"

"yes i'm sure, not only did he say so himself he also showed ability that matched his claim... and after talking with him I found out he was newly born, not only that he also showed willingness to corporate with the village"

after Rex finished speaking the elders fell silent for a long time until one of them gave a long sigh and spoke up

"do any of you have a idea where this outsider, no where Mars is now?"

"no but after he fought the 2nd outer forest patrol team I don't think he will remain in the forest for long"

after another period of silence one of the elvers spoke up

"...that is all you may leave"

the group of 4 stood up and gave a deep bow before they turned and walked towards the gate

"wait... Chloe if i recall your father is the current village chief right?"

Chloe was a little fl.u.s.tered by the sudden question but still keeled down and answered

"yes"

"good, tell him we have a task for him"

"a task?"

"we need him to head to Destra and find Mars"

"yes, i will tell him at once"

...

..

.

while the 6th barrier patrol team were reporting to the elders Mars stood in the outer forest surrounded by green humanoid corpses

"...this sucks"

Mars looked down at the 2 pitiful cla.s.s 1 magic beast cores he had obtained from slaughtering almost 30 goblins

cla.s.s 1 magic beast core

stored energy: 1

stored status points: 0

source: goblin wizard

even though Mars had literally been able to kick around the goblins that was only the size of a 10 year old malnourished child and only armed with crude clubs and spears he still felt a little cheated as he had only been awarded with a mere 2 energy units for his efforts

"maybe i should head back into the barrier forest? no that's a bad idea"

after all Mars had just wiped the floor with the 2nd outer forest patrol team only 2 days ago and didn't really want to feel the fury of the entire Green river village

"looks like i need to find other ways to get energy units... maybe i can buy some high cla.s.s cores in Destra?"

as Mars thought about his energy shortage Victoria jumped down from a nearby tree and walked up to him while her horns flashed

"Mars... someone's... coming"

"i see... perfect timing, maybe they can show us the way to the nearest town?"