Ginnar, sitting to the side, stroked his long beard and said:
"Flora broke the taboo back then, and we had to exile her from the Island of Fairies to set an example."
"Instead of holding a grudge, Flora has still guarded one of the many Spirit Trees scattered throughout the world for a thousand years. Although it was destroyed recently, Flora's merits are indelible."
"Merits and penalties are worth considering. I think Flora can return to the Island of Fairies and settle down. What do you all think?"
"I think it's fine." Godoferin was the first to express his position. Then he fed his goat a piece of Danan's snack.
Ginnar thought for a moment and nodded.
"Yes. An Apostle can destroy one Spirit Tree. Naturally, he won't give up on the others. The situation in this world will only worsen in the future."
"We should inform the other mages guarding the Spirit Trees that we will not mistreat those who have done their utmost."
Danan also smiled and said, "I agree too. Skryubjorn, what do you think?"
"Huh?" The "Confused" Skryubjorn seemed a bit oblivious, not understanding the current situation, until Danan repeated the question. Then he slowly nodded. "Alright, let Flora return."
Danan looked at Flora and smiled. "This is our joint decision, Flora. We invite you back to the Island of Fairies. If you can return, it means we have another great archmage."
"I..." Flora hesitated for a moment, glanced at Schierke beside her, then at Nidhogg, and finally nodded and said, "Alright. Thank you for allowing me to return after my great mistake."
Danan and the four archmages finished the first topic of the day. Then they all looked at Nidhogg together.
"May we see what Flora called the 'Minor Erdtree' ?" Danan asked.
"No problem."
Nidhogg extended his palm, spread his hands, and golden light burst forth, slowly transforming into a golden tree. It was different from before and had already grown to the height of an adult.
Danan and the four great archmages looked at this golden tree, which they had never seen before. They felt the strange power emanating from it and looked astonished.
"This is incredible..."
Danan stood up and gently touched the branches and trunk of the golden tree. As the Fairy King, she felt particularly deeply the similarities and differences between this tree and the giant cherry tree on the Island of Fairies.
"Accepting a great mystery and exploring the whole scene from within the world—this is a magical path. It's just that the magical path also has its differences. There are different paths. One of them is our elemental spirit magic."
"We went on blind dates with the four elemental spirits of wind, water, fire, and earth. We got to know the dark spirits. And we even delved into the 'heavy elemental spirit' Baluthis, which is much smaller than the four elemental spirits."
"Elemental spirits, spirit trees, nature, magic, research—these are our foundations, but also the continuation of our magical path. I thought we knew everything after a thousand years. I didn't expect there were still gaps."
The four great archmages also looked somewhat ashamed.
"However, this is precisely why the demonic path fascinates us." Danan withdrew her hand and smiled. "No matter how much time we live through, there will always be things we don't know. Our exploration never ends."
Flora, Ginnar, Godoferin, Vider, and Skryubjorn all nodded.
Nidhogg also agreed with Danan's words.
Magic—what is it?
In a materialistic world, magic is probably just a magical force in fantasy. But in this idealistic world, the essence of magic is actually equivalent to the science of the materialistic world.
What are the four elemental spirits? What is the smallest substance—the "heavy elemental spirit" Baluthis? What explores everything? In fact, this is scientific research. And magic can even have abilities and effects far beyond its time.
The same goes for moon sorcery, glintstone sorcery, and gravity sorcery in the Raya Lucaria Academy. These were gradually studied by mages observing celestial phenomena.
Roughly divided, isn't the Island of Fairies faction biology, and the Magic Academy faction also the astronomy department?
Thus, magic in this world is science. This is one of the reasons why the God Hand laid its plans for thousands of years, and also strives to destroy the ground where magic exists, to prevent magic from leading humanity out of ignorance.
"We already understand what you mean." Ginnar stared at him with his dark eyes and said, "This golden tree is truly extraordinary. But you need additional reasons to convince us."
Nidhogg slowly returned the golden tree. Then he looked at Danan and the four archmages.
"As you just experienced, the forces of the Abyss are already invading the Spirit Trees throughout the world. This is their causal conspiracy, which they have been planning for thousands of years. Now that the fifth God Hand has been born, this conspiracy will soon erupt."
"The entire world has gradually sunk into darkness. The Island of Fairies alone is isolated across the sea. It is indeed a pure land. But it's only a matter of time before they come to our door. Especially the Spirit Trees will be uprooted one by one."
"You should know that when most of the Spirit Trees are destroyed, plus the opportunity and the wedge, the World Tree in the Abyss of the Underworld will reappear in the human world, bringing all kinds of gods and monsters from the astral world."
"At that time, can the Island of Fairies survive alone? Or, in other words, when the crisis comes, do you want to force the entire Island of Fairies and all the elves to flee together to the shallow or deep world? But is it safe there?"
When Danan and the four great archmages heard this, they all looked at each other with serious expressions. Obviously, they had discussed this topic countless times.
In the end, they had come to a conclusion.
When the final moment came, Danan would take the entire Island of Fairies and all the elves and flee to the shallows.
And these great archmages would have to leave the Island of Fairies, where they had lived for thousands of years with the young mages, and find another place to seek new blessings for themselves.
This couldn't be helped. After thousands of years, they truly hadn't accumulated much capital to fight against the forces of the Abyss. And the power of the elves had been defeated step by step.
Thinking this, they all looked at Nidhogg again. Since he said this, was there some way?
"The golden tree is both an approach and a retreat," Nidhogg explained.
"The approach refers to the power of the Erdtree, as well as the other forces following me, which will work with you to eliminate the influence of the Abyss."
"The retreat means that when I plant the Minor Erdtree on the Island of Fairies, it will cause three huge landmasses to emerge from the sea beyond the island and gather them together."
"They are different from the Island of Fairies. The space they are in is called the Junction—a place where humans and elves can coexist. In a desperate situation, the Island of Fairies can flee together to the Junction."
"Thus, whether it's elves, mages, or living people, they will be able to leave a final way back and find a place to go."
The Junction?
Danan and the four great archmages were a little skeptical when they heard this.
"It's not that we don't trust you." This time, it was Vider who spoke. "It's just that this is a big matter. How can we prove the existence of the Junction? How can we prove that this is feasible?"
Nidhogg smiled and said, "It's actually very simple. If you accept my 'Guidance of Blessing,' I can take one of you to see for yourselves."