Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 276 - 268: Tree City

It is said that elves have only one city.

Other places might have some settlements, but the only one that can truly be called a city is the one adjacent to the Divine Wood Dungeon.

Lin Jun’s understanding of Elf Forest and Elf City mostly comes from the drunken bragging of adventurers in the tavern.

Some of them boast with thumping chests about having "been inside" and "visited," while others firmly claim "I have a friend who went in."

However, their descriptions are vastly different.

Some say it’s a Crystal Palace Complex hidden in the canopy of giant trees; others say it’s a three-dimensional maze woven entirely out of living trees; and yet others firmly assert it’s a cave metropolis built underground, filled with glowing moss...

A thousand drunk adventurers will give you a thousand entirely different Elf Cities.

Looking at their panels displaying exclusively Bronze and Silver levels, with only a few Gold levels, you can imagine how "credible" these statements are.

This race, entrenched in the southeastern corner of the continent and nearly isolated from the world, has few elves who venture out voluntarily.

Yet, this number still far exceeds the number of outsiders daring enough to venture into the Elf Forest and still alive to walk out.

Sufficient research might uncover some real information, but since Scout Puki is set to go in and investigate personally, he’s too lazy to invest that effort.

Along this journey out of the Underground City, Lin Jun discovered quite a few elves.

Not the kind of passersby, but those silently hidden among the branches and leaves of the giant trees, behind rock crevices, with strength ranging from Silver to Gold level, clearly organized scouts.

Additionally, the forest scattered with numerous magic arrays for unknown purposes, hidden in various corners.

Under Scout Puki’s composite detection skills, nothing escaped notice.

No one jumped out to stop Elarwen.

Lin Jun does not know whether it’s just the path from the Underground City to Elf City that’s this heavily guarded, or if the entirety of Elf Forest is like this.

If it’s the latter, it’s no wonder few intruders manage to run out.

As the journey entered the latter half, Elarwen stepped onto a spiral wooden staircase winding around a giant tree, climbing upward.

These giants were not comparable to those over a hundred meters in the Underground City, but they were also several tens of meters high.

Among the trees, Lin Jun finally saw the elven architecture!

The aerial treehouses constructed from smoothly polished artificial materials combined with branches clearly guided to grow by magic.

These treehouses connected vertically by spiral wooden stairs, horizontally between trees by bridges gleaming blue in the sunlight.

The latter portion of the journey was traversing this "aerial marketplace" atop the giant trees.

Common elves gradually increased in number.

They lived in the treehouses, exclusively handsome men and beautiful women, among whom Elarwen at Scout Puki’s feet seemed somewhat "plain and ordinary."

Of course, Lin Jun also noticed that no elf’s appearance could match that guy named Sirean, clearly indicating that fellow far exceeded normal standards.

The architecture on these trees was not simple, on the contrary, they appeared much more exquisite than the wooden houses in Dumb Wind Town.

Functionality was comprehensive, including a pharmacy with a hanging sign; a bookstore with faint magic power fluctuations; a variety shop filled with strange and clever items...

Scout Puki even "heard" from afar the serene music and light laughter of voices akin to a tavern, completely different from the loud and crude style of Rotten Willow Tavern.

And at the journey’s end, at the edge of the Giant Tree Forest stood a gigantic, majestic Royal Palace, glowing with gentle magical light!

On the high bridge above, Elarwen covered Scout Puki’s two feet on her head, her voice carrying a subtle excitement: "Xiao Ji, welcome to—Ishildorin!"

Oh oh oh oh oh!

This is what a palace should look like!

Lin Jun has visited some cities and seen many castles, but in terms of grandeur and craftsmanship, the Elf Royal Palace before him surpassed them by a mile!

However, it’s hard to say, as Lin Jun has yet to visit the human’s main city, Oath City, nor explored the territories of the Demon Race and Dwarves; perhaps there are wonders there comparable to this?

Just as Lin Jun was anticipating where Elarwen might reside, she led Scout Puki and Feifei down the ladder to the very bottom.

Below the giant tree was a forest composed of ordinary trees, and at a solitary edge with few inhabitants was a small lonely cabin, Elarwen’s home...

Before entering, a voice from another elf came from not far away: "Elarwen, you’re finally back. Take care of your bear; it ate the Moon Orchid I’ve been carefully cultivating for two weeks a few days ago!"

Upon hearing this, Elarwen rubbed her hands, continuously nodding to the other party, muttering words that even Scout Puki atop her head almost couldn’t hear.

Luckily, the other seemed used to it, and after complaining, turned away.

Lin Jun didn’t understand Elf Language, but noticed that Elarwen would stammer when encountering other elves.

Not only now, earlier on the journey he noticed whenever an elf spoke to Elarwen, her mouth seemed stitched shut.

After that elf walked away, Elarwen seemed reactivated, pushing open the cabin door.

In the next moment, a white shape rushed in!

[Race: Puki]

"Furball! Did you miss me!" Elarwen hugged the furry creature like an oversized dandelion ball, burying her face in its long and thick white fur, nuzzling vigorously and speaking with a voice sickly sweet, "Good child! So good!"

"Where are Bubble and Douding?" Elarwen carried the furball around the cabin, poking around outside trying to find them, finally discovering her other two animal companions at the entrance of a hidden burrow some hundred meters away from home.

[Race: Shadow Swamp Python]

[Race: Earth Bear]

What kinds of creatures are you raising?!

Never mind the giant python, isn’t the Earth Bear like the one Dylan encountered?!

Opening the panel, Lin Jun quickly found the signature skill—[Gravity Field Level 4].

Oh ho!

It’s a skill that isn’t present yet!

Elarwen’s "friends"... seem pretty impressive!

This Earth Bear was just over two meters tall, appearing to be a juvenile cub?

Despite having Friend of Animals, why not raise some normal ones?

Other elves had some pets too, but they were birds, squirrels, etc. With Elarwen raising these things, no wonder she didn’t live in the trees...

Moreover, raising such creatures together, how has the little Puki at Level 12 survived?

"Oh! Bubble, Douding, you’re preparing for hibernation, right? No wonder you’ve hidden here... Douding you’ve grown a bit sturdier..."

The Earth Bear sat in a corner of the burrow, as Elarwen muttered to herself, her whole body burying into the Earth Bear’s thick warm belly fur, enjoying herself to a foolish "hee-hee" laugh.

The parrot Feifei then landed beside the snake’s head, chirping non-stop, occasionally glancing towards Scout Puki...