Orion stepped through the teleportation gate. Bright sunlight fell on his face, warm, dazzling him into a daze.
He instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes, but the light filtering through his fingers still made his eye sockets sting slightly.
They had really left the Shadow Mountains.
From that failed kidnapping operation to being chased by elven rangers all night long, all the embarrassment, despair, and hopelessness seemed to be left behind the moment they crossed that door.
But he still couldn't help asking himself, could this glowing door really carry them across nearly half the continent, from the Shadow Mountains directly to that legendary magical creature empire?
He looked around, and soon he had no more doubts.
Salemir and Natalis walked out from behind him, also squinting as the sunlight hit their eyes.
Once they adjusted to the light and the crisp air that hit them, Natalis was the first to look down.
Looking down the steps, an entire massive city unfolded before their eyes.
Slimes were bouncing everywhere on the streets, some haggling with dwarf merchants, some hauling cargo boxes along the canals, and patrols riding beetles...
It was a thriving scene of a slime city.
"Is this... the royal capital of the Magical Creature Empire?" Natalis murmured.
The three of them were lost in a daze.
Adventurers from the White Tower City-state had bragged in the taverns about how lively the capital of the Slime United Empire was, but in their hearts, they had always thought it was just a settlement slightly larger than an elven city-state.
Now, standing on the steps of this palace and looking down, "slightly larger" didn't even begin to cover it. On the horizon, they could still see construction sites, proving the city was still expanding outward.
The three of them felt like country bumpkins visiting a city for the first time, unable to find a single fitting adjective.
Selene's voice called their souls back. "His Majesty is handling state affairs inside the palace. Follow me, the three of you."
With that, she walked straight toward the main gate of the palace.
"Oh, okay."
Natalis's voice was tense, and the image of the black Demon King in her mind refused to fade.
Before coming here, she had indeed wanted to see this Slime Emperor in person—after all, he was a Legendary being, and a slime Legendary at that.
But now, standing before this palace, she felt like backing out.
What if the Slime Emperor was as terrifying as the rumors said?
What if he didn't like half-elves?
What if she said something wrong out of nervousness and got kicked out on the spot?
Orion glanced at her and whispered comfortingly, "A ruler who can make even a Grand Sage of the Forest Sage Council willingly serve him probably isn't as bad as you imagine. Let's go."
He took a step forward, crossing through the two small oak doors carved with Orion's portrait.
Natalis and Salemir followed behind.
Inside the palace corridors, tapestries depicting the empire's past battles hung on both sides, and light filtering through the colored glass dome cast patterns on the carpet.
As the three of them walked, their minds raced with wild guesses. They had imagined several possible scenes at the end of the throne hall.
Maybe a pitch-black, massive figure crouched in the shadows, surrounded by a Fear Aura. Maybe nothing was visible, just a thick, impenetrable darkness.
Then Salemir pushed open the final door first. The three of them looked up at the same time and froze.
Not out of fear—quite the opposite. Everything before their eyes matched none of the scenes they had rehearsed in their minds.
Sunlight streamed through the colored stained-glass windows, casting large patches of light on the throne steps, landing on the Oakwood Throne at the far end.
Sitting there was a slime wearing a crown and draped in a cloak. Its translucent gel body glowed with a faint green light under the sunlight.
Round, quiet, gentle—like a lump of jelly pierced by sunlight.
The scene was unexpectedly sacred.
Selene stopped at the foot of the steps, placed her hand on her chest, and bowed: "Your Majesty, I have brought them back."
"Well done." Chen Yu wobbled his gel, shifting his gaze from Selene to the three half-elves still frozen at the door.
Orion reacted first.
He took a deep breath, pressed his right hand to his chest, and bowed deeply toward the throne.
"Leaf of No Distinction, Orion Baxter, greets the Slime Emperor."
Natalis and Salemir followed his lead and bowed.
"It's been a few days. You still came." A soft, calm voice came from the throne.
Natalis blinked, looking at the slime on the throne: "Your Majesty, when did you ever see us?"
Salemir thought of a conclusion he found hard to believe.
"Could it be... those two slimes..."
"That's right, they were little ones I split off from myself." Chen Yu's tone was light.
Orion's heart skipped a beat.
Just slimes split off from him could cut open that shadow octopus and turn into a giant dragon, charging through the Shadow Mountains carrying them.
Just how terrifying must this Slime Emperor himself be?
He suddenly felt that the rumors about Casaric being crushed to ash might have actually understated things.
Natalis, on the other hand, shrank her head, feeling an inexplicable guilt. She seemed to have said quite a few big words in front of His Majesty.
Oh no. Her short life was about to welcome an indelible black mark on her history.
From now on, whenever tavern adventurers mentioned that she had dared to threaten the Slime Emperor, they'd mercilessly mock her.
"I know why you're here, and I know the current situation of the half-elves." Chen Yu didn't continue reminiscing and cut straight to the point.
"But do you know why I want to help you?"
The three of them shook their heads at the same time.
Orion ran through several possible answers in his mind.
The Empire needs allies. The Empire wants to weaken the Ancient Tree Council. The Empire wants to expand its influence on the Western Continent. Half-elves are the best proxies... But he instinctively felt none of these answers were complete.
Chen Yu looked at Selene.
Selene nodded and said calmly, "Because the Slime United Empire is the true orthodox elven kingdom."
"Huh?"
The sheer volume of information packed into that one short sentence completely stunned the three of them.
What?
The Slime United Empire is the true orthodox elven kingdom?
Then what was the Ancient Tree Council?
"No... wait..."
Natalis waved her hand vigorously, as if trying to untangle the mess of thoughts this sentence had stirred up in her mind.
"The Slime United Empire is even called 'Slime'... but it's actually the orthodox elven kingdom?"
Selene gave a slight nod, unsurprised by her reaction.
"Your people have long forgotten. About six hundred years ago, a change occurred in the Emerald Crown that was enough to alter the entire course of the elven race."
"The Sacred Oak Grand Sage of that time was burned—together with her original body and the Temple—by the conservative elves who held the majority. Most elves of old who refused to remain silent chose to leave the Emerald Crown back then, taking their power and knowledge away from that homeland that was becoming increasingly narrow-minded."
"The Forest Sage Council you know today was founded by those who left. Perhaps your ancestors were also among those who departed from the Council back then."
"In other words, we are all wanderers."
She paused briefly, letting the three of them digest this massive wave of information, before continuing: "It was also from that year that the Withering Curse was condensed onto the Sacred Oak by the conservatives, branding mixed-blood descendants with the seal of a short life."
"The current Ancient Tree Council is nothing but a den of usurpers ruling over that land."
"You don't know these things, and it's not your fault. Given the short lifespans of most half-elves, the fact that you've survived all this time while on the run already means you've lived longer and more vividly than most of your kin."
The three of them exchanged silent glances, their eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.
They had indeed never heard these old stories from any elf.
Where the Withering Curse originated, where it came from, why it fell specifically on half-elves—these three questions were asked by every child told from a young age that half-elves were guilty.
But their questions were too brief—so brief that before they could even find the full answers in the vague memories of the elders, they already had to deal with the curse of their short lives.
"Then, what exactly is your goal?" Orion's voice rose from the silence.
He hadn't been so moved by Selene's story that he lost his cool.
He was never naive enough to believe that all elves were helpful. If every elf's character was impeccable, the Withering Curse would never have appeared.
On the contrary, he was more wary of any elf than he was of humans.
Chen Yu replied with only one sentence, "Actually, the Sacred Oak Grand Sage didn't die in that change. Instead, she became the lord of the Empire."
"In any case, our goal is to overthrow the Council's rule and correct the path that has been twisted for six hundred years."
"The Empire needs your strength, and you need the Empire's strength."
"If you're still confused and lost, go see the Sacred Oak Grand Sage for yourselves."
He didn't say anything more. He just waved his gel hand and summoned slime guards to take them away, sending them to the Dryad domain.
After all, letting them see the ancient path of nature with their own eyes would always be more convincing than any words.
And indeed, that was the case.
Just one day later, the three members of Leaf of No Distinction stood before his throne again.
The wariness on Orion's face had diminished compared to yesterday, replaced by a complex expression.
He gave Chen Yu a solemn bow, formally accepting cooperation with the Empire on behalf of Leaf of No Distinction, promising to set out for Golden Radiance Valley, gather more half-elves still wandering or hiding across the land, and further expand the influence of Leaf of No Distinction.
It was only then that Chen Yu learned that Leaf of No Distinction consisted of only three people.
It was just these three half-elves—without even a fixed base—who dodged patrols all over Golden Radiance Valley, earned money from bounty rewards, and planned the kidnapping operation against the Sage's Son.
He had originally thought Leaf of No Distinction could at least fill a conference table.
Well, he had overestimated.
But what the Empire needed were exactly these idealists, these foolish people who would risk everything for others even in desperate straits.
Some would call them too naive. Some would call them too stupid.
But Chen Yu felt that anything left only in words without action was even more foolish.
Heroes were perhaps those foolish people who, after witnessing the cruelty of reality, could still risk everything for their ideal path.
Only some succeeded, and some failed.
But Chen Yu's goal in gathering half-elf power wasn't to organize them into an army, to make them take up arms and fight the Council elves directly.
In his plan, these gathered half-elves would be scattered across every corner of the continent to march and preach.
They would travel to every city-state on the continent, telling all willing humans, dwarves, orcs... and even all the marginal races who had never received a formal diplomatic letter from the Ancient Tree Council—about the Council's sins.
They would let those half-elves still hiding in confusion, and those elves who had long been disgusted with the Ancient Tree Council but dared not speak out, know that on the other side of the Shadow Mountains, there was a land that accepted them.
With their own experiences, they would provide a direction for the elves—that the Slime United Empire was the true orthodox elven land that had never abandoned the ancient covenant.
The truth that once happened inside the Emerald Crown had been wrapped too long in the silence of the elven code and its guardians.
It was time for change.
It would breed momentum, awakening those silent elves.
Creating a pressure in public opinion that the Council had never faced before.
This destructive power of public opinion was far greater than any damage a Legendary could cause.
After all, a Legendary could be trapped, but a story could not.
Under the Empire's banner, these half-elves would become the foundation for fighting injustice, striving for their ideals.
And this was also the first step of Chen Yu's evil plan.
Orion and his group left, but they left him a gift.
Selene unrolled the scroll they had given her and glanced at it, her eyebrows lifting slightly.
She rolled the scroll back up and handed it to Chen Yu, her tone carrying a rare note of approval.
"This is a star chart marked with specific coordinates and directions. The initial coordinate indicates a location that may not be very far from the border of Zeyerra's Material Plane."
Chen Yu was somewhat surprised.
He used his Divine Sense to unfurl the scroll. It was densely marked with astral realm route coordinates, plane boundary markers, and several danger zones labeled by astral travelers as "Do Not Approach."
Next to each coordinate was a brief note written in ancient elvish. The handwriting was old but still clear, the ink remarkably well-preserved under the oilcloth wrapping.
"They actually had this star chart on them. But where did they get it?"
Selene said, "Perhaps their ancestors rescued it from the burning Temple during the change a few hundred years ago. It wouldn't be strange for it to have ended up in their hands."
"The Ancient Tree Council has publicly claimed it never gave up the vision of returning to the Astral Realm. According to recorded history, we did launch several large-scale astral explorations, but the results were never significant, and we failed to establish long-term outposts deep in the Astral Realm."
"This star chart is likely one of the surviving pieces from those early explorations. Although the marked destination is an unreached, unknown coordinate for today's elves, since the astral explorers of that time specifically marked it on the chart and passed it down, it indicates they at least conducted a preliminary survey of the area and considered it free of fatal threats."
"However, it's worth noting that after several hundred years, the coordinates of the Astral Realm itself may have shifted. The specifics need to be verified through actual survey."
He hadn't expected such a gain.
Indeed, doing good deeds as a slime paid off.
What if—just what if—one day he saved a deity, and they insisted he inherit the legacy of their divine kingdom.
Chen Yu stored the star chart in his demiplane, feeling very pleased.
In any case, with the star chart, he could finally begin the Empire's plan to expand into the Astral Realm.