Chapter 189: The Elven Sacred Ground—Elfo Sagrado (2)
The seed, nourished by Ketal’s blood, did not simply bloom—a single flower, or even a small bouquet. It went far beyond that. In a matter of moments, it grew until it filled the entire room, its blossoms bursting out in all directions. It was an impossible sight, something only recorded in ancient stories.
There was only one known explanation for such a phenomenon: it could happen only if the blood itself was a special catalyst, a source of supernatural vitality. Among all the legendary beings of this world, there was one that fit this category above all—the dragon.
Even so, Ash wondered, would even a dragon’s blood cause a flower to run so wild as to overflow and fill a room?
He stared at Ketal, searching for some sign, some hidden scale, some trace of the monstrous. However, when Ketal raised his arm and rolled up his sleeve, his skin—though marred by a few old scars—was perfectly human.
“See? No scales or anything of the sort,” Ketal said, a hint of amusement in his voice. “I assure you, I’m just a human.”
“I see... Of course...” Ash replied, though he sounded anything but convinced. He couldn’t quite bring himself to drop the formal tone. Even if Ketal denied it, Ash’s own senses screamed that this was no ordinary human.
Clearing his throat and regaining some composure, Ash continued, “W-well, the test is complete. There’s no doubt. You are fully qualified to enter. Please, follow me.”
“Thank you,” Ketal said, smiling. With that, Ash led him past the entry and deeper into the sacred ground.
From the very first step, Ketal was captivated by the landscape that unfolded before him.
They walked through a city that seemed to have grown out of the World Tree itself—its buildings made not from cut and stacked wood, but from the living architecture of tree trunks and immense leaves.
There was no sense of crudeness or wildness in their construction. Instead, the homes and walkways had a clean, sophisticated feel, almost like something from a trendy modern city—except here, everything was seamlessly integrated with nature. Structures climbed up along the enormous trunk of the World Tree, connected by living branches that served as stairs and platforms, winding their way up to dizzying heights.
It might have sounded inconvenient to live in a city built vertically along a tree. Yet because the tree was so vast—so massive in every dimension—the villages and homes felt spacious and stable, with no sense of being crowded or precarious.