The Elven Cultivator

The group crossed the gravel path at the edge of the docking area and walked toward the main gate of Darkness Fortress.

The moment they passed through the gatehouse, an odor mixed with rust, sulfur, and charcoal washed over them.

Looking around, they saw a street wide enough for more than ten Firemane Beasts to pass side-by-side. The road was paved with large, dark gray stone slabs, their surfaces covered in scratches and pits of varying depths.

These were the marks left by the rolling of war chariots, the stomping of heavy boots, and the dragging of weapons, layered one on top of the other like a piece of paper that had been written on and erased time and time again.

The buildings on both sides were low and solid, with uniform gray-black stone walls. The windows were so narrow that only one person could stick their head through, resembling arrow slits more than openings for light.

There were no artistic decorations, only a bare, undisguised pragmatism.

The style was practically identical to that of Kresol Dragon City, only even more pronounced.

This was not surprising.

After all, this was a military fortress, not a city for people to live in.

Its builders had never intended for it to be comfortable. They only needed it to be sturdy, durable, and capable of stopping any enemy who tried to pass through.

It was just that, in the end, it hadn’t perfectly fulfilled its creators’ purpose.

The group continued forward.

The flow of people on the street gradually grew denser.

A squad of minotaurs, clad in heavy armor and built like small hills, walked past from the other side of the street, carrying giant axes. Their heavy footsteps made the stone slabs tremble slightly.

Their fur was dark brown, they had copper rings piercing their noses, and their bodies were a mass of knotted muscle. A pair of giant horns, curved like a ram’s, grew from their heads.

Romance’s gaze lingered on the group of minotaurs for a moment before she was drawn to the creatures beside them.

They were a species she had never seen before.

Their figures were like human children magnified several times over, standing just over a meter tall. They had short, thick limbs, round bellies, and grayish-green skin covered in a moist slime, making them look like toads just pulled from the water.

The most eye-catching feature was their backs, where a massive, fleshy tumor bulged like a camel’s hump. It rose and fell slightly with their breathing, and one could vaguely see green blood vessels winding across its surface.

”Anton, what race is that?” Romance asked, pointing at the creatures.

”That’s the Cystic Worm Race,” Anton replied casually after a glance. ”They’re a well-known race of Casters. That tumor on their back is a natural Magic Power storage organ that can hold a vast amount of Magic Power. Because of this organ, they can easily form magic circuits, making them born Casters.”

Romance clicked her tongue in amazement. Her gaze swept around, and she pointed to a group of slender, light-blue-skinned humanoids not far away. ”And what race is that?”

The humanoids bore some resemblance to Elves, with similarly long, pointed ears, but they were much smaller, standing only a fifth as tall as an adult human. They looked like miniature Elves.

They wore light leather armor with shortbows hanging at their waists. Their steps were as light as a cat’s, making no sound as they moved.

”Those are forest pixies. They’re distant relatives of our Elf Race. They excel at Illusion Techniques and concealing their tracks, making them natural-born scouts.”

”What about that one?”

”That’s the Sea Serpent Race...”

Like a curious child, Romance constantly asked about the origins of the various races they encountered along the way.

Anton answered every question, occasionally adding small bits of trivia and interesting facts about them.

At first, Grant and the other two listened with great interest, but the longer it went on, the more astonished they became.

Darkness Fortress was currently home to countless races from all over the continent. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the Ten Thousand Races had gathered here.

Even for seasoned travelers like the three of them, who had spent years traversing the continent and dealing with various races, they wouldn’t dare claim to recognize every single one.

Yet, along the way, some of the races Romance asked about were ones that even they couldn’t name.

But Anton not only recognized them all but could also casually state their racial traits and abilities, knowing them like the back of his hand.

It was as if there wasn’t a single race he didn’t know.

As far as they knew, Anton was not even two hundred years old and had spent most of his life on the Eldron Plain, never having traveled abroad.

’So where did he learn so much about all these races?’

’From books?’

’Impossible.’

’Even the most comprehensive racial encyclopedia on the continent didn’t cover so many obscure and remote races.’

In their eyes, Anton was like a walking encyclopedia of races.

Grant and the other two exchanged glances, all of them shocked and uncertain.

The Elves of the Silver Moon Race, however, remained quite calm.

They were already used to the extraordinary things their Clan Leader occasionally revealed.

”Darkness Fortress is currently divided into roughly five districts.”

After entering the heart of the fortress, Grant gathered his thoughts and began to explain its layout.

”The South District is where the allied command headquarters is located. The strategy councils of the five major powers are all over there. Outsiders are forbidden.”

”The east and west wings are the garrison areas, where the permanent troops of each race are stationed.”

”And the North District is specifically for housing the top combatants from each race who have come to join the war at the allied forces’ invitation.”

He pointed to a higher area not far ahead.

A relatively orderly cluster of buildings could be vaguely seen. Compared to the rough military structures around it, that area showed signs of more careful maintenance.

Before long, the group entered the North District.

Grant had already made arrangements and led the Elves directly to the front of a sizable courtyard.

The courtyard’s outer walls were built of grayish-white sandstone, about two people high, and were covered in some kind of dark green vine.

Pushing open the iron gate revealed a small courtyard with a stone path down the middle. On either side grew several nameless, shade-tolerant shrubs.

It was clear that someone had made an effort to maintain it during lulls in the fighting. While it wasn’t exquisite, it was at least tidy.

The main building was a three-story stone structure. The first floor held a living room and dining room, while the second and third floors each had several bedrooms.

”The conditions are simple, nothing like Silver Moon Forest,” Grant said. ”But in this fortress, it’s considered quite a good place to live.”

”You’ve come a long way, so rest for today. Tonight, we’ll hold a welcome banquet for you. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to Ranfeng Hall. That’s the registration office where all the elites apply to enter Subspace, and it’s also where you can exchange Contribution Points for resources. Elites from all races gather there to exchange intelligence and handle missions. It’s considered the heart of the North District.”

Ignatius sidled up to Anton and grinned. ”Anton, let’s have a few good drinks tonight.”

As he spoke, Ignatius’s eyes flickered, clearly still thinking about the Cloud-Surging Flying Ship.

But Grant had already slung an arm around his shoulder without another word and was pushing him toward the gate.

”Alright, alright, let them get settled first. We can talk more tonight.”

Alicia gave Anton a slight nod as a farewell, then also turned and left with the other two.

The figures of the three Five-Star Pillars soon vanished beyond the courtyard gate, and in an instant, only the members of the Silver Moon Race remained.

”Find a room and get settled,” Anton said.

The Elves nodded and headed upstairs.

Anton, however, walked into the stone building.

His Divine Sense had already detected a basement here, which was perfect for setting up a Teleportation Array.

But before that, he needed to set up several functional Arrays for warning, soundproofing, reinforcement, and concealing energy fluctuations.

By the time Anton had finished setting up all the Arrays except for the Teleportation Array, it was already evening.

As promised, Grant, Ignatius, and Alicia arrived.

There were no restaurants in Darkness Fortress, only canteens that supplied food for the army.

However, that wasn’t a problem for the esteemed Five-Star Pillars.

Grant had arranged for a private room in the canteen to hold the welcome banquet.

During the meal, Grant gave a general overview of the situation in the fortress.

Ignatius, on the other hand, chattered nonstop, trying to persuade Anton to consider collaborating with him on developing Flying Ship technology.

Alicia was as taciturn as ever, only speaking up occasionally to add a few words.

After the banquet, the three Five-Star Pillars took their leave.

The Elves returned to their residence.

Romance was still eager to go out and explore, but Anton stopped her.

”This fortress has gathered elites from many races. It’s a motley crew, and the situation is far more complex than it appears. Try not to go out for the time being to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble.”

The Elves all nodded.

In just half a day, they had already witnessed how unusual Darkness Fortress was.

Golden Peak powerhouses, a rare sight in the outside world, were a dime a dozen here.

You could run into dozens of them just by taking a walk down the street.

There were even a fair number of Legendary Powerhouses.

If a conflict broke out, a Legendary Powerhouse could pop out of nowhere.

In a place like this, one could never be too careful.

After telling the Elves to rest and recuperate, Anton turned and went back to the basement to continue setting up the Teleportation Array.

Although the allied forces had only achieved a temporary victory and had not yet completely destroyed the Dragon Court, conflicts between the major races were already quietly surfacing.

They might not backstab each other on the battlefield, but within this fortress, private friction and conflict were constant.

This fortress, which seemed united against a common enemy, had far more cracks beneath the surface than were visible.

’Such are the inherent flaws of intelligent life.’

* * *

Early the next morning, not long after the sky had brightened, Grant appeared outside the courtyard gate.

Ignatius and Alicia did not come with him.

According to Grant, Ignatius had been dragged off to the workshop district first thing in the morning by people from the Heart of the Mountains. A new batch of damaged Golems had arrived and needed his personal inspection.

Alicia had gone to the command headquarters in the South District. The Jade Royal Court’s strategy council had a meeting this morning about the distribution of Subspace nodes.

Anton didn’t mind. He took the Elves and walked with Grant deeper into the North District.

Ranfeng Hall was located in the heart of the North District.

It was originally the Dragon Race’s Hall of Military Merits, a ceremonial place for honoring achievements and awarding medals.

After the allied forces took over, they renamed it and began using it as a place to exchange Contribution Points and Subspace intelligence.

From a distance, one could see a large number of beings from various races entering and exiting the hall’s entrance.

The flow of people was endless, making the place extremely lively.

Once inside, they discovered that the space within the hall was far more expansive than it appeared from the outside. It had clearly been enchanted with some kind of spatial expansion Magic.

An extremely spacious circular clearing sat in the center of the hall, surrounded by a ring of stone counters that divided the hall into inner and outer sections.

Every few steps along the counters, a floating crystal panel was suspended in the air.

Intelligent beings from different races were standing in front of the crystal panels, their fingers constantly swiping across the surfaces as if they were looking at something.

Grant led the group around the central clearing, explaining as they walked, ”Since this is your first time here, I’ll take you to the registration desk first to enter your information and get your identity plaques. Once you have those, the mission, Contribution Point, and exchange functions in the allied forces’ system will be open to you.”