Lord of Annihilation

A few hours later, Olivia's eyes stirred as she seemed to be waking up. Releasing a long yawn, she expelled the pent-up, stale air from within her lungs and slowly opened her eyes.

Making out her surrounding with her blurry vision, it took her a few seconds to gather her thoughts, 'Hmm, did I fall asleep?'

Stretching out her arms in reflex, Olivia then corrected her posture and sat up straight. She then used her hands to massage her neck, which had grown a bit stiff from her odd sleeping posture.

Partway through the massage, when Olivia had regained a sufficient amount of her mental facilities, a question appeared within her mind, 'Wait a second.'

'My back was leaning against the wall which means that my head should've also been resting against the wall behind me. However, just now, I straightened myself from the side.'

She then absent-mindedly turned to the side, only to find Lucius with his eyes closed in mediation. Olivia's eyes automatically moved downwards arriving at his left shoulder.

A clear crumple and a small pooling of wetness.

Olivia instinctively touched her mouth, finding a stream of saliva leaking from the corners of her mouth.

The different clues connected, leading Olivia to one conclusion, 'Oh my go-'

"Slept enough?" A cold voice exited Lucius' mouth.

Turning his head to face the dumbstruck Olivia, he opened his eyes, and continued, "You have slept for 6 hours and 37 minutes, grossly exceeding your break time. As punishment, you will not be receiving any breaks for the next week. Understood?"

Olivia dumbly nodded her head.

"Good. Let's continue with your training." Placing his hands over her head, Lucius started to pour his soul power into his palms, and activated the simulation spell.

Olivia hardly had the time to deal with the explosion of complicated thoughts within her mind before her consciousness was pulled into the training simulation once more.

----------

"Wow! Is this our destination? I've never seen something like that before," said Olivia in awe.

Her face was plastered onto the glass window of the spaceship as her eyes looked at the fantastical scene before her. 

"Lucius, that this is…" Ka'lor'ah, who was also present within the Control Room, turned towards Lucius, eyes twinkling with excitement and curiosity, and asked, "…a World Tree?"

Nodding his head, Lucius affirmed her doubts, "Correct. That is indeed a World Tree."

Lucius then faced the window and looked at the scene beyond it.

An inordinately colossal tree with its massive roots wrapped around a green-colored planet, ten times the size of the Earth, grew into the dark, vast space. 

Its dark-green crown contained an uncountable number of leaves, each of which was the size of a small city, and covered almost the entirety of this planetary system containing 9 planets.

Thick and sturdy branches, whose sizes were impossible to describe, extended from the main trunk of this colossal tree and connected to each of the nine remaining planets within the system. These main branches branched out into even smaller ones, which then served to connected different parts within the individual planets.

If one were to look closely, one would see millions of tiny objects, which were in fact transport vessels, moving along these branches towards different locations. In short, the branches served as a universal highway of sorts, except that they not only connected different cities and continents within a planet but also connected different planets themselves.

Moving on.

At the heart of the main tree, one could see a massive green-colored orb pulsing with a tremendous amount of energy. This orb was both the 'sun' of this planetary system and also the heart of the World Tree. It provided the energy required for this vast organism to function and was the source of its life.

"If there is a World Tree that must mean…" Ka'lor'ah paused for a second before continuing, "This is a settlement of the Grade 5 races, Elves!" she exclaimed.

Elves, singular Elf, were one of the top Grade 5 races amongst the Universe. 

They were widely known for their long ears, incredibly long lifespan, dedication to arts and crafts, unworldly and ambiguous beauty, and their overly peaceful nature.

Unlike most other races that liked to congregate and occupy a singular stretch of territory within the Universe, the Elves lived in small pockets in various areas within the Universe. 

Dived into numerous tribes, each tribe would choose a preferable planetary system in some region of the Universe and plant the seed for the World Tree on a suitable planet. If all the right conditions are met, the seed would then germinate and rapidly expand into this behemoth that Lucius' party had just seen.

Within a few years, it would connect all the planets within the planetary system and enter into a symbiotic relationship with them. In exchange for using the planet's resources to grow, the World Tree would provide mystical energy and increase the spiritual energy concentration of this region.

With the greater amount of spiritual energy, the planets themselves would also be able to grow stronger and quicker, eventually becoming larger and more resource-rich. The chances of an intelligent race naturally forming within the planets would also increase.

As such, each World Tree and the pocket of space enveloped by it was called 'Elvenheim', or literally, 'Land of the Elves.'

Lucius and his party currently found themselves in the fringes of one such Elvenheim.

"Your master forger is an Elf?!" Ka'lor'ah asked with great excitement.

"Indeed." Lucius nodded his head in response.

Hearing their conversation, Olivia quickly turned around and asked, "Wait, we are going to meet Elves? The very same ones that I learned about from your lessons?"

The Anatomy Lessons not only introduced Olivia to the complex life machine called the body but also, many of the major races that lived within the Universe.

Heavenly Sovereigns, Abyssal Lords, Ancient Dragons, Fiends, Titans, Giants, Draconians, Beast-Humans, Neo-Humans, Magi, the Mechanical Races, Sprites, Faeries, so on and so forth, numbering in the hundreds.

Olivia keenly remembered studying about the Elves, who were one of the more important races within the Universe.

In response to her question, Lucius replied, "Correct. Our weapons are going to be forged an Elf who is a Master Forger."

'Aren't Elves supposed to be haughty and xenophobic? Didn't you teach me that Elves very rarely agreed to requests made by outsiders who are not members of their race?" Olivia questioned, recalling her lessons.

"You remember well," Lucius nodded his head in praise and then continued. "This one, however, owes me a great favor."

Lucius did not elaborate further, causing Olivia to swallow her following questions. She wanted to know how an Elf owed Lucius a favor but understood that her question would be touching upon a secret.

'Well, not that it matters to me,' Olivia shook her head and returned to admiring the scenery outside. 

Ka'lor'ah on the other hand, had no such qualms asking Lucius. Opening their soul connection, she mentally asked, 'What favor? Is it a female elf? Was the favor, perhaps, sexual in nature?'

'Stop talking nonsense,' Lucius grimly replied. 'Use your brain. During this time in my previous life, I was still in Mankind fighting against the Formicians. There was no way that I could've been here.'

'Well, duh, you were obviously not here now. But you could've come here in the hundred years that followed,' Ka'lor'ah rebutted.

Shaking his head, Lucius replied, 'This particular Elvenheim was destroyed fifteen years from now. All the elves within died.'

'Huh?' Ka'lor'ah voiced her confusion. 'How do you know the Master Forger and how do they owe you a favor?'

If Lucius had never come to this place in his previous life and all the elves within this Elvenheim had died, how could he be owed a favor? 

It made no logical sense.

Hearing her question, Lucius explained, 'To be exact, it's not that this particular Elven Master Forger owes me a favor. Rather, their entire familial line owes me a favor.'

'Some years into the future, I met an Elf during my travels within the Universe. He then requested me to help him complete a task that was passed down through many descendants within his family. Completing the task would make him or anyone of his family owe me a favor.'

'The Master Forger whom we are about to meet is a cousin of his, belonging to the same family. Naturally, having 'completed' the task, I'm going to request for my payment.'

'What was the task? Did you already cash it in, in your previous life?' Ka'lor'ah curiously asked.

'I finished the task but never bothered to find him or members of his family to request compensation. As for the task, I'll explain it to the Master Forger later so wait till then.'

'Oh, come on! Are you going to leave at a cliffhanger, just because you don't want to explain it twice?' Ka'lor'ah complained.

'Yes,' Lucius curtly replied.

"Hmm, guys. What are we going to do now?" Olivia turned around and asked, having had her fill of the ethereal scenery.

Walking forward, Lucius pointed towards a certain aquamarine-colored planet shown on the hologram projected by the ship. It was the seventh planet in the planetary system and according to the scans performed by the ship, the least populated one.

"The Master Forger should be living on this planet. We are going here."

He then turned around to face Ka'lor'ah and spoke, "Control the spaceship to join one of the highways (branches). It is the only method to traverse through this planetary system."

"Can't we just circle around and enter from the outside? It seems shorter than the path traveled by the branch," Olivia asked.

"That's not possible," Lucius immediately shook his head and continued, "The World Tree projects a sort of barrier that protects this planetary system from all foreign objects and forces. Trying to enter from a direction, other than the paths outlined by the branches will result in the foreign object being destroyed by the barrier."

"Enter the highway and follow the line of transportation vessels. That's the only way to enter."

"Okay," Ka'lor'ah did not question any further and complied. 

"Take your seats and fasten your seatbelts. This is going to be a bumpy ride!" 

The spaceship instantly shot out from its stationary position, heading closer and closer towards the enormous tree in the distance.