Star Island in the Northern Continent is experiencing a rare sunny day. The sky is like a washed blue cloth shining above the head. The golden Matraktiri shines bright sunshine on the ice sheet. The white flowers on the snow make it difficult to open your eyes. Water vapor is steaming everywhere, and dark clouds with flashing thunder and lightning hang on the horizon in the distance. The surface of the snow melts in the sun, and is frozen by the low temperature into a thin layer of ice, which makes a rattling sound when you step on it. "In this kind of weather, you need to pay extra attention to melting snow." The puddles formed are not easy to identify because of the ice on the surface," Elliot reminded. "Without the footprints of small animals as a basis for judgment, we can only slow down our progress, but we can reach Jade before dark. The tree shouldn’t be a problem,”
"I got it, Eli," Jonah agreed. As he walked, he kept poking the ground with the end of his staff.
"What's the matter, Lord Jonah?" Sensing the astrologer's depressed mood, the knight slowed down and walked with him, asking softly.
The young man shook his head and forced a smile: "...It's nothing, I'm fine, Eli,"
"Are you worried about the enemy? The release of telekinesis in a demonstration last night was truly amazing. Frankly speaking, that is an enemy that you and I cannot defeat at the moment." Rose Knight took the initiative to bring up this matter, "But we are a team, not When fighting alone, individual tyranny is a sufficient and unnecessary condition for the strength of a team. The chemical interaction between people can produce miracles. Sir Jonah, don’t worry too much and trust your partners, right?”
The knight's warm smile made people's hearts warm. "I know, thank you." Yona patted the unicorn's neck. The docile riding beast rubbed his head against the boy's face. The warm touch of the mane made the boy can't help but chuckled.
Too many things happened last night, including the time and space coordinates buried in the secret treasure in the thorn elf enchantment, the strange conversations about "Frost Treasure" and "Immortality", the burned pages of the unknown book, and more and more clues, but the... As for the life experience of the increasingly mysterious traitor Segres, Jonah did not reveal everything. The young man was accustomed to shouldering a heavy fate and was always afraid of involving his friends. He instinctively felt that Long Zongjun's fate was beginning to be related to his own. Entangled together, the powerful and evil man would drag himself into the abyss like a lead weight, but he could not retreat because Long Ji was there, not far ahead.
"What exactly is the Emerald Tree?" the young man asked on the road.
Elliot replied: "This is difficult to answer, Lord Jonah. The unicorn among us is the descendant of a sacred magical creature. Its hometown is the Emerald Tree, but even it can hardly answer this question directly. , because there are a thousand emerald trees in the hearts of a thousand people, and only those who see it with their own eyes can generate the answer in their hearts,"
The learned Rose Knight rarely avoids questions like this. Jonah was surprised and could only take out the "Geographical Survey of the Northern Continent" in his bag and read it through it. The entries related to "Emerald Tree" took up a considerable space. , but the explanation about the big tree itself is relatively simple, and adheres to the unserious language style of the author of this book.
"Geographic Survey of the Northern Continent", page 213, Chapter 22 "Star Island", supplementary entry 1: Emerald Tree:
No one can deny that the Emerald Tree is a tree, just as no one can deny that Bactria is a "ria" (meaning "city" in Colombo), and the Bazeral Mountain Lizard is a lizard. You must I have seen those shoddy prints printed on moth-eaten parchment with poor-quality ink that populate flea markets in several continents. There is a picture of a very tall olive tree (some say olive tree, others say white olive, etc.). Some people say that the leaf shape looks more like the red olive native to Albania. Who knows which continent Albania is on? In fact, it doesn’t matter at all, because the emerald tree cannot be an olive tree, right? ,), there is a city painted under the tree. If you can barely read the crooked small characters at the bottom of the print, you will find that the title of this painting is "Emerald Tree and Tree City Aerion". Experts have pointed out at least 20 features of the print. This is a mistake. For example, even in the era before the Second Ancient War, the straight-line distance between the City of Erin and the Emerald Tree was more than 700 miles. To see them at the same time, you had to stand on the spire of the Temple of the Gods in the middle of the Sea of Divine Blessing. You need to use a high-power telescope to aim, and then there is the issue of proportion. The highest point of the log tower in Tree City Aerion is more than 900 feet, making it the tallest building in the entire continent. If the Emerald Tree is even higher than Aerion City Three times, wouldn't it make a hole in the sky?
However, even though it is crude and full of fallacies, this print is still very popular among poor people. Over the years, it has been purchased in large quantities and posted on the walls of children's rooms in houses because it is widely believed that the Emerald Tree is the habitat of sacred magical creatures, those with weird tempers. Magical creatures that don't like to deal with humans but have the source of magic that humans need most will protect the healthy growth of babies, so that these peasant children with two red cheeks at birth can grow up quickly and carry their father's hoe. (Or my mother’s sewing kit).
The engravings about the Emerald Tree all come from the same printing plate, the work of Raquel Rosene, who claimed to be a naturalist but inexplicably became famous for the landscape engravings he carved during his travels. The naturalist who was attacked by the carnivorous plant loloweed in the southern continent and refused to eat fruits and vegetables for life endured the torture of scurvy and liver poisoning and traveled to every corner of the world, recording many strange animals and plants and many never-before-seen animals. He claimed that he had been to the Northern Continent and saw the legendary emerald tree with his own eyes. "When I saw it for the first time, I said, 'Damn, what a big cauliflower,'" said my assistant. Remind me, "If you wear glasses, you will be able to see clearly. It is a big dark green tree. Dear Mr. Rosena," I braved the cold and put on my glasses to take a look, and then said: "No, That's not a tree either, poor Mr. Ferro. The green color is just the flash of magical energy in human eyes. No one knows what it really looks like because it is shrouded by thousands of magical elves,' Assistant So he said, 'You are right, dear Mr. Rosener, what a great scene this is. How many people in the entire history of mankind can see the magic world with their own eyes?' After saying this, he On the ground, dying of cold and lack of food, I immediately took out my drawing board and sketched the appearance of the Emerald Tree with charcoal. Fifteen days later, I returned to the village on the border of the northern continent and pinched it with the three remaining fingers of my right hand. The engraving knife produced a print to commemorate the six fingers I lost and my dear attendant, Mr. Ferroro, who was hungry and clothed. This painting was bought by the innkeeper. I think he must have loved it very much. My creation, instead of being bothered by the fact that I can’t afford the rent,” (“Rosena Memoirs”: 290-7)
Although we cannot experience the spectacular scene described by Raquel Rosena from the prints, we can learn from his autobiography and many research materials (including the popular Anglican science book "The Creator did more than create the world and the spirit of all things"). What to order," historical science reader "On the Same Origin of Magical Creatures, Commoners and Noble Lords", Knight Promotion Exam Textbook "The Light of Loyalty Shines on Our March: A Study of Strategies and Tactics of the Northern Continent", Magicians Association classic "From La Babel ( The research on magical creatures from the Ninth-Level Great Mage) to Cagabel (the son of the Ninth-Level Great Mage)", the collection of folk tales of the Kingdom of St. Bolun "There is always a little green man in Mom's stories", etc.) The basic form of the Emerald Tree: It is not a certain kind of creature, but an aggregation of a huge number of magical creatures. Magical creatures headed by elemental elves can transmit thoughts through magical fluctuations. A large enough number can trigger strong magical resonance and produce The natural environment that is most suitable for them to live is like the King's Market held every July 14th in the capital of the Kingdom of Bazelal. Farmers and businessmen from the entire Western Continent will swarm into the city, raising the population density to normal levels. Fifteen times, noise, garbage, stench, crowded environment, poor accommodation conditions came into being, but except for the unlucky ones who were trampled to death in the horse racing festival, everyone who left the King's Market carried An ambiguous smile with evil intentions, because a large enough population base brings money, wine, food, gambling, carnivals and prostitutes. This is the most suitable living environment for the vulgar Western Continent people.
Therefore, there are a thousand emerald trees in the eyes of a thousand people, because it has no fixed height, shape, and color. Everything is determined by the magical creatures gathered together. We cannot simply call Rosena "lost his fingers because of scurvy" "The liar who imagined the scenery of the Northern Continent in his hospital bed. After all, no one can draw the true appearance of the Emerald Tree. Travel Tips: Winter is the coldest season on Star Island, and spring, summer and autumn are also cold. When hiking to the Emerald Tree to worship, please prepare cold-proof clothing, sufficient food, fuel, weapons and body bags. The beautiful scenery is the greatest reward for adventure. The moment you see the Emerald Tree, I believe all the hardships along the way will disappear. , Please keep the spectacular scene firmly in your heart, it is a scenery that only belongs to the brave,,,, because no one will believe it if you tell it to anyone.
Jonah closed the page with sweat on his face. It was already afternoon, and the sun brought plenty of heat. Everyone was sweating. According to estimates, there were only three thousand yards away from the Emerald Tree. Looking up, he couldn't see it. When we arrived at the legendary giant tree, the little grasshopper, who had just recovered from the high fever, sat on the horse and shouted: "Oh my, my butt is smashed. If someone doesn't give me a good fight, I won't be able to cheer up at all." Well,"
"Crow's Mouth," Danny shouted, "I finally earned so many gold coins. What if someone takes them away? I won't participate in the battle."
"Everyone," Elliot stopped and pointed his sword towards the sky: "Look,"