Chapter 115: Daughter of the Emeraldshade: Encounter with the Federation

The assault ship drifted down into the forest, its anti-gravity engines humming quietly.

Suddenly shadows flickered everywhere—some riding four-legged beasts across the ground, others balanced high on the thick branches of towering trees.

Hundreds of golden-haired, sharp-eared beauties raised their bows, arrows drawn and aimed at the steel intruder, the air thick with deadly intent.

“Hold your fire!”

Just then the rear hatch of the assault ship slid open and a golden-haired figure burst out, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Selena!”

Everyone saw who’d come running out of the metallic beast’s belly and started yelling.

One of the elves, hand raised and ready to give the order to attack, suddenly froze in shock and called out in surprise.

She was Violet, the chieftain of Emeraldshade Forest.

She was also Selena’s mother.

Though every elf is born from the ancient Elf Tree, each still needs an adult elf to raise them after birth.

So the elves have built a society that’s really one huge adoption network. Blood isn’t everything; they’ve created bonds that are every bit as real as that between mother and daughter.

Sixteen Earth years ago, Violet brought Selena home from the Elf Tree, determined to raise her as her successor.

“Mother!”

Selena dashed in front of Violet, her voice ringing out.

“Where have you been all day? Do you know that Aria and Luna nearly rushed into the Xuanming Domain looking for you?”

Violet let out a sigh of relief, but the scolding quickly followed.

After all, with Selena missing, all of Emeraldshade Forest had been thrown into chaos. The two generals led over a thousand warriors to search every inch of the woods.

They nearly charged into the Xuanming Domain, determined to find out whether Selena had been taken by the Xuanming Dragon.

“I’m sorry!”

Selena immediately dropped her head and admitted her mistake.

But in the next moment, she realized—

Wait, wasn’t I the one who was kidnapped…?

So why am I apologizing?

Whatever, this wasn’t the time to get hung up on details. She had more important things to say.

“Mother, please have everyone lower their weapons. The people inside aren’t our enemies—in fact, they’re the only ones who can help us now!”

Violet looked puzzled.

What did she mean by ‘only ones who can help us’?

Life had been good for the elves lately; there were no crises, no threats—what help did they need?

Still, even though she didn’t understand, Violet clenched her raised hand into a fist.

The very next moment, every elf lowered their bows and arrows.

“Tell me, who exactly is inside that ship?”

——

A few minutes later.

Selena explained in detail everything Lin Yu had told her, and everything she’d seen herself in those images and photos.

As she spoke, Violet’s face grew more and more serious.

If all of this was true, then the elves faced a true crisis of survival—but—

Could they really trust these outsiders?

Violet looked up at the sky, doubt in her eyes.

According to Selena, another world lay above this one—a pitch-black expanse of nothingness.

And as for these so-called humans, there were nineteen colossal warships floating there, each one dozens of times larger than the elves’ own fleet. Every inch was built from solid steel.

But the most unsettling thing: these outsiders could see everything that happened on the surface at any time. They could even zoom in on any elf’s face in chilling detail, hearing every word spoken.

Violet understood just how powerful these people were.

And just how small the elves truly were.

“The one you mentioned—is he inside that ship?”

Violet pointed at the assault ship and asked.

“No, it’s just a few human soldiers in there—they’re the crew running this metal beast. Lin Yu said, if you’re willing to trust him, you can board this—well, Lin Yu called it an assault ship—and take it up to his warship to talk in more detail.”

“You want me to go to their warship?”

“Um, Lin Yu also said, if you’re worried, you can pick another place…”

“No need. If they really wanted to harm us, they wouldn’t bother with all this trouble.”

Violet shook her head.

She was more than a little curious about this world beyond the sky—and needed to see for herself whether these humans were really as powerful as Selena claimed.

But she didn’t leave right away. Instead, she waited quietly.

About thirty minutes later, as the ground began to tremble faintly, over a thousand elven warriors burst onto the scene astride their mounts.

Leading the charge were the two generals of Emeraldshade Forest, Luna and Aria.

They’d returned from their search at full speed, bringing all the forces that had set out to find Selena.

Both generals listened to the new developments and stared wide-eyed in shock.

The information was just too overwhelming.

So the Xuanming Dragon had been hiding for over a century, its numbers swelling to thirty thousand strong.

And now there was a mighty force from the heavens, with the power to wipe out the entire Elven Race, calling themselves humans and wielding warships beyond imagination.

How was any of this even real…

“That’s the whole story. Selena, go with Luna and lead the army back to the tribe. Aria, take a team of elite guards and come with me.”

“It’s unlikely, but if anything happens to me, Selena will step in immediately—and you’re to report everything that happens here to the other three tribes.”

……

With all preparations made, Violet gathered Aria and twelve elves clad in ornate armor.

Together, they entered the assault ship.

The hatch closed. With a soft hum, the anti-gravity engines powered up.

Under the watchful gaze of a thousand elves, the assault ship rose steadily into the sky.

——

Aboard the Zhulong.

On the enclosed deck, the returning assault ship had just finished docking.

The moment its hatch opened, a squad of heavily armored Human Federation shock troopers ran up and took up positions on either side of the entrance.

It was a welcoming ceremony, but one meant to intimidate as well.

That’s why Lin Yu had the shock troopers stand guard instead of any ceremonial unit.

He meant no harm to the elves, of course—but when two civilizations meet for the first time, it’s important to show strength.

After all—

Negotiation always begins from a position of power.

Some truths never change.

When Violet and her group stepped off the assault ship, they couldn’t hide their shock.

Sure, on Proxima II the elves had leather and metal armor, even warships.

But none of it could compare to the all-encompassing suits worn by the Federation troopers. They were—

Even Aria, the general, had to wonder: could an elven arrow even scratch that kind of armor? Just looking at it made you think it was indestructible.

And that was the simple truth.

The Federation used special alloys to craft that armor—there was no way a simple arrow could pierce it.

Even though elven bows could rival the legendary ten-stone bows of humanity, the result would be the same.

Power-wise, the elves were the equals of the Klein, but they still used outdated weapons.

Even if they drew a bow with all their strength, at most the impact might—

—make a shock trooper take a step or two back, nothing more.