There is only one way to reach the canopy of the World Tree, Garlanord, from the ground, and that is to ride the unique xenomorph creature of Garlanord, the Hippriffin.

This sturdy beast is three meters long and has a wingspan of six meters. Omnivorous, elves feed them a lot of vegetables and fruits every day, and they themselves will hunt some small prey such as snakes, frogs, rats, and fish in the wild in their leisure time. Although their size and strong claws and beaks make them look unkind, they are in fact gentle beasts to all intelligent beings.

At least it doesn't prey hobbits because of their size.

Accompanied by the sound of the hunting wind, the brightly colored horned eagle beast slowly climbed up in circles along the trunk of the World Tree. The kilometer-long circumference and trunk height make it so impractical to attempt to climb this prehistoric giant tree by manpower, regardless of the physical strength of mortals, building a plank road of this scale on the trunk alone is a huge project that will not be smaller than the entire Anderari. With a diameter of 2.5 kilometers and a trunk of 8 kilometers high, the length of the plank road alone is beyond Andrei's knowledge.

At the beginning of their birth, they had a history of thousands of years, mainly on the canopy of this giant tree, and the World Tree Garanord provided them with plenty of water and food. Then the Goddess of Grace had prepared such a handy tool for her children—the Hippogriff was a strange creature born of the magic of life, and if it left the protection of Garanord in the middle of its growth, it would not be adequately supplied with magic and food. Not only is it difficult to reach half the size of a normal individual, but it may even be impossible to soar in the sky for the rest of your life.

This is also the reason why they are so difficult to see in other parts of the Whispering Forest. Unless they are particularly robust individuals in the population, most Hippogriffs begin to weaken after leaving Garanord's protection.

In Andrei's opinion, this huge creature of birds and beasts does not fit the characteristics of a regular arboreal creature at all—an extremely light body and just enough physical strength to support its own activities.

Obviously, the hollow skeleton and the size of a normal bird of prey cannot afford the weight of the elves and themselves, even though the elves weigh only slightly more than halflings and goblins among common humanoids. Therefore, the deficiencies of these magical beasts in these aspects can only be forcibly compensated for by the wonderful and powerful life magic. They are not natural creatures that evolved through reproduction, but strange creatures created directly by the gods, just like demons and elves.

This may be the special ecology that the wizarding world should have in the first place - completely different from the world in Andrei's memory.

After flying half an hourglass, the magical beast, covered in huge emerald green and bright red feathers, finally landed safely on the fork of the main trunk of Garlanord under the guidance of the rider. This area, which is exclusive to the horned eagle beast, is similar to the "post station", and the platform is full of these huge birds. The elf, who was Andre's guide, affectionately hugged the neck of the horned eagle beast, and the big guy who had just "made a long journey" to send them to the canopy of the tree whispered hello, and went to the trough set up by the elves to find something to eat.

Even if they are just branches, they are the branches of the World Tree, and their size is completely beyond the imagination of the children of the abyss! The roads of different heights are connected by wooden staircases that are common in elven homes, and these stairs that have grown into the World Tree do not need to be maintained by the elves even after thousands of years. Because they are "alive", they no longer grow, but they do not decay, and they become more and more resilient with the passage of time.

So what André saw on the trunk of the tree was like walking at the foot of a mountain, and the branches near the main trunk could have a radius of nearly a kilometer, although the son of the abyss did not walk on the edge of the "cliff" of the trunk, but the terrain was hundreds of meters higher than the path he was walking on, and in his eyes it seemed to be no different from the "green mountain". However, there were no other trees growing on these dark green trunks, nor were they like the endless patchwork of mountains, except for the occasional tower of branches that slanted up into the sky. There are hardly any ups and downs on the "ridge".

There are also branches that stick out flat, but even these secondary branches are hundreds of meters wide, and from a distance they look like green cylindrical bridges, and there is no end in sight. André could only guess by impression that at the end of the branches were huge dark green leaves, and these branches that extended outward and the leaves at the ends formed a green barrier that covered hundreds of square kilometers of the sky! What was even more unbelievable was that the vegetation on the ground within a radius of several hundred kilometers was even more lush than the rest of the forest! The children of the abyss had seen those towering ancient trees more than once under the canopy, although they were as small as ants in front of humans compared to Garanord.

......

It took a small half hourglass for André to finally reach the site of the goddess's blessing ceremony, the World Tree Sanctuary built at the first fork of Garanord. There were already a number of white-robed elves like Andre, whispering in groups in front of the temple gates. From their happy and deliberate expressions, it was not difficult to see how the elves were about this ritual that only happened once a year. They were full of longing and awe for the opportunity to be blessed by the goddess herself, and many of them were lucky enough to clasp their hands in front of their chests, with their eyes closed, and whispering something in a calm voice.

"You are the last one to arrive and will receive the blessings of the Goddess today, Your Highness Andrew. The Great Druid, who had left the Children of the Abyss to seek an answer to an inexplicable question, reappeared in front of André, "But this is the process that has been set for a long time, and the guests always receive the blessing of the goddess at the end. And you, my dear Highness, you will be the most special guest ever received by the World Tree Sanctuary!"

With the familiarity of Yudeon and Andrew, they had long since stopped greeting each other with honorifics, not to mention the fact that the Druid knew that His Highness had made it a rule not to greet him by the titles "Your Highness" and "Your Excellency" on informal occasions on public holidays in order not to appear so condescending, although people always forgot this less formal rule because of their admiration for him.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. The ritual process will not be very long, although this year there are a little more lucky people called by the goddess than in previous years, but the ceremony will not exceed half an hourglass. Judeon carefully instructed the Children of the Abyss to note some precautions that had been repeated several times, and then suddenly changed the subject, "By the way, Your Highness, I have found the answer to your questions about the appearance of the Moon God. ”

"It is said that long before the creation of the elves, there were merfolk and Nagas tribes in the sea. It is likely that the otherworldly appearance of the moon goddess Igria originated from the worship of all the peoples of the sea. After all, the palace of the moon god by the sea will look clearer, and Igria's influence on the changing tides is more profound than that of the peoples of our land!"

So the adoration of the people of the sea for Igriya shaped her godhead, which is the most plausible explanation. Apparently this question of the origin of the elves had plagued the great druid, who was so accomplished in "theology", that the second thing he did after meeting André was to tell the children of the abyss what he had gained in just half a day.

"Is this so serious?" Andre was just a little curious, of course he also had a desire to learn, but it was not enough to put aside his business and concentrate on studying history and culture.

"Of course! This is a serious question concerning the origin of the elves! Although we elves have always boasted a long history, and are far more prosperous than the people of the sea in terms of the progress of civilization, in fact our history is still far less than that of the peoples favored by the goddess Vantiny. ”

"Son of the Abyss from the Demon Realm, I don't know what is the reason why you have been able to join this sacred ritual. But I hope you don't do anything during the whole ceremony that will make Udion, Princess Roseanne, and you and me regret it!" a silver-haired elven woman dropped an inexplicable word and walked away without looking back.

"This is Her Excellency the High Priestess, whose two brothers died in that war. Please don't mind too much, after all, it is the will of the goddess, and no one can object to it. She...... She just couldn't accept it emotionally. The Great Druid whispered to Andrei, "By the way, the two Highnesses are over there." ”

In the direction the druids were pointing, even though the two elven princesses were wearing the same robes as everyone else, their remarkable demeanor still made them look so radiant in the crowd.

"You haven't met His Highness Iryan yet, why don't we go and say hello first?" Yudien couldn't help but pull Andre towards that side, "Through the prayers of the priests to the goddess, we have come to the conclusion that your highness, your summoning by the goddess is obviously not an accident. ”

"What does that mean?" the Children of the Abyss replied absentmindedly. If he could, he really didn't want to go and greet that beautiful highness at this time.

"This means that the Goddess has been watching you all along, Your Highness. Don't you want to build a thriving trade system in the Whispering Forest, the Goddess's approval will help you clear the way you get to your goals!"

At this time, the Great Druid had already walked into the sight of the two elven princesses with the Children of the Abyss.

"I have seen two highnesses, and this one is Andrarui's most illustrious leader, His Highness André Gesarez! This is the most beautiful golden rose of Garanord, Princess Irion. ”

No matter how embarrassed he was, Andre had to show basic etiquette with a shy face, "In Lower Andrei, I have seen His Royal Highness Roseanne, and I have seen His Highness Illion......"

Although the former did not have many opportunities to meet with the Children of the Abyss, she had already had a more comprehensive understanding of Andre through various rumors, not to mention that she herself met with the leader of Andhrari this morning. For this, the eldest princess of the elven kingdom simply responded with a gentle smile.

And the younger and more beautiful His Royal Highness Iryan Garlandia just responded with the traditional etiquette of the elves with a cold face and a word. Obviously, I am still haunted by the "accident" that happened only half a day ago and only two people knew about it.

I don't know if it was the delusion of the children of the abyss, but Andre noticed that the cold and disgusted expression of this highness could not hide the slightest red cloud on her face.

Maybe it's just people's simple natural beauty, white and red, right?

Andrei told himself.