This is a story from an unknown number of years ago, all the people involved have already perished, so thinking about it serves no purpose.

She sighed softly, continuing to recount the past.

After the Tree Elves gained the upper hand, they quickly seized control of the dialogue.

They forbade the consumption of plants because plants were their parents.

Roland was speechless.

Elves are nature's favorites. While they don't reject meat, eggs, and milk, their diet is light and primarily vegetarian.

"If they don't allow us to eat plants, do they expect elves to eat meat? Five hundred million elves is not a small number, even if flora and fauna thrived in the Third Era, it wouldn't be enough."

"No, animals can't be eaten either."

Roland was amused, "If plants can't be eaten, and animals can't be eaten, do you eat mushrooms all day long?"

"Yes, after the Tree Elves seized power, for nearly three hundred years, our legal food was a variety of mushrooms."

Roland opened his mouth but suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

He realized that humans simply can't compare to the stubborn elves when it comes to extremities.

"How is it enough to only eat mushrooms? I don't believe these Tree Elves don't eat anything."

"They indeed don't eat. They dare to be so extreme because they have a trump card. Tree Elves that have been purified by Ancient Trees have evolved chloroplasts. They can absorb energy through photosynthesis like plants."

Roland: "..."

After a long time, he slowly asked, "Can photosynthesis sustain elves? I mean, is the energy sufficient?"

"Of course, it's not enough. So these fools choose to stand still like plants, moving very little. Only when they find us maliciously acquiring extra food do they angrily uproot themselves to hunt us down."

"You cannot imagine the suffocating oppression. In the dense forests of the Third Era, every tree was their eyes. Whenever our people acquired food, even if it were a bird's egg, they were considered heretical and subjected to execution by trees."

Roland didn't ask what execution by trees meant, as it didn't sound like a nice term.

He didn't know how to comfort Elf Sylph.

This memory indeed was too painful.

He couldn't even tell if it was trees turning into elves or elves turning into trees.

But it was a bit too extreme.

Elf Sylph bit her lip and said: "Execution by trees is binding my fellows to a post and then sowing fast-growing tree seeds inside their bodies. As the seeds take root and sprout, the inflicted are drained into a mummy, and a grotesque punitive tree grows strong. At most, there were hundreds of thousands of punitive trees just near the royal city."

Roland's face changed slightly.

It was indeed a horrifying and cruel method.

As the Human Race's greatest enemy is the Human Race, so is it with the Elves.

The topic was truly heavy, and Roland felt suffocated, so he casually asked, "With Tree Elves being so tyrannical, didn't the Earth Spirits take the chance to attack?"

"No, because they were also in a civil war."

Elf Sylph's lips displayed a hint of disdain, "Their reasons for civil war were even more absurd than ours. As you surely know, the Earth Spirit is divided internally into two branches: the Long-haired Earth Spirit and the Hairless Earth Spirit, but both are the descendants of Titans; they are actually one family."

"They used 'Naked Ape' and 'Yehu' as derogatory names for each other and launched a brutal civil war."

Elf Sylph softly said, "The civil war between the Tree Elves and Blood Elves can somewhat be understood; the civil war between the Long-haired Earth Spirit and Hairless Earth Spirit I completely fail to understand."

"It's not surprising, resources ran out."

Roland calmly said, "According to ancient texts, with climate changes, the once-dense forests are gradually turning into scattered woodlands, with less and less food. This is the reason for the conflicts between the Naked Ape and Yehu, and also the root of the conflict between the Tree Elves and Blood Elves."

"Because of dwindling resources, not everyone could maintain their original standard of living. Tree Elves chose to align with plants, naturally fearing that after losing their mobility, they'd be treated as food by you. Naked Apes and Yehus directly vied for living space and resources."

Elf Sylph's eyes widened, looking at Roland in disbelief, her chest heaving with shock.

Seeing her astonished expression, Roland was puzzled and asked, "Has no one thought in this direction all these years?"

Elf Sylph fell silent, and after a long time, she slowly said, "Creativity and innovative thinking are not our race's forte. The classics of the sages have never written about the kin killing each other due to resource scarcity."

That's because the Elves' ancestors lived in such abundant conditions!

Such events have been recorded countless times in human history.

One can only say the rich resources of the Third Era protected Elves and Earth Spirits too well.

No wonder they were utterly defeated before the Divine Punishment Legion, powerless to resist.

In contrast, the Magic Empire, whose paper strength was inferior to theirs, achieved a tragic victory over the Divine Punishment Legion, preserving a spark.

The Magic Empire, after all, is an excellent representative of the Human Race.

Creation and courage are the immortal songs of triumph for humans over other wise races.

Of course, he absolutely wouldn't say these words out loud.

Although he didn't say it, Elf Sylph already vaguely saw the expression in Roland's eyes.

She didn't refute, since it was the truth.

With a somewhat somber tone, she finished telling the last piece of history before the downfall of the Elf Race.

With the Tree Elves' continuous oppression of the Blood Elves, the Blood Elves exploded completely.

They chose to counter with magic, extremity against extremity, cruelty against cruelty.

They injected their blood into tall plants with yet unused wisdom, creating feral trees that consumed Ancient Trees as nourishment.

These trees were called Tree Demons.

So, that's how Tree Demons originated.

The longest-living trees, and the most primitive in every aspect, the ginkgo, were chosen by the Blood Elves to become vengeful Tree Demons.

Blood Elves sacrificed their flesh and blood, entrusted their souls to these tall trees, enabling the ginkgo to possess wisdom, becoming blades of rebellion.

In the forest, brutal Tree Demons voraciously consumed those Ancient Trees that had gained wisdom but couldn't move, treating Tree Elves as nutrients.

Hearing this scene, Roland's lips twitched a bit.

Imagining the scant forests standing up to gnaw at each other, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

Though the Blood Elves' fighting will was resolute, the number of Tree Elves was overwhelming, thus Blood Elves were at a disadvantage in the war.

Seeing the Elf Race about to be wiped out by a Mysterious Race, Elf King Yaslan sacrificed himself, transforming into seven Flower Seas to protect his people.

"Flower Seas are not flowers, nor are they seas, but blood pools formed by the blood of the people."

"Each clansman who died in battle would boost the power of the Flower Seas. With the support of the Flower Seas, we won, but the cost was unimaginable."

The war concluded in a tragic victory for the Blood Elves.

After this legitimate contention, the Blood Elf population reduced to less than two million.

To avoid disaster reoccurrences, all records about Tree Elves were destroyed, and topics related to Tree Elves became absolutely taboo.

This was why Roland's heritage had no records of Tree Elves.

The war had another consequence, all Ancient Trees died, and the World Tree was burned completely by the endless flames kindled by enraged Blood Elves.

The Elf Race lost its barrier.

Fortunately, the Earth Spirits also bled rivers, and couldn't invade.

While the elves were recuperating, the Barbarians, whom they looked down upon, invaded the fertile centerlands, seizing living space.

For survival, the Blood Elves and Tree Demons fought as they retreated to the original homeland of the Elf Race.

As the seven Flower Seas gradually withered and fell, the elves became debilitated.

By the time the Final Return Day arrived, the Divine Punishment Legion came as scheduled.

Elf Sylph laughed self-deprecatingly, "The Divine Punishment Legion descended on us as if we had a Tier One demigod level powerhouse. This wasn't divine punishment, but a massacre."

"The unsatiated Divine Punishment Legion turned its wrath onto other races. The Barbarians who occupied our homeland, and the Earth Spirits regaining vitality, were also targeted by the Divine Punishment Legion."

"We came from the forest and perished in the wasteland. This is the entirety of the Third Era's history."

After saying this, Elf Sylph seemed to have exhausted all her energy, bowing down slowly, lying by the Flower Sea, quietly falling asleep.

Before she fell asleep, she subconsciously drew back her feet, covering them with her dress.

Roland did not disturb her, only leaving silently.

This storytelling consumed the little energy Elf Sylph had left, and she had just engraved all her memories into Roland's mind through a special spell, before drifting into sleep.

Rest well.

I will surely awaken you.

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