Alistair knew that he would be stopped by the gate, but a small part of him had hoped that perhaps the guards would be too sleepy to ask for identification. No matter, he had prepared for this occasion although he had hoped, he wouldn't have to resort to using that.

He lowered his hood over his golden eyes—those were a tell-tale sign that he wasn't just a regular citizen. "Good day, I'm heading out for Guild business."

Alistair gave the guards an Adventurers Guild registration card. One of them took it and inspected it carefully. His eyebrow arched. "Barrett Rook from Sunglow? What are you doing so far north?"

Alistair had expected his question and gave them a shrug. "Order from the Guildmaster. I'm supposed to retrieve a pelt from a frost wolf but there are none around Sunglow at this time of year."

"Why does she need a frost wolf's pelt for?"

"Not her. One of the people in the town. The tailor I believe. He promised a handsome reward, so I took the quest," he explained, keeping his voice low to sound a bit older than he was.

"Oh, it's a quest. Makes sense. Must be quite a reward if you're willing to chase a monster so far north," the guard nodded and returned the card to Alistair. He felt a bit bad for taking it from Barrett, but the man had assured him that he had no intention of taking any quests outside of Sunglow for the time being. Naturally, nobody would ask for his identification in the little town.

"Yeah. Plus I don't have any patrols while travelling."

"Oh, yeah, in little towns adventurers have to do guard duties too. My condolences, friend. Do be careful out there. Monster activity has been rather high lately," the guard said and let Alistair through.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to keep that in mind," he inclined his head towards the guards and went through the gate at a slow, unhurried pace. Only once he was some good distance away from the gate did he finally pick up his stride.

Good, that worked out pretty nicely. I just have to make sure to find a frost wolf somewhere along the way. If these same guards happen to be at the gate when I come back, they might inquire about it. Not likely, but it is possible. Better safe than sorry.

Alistair gazed into the forest and sighed. Now began the difficult part–actually finding the Architect. He recalled the letter he had decoded, remembering the hidden instructions that the sender had provided him with.

First, I must find the elven city of Euroa, located some distance to the west from here. Ideally, I would have liked to travel with a horse, but I couldn't bring my horse from Sunglow, and buying one in Fenrora would have been a risk.

He had no choice but to break into a run and occasionally use <Lightning Dash> for small bursts of speed. It was far from an ideal way of traveling, especially with a heavy backpack with him. But he invested a large amount of his stat points in strength and agility so he could move at a decently fast pace without tiring.

The main problem was finding the elven city. It wasn't exactly welcoming of humans same as humans weren't welcoming of elves. While the general area of the city was well-known, there were magic wards in place to protect the city from human interference.

However, the sender had provided Alistair with a way of bypassing these wards. Or perhaps it was better to call it a hint rather than a certain way.

Where aurora blooms above silver spruce, follow the path where rocks diffuse. It's almost like a riddle. How am I even supposed to find a single silver spruce in this ginormous forest?

He'd be annoyed with the sender, leaving such vague details, but he couldn't even blame them. It made sense to make instructions unclear in case somebody had somehow managed to steal his letter and decipher it. Perhaps, the real reason he didn't feel any resentment towards the sender was because he still suspected it could have been Melina.

Just as he thought of her, yet another vision appeared before his eyes, forcing him to stop. He saw a grand city unlike any he'd ever seen. Instead of houses being built on the ground, these were built on treetops and connected with a web of wooden bridges and stairs. Although everything was made from wood, the designs were intricate and elegant as if the makers had somehow managed to bend wood to their will.

A moment later the vision was gone and Alistair saw the plain road surrounded by neverending forest before him again. It was a bit disorienting, but he knew what he had seen. That was Euroa. Although he had never actually been to the city, Alistair was sure of it.

The most intriguing part was that the view he had seen of the city was not from the ground looking up but rather as if he were standing among the treetops on a platform of some sort. This gave him an idea.

"I can't believe it," Alistair laughed to himself looking at the faint aurora shining in the night sky. It wasn't the kind you'd normally see on the cold winter nights, but much smaller and only above a certain area in the forest.

Quite honestly, he was certain that under normal circumstances, people would never even see it. Sounds odd, aurora is vibrant and easy to spot. But this one hung close to the tree tops and the only reason Alistair saw it was because he was surveying the area from above the trees.

After that vision, he made a point of occasionally climbing up on a tree to check his surroundings. It slowed his progress considerably, however after traveling for most of the day he spotted the first sign of the elven presence. A distant patch where trees didn't match their neighbors—silver spruces. Turned out he had to find more than just one of them.

After that, he just made a point of following the spruces into the forest. Of course, the moment he got further away from the main road monsters began appearing, halting his progress even further. At least one of the monsters happened to be a frost wolf, which he gratefully skinned and then disposed of the body.

It was already nightfall, yet he was still a considerable distance away from the silver spruce growth. Almost as if it was moving away a little bit each time he looked away.

Maybe this is how wards keep people away? Instead of outright blocking them, they just veer you gently in the wrong direction without you even noticing. Can magic even do that?

Then again if Melina can make a healing pastry I'm sure a bit of misdirection is not so much of a stretch. But how do I bypass that?

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Alistair climbed from the tree and picked up his backpack. The aurora was definitely shining west, but there was no indication that anything besides a forest could be there. He knew he needed to find a path where rocks diffuse, but Alistair had no clue what that could even look like. How could a rock diffuse?

Peeved, he decided to just search for rocks while heading towards the aurora. Special-looking rocks laid in a trail. There was no shortage of individual rocks around after all and he doubted any of those were special. The darkness didn't help his efforts and initially, he opted to not use his magitech lamp. He didn't want to attract more monsters.

After another hour passed without any success, he decided that he needed the light after all. However, he kept the brightness to a bare minimum, illuminating only the area closest to him.

This is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I could spend another week searching this area for those rocks.

Suddenly his <Danger Sense> activated, warning him to be on his guard. Alistair instantly drew his sword and grabbed his shield which he had strapped to the side of his backpack. Nothing came out of the darkness. Aside from a distant owl's hoot, the area was completely silent. But Alistair knew he wasn't alone.

The question was why the monster wasn't attacking. Perhaps, it was just waiting for him to drop his guard. But Alistair knew better than to disregard his <Danger Sense>. The System was never wrong.

"Come out! I know you're here," he prompted, not really expecting an answer. He hoped the words would prompt the monster to reveal itself.

"A System user it seems. There's no way a human would sense our presence otherwise," a deep male voice responded. Humanoid figures clad in dark clothes appeared in the dimly lit area his magitech lamp provided. Their elongated ears indicated that they were elves and all of them were armed to the teeth, swords, and bows pointed in Alistair's direction.

"I mean you no harm," Alistair said and slowly sheathed his sword. However, he did not put his shield away, keeping a tight hold on it.

"If that is true, then why do you seek our city? We've been watching you since afternoon, but it's clear that you're trying to find us. Why? And how?" The same male elf spoke up, holding up a sword. He had distinct silver hair and silver eyes, a feature Alistair hadn't seen on anyone else before.

"I was given instructions on how to find this place," he admitted, not finding a reason to hide the truth.

"Instructions?"

"More humans know how to get here?"

"This is bad…"

The elves muttered nervously among themselves, but their leader didn't betray any emotions. "Who gave you these instructions?"

"I don't know. I received them anonymously in a letter."

Another wave of nervous muttering, and this time the silver-haired elf frowned. "We have to eliminate this sender."

Alistair drew his sword again. Eliminate the sender? He couldn't just allow them to do that. If the sender really turned out to be Melina…

"You will not harm them!"

All elves clutched onto their weapons, ready to attack. The hand the silver-haired elf held up was the only thing holding them back. "It seems you are quite aware of who this sender is after all. You will guide me to them or I will take your life here and now."

"Go ahead. But before I die, I'll take most of your people with me to the grave!"

The answer surprised the elf and he gritted his teeth. Clearly, he had not expected Alistair to refuse when he was clearly outnumbered. Quite honestly Alistair didn't even know where he got the gall to do that. He knew he couldn't defeat all of these elves, yet he was ready to lay down his life just because the mysterious sender might be Melina.

The thought of these elves sneaking up on her while she was making her pastries or taking care of the seedlings in the garden filled him with rage. He would not allow it, no matter what!

"This is your last warning, human! Give us the location of the person who knows about Euroa or you will die," the elf repeated.

Alistair only glowered at the elf, clutching his sword hard. His only regret was that he didn't say goodbye to Melina.

Just as the elf was about to lift his hand up for a strike, a vision appeared before Alistair again.

What? No! Of all times why did it have to be now?

The vision was very brief. He was facing this same elf, both ready to clash with their sword. But then suddenly Melina, or rather her older version, inserted herself between them.

The sight startled him so much that he frantically discarded his sword, momentarily fearing that he might harm her. A second later, he realized what he had done but was surprised to see that the elf in front of him had done the same while panting nervously.

"Is everything alright?" One of the other elves asked. All of them looked quite startled by the fact that both of them had just discarded their weapons. But why had the elf done it? It was as if he had seen the same vision as Alistair.

"I… Yes…" the silver-haired elf straightened and exhaled a deep breath to calm himself. "We'll be taking him to Euroa."

"But—" one of the elves objected but the leader raised his hand.

"I believe he is not a foe. We'll take him into Euroa and question his purpose there. Afterward, we'll decide what to do," he said, bending down to pick up his sword. Instead of pointing it at Alistair, he put it into his sheathe.

Of course, the elves didn't let him retrieve his sword. But they didn't try to force him to give up his shield, instead silently indicating to follow their leader. Alistair gave them all an appraising look, but seeing no sign of further hostility, followed the silver elf.

"What is your name, human?" the silver-haired elf asked, not turning around to look at him. Alistair considered for a moment whether he should be truthful. If a human had questioned him, he would have undoubtedly given them a fake name. But he highly doubted that these elves would go report him to his father.

"Alistair Sinclair. And yours?"

"Elowen Freyen."

Why does that name sound familiar? It's like I've heard it somewhere but can't remember where. Maybe it's because of the vision I saw. It wasn't that Melina was standing in the middle to shield me from him, she was shielding him from me just as much. But why? There must be significance to the visions.

And what prompted him to drop his sword just as suddenly? Did he see something too or was he just startled that I dropped my sword? No, I doubt that this elf would just drop his weapon like that. He must have seen something too.

Just as he contemplated this, they stumbled upon a trail of rocks. The moment Elowen stepped on them, the rocks diffused, spreading out into the ground, creating a long passageway.

Oh, so that's what the letter meant. I can see it now.

"You do not seem surprised by this magic. Have you seen it before?" The elf asked.

"No, but I was warned to search for rocks that diffuse."

"In the letter?"

"That is correct."

Alistair could not see his face, but he had a strong feeling that the elf frowned. They would no doubt question him about it later. He was determined not to reveal too much about it.

They did not speak again as they entered the elven city. Although Alistair could not tell at which point they had entered. Even if the vision had shown that the city was located in the treetops, he had expected some signs of change on the ground. But there were none until Elowen led him up to a ladder hidden among the vines.

They climbed up and that was when Alistair saw the city of Euroa. Just like the vision had shown there were buildings masterfully crafted and hidden among the trees, a subtle network of pathways connecting them. There were gentle lights coming from within the tree homes, but they were masterfully hidden behind foliage.

He wanted to stand for a moment to admire and study the city but the elves pushed him to move forward, guiding him onto one of the many wooden bridges. They were surprisingly steady, although he still felt a bit odd about walking so high above ground.

"Where are you taking me exactly?" Alistair asked.

"To our elders. They will listen to your story and decide what to do with you. For your sake, I hope you have a good reason for coming here."

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