Insufficient balance

  "No matter what, without your help we would have been doomed to extinction, so thank you." I thought to myself: This spirit king is really too polite, it's exhausting.

  Suddenly, I had an epiphany and whispered to the Spirit King in a voice that only he could hear: "If you really want to thank me, how about sending me some Baiguo wine when I leave?" Upon hearing my words, the Spirit King's face changed slightly, and he quietly replied: "Wizard, you people drank half of my annual production yesterday. I can only give you a little more this time."

  "Never mind then."

  The Spirit King smiled wryly and said, "Do you know how much this wine, brewed by our Nature Spirit tribe, can sell for in human countries? A small bottle can sell for over 10,000 diamond coins. I'll give you a few more bottles when you leave, but please don't tell your friends that I gave them to you again, or they'll all want some from me too..."

  I shot him a knowing look and smiled.

  "What's making you all so happy?" Senko and the others filed in one after another, sitting down around me.

  I said with a guilty conscience: "Big brother, you've arrived. I was just telling the young master a joke."

  The Elf King said: "Now that everyone is here, Third Elder, you can tell them everything we know about the Holy Sword."

  The three elders responded in unison, saying: "First of all, I represent the entire Nature Spirit Tribe to express our most sincere respect and gratitude to you for helping us get through this difficult time."

  Zhan Hu Da Ge laughed and said, "No need to be polite, just give us some of that hundred-fruit wine next time and we'll be fine." The others all nodded in agreement, even Dong Ri, who didn't usually drink much, nodded straight away, and indeed the Elf King had guessed correctly.

  For my delicious Baiguo wine, I had to deceive everyone once. "Forget it, brother, we drank a year's worth of production yesterday, and they didn't have any stock left." The Spirit King and I exchanged a strange glance.

  Zhan Hu was disappointed and licked his lips, saying: "I knew I should have drunk less yesterday."

  I nodded to the three elders to continue. The three elders said, "The holy sword is said to be a weapon left by the king of gods in those days, with the power to destroy heaven and earth. According to our tribe's ancient legend, it should be in the forest of gods."

  "Forest of God? I've never heard of it before." I asked in puzzlement.

  "That's right, the Forest of God. We, the Nature Spirit Clan, were once called the messengers of God in ancient times, so only we know this secret. Actually, treasure hunters like you are common, but those who find the Forest of God are extremely rare. Even if they do find it, no one can enter the barrier set by the gods. As time passed, people stopped searching for the Holy Sword. You are the first group of treasure hunters in 300 years."

  "Barrier? Can't even get in with our combined strength?" The six of us together have enough power to take on a small army.

  "Your power is indeed strong, but when I was young, I also saw humans with powers no less than yours, yet they too could not enter. It's said that to enter this barrier, one needs not only power, but also the recognition of God. That's all we know, as for what happens inside the Forest of Gods, we don't know either, but it shouldn't be too dangerous, at most you'll just be chased out."

  I originally thought that completing this task with our strength should not be difficult, but I didn't expect it to be so complicated. I smiled bitterly and said: "Thank you for telling us these things, where is the Forest of Gods? Let's go try our luck."

  The three elders smiled and said: "Chang Gong, don't worry, I think you have a kind of feeling that makes people very close to you. Although we haven't been together for long, I gradually treat you as a friend uncontrollably. Good people should be the ones God likes the most. Plus, you use light system magic, so the possibility of being accepted by God should be very high."

  Shouji listened to the three elders' words and echoed, "Yes, I and Xing Ao, Gao De also have this feeling. At first, we didn't quite trust you either, but as we got in touch with you more, we felt that you are a trustworthy person, and unknowingly became friends with you."

  I took a look around and it seems to be true, I really don't have any absolute enemies, many people who haven't known me for long trust me very much, I thought it was because I'm handsome, but it turns out it's just my affability, how disappointing.

  "Alright, stop flattering me, Third Elder, you can speak now. The location of the Divine Forest."

  The three elders chuckled and smiled slightly, "Actually, you are already in the Forest of Gods."

  His words left us stunned, and he continued: "It's just the outskirts, the Spirit Forest here is just the outskirts of the Divine Forest, and further in is the Divine Forest itself."

  Zhan Hu smiled and said: "Chang Gong, our luck is too good, we haven't taken a single detour. Elder, please take us there."

  The three elders pondered for a moment, then said: "Our elven ancestors decreed that our tribe is not allowed to approach the Divine Forest within a 100-kilometer radius. I can only tell you the general location, and you should be able to find it if you head in the direction I say."

  "That's good, then let's set off now."

  I stood up and was about to leave when I suddenly saw the Elf King looking troubled, as if he wanted to say something. "Your Highness, is there anything else?"

  The Elf King smiled awkwardly and said: "It's like this, although the Dark Elf tribe retreated this time, I'm afraid..."

  I suddenly realized that they were afraid of being attacked again, and this was indeed a problem. I scratched my head and thought for a moment before saying, "Alright, let's do it this way." I took out a book from my dimensional bag and handed it to the Elf King, saying, "This is a book on elementary and intermediate light magic that I wrote myself. It contains many small spells that I created, so have your warriors study it well. With your elves' innate magical talent, you should be able to master them quickly, and then you won't have to fear them."

  The Elf King took over the book and glanced at it, saying: "This seems to be wrong, this is a magic array example."

  "Ah! Sorry, I picked the wrong one." I quickly swapped the books. Right, I still haven't had a chance to study this book on magic arrays yet, I'll have to take a look when I'm free. (Actually, magic arrays are a very profound subject, and it wasn't until Light Son encountered his greatest difficulty that he realized how wrong it was not to learn about the use of magic arrays earlier.)