First Elven Immigrants (2)

On Sunday of the fourth week, Seran teleported himself individually into the Primeval Forest, directly to where the three tribes had designated as a gathering location. The demigod would teleport the tribes together straight into the elven complex rather than bring them through the city's teleportation array. He did not want to thrust them into a large crowd right off the bat, so he decided to personally take them to their new home. By doing this, he could meet the tribe members in person and ensure that they weren't forced into something too unfamiliar without sufficient mental preparedness. With Layla's permission, he also took some of the ancient forest's tree seeds to plant in the complex. He'd grow them into saplings, then leave them to the elves so they still felt some connection to the forest where they'd lived their entire lives.

As he went into the forest, he brought along a device he made with Zero's assistance. This device would basically be a miniature version of Zero, only without the expansive database and connection to the entire city. Presently, it was only capable of doing the initial scans of an individual, like the ones at the entrances to the city. However, as the elves were not considered citizens yet, it was enough. Plus, compared to others, he had no concerns about their backgrounds. Several of the elves jumped and hid behind others, while the older adults and elders all looked at the device with a mix of apprehension and interest. After the three tribe leaders took the initiative to get scanned, and Seran explained that this process is required for everything that enters the city, the rest of the eves relented to the scanning. Once the device had stored the information, it would upload it to Zero upon returning to the city.

With a casual wave of his hand, the demigod boy teleported the 200-some elves and himself into the elven complex. Initially, the unfamiliar surroundings alarmed the elves, some briefly and others intensely. However, the tribe leaders and the various elders adapted to the situation quickly by calming their kin's worries. Seran began introducing them to the complex, along with giving them each a Z-band so that Zero would better assist them. He did explain that these were meant for proper citizens, but they would need them to get better acclimated to their new environs. In combination with Seran, Zero gave the elves a far better overview of how they would live now that they resided in Greenwood City.

Eventually, the long explanation came to an end, at which point the tribe leaders, or elven representatives now, lead them to the administration office to get their assigned homes. The exception to this was the six-gen family, which received the guidance from Seran himself to their house. As they walked the short distance to the house, which Seran had built close to the administration office, exclamations of awe came from the younger elves in the area. Seran did not need to look up, because he knew what it was. Atop the great hill in the centre of the city, nestled at the top of the largest tree, was an enormous elephant-sized golden bird surrounded by many smaller birds. Some ranged from the size of a bull to the size of a juvenile eagle, but all had the same golden plumage. Zero's voice explained to the elves that they had just seen the city's famous Divine Beast, the original Golden Crow of the new first-generation, Storm, and his kin. The tops of the Spring Hill's trees were the nests of these legendary avians, making them noticeable even from a distance.

Divine Beasts were considered beings of worship in ancient times for many races. When the last Divine Beasts fell in the Abyss Invasion, the practice of worshipping them went with them. Of the races that had worshipped such beings were the Fairies, Dwarves, High Elves, Beastmen, Gnomes, Humans, Magical Beasts and even Demons. The Fairies and Elves had the highest synergy with these legendary beings, making the loss of the target of their faith much more devastating to them. That said, even the modern elves, descendants of the more advanced High Elves, could feel the unique energy that the Golden Crows possessed, especially that of Storm himself. Divine Beasts species are named as such due to the ascension of one of their kin to the status of a deity. When such an ascension occurs, the entire species undergo evolution as well, marking them as an entire species of demigods. Due to their natural affinity, elves could instinctively feel the divine energy of Divine Beasts and the new first-generation's leader was the strongest of them all. If not for Zero explaining that he refuses to be an object of worship, a cult might have formed around him already.

As the elves explored the complex over the span of two hours, another change came in the form of Khloe, who had descended the mountain on foot rather than through flight. After explaining to Seran that she originally planned to greet them when they had arrived, she had gotten held up by a sudden communication from Lady Demeter. Sure enough, Mother Nature was very pleased that her late champion remained untainted by the Sixth Devil King's magic. Although she could not do anything to reward him, she thanked Seran in a manner that seemed reminiscent of a mother who had received closure, a feeling he felt conflicted over. Khloe also states that according to the Goddess of Nature, who had spoken with Ouranos later, seven space beasts in total had ever passed by Aregard, two of which did not cause any problems. The fifth was undocumented by mortals as its only real impact was deep in the ocean between the Western and Northern Continents. Its appearance was said to be akin to seeing motion in water but never seeing the cause of the motion. Amaterasu proved able to see its true appearance, as it existed between dimensions. This made it so that aside from Ouranos who could see and exist in any space, the Goddess of the Sun and Flames's eyes could see through all dimensions, illusions, and falsehoods. This space beast went by seven centuries ago, leaving behind only a pearl-like object at the bottom of the ocean.

The problem was that, aside from the deities, who could not directly explain how, nobody could find an explanation on how the Polypheme Sect could have discovered and then retrieved an intangible and invisible object from the depths of the ocean, returned to the Western Continent, and experimented with it, all without it ever being uncovered.