Chapter 11 Great Elf

"Of course, I like a lively atmosphere and don't enjoy prolonged silence."

Noah gave a reasonable explanation.

"I see. In that case, I can summon more companions for you, but once their numbers increase, it might get a bit noisy."

Sifreya hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"That's exactly what I hope for. If you perform well, I will allow you to enter Dragon Nest and clean and tidy it up for me."

"Thank you for your grace!"

Upon hearing Noah's promise, Sifreya felt a bit dizzy with excitement.

She never expected that even weak Flower Spirits like them could have the opportunity to enter Dragon Nest one day to serve a noble Pure-blooded Golden Dragon.

No matter what kind of creature, if there's a sufficient population, superior individuals are bound to emerge from within.

This is true for humans and for those commonly seen low-level demons like goblins, kobolds, and lizardmen.

Even the little elves before her are no exception. Though they are indeed weak, every Flower Spirit has the potential to evolve.

And there are shortcuts to evolution for low-level creatures.

Weak creatures, when encountering higher life forms, once assured there's no intent of slaughter or destruction, often feel an urge to worship, submit, or even follow.

The most typical case is that kobolds and lizardmen, possessing faint Dragon Veins, will almost invariably submit as a clan when encountered by a Pure-blooded Dragon, should the dragon be willing to take them in.

The reason isn't that these Dragon Vein Monster Clans have some inherent flaw, tending to serve stronger beings, but due to the temptation and allure of life elevation and bloodline evolution.

Within the same biological phylum, higher forms naturally exert immense and irresistible attraction and allure on lower forms.

Because the probability of evolution greatly increases for those lower creatures following a higher one, achieving bloodline advancement that might not be possible even with desperate efforts.

Who can resist such a lure?

Of course, even different biological phyla can lead to similar changes, but the affected lower creatures might acquire some characteristics of the higher form.

This can be termed as contamination, but it is also evolution!

"You have courage. From today on, you're responsible for managing the garden for me. You can summon your companions as deputies and establish your own village here."

"I will certainly manage them well."

"Do your best. I have high hopes for you."

Anyway, it was a free promise, so Noah said it effortlessly,

"And when you evolve into a Great Elf someday, I promise you can become my steward."

"Great Elf?"

Sifreya was slightly stunned, then her exquisite little face immediately became invigorated. It was something she had never imagined before, but looking at the Golden Dragon before her, unprecedented ambition and desire welled up.

"I will definitely not disappoint your expectations!"

Seeing her throw herself energetically and full of vitality into the flowerbed to start commanding her fellow elves, Noah couldn't help but ponder.

To a pharmacist, Flower Spirit elves are the best laborers because they can always take excellent care of those herbs containing special magic power, even enhancing their potency.

Noah wasn't interested in delving into alchemy for the moment, nor did he intend to become an alchemist.

He was just contemplating whether, if these elves truly were too weak to draw any response from the Golden Tree, they could still create economic value for him.

For instance, transforming what was merely an ornamental flowerbed into a field for cultivating magic potions, then harvesting periodically for sale.

But selling magic potions introduced another problem: who to sell them to? In the borderlands ruled by the Augustus family, commercial activities were nearly nonexistent, with barely any decent caravans coming by besides the occasional daring wandering merchant.

"Truly a bunch of rough folk, can't even figure out how to boost the economy. Once people have money, won't they naturally come?"

This newly emerged thought was pushed aside by Noah. For now, relying on selling magic potions for wealth wasn't feasible, but instructing the elves to collect special herbs might be worthwhile.

Under the lure of the grand promises Noah painted, the motivated and vigorous Blue Butterfly Elf, Sifreya, naturally established a village exceeding a hundred elves and became its chief.

Such numbers even surprised Noah, as he hadn't expected so many Flower Spirits around his Dragon Nest.

These exquisite, small, and unobtrusive elves certainly fit the aesthetics of humanoid creatures, and as for the Dragon Clan's aesthetics, there was no need to elaborate. Dragons could appreciate all living beings.

And it was during the establishment of the village that, in another deep slumber, Noah finally saw feedback from the elves on the Golden Tree.

On the small, intricate village built on flower buds and grass stems, suddenly appeared amidst the disturbances along the fine root hairs, a thread of almost invisible purple mist.

The purple mist traveled up along the roots, forming a small bud on the trunk of the Golden Tree, and then nothing more happened.

Noah stared at the little bud for a long time, not seeing any signs of further growth.

"Sure enough, it's because they're too weak!"

The good news is, the elves amassed enough numbers to provide feedback to the Golden Tree; the bad news is, for the foreseeable future, he wouldn't taste this fruit.

"Do I have to raise them to become Great Elves?"

Noah couldn't help muttering to himself.

In the wilderness, Flower Spirits count as relatively common elf-like creatures. To most humanoid races, they're hard to encounter due to their timidity and caution.

As for Great Elves, they're truly rare elf-like creatures; among ten thousand Flower Spirits, perhaps not a single one will evolve into a Great Elf.

However, that's under natural conditions—what evolution probability might be when near the superior Dragon species, the Golden Dragon, he didn't know.

Searching through inherited memories, Noah never found any like him who would take in Flower Spirits as Favored. Even Great Elves weren't of much use in the eyes of a Golden Dragon.

The most common Favored of Golden Dragons are Cloud Giants and Storm Giants, these higher races within the Giant Clan, but that was beyond his reach for now.

Noah would at least need to become an adult Golden Dragon himself before qualifying to seek Cloud Giants for his service.

In most cases, no one would follow a being weaker than themselves, even if that being had a more noble bloodline.