Chapter 132: The Arb Elves' Secret - Part 1

"Like on their own?", he ended up saying that aloud.

"Master?", Terran looked at him for saying that.

The elf tried to look the other way again because she somewhat knew about what Shin was blabbering about – perhaps it was their secret of some sort.

'Without any pattern?'

'They change?'

'Ding'

[ Arb Elves – The age of the body increases as they go from deeper areas of the forest to the edges ]

"…"

The moment Shin heard the system say that he finally understood exactly what this phenomenon was about.

The Arb Elf who was ready to show the place was having her body change as she passed from one area of the forest to the other.

'Does this mean that they can die if they exit the forest?'

[ Affirmative ]

Shin was bewildered by what he heard.

Basically, the elf in front of him was gambling her life for Mo.

Well, as long as those elves stay in the deeper parts of the forest, they would remain young and would have no problem at all, but as soon as they go to the edges, their bodies would slowly tend towards death.

This indirectly meant that they were immortal beings as long as they stayed in the deeper sections.

'Isn't that right?'

'They could basically have lived there for thousands of years…'

Shin had an interesting thought, unfortunately, that was wrong.

'Ding'

[ Arb Elves grow stronger as their bodies mature ]

[ Their strength remains closely to zero when they are infant or younger forms ]

[ Due to the presence of large and strong beasts in the deeper areas, approximately 5 Arb Elves are killed in a day ]

And the moment Shin read this, thunderstruck down in his mind.

'What the-'

'So this isn't a blessing? '

'It's a curse…?'

[ Affirmative ]

It was the fourth time that Shin had met someone who was afflicted with a curse.

He looked at her and then smiled.

Then he said, "My eyes were hurting…"

"Sorry about that, I thought that you looked different but you look the same…", he said with a low voice as if he was apologizing.

The elf then sighed in relief and said, "Don't joke you prick, we don't have all the time in the world."

"Yes…", and that's all Shin said after seeing her change in attitude all of a sudden.

'But system, why was I the only one who was able to see the change?'

'Why couldn't Terran see that?', Shin asked.

That was yet another good question, there should be something that enabled Shin to see her changing form.

'Ding'

[ The Mindcraft Resistance enabled the host to see through the mindcrafts used by the elves to conceal their secret ]

'Oh…'

'So that's how…'. Shin nodded his head after being satisfied with the answer that the system gave.

They then continued to walk and although Shin did say that he couldn't see her appearance changing, he could actually see everything.

And as time passed, her age kept increasing but the form remained the same for quite some time.

But as soon as they started nearing the southeast end, her hair slowly started to change to the color white and her skin started to have wrinkles on them.

'…'

Her speed slowed down too probably because her body was reaching old age.

She was basically panting and that too vigorously, but because of the mindcraft magic used by the elves, it wasn't that visible.

It was as if she was completely fine, but that didn't work on Shin.

Well, now their magic was weak, however after aging, she might end up stronger magic that might even pass through the mindcraft resistance skill.

"Um, I guess we should rest.", Shin suggested this.

The elf that was walking slowly stopped with relief when Shin said that. 

"Are you tired?"

"Haha, you don't have any stamina pup…"

"Let's rest then…"

She was acting tough despite being tired herself.

Though, Shin shut his mouth and thought that was the best thing he could do.

'Master is tired…?'

'No way…'

'It has hardly been three hours since we started walking, how could he get tired with just this when we were facing no beasts, to begin with.'

'Master isn't that weak, something is wrong for sure or else master wouldn't say this without any meaning.'

Terran started to think many things while trying to figure out what Shin actually meant.

But Shin never wanted Terran to find out about that.

"It will be safe if we sit there…", she pointed at a tree that was towards her right.

It was not that large but had sufficient height to match other trees.

Regardless, all three of them went and sat there.

'I have to talk to her…', Shin decided that it was best if he were to discuss this.

However, he did not want Terran to know about this.

"Terran, can you get those fruits for us?"

"We can eat them while resting to regain the energy.", Shin pointed with his right forelimb.

There was a tall tree in front of him which had some good looking fruits

'Are you serious master…?'

'You want me to jump and get them?', not that Terran had ever made good use of a wolf's body. 

Just good-looking wouldn't necessarily mean that the fruits could be edible. Of course, Shin analyzed them already before giving the task.

'Ding'

[ Tros Fruit ]

[ Grade C ]

[ Edible without cooking ]

[ Increases speed by 1 ]

Terran nodded his head and went to bring the fruit.

As soon as he left, Shin then stood up and moved a bit closer to the elf.

She was surprised to see him coming close and was about to scold and ask to maintain distance when suddenly, Shin started speaking everything that was on his mind.

"Tell me, why are you faking it?"

"Huh?", she was surprised when she heard that.

"Why are you faking that you aren't tired…?"

"You are-"

Shin revealed everything that he had come to know about her and the Arb elves.

"…"

To be continued…