Elven Legacy

Opening my eyes from the beautiful nap I was in, I quickly realized I was currently inside the royal doctor's office while Elaine peacefully slept beside me, though when I looked closely at her, I could see tear marks on her cheeks.

'Haa, it will be rough when she wakes up.' Thought Elif while using his divine sense to inspect his body's condition.

All the more severe injuries I sustained have perfectly healed; there're only minor injuries on my body right now, though I still feel sore in some places. Carefully sitting up, I float off the bed and land next to the table in the distance before picking up Hokori and placing him inside my dimension ring.

"Illumia, how long have I been unconscious?" Asked Elif while sitting on a chair, waiting for Elaine to wake up.

"You've been unconscious for approximately ten hours, your highness. Ms. Lynda quickly healed your injuries, but it took some time for the healing herbs to take effect and regain your lost blood, which caused you to stay unconscious longer." Said Illumia with a slight bow after appearing out of nowhere beside Elif.

"Hmm, I see." Replied Elif as he put on a thinking expression.

While I was in the midst of thinking, I heard the door open, and walking inside was both father and mother, though I already knew it was them as I had sensed them with my divine sense. They both sat down in front of me, and the next thing I knew, I was suddenly transported into my mother's arms, something which hadn't happened in quite some time.

"Why are you feeling down, Elif? You're usually carefree. Is it because you lost?" Asked Maria as she tried cheering up Elif, who was sitting in her lap.

"No, I've lost plenty of time whenever I spar against Illumia; it's because I lost to someone I had a chance at winning against. If only I had achieved sword aura earlier." Said Elif while letting out a sad sigh.

"I'm glad you're not taking this loss too bad, but you shouldn't have that thought process. You can't change what's already happened, and making up 'what ifs' scenarios are a waste of time. It's better to learn from the loss and improve yourself to make sure you never lose again, and besides, it's not like your mother, and I haven't ever suffered a loss, so you're not alone." Stated Marcus, while trying to paint the bigger picture for Elif.

"Haa, I know, father, but that doesn't mean I like the feeling of losing; the only reason why I don't feel bad when I lose against Illumia is that I knew I never had a chance of beating her in the first place, it wasn't like that for this match." Mentioned Elif as he shared his thoughts.

"Welp, there's nothing you can do about it, and as Marcus said, it's pointless to dwell on the loss; the emotion you're feeling right now is merely temporary; within a day or two, you'll have moved past this little loss and continued with your life. So, for now, relax; you're still not fully healed, and didn't you promise you'll play with Elaine for an entire week after the tournament?" Declared Maria with a smile as she ruffled Elif's hair and poked his cheek, much to Elif's annoyance.

'I'd completely forgotten about that promise; good thing mother reminded me, and speaking of Elaine, here she comes right now.' Thought Elif feeling slightly embarrassed as he reached his hand out and mobilized his Qi to catch the leaping Elaine in mid-air.

"BROTHER!!" Yelled Elaine in happiness while tears began forming in her eyes.

"You love ignoring my advice, don't you? I've told you you can't always jump at me like that." Said Elif smiling with a shake of his head while releasing a defeated sigh as he knew his warnings would again be ignored.

"Brother, are you ok? You're not hurt, are you? What about the hole in your chest or all the other smaller holes in your body?" Said Elaine as she asked a barrage of questions, not even giving Elif a second to answer.

"Yes, I'm fine. No, I'm almost completely healed. And the holes have been fully healed up." Answered Elif in order.

When she heard those answers, she finally calmed down and no longer worried about me, but I knew what was coming next, just as I anticipated.

"You liar brother, didn't you say you were the strongest? Why did you get beaten, then!?" Said Elaine in childish anger, causing everyone watching not to take her one bit seriously.

"The reason why I got beaten was-was-was because I held back my true power as I wanted to be given a challenge! You see, Elaine, your brother is just too powerful, so powerful that none of those opponents could give me a good challenge if I used my true power, so I held back most of my power to have a proper battle." Declared Elif as he came up with an excuse on the fly, hoping to fool Elaine and not lose her admiration.

After I said that, I looked at her face to see if she believed my words, but I was met with a doubtful expression, causing me to get scared, she might not buy what I said, but luckily I had the perfect alibi.

"That must be how you turned your sword all purple; you probably used some of the power you held back while fighting that girl. Yeah, that must be it; I knew some stupid girl couldn't actually beat big brother!" Said Elaine with even more admiration toward Elif than before, causing Elif's smile to twitch.

'What happened to 'I don't lie to my sister' Elif?' Said Marcus with sarcasm via divine sense.

'It would only be considered a lie if what I said doesn't come to fruition. I'll have long since surpassed all the nobles in the future, so it's not a complete lie; I'm just telling the truth before it happens.' Responded Elif as he justified his reason for lying via divine sense.

"Anyway, Elif, do you plan on fighting for second place in the tournament?" Said Maria, mentally sighing at Elif's response to Marcus.

"No! Why would I bother to continue fighting? To merely get second place? So I can be the first loser? I do not wish to make a mockery out of myself, and besides, I got better things to do than fight to be in second place." Said Elif while mocking the idea.

"Ok, ok, don't need to get so worked up about it. Now that you're awake and feeling fine, we must return to our duties; it will get slightly busy now that the world has seen your talent and power; who knows what they might be planning." Said Maria with a sigh of exhaustion as she set Elif down and headed toward the exit.

"Alright, he's all yours, Elaine; you've got Elif for an entire week. Also, Elif, once you've spent your week with Elaine, you must head to the Royal Library; you need some knowledge on how the world operates." Declared Marcus as he stood up and followed Maria as they exited the room.

"Hehehe, just as you promised, big brother, for the next week, you must do everything I say!" Said Elaine, chuckling evilly while pointing at Elif.

'I hope it's nothing crazy.' Thought Elif as he already mentally resigned himself to whatever she had planned.

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"Great grandfather, can you open the door?" Said Elif, standing before the Erdtree, or the Royal Library, I should say, with Illumia beside him.

Seeing the door open, I thank great grandfather wherever he is and make my way into the Royal Library with Illumia following along. Walking down the long, dimly lit hallway, we eventually arrive towards the end and see great grandfather waiting for us.

"It's good to see you, Elif, and congratulations on achieving Sword Aura, something unheard of considering your age." Said Charles with a smile.

"Thanks, great grandfather, but achieving sword aura wasn't that hard; even if I didn't attain it during the match, It would've only taken me a few weeks." Replied Elif nonchalantly, causing Charles's face to twitch in response.

'Deep breaths, deep breaths.' Thought Charles, wishing he could jam how difficult it is to attain sword aura at such a young age into Elif's brain.

"Hmm, everything fine, great grandfather?" Asked Elif, slightly concerned as Charles hadn't responded.

"Yes, I'm fine, Elif. Now, what is the reason you are visiting the Royal Library?" Replied Charles, his expression returning to normal as he turned around and started walking deeper into the royal library with Elif and Illumia following behind.

"Mother and father said I need to learn more about the world and suggested I head to the Royal Library." Said Elif, feeling rather intrigued about the information he would come across in the royal library

"Hohoho, they aren't wrong, for being the Crown Prince of an Immortal hegemony, you're quite oblivious to how the world operates. Here, follow me; I'll show you a good place to start if you wish to learn about the world." Said Charles, chuckling at Elif's lack of knowledge before turning to the left and heading down an aisle between two giant bookshelves.

Following behind great grandfather and several quiet minutes later, we finally arrived at a small opening with a tree and a table sitting right below it; once we neared the table, great grandfather waved his hands, and several books came floating out of the bookshelves before landing neatly on the table.

"Knowledge of the OverRealm, Geography of the OverRealm, Species of the OverRealm, and knowledge of Cultivation. Along with a few other books that'll help deepen your understanding of the OverRealm. If you need me, you know how to get my attention." Said Charles before vanishing from the spot.

Sitting down at the table, I looked through the titles of each book before deciding to start with 'Knowledge on the OverRealm' since that interests me the most right now.

'At least the book isn't the size of the Book of Daos.' Thought Elif as he picked up the book and read the first page.

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As I'm sure you can guess, the next couple of chapters are going to be info-dump chapters, something which I tried to avoid; however, more information regarding the OverRealm is greatly needed, so this was going to happen eventually. But don't worry, I know how annoying Info-dump chapters can be, especially when it doesn't progress the plot at all, so I plan to release all three info-dump chapters on Friday; Chapters 56-58. So since I'll be releasing all of the info dump chapters together, I suggest giving them a read; however, it's not necessarily needed, and you'll still be able to follow the plot of the story if you skip them, though I'm sure some future parts will be slightly confusing.