Kael received several system notifications the moment he reappeared on the altar:
[System: You have obtained the Eye of Elunara.]
[System: You have obtained Aureleaf's Scepter (Divine, Quest Item).]
[System: You have obtained Blood of the Elven God.]
Getting the [Eye of Elunara] was expected. But what were the other two?
[Aureleaf's Scepter (Divine, Quest Item)]
Stats: ???
Kael understood immediately. Aureleaf meant for Caelthas to have this. The god's parting words made his support for the Arch Elder obvious.
Kael wanted to keep the divine weapon for himself, naturally. But a Divine-tier item bound as a quest object wasn't something a mortal could unbind. He couldn't just pocket it like he had the [Staff of Whispering Clouds]. A pity.
The next item, however, posed a real dilemma.
[Blood of the Elven God]: Grants the Elven God Bloodline!
A bloodline inheritance!
Inheritances came in two forms: Skill and Bloodline. Kael’s [Apollo's Inheritance] granted skills. Nymeria’s [Tydrisa Bloodline] altered her race and base attributes.
Usually, the two clashed. Inheriting a bloodline often meant failing to perfectly inherit skill-based legacies, sometimes even disabling certain skills entirely. If Kael acquired the [Tydrisa Bloodline], for example, he wouldn't be able to cast [Apollo's Descent].
The more powerful the inheritance or bloodline, the deeper the conflict. While there were extremely rare cases of high-level skill inheritances perfectly merging with bloodlines, almost no one ever had the chance to try.
The question was: did Apollo's inheritance conflict with the Elven God's bloodline?
Kael had no idea.
In his past life, only two people had acquired Apollo's inheritance: him, and a female player from the [Leonis Imperium] guild. Neither of them had ever encountered the Elven God Bloodline. The only person to ever acquire the Elven God Bloodline was a Druid—the number one Druid on the server.
Kael stared at the [Blood of the Elven God] in his inventory, conflicted. Was this sudden gift from the system a massive boon or a massive trap?
He should have asked Aureleaf about it while he had the chance.
Whatever. I'll ask the Apollo spirit the next time I see him.
Kael closed his inventory and looked down. Caelthas was still prostrated on the floor, concluding the farewell ritual.
"Arch Elder Caelthas, I'm back."
Kael approached him, holding [Aureleaf's Scepter].
Caelthas looked up, ready to congratulate Kael. Then his eyes locked onto the scepter. He froze. Suddenly, he began to tremble.
With a heavy thud, he threw himself back onto the floor. "Greetings, Divine Envoy!"
Kael didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He bent down and pulled the elf to his feet. "Arch Elder Caelthas, please. This staff isn't mine."
Caelthas stood, shivering, and quickly backed away, terrified of profaning a divine artifact.
Seeing that Caelthas didn't get it, Kael spelled it out. "Arch Elder Caelthas, Aureleaf asked me to give this Divine weapon to you."
Caelthas flinched, his eyes wide with disbelief. "For... for me?"
Kael nodded and pressed [Aureleaf's Scepter] into the elf's hands.
In Kael's grip, it had been a useless stick. But the moment Caelthas touched it, the scepter erupted with a blinding emerald light.
A localized gale blasted outward.
Whoosh—Smack!
Kael was hurled backward, slamming into the wall.
Above them, the [Eye of Elunara] flared, firing a beam of light directly into the scepter. The entire Aelindale World Tree shuddered. Every elf within the tree instantly dropped to their knees, overwhelmed by the pressure.
The phenomenon didn't stop there. Miles away, the Starlight World Tree trembled. So did the Frostfall World Tree, and every other World Tree across the continent. In that moment, all the World Trees bowed toward Aelindale. Every elf in the world felt a suffocating, holy aura descend upon the mortal realm.
...
Silverglade.
Miana sprang to her feet. Beside her, a white-striped tiger cowered on the floor, shivering violently.
"That is the aura of the Divine Aureleaf! Has he descended?" She paced frantically. "No. Impossible. Gods cannot enter the mortal realm."
She turned to her subordinates. "Quickly! Contact Myran! Find out what is happening at the village of Aelinbough!"
The two elves scrambled to obey. "Yes, Arch Elder Miana!"
...
Back in the observatory, Caelthas had undergone a terrifying transformation.
The trembling, uncertain elf was gone. Now, he stood radiating the majesty of a god. His gaze pierced through reality like a laser; every subtle movement carried the weight to reshape mountains and rivers.
His level remained 50, but his aura dwarfed any Level 60 pinnacle boss Kael had ever seen.
A Divine-tier weapon was no joke.
The moment his fingers closed around the scepter, all of Caelthas's fear and anxiety evaporated. Gradually, he reined in the crushing pressure, allowing Kael to peel himself off the wall.
Caelthas returned to his normal appearance, though he carried himself with an undeniable, transcendent grace.
Kael dusted himself off and walked back over.
Isilwen spoke first, remaining prostrate on the floor. "Greetings, Divine Envoy Caelthas."
"Rise, Priestess Isilwen. You are no longer my subordinate. There is no need to bow." Caelthas raised a hand, and an invisible force gently lifted Isilwen to her feet.
He then turned to Kael and nodded deeply. "Thank you, Sir Dawnbreaker. Forgive me for not bowing while holding the divine scepter. But I will remember your kindness forever."
Kael waved it off. "I should be thanking you. I wouldn't have met Aureleaf without you."
Caelthas paused. "Did you say 'met' the Divine Aureleaf? Do you not mean 'heard'?"
Kael shrugged. "I don't know if you'd call it a meeting. His face was blurred. I couldn't make out any features."
Caelthas drew a sharp breath, awe etched into his features. "When we commune with the divine, we only hear their voices. We never see them. You may be the first mortal to ever look upon the Divine Aureleaf."
Kael nodded, unfazed.
Caelthas then returned to the question that had plagued him for decades. "Sir Dawnbreaker... did you ask Lord Aureleaf about the incident fifty years ago?"
Kael nodded. "I did. He said the details involve divine politics and couldn't share much. But he confirmed your suspicion: Miana was involved."
"Hmph. I knew that wretched woman was behind it!" With the scepter in hand, Caelthas spoke of Miana without a trace of his former caution.
"He also gave me a message for you," Kael added. "Hold fast to your convictions, even if it means standing against your own kind."
"Hold fast to your convictions, even if it means standing against your own kind..." Caelthas repeated the words softly, turning them over in his mind.
Leaving Caelthas to his thoughts, Kael and Isilwen exited the observatory.
Right by the teleport nexus, they ran into Myran and his two guards. Myran was deathly pale, all his previous arrogance stripped away.