A strong-looking half-elf stepped forward: "It snowed all day yesterday, where did you take refuge from the snow?" He didn’t allow everyone into the camp, which seemed wise to Malin. "We rested for a day at the fork in the road over there. This is Prince Malin." The older group among the three elves introduced Malin. The half-elf glanced at Malin, furrowed his brow, took the lens from his chest, examined the team through it, and finally nodded: "Everything looks fine, sorry, Your Highness, and everyone, there’s been wraith disturbances here recently." "Are they the kind that can disguise themselves as humans?" Ling Zuo Zuo asked eagerly. The half-elf frowned and looked at Gold Oak Leaf: "You seem to have encountered them already." "Yes." Gold Oak Leaf nodded and sighed: "You, can’t you call out uncle when you see your uncle?" Only then did the half-elf smile, he embraced Gold Oak Leaf with open arms: "No matter how cunning the wraith is, it can’t know you are my uncle." Then he started shaking hands one by one. Standing at the end of the line, Malin watched as his teammates shook hands with the half-elf one by one until they laughed their way into the camp, until the half-elf walked up to him, and only then did Malin smile, extending his hand: "Better safe than sorry, you’ve done well." "Thank you for thinking so, Prince Malin, your name is well-known to me here." The half-elf shook hands with Malin, lowered his head to let Malin’s hand touch his forehead, then looked at Maya, who smiled and shook her head. "Shake hands, madam." The half-elf said with a bitter smile: "I need to touch you to feel at ease." "...Are you in half-binding status?" Only then did Maya realize, she smiled awkwardly, and straightforwardly extended her hand: "Sorry for being a bit rude, may I know your name?" "My name is not worth mentioning, ma’am, you can just call me Beta. I am from the second batch of members, and when clearing this site of ruins, I accidentally became bound with the ancient tree at its center. I became a Guardian for this camp, but I can no longer leave this place." Speaking of this, the half-elf showed a helpless smile: "Honestly, except for not being very lively, it’s quite good here. Please come in, Prince Malin, and Lady Maya." "You know my name." Maya followed Malin with some curiosity, asking the half-elf named Beta. "Yes, I was part of the second batch arriving here five years ago, and at that time, both you and Prince Malin were already known, especially Prince Malin, who led a battle for the first time, vanquishing forty thousand Black Orcs. In elven history, Prince Malin is undoubtedly the foremost on debut." As Beta replied, he caught up with the group with Malin, and came to Gold Oak Leaf’s side: "Uncle, I’ve prepared rooms for everyone to rest, they’re over there. We found an engineer who fixed the power system of that building, so now our camp will have better lighting and be safer." "You’ve worked hard, where did you find the engineer?" Gold Oak Leaf asked with curiosity, then awkwardly patted his head: "Look at my memory, certainly students brought out by the Great Craftsmen from the academy and workshop." "Yes, Uncle, that engineer himself is a Great Craftsman. He accepted the call to come here and brought his apprentices. Honestly, without them, we couldn’t handle these things from before the Great Destruction." When Malin heard they were elves from the workshop, he specially met with one of them, discovering this person was from the first group of elves working with Malin, named Clover. Upon seeing Malin, Clover excitedly ran up to him, held his hand, and pressed it against his forehead: "In tribute to you, Prince Malin, seeing you and your lady here reminds me of the days working in your workshop." "Me too, when you left, I wondered if something had displeased you. Later, I found out your batch of Great Craftsmen returned home to train apprentices." Malin said with a smile. The elven engineer blushed a bit, shook his head, and then with a smile kissed the back of Malin’s hand: "Your Highness, please don’t say that. I heard the New World needed people like me, so I brought my apprentices over." After saying this, he introduced his apprentices to Malin. Five apprentices, two males and three females, with two boys being elves and half-elves. Among the three girls, there was a Toby rabbitfolk, a goat person, and an elven girl. "They are all excellent kids. Bringing them here, I hesitated then, worried they were too young to handle it. But now it seems I was overly concerned, they not only live well but have grown. The oldest among them can even take charge independently, I remember what you said when imparting your knowledge to us, so I also passed on my knowledge to them fully, as you said, knowledge and wisdom must be inherited, stagnation is not good for civilization or individuals." What the Great Craftsman spoke of was what Malin taught them back then, which made Malin very happy. At the time, he was , passing the power of knowledge and the sword of wisdom to these Great Craftsmen, and they now achieved inheritance, promotion, and transmission. This made Malin very happy. He specially encouraged these five young people and distributed some potions to them, also giving Beta two boxes. At dinner, Malin experienced what a true elven banquet is—a vegetarian explosion. Although the elves hunted deer and wild boar, which gave Malin some confidence in North America’s ecology, they didn’t prepare them, so Malin had to play the chef for barbecue, since his little Maya can’t do without meat. Then, led by Tainor, the meat-eating group joined the revelry. In their words, before arriving, they expected this region to be full of death and destruction, but now it seems, although death and destruction are characteristic of this land, nature and life are robustly returning to the world. Malin felt the same, that for the planet beneath them, human civilization isn’t lasting, and is rather brief. Precisely because of this, humans seize every day, aspiring to pass on all that is good. And what the Evil God conveys as eternity isn’t really eternal, it’s just a deception. After eating his fill, Malin declined the young people’s invitation to play billiards and took Maya to the rooftop. There, Malin gazed at the starry sea, with the World Tree Sapling forming a large deck chair, where Malin and Maya lay. "The last time we stargazed on the rooftop was so long ago, Malin." Maya looked at the stars, seemingly reminiscing about the past. Malin thought about it, recalling the small joy of two children on the rooftop staring at the stars when they were young. Smiling, feeling a bit sleepy, Malin squinted his eyes: "How strange, I’m a bit tired." "You get tired right after eating, you little lazy bug, sleep." Maya smiled as she drew Malin into her embrace. Listening to Malin’s breathing, sensing that Malin had fallen asleep, Maya also squinted her eyes. "Malin, you know, I dreamed a few days ago of another child carrying on the bloodline, a very strong daughter. She said they are searching for their ancestors, though without results yet, they are at least trying..." Saying this, Maya tried to smile. "My love, the future lies beneath us, and yet I’ve lost you...why is Fate so cruel, so unkind..." Her soul lowly whispered. ...Is this the price needed to save this world.