The battle lasted nearly half an hour.
The outcome was not unexpected for anyone who had imagined a result.
Thranduil was well aware that if it hadn't been for the interference of the surrounding monsters along with the demonic mosquitoes—which were incredibly annoying—his fire would have charred that harmful tree.
Boom!
Thranduil's final attack was much more powerful, so much so that the shockwave caused a commotion throughout the elven territory.
Arghhh!
Accompanied by a shrill scream, all that was left on the battlefield was a burned and lifeless tree.
As the victor, Thranduil also obtained a large amount of special energy, which not only helped consolidate his magical power, but also allowed him to take a step forward on the path to becoming a much more powerful being.
Thranduil, seeing that the entire place had fallen into extreme silence, cleaned up the battlefield. Seeing all those shining crystals on the ground, full of greenish vitality, was addictive.
In the end, Thranduil obtained more than five thousand energy crystals.
Among them, the demonic tree alone dropped dozens of magical crystals.
In addition to the crystals, Thranduil also harvested many precious materials that the elves could put to good use.
The hides of some monsters were extremely good for making household items, in addition to materials that could assist with the magic they usually practiced.
But not all were materials they could use—some monsters were so grotesque that everything in their bodies was highly toxic.
Still, there was something very special that no elf could ignore: magical cores.
Magical cores have many uses, as they can be integrated into equipment to enhance its power, or ground into powder and inscribed into magical scrolls.
Regardless of their use, they are highly valuable.
That is why Thranduil collected all the magical cores, knowing they would definitely be useful in the future.
Including yesterday's harvest, he now had nearly three hundred magical cores in his magical dimensional pouch.
Most of them came from mid-level magical beasts, and only a small amount from high-level magical beasts.
Afterward, Thranduil used fireball magic to completely burn the charred body of the magical plant to ashes.
Among the ashes, he found another green gem. Fist-sized, exuding an incredibly rich breath of life.
This was the Heart of Life, exclusive to ancient trees that had been corrupted by the desire for immortality. It contained enormous vital magical power and was a rare and precious item.
Its greatest function was healing wounds. But it was said that a Heart of Life that had reached the sacred level was as effective as the Elves' Holy Water of Life.
It could resurrect the dead, flesh and bone.
Thranduil stored the Heart of Life and, after a short rest, once again set out on his monster hunting journey.
…
Many hours later, Thranduil was the first to finish a day of hunting and return to the territory.
Before darkness enveloped the land, the elven teams that had gone out returned one after another.
Many elves carried on their backs animal-hide bundles, filled with all kinds of things.
"It's really inconvenient not to have better gear…" Thranduil felt he needed to find a way to get a batch of special equipment so that his elven team could store their loot.
He himself had spatial equipment. It was a belt.
He had picked it up by accident two months ago while exploring the ruins in the city center.
The space inside the belt wasn't very large—only about twenty square meters—but it was enough to store energy crystals, magical cores, and other items.
"The ruins of the ancient Elven Empire city have endured for thousands of years, sadly almost every corner is uninhabitable…"
Thranduil, alone with Haldir, his commander of the elven troops, discussed the kingdom's state.
"But fortunately, some items were preserved, like the magical book I found earlier and magical equipment, such as my belt."
Thranduil's intuition told him he could obtain many great items once he started clearing the central ruins.
Especially the treasure vault of the Elven Empire. He knew where it was, but he had never been there.
"Your Majesty!"
Teams of elves immediately gathered where he was.
The bundles they brought back were carefully placed in front of Thranduil.
There were dozens of bundles—some contained large quantities of energy crystals and magical cores, while others held fresh fruits, edible flower petals, honey, and other food gathered by the elves.
Thranduil first counted the number of elves.
Three hundred and forty—no more, no less.
Currently, there were very few monsters left in the ruins of the city center that could threaten the elven team.
The only monster was the demonic tree—that was a special discovery that Thranduil could not pass up.
The vast majority of monsters were roughly at the same level as those vampire mosquitoes.
The elven teams under his command were all at least level six. Some elves had even reached a higher level, entering the category of unique forces. With such strength and a hunting environment like this, the safety factor was naturally very high.
Thranduil also discovered that, after a day of hunting, many elves had leveled up. More than half had reached level seven.
Currently, there were no weak elven soldiers.
Then, Thranduil checked the energy crystals brought by the elves.
The total number exceeded fourteen thousand—much more than what he had earned the day before.
That was logical, after all, he was only one person. Today he had collected nearly 8000 magical crystals, most of them from the vampire mosquito swarm. Without the dedication of those vampire mosquitoes, he would have collected more than half that amount.
Adding them all up, he now had more than 22,300 magical crystals.
This amount of energy crystals could be used to train over 400 types of elven soldiers. Unfortunately, there weren't enough elves.
Currently, he only had one hundred elves under his command who could be trained.
Even if they waited until after midnight to raise a new generation of elves, they could only train two hundred elven soldiers.
Therefore, he needed to continue upgrading the level of the Tree of Life.
Without hesitation, Thranduil immediately went to the Tree of Life and upgraded it from intermediate to advanced, at the cost of consuming ten thousand energy crystals.
"[...
[Tree of Life]
[Building Information]: The Tree of Life is the main building of the Elven Camp. As long as other buildings aren't destroyed, the Tree of Life is invincible. Its ability is to raise elves and revive fallen elven soldiers.
[Functions]: You can create a thousand elves per day, and revive dead elves on the battlefield.
[Upgrade Requirements]: 100,000 magical crystals.
[Special Tip]: Upgrading the Tree of Life increases the number of elves raised.]
…
[Ancient War Tree]
[Building Information]: Structure used to train military professions within the Elven Camp.
[Unlocked Elven Professions]:
Elven Archer
Elven Swordsman
[Upgrade Requirements]: 5,000 magical crystals
[Special Tip]: Upgrading the Ancient War Tree will unlock more available professions in the Elven Camp.
[Available Units]:
[Elven Archer]
Training Requirements: 50 energy crystals + 1 elf
[Elven Swordsman]
Training Requirements: 50 energy crystals + 1 elf
…]"
Looking at the Tree of Life before him, which stood over two hundred meters tall, Thranduil felt very satisfied.
Being able to witness a thousand elves born each day was completely insane.
In other words, with enough energy crystals, he could train a thousand elven soldiers every day and directly complete the tasks issued by the system.
Only now did he understand that those missions were insignificant.
In no time, the day passed, and Thranduil witnessed the birth of a thousand elves.
Then, he used the remaining 12,000 energy crystals to train elven troops.
Elven swordsmen and elven archers were harvested—two hundred and forty-six in total.
At this point, the total number of elven troops under Thranduil's command had reached over 1,300—doubling in size instantly.
"Praise be!"
"Your Majesty, the great Elven King!"
More than two hundred newly trained elven soldiers knelt before Thranduil in unison, and each of their delicate, beautiful faces showed admiration and respect for their king.
It was quite a spectacular sight to see so many elves kneeling and bowing together.
When Thranduil saw this, he was in good spirits as well.
If things continued this way, he might soon be able to clear the interior of the city—or even occupy all the ruins of the ancient city.
He planned to turn this ancient city, which had originally been the capital of the Elven Empire, into his base in this world.