Evolution Online: I Can Fuse With All Things-Chapter 44: Moonshade Elves [part 2]

Happy was an understatement for how Lucien truly felt. But let’s manage that word for now. He was insanely ecstatic that it worked.

But he could express very little of that joy before two pairs of eyes were glued to him—one with mild indifference, the other with calm reverence.

He had no idea how to handle either, but there was another matter of priority at hand right now.

’I have to fuse with the remaining two!’

Lucien looked at the Lady, Gayanna, and the man, Valdris. Then he said to both of them, already standing.

"Sir Valdris, Lady Gayanna, I am sincerely grateful for your help. But I really have to leave now. I am married to the world as a whole—my heart is already wandering even as I stay here—so I’m very sorry that I cannot serve you in the manner you expect."

Valdris stood up, gently bowing before Lucien.

"My Lord, you should bear no remorse to anyone. Being free-spirited was in fact designed to be the nature of the wood elves. Until we were hunted down, reduced to this number, and sealed."

Lucien wanted to be apathetic to what the man was saying, but at the same time, this was a game. And these people were NPCs.

’Maybe I could hit another jackpot?’

He paused for a little while and looked at Gayanna before bringing his eyes back to Valdris.

"Tell me, Sir Valdris, why were you guys hunted? What did you do?"

The Elder Moon looked at Lucien with his eyes subtly sparkling. Now that Lucien had shown some interest, it seemed he had resonated deeply. He smiled delightfully and responded.

"Well, this might take a while, so I advise that you meet the rest of the tribe—they have been waiting for the great... my lord to awaken."

Lucien paled at what the man said. freeweɓnøvel~com

"...like how many people...?"

Gayanna’s straight and sharp voice sliced through and answered the question as if it were cleanly cutting it.

"The Moonshade Tribe consists of a hundred elves—to be accurate, one hundred and ten elves. But the Moonshade Pact are just ten elves, and by extension, a hundred."

Lucien raised a brow, utterly confused.

"Is the Moonshade Pact any different from the Moonshade Tribe?"

Both the Elder Moon and his daughter widened their eyes at the question.

At that moment, Lucien felt profoundly odd and uncomfortable. Did he ask something he shouldn’t have? To be accurate, it felt like he asked something he should know. But he thought deeply about it and really didn’t know.

All this while, he thought the Moonshade Tribe was also the Moonshade Pact.

Gayanna frowned at him. It wasn’t a hostile grimace but a deeply wary one.

"You... How did you even kill that cursed dragon if you have no idea what the Moonshade Pact is? How did you even get to this plane? It has been sealed off from the rest of the world. What did you do to reach here?"

Lucien was almost as confused as she was. He hesitated for a bit and answered her with a serious tone.

"To be honest, I am as curious as you are. All I wanted was to sleep, and before I knew it, I was getting chased down by a damn monster. Since it killed me once, I had to repay the debt. I might overlook all things, but not debt—I definitely can’t let that one go."

Both Gayanna and her father were silently awestruck. Lucien raised one brow, carefully studying them.

"You guys are looking a bit strange. I’m sorry if it seems petty and childish—I didn’t have much time to grow streetwise."

Valdris shook his head, his voice deeply calm.

"Not at all, my lord. You are just... very... unique..."

He was still staring at Lucien even as he said that, and Lucien was still raising a brow at him, regarding him with doubt.

The Elder Moon finally sighed.

"The Moonshade Pact were the lineage of the first wood elves that came together to fight the God Zilla. In other words, one could say they are the strongest elves to ever exist."

Valdris stopped and looked at Lucien intently.

"Please, let us greet the rest of the tribe, and I shall explain this to you properly."

He declared and turned towards the door, leading Lucien out of the edifice.

Even as he walked towards the door, Lucien wasn’t sure what he was going to see, so his heart was hammering quite loudly.

As the door creaked open, a flood of radiant light spilled into the room, forcing Lucien to raise his hand and shield his eyes. It wasn’t just sunlight—it was something gentler, purer. Like moonlight distilled through crystal, woven with dawn. It shimmered against his skin, humming softly against his senses.

He took a tentative step forward.

And then another.

The soft crunch of moss beneath his feet gave way to a breath-stealing view.

Lucien’s eyes slowly widened as he surveyed the forest. Every part of it he could recognize, yet at the same time, the place felt oddly strange now that light was endlessly pouring into it.

Gone was the hollow wasteland he’d entered—it was now Evelaine Hollow in name only. The cursed basin had bloomed into a living sanctuary of light and life. What had once been a sealed graveyard of dying trees was now a radiant forest—alive, lush, and utterly breathtaking. Translucent vines shimmered with dew and moonlight, flowers glowed with soft silver-blue hues, and the trees—tall and elegant—bore leaves like feathers, gently rustling in windless stillness.

Cottages rose organically from the earth and among the trees, grown rather than built, their frames formed from silver-barked branches and canopies of woven lightleaf. It felt surreal, like walking into a place that should only exist in dreams.

But it wasn’t the forest that made Lucien stop.

It was the eyes.

They stood in absolute silence—over a hundred elves, gathered like living statues. Their hair gleamed with the same silver radiance as the trees, flowing like moonlit streams over shoulders clad in barkwoven robes and crystalthread armor. Men, women, children—all of them were facing him.

And every single one of them was staring at him.

Eyes wide with awe. Eyes shimmering with ancient tears and impossible reverence.

Then came the whisper.

"The Great One..."

A second voice echoed it, firmer.

"The Great One..."

And then they all began to chant it together, in unison. The chorus didn’t rise with volume—it deepened with weight, like the world itself was breathing his name through their voices.

"The Great One..."

Lucien froze in place. He didn’t know what to say, what to do. His heartbeat roared in his ears. A hundred people were staring at him with sparkling eyes of reverence, a hundred people whom he had unsealed...?

He couldn’t help but mutter beneath his breath.

"...What the hell..."

Gayanna stepped beside him, silent as a shadow, her gaze on the crowd but her voice low and steady.

"They waited... for thousands of years. Dreaming, resisting extinction through sheer will and the lingering power of the Pact. You broke the seal. You awakened Evelaine. You gave us back our world."

Valdris joined her, hands behind his back as he bowed slightly beside Lucien.

"You did more than you know, my lord. You restored the Moonshade Flame—the breath of our people. Evelaine lives again."

Lucien wanted to scoff. Laugh, even. But nothing came out. He wasn’t sure if he should feel pride, guilt, or panic. These were just NPCs. This was just a game.

And yet...

And yet, the forest smelled too real. The wind caressed too naturally. The weight of their gazes pressed on him too heavily to dismiss.

As he took another step forward, a pathway seemed to form amidst the elves—none of them moving abruptly, but subtly shifting in perfect harmony, as if the forest itself knew where he needed to walk.

A small elven child stepped out from the crowd. She clutched a glowing sprig of Evelaine bloom in her hands, her green eyes shimmering.

She walked up to him and offered it with both hands, kneeling and whispering as she did.

"For the one who brought back our breath."

Lucien took the flower with trembling hands.

And somewhere in the pit of his stomach, a strange feeling bloomed.

Not pride. Not joy.

Responsibility.

He looked over the gathered crowd, then to Valdris.

"I didn’t mean to do any of this."

Valdris smiled with the weariness of centuries passed.

"Then perhaps that’s what makes you worthy."

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com