Book 8: Chapter 19: The Gleaming Moon

Release Date: 2026-05-31 22:23:00

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Qin Lun faintly guessed why Iristin lost interest in talking, because King Testiel ultimately changed his mind and decided to help the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission due to her influence.

If Qin Lun and Longer had not broken through the Star Void and encountered Iristin by chance, King Testiel could have kept some of the Moon Elf royal descendants, thus maintaining the complete heritage of the Magic Cup Court. In that case, his need for the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission would not have been very great.

But now, because Iristin was determined to migrate with her people, the Magic Cup Court was destined to lack the Moon Elf inheritance. Even with the help from Ank Forest, King Testiel was not confident about planting the third generation World Tree, so he naturally wanted to find a way to reserve a place for the Qiongda’er Green Elves on Evermeet as a future retreat.

In reality, Qin Lun did not know how much impact his actions had caused. The Anke Elf Court gained five thousand Qiongda’er Moon Elves, including the royal descendants with Iristin, which meant the reunification of the ancient Seopia Elf Court from ancient times, while the Magic Cup Court lost the legitimacy of Seopia.

In the near future, with the help of many Moon Elf Mages and high-rank Druids, the Anke Elf Court not only integrated the ancient heritage of the original Seopia Elves but also gradually brought the Winter Forest and Thornwood, two forests adjacent to Ank Forest that eventually lost the second generation World Tree, under its control.

After breaking the balance of the Elven Courts in the central-southern part of the continent, the new Seopia Elves once again united with the Mir Forest in the west of Calimshan, the Wealdath Forest in Tethyr, and the Qiongda’er Elves in the south, establishing the Gleaming Moon Court in the central-southern part of Faerûn with the Seopia Moon Elves as the royal clan.

Reality was often more unbelievable than fantasy. This outcome was not only unforeseen by the Magic Cup Court, which had just expelled the Qiongda’er Moon Elves, but also by the other Elven Courts.

Unintentionally in the future, the new Seopia Elves actually accomplished the great unification of the Kaeldomo Elves, which even the three great Elven Kingdoms of Serthel, Eaerlann, and Seopia failed to achieve twenty thousand years ago during the Great Elven Civilization.

Although they could not compare with the Kaeldomo Elves of that time in terms of strength and population, this could already be considered the second rise of the Elven Race since the Great Elven Civilization.

The rise of the Gleaming Moon Court left even the two great human powers of Calimshan and Tethyr unable to do anything about them for dozens of centuries to come, to some extent sharing the continental hegemony of central-southern Faerûn with humans. It also affected the Sun Elves’ efforts to rebuild the Sun Court on Evermeet. During a certain period, Moon Elves and Green Elves who had already migrated to Evermeet even began to flow back to Faerûn.

In fact, from the very first day the Gleaming Moon Court was established, the Elven pantheon of the divine realm also experienced a second split.

(The first split was when the Elven Goddess separated from the pantheon; this Goddess later became the Spider Queen Lolth of the Dark Elves. After she left, Corellon became the leader of the Elven Gods.)

The Elven pantheon was also known as the “Seldarine” pantheon, connected to the outer plane “Arvandor” of the Toril World. “Seldarine” meant “followers of all brothers and sisters in the woods” in the Elven language, and the leader of this pantheon was Corellon, known as the leader of the gods.

Corellon was a Sun Elf. With the establishment of the Gleaming Moon Court where Moon Elves were the royal clan, they naturally would not worship a Sun Elf God King.

The Elven Forest God Rillifane Rallathil was revered as the new King of the Gods. The Queen of the Gods remained unchanged, still the Elven Goddess of Life. At the same time, some minor gods worshiped by chaotic races took the opportunity to join the new Elven pantheon, the most important among them being the “Moon Goddess Selune” and the “Nature God Silvanus.”

From then on, the Elven divine realm of Arvandor split into two major Elven pantheons. The Sun Elves not only lost their traditional royal status in the prime material plane but also had to share their divine authority with the Moon Elves and Green Elves.

However, all this was for later and had little to do with Qin Lun. The only tangible benefit he gained from this Butterfly Effect was the 0.207% World Exploration Degree.

In reality, whether it was Qin Lun’s chance encounter with Iristin or Kelly forcing the Elf Prince not to hire other mercenary groups, it was all part of the Butterfly Effect. The guidance of the Shattered Starry Sky was not arranged this way; it was only calculated from the timeline whether the Fortress Team could encounter the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission and thus join this major storyline.

Qin Lun walked casually along the castle corridor with his hands behind his back, watching the prompts in the Death Notice. After his conversation with Iristin, he did not receive any related Plot Mission for the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission, only two Corporal-level intelligence-gathering tasks: personal missions for the “Harpers” and the “Zhentarim.”

Clearly, these two organizations held significant weight in the history of Faerûn, and the Shattered Starry Sky had no information about them. However, intelligence gathering was just a minor task after all, with low rewards—better than nothing.

As for the Historical Plot of the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission, it was different. This task should be the most important Plot Mission all Apostles could receive in the Toril World at the current time. Although he had learned about this task, he probably couldn’t receive it from Iristin. There were only two ways to get this mission.

Either appear in the Cormanthor Forest from the start, like the Lost Novices led by Kelly, or find the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission and recommend oneself to join them midway.

Thinking of this, Qin Lun smiled slightly. He could completely imagine how tense and conflicted the Lost Novices must be now. On one hand, they had to guard against attacks from Plot Characters; on the other hand, they had to be wary of other Apostle teams joining the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission and diluting their task rewards.

Actually, in Qin Lun’s view, it was absolutely impossible for the Lost Novices to monopolize this major plotline and safely complete the Ancient Path. Did they really think that violent woman Kelly was invincible?

Think back to when the Magic Web was first established, and the Nals World served only as a training ground for Professional Apostles. Qin Lun received the temporary inheritance of the Legendary Druid Master Vima, and a ninth-tier “Tree World Descent” scared Casey’s trio from the “Nirvana” team into fleeing without a fight, showing the absolute suppression Legendary Professions had over third-tier Apostles.

With many outer planes and as a Mid-Magic World at its peak, the Faerûn of the Toril World was not short of Legendary Professions. It was estimated that there were even Demigods walking the world. The Lost Novices were asking for trouble by insisting on facing these potential enemies alone.

They should have known better, holding onto the idea of monopolizing the mission for as long as possible, delaying the time when other Apostle teams could join the diplomatic mission. After all, this task would definitely calculate rewards based on contribution; walking a bit further meant more rewards for the Lost Novices.

However, with the Fortress Team’s strength, they couldn’t share a piece of the pie with the Lost Novices. Unless Qin Lun was willing to join Lost, and the Fortress Team switched from the “Apostle Monument” alliance to the “Order Front” faction, going to them now would immediately get them beaten to a pulp by Kelly.

Qin Lun narrowed his eyes. Although he couldn’t share in this major plotline now, since he had learned the inside story and the Lost Novices didn’t know about his existence, he could first find a way to eliminate the hidden dangers of the main plotline “Magic Cup Crisis.”

…

“So beautiful!” Nicole lifted the hood of her magic robe and murmured as she gazed at the dreamlike Magic Cup World Tree. The other two female Apostles in the Fortress Team also showed intoxicated looks.

As women, they were naturally more emotional than men. Among low-level Apostles before Class Change, women’s survival rates were much lower than men’s. But among Professional Apostles and even High-Rank Apostles, the gender ratio was actually quite close.

The secret was simple: before Class Change, female Apostles took longer to adapt both physically and mentally. However, after passing this adaptation period and becoming Professional Apostles, women were more accustomed to using wisdom rather than force in missions, which greatly improved their survival rates.

Of course, violent women like Kelly and the Kung Fu Girl Menlo were exceptions among exceptions and couldn’t be used for comparison.

“We can accept the Main Quest once we enter the city, right?” The hot-tempered Philip couldn’t help but smile at this point, joking, “It seems that Qin Lun is indeed very capable—not only did he figure out the main plotline, but he also didn’t act on his own…”

“Huh… It seems he has been trying to contact us in the Team Channel. Did something happen?” Stark frowned slightly. The Toril World was full of Magic Elements, and there was a giant concealment Magical Array outside the Magic Cup Court. Only after entering the royal city area could they see the messages Qin Lun sent in the Team Channel.

Stark watched the messages continuously popping up in the Team Channel, his expression slowly turning serious, his eyes gleaming with sharp light. “So that’s it! The Lost Novices… Nicole, Philip, it seems we can’t accept this Main Quest for now. Let’s wait until we meet Qin Lun to decide!”

“Well, if it’s really that Golden Wolf Queen from Lost, we’re definitely no match!” Nicole shook her head with a bitter smile. She and the other team members also saw the messages in the Team Channel. As a relatively senior female Apostle in Devil’s Horn, she was of course familiar with the more famous female powerhouses in Apostle City.

(Golden Wolf Queen refers to Kelly. Before joining Lost, the small team Kelly led was called “Golden Jackals.” For details, see Chapter 1 of “Metropolis Domination War.”)

“Even if we’re no match for Lost, we can’t let ourselves be used casually.” Stark glanced back at the mixed human and Elf mercenary group, hesitated only for a moment, then made a decision. “We’ll follow Qin Lun’s suggestion and enter the city in two groups. Nicole, your Moon Night Elf Bloodline is quite pure. As long as you don’t come with us, you should be able to avoid the eyes and ears of the Lost Team.”

Nicole and Philip exchanged a glance and nodded silently. In fact, after Stark led the team to rescue the three female companions, the internal rift in the Fortress Team began to show signs of healing; at least Philip no longer opposed Stark at every turn.

Of course, as the mission progressed smoothly, their impression of Qin Lun was rapidly improving. Even Stark hadn’t noticed that the entire team’s rhythm was starting to follow the beat of a hidden conductor.

«Volume 8 Chapter 18: Ancient Path

Index

Volume 2 Chapter 31: Combat Model »