Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 373 The Kingdom of Trees
In the end, the three elves accepted the three wooden emblems.

Normally speaking, it would be dangerous to carry such an unknown creation on one's person, since they could tell from their own experience that these emblems must contain basic positioning spells.

Wearing a location-tracking spell on yourself in a place that is clearly a demonic realm is obviously suicidal.

But they knew even better that if they didn't accept these three logos, they would likely find it difficult to move an inch in this land.

“It’s not just this one in front of us; there are these strange wooden figures at almost every intersection.”

The lead elven warrior communicated with his companions behind him in Elvish.

"It must be some kind of early warning mechanism, it looks like a wooden golem... With this level of surveillance, we'll be watched whether we take it or not."

"At least this wooden figure is not hostile."

The elven priest accepted the wooden medal and examined it carefully.

"And there are no other traces on it, it should just be an identification document... wait."

Just as the elven priest was exploring the textures on the surface of the wooden medallion.

What was originally just a small wooden block of wood medal suddenly expanded and transformed into an extremely thin wooden board.

The wooden board was covered with unfamiliar characters, which made the elven priest dizzy. Fortunately, the elven mage next to him had some knowledge of the local language and was able to vaguely make out the intricate patterns on the board.

"Is this... asking us to fill in our names?"

The elven mage was stunned when he deciphered the text.

What is this doing?
When they were observing those villages, they thought it was a backward land. After all, compared to the magnificent towers and mage towers of the elves, this land filled with demonic energy was indeed pitifully barren. This was why they were so confident in breaking through this demon god's territory, since they were equipped with magical gear from head to toe.

Imbuing armor and weapons with magic, thus giving cold, hard metal incredible power, is the elves' forte and the source of their confidence in their battle against the Undead Lord. They are well-versed in the mysteries of magic and even know how to use it to communicate with the astral plane. After witnessing that far wider world, they know nothing that they haven't seen.

And now, something they've never seen before has appeared.

On the thin wooden board, prompts for filling in names are constantly jumping around.

This was also constantly provoking the three elves.

"Is this... a way of probing our strength?"

The three elves were somewhat puzzled, as this was the first time they had ever seen a method of directly asking for a name—but using this method to probe someone's background seemed rather hasty.

After all, they're the ones writing it themselves, so how could they possibly write anything substantial?

"Just write whatever you want."

After only a moment's thought, the three elves prepared to come up with a few random names to see what the result would be.

To the three elves' surprise, the writing on the wooden board did not continue to ask questions. Instead, after they recorded their names, it transformed into another set of characters—though it was more like a chart than a text, based on their names, with the rest blank.

"This is……"

The elven priest didn't quite understand for a moment.

But the elven mage standing to the side had a rather subtle expression on his face.

"This is our account." The elven mage pointed to the writing on the wooden board.

"This is where your occupation is. We don't have an occupation yet. Then there's your home address, contact information... Finally, this blank space is your bank balance. You can think of it as crystal coins in Sun City."

"This……"

The three elves looked at each other, utterly astonished.

The elves do have professional guilds, and they also did household registration before the Demon King wreaked havoc. As for crystal coin accounts, the elves have banks—but to combine all these things together and stuff them into a small wooden sign, the elves have never come up with anything like it.

"Could it be that the people in this Demon King's territory all possess something similar?"

The three elves suddenly realized that this land might not be as backward as they had thought.

Especially after they witnessed a construction project firsthand.

It was an old house in the village that needed renovation. If it were done according to the elves' methods, there would basically be two options: either make some modifications to the old house or demolish it and build a new one on the spot. Of course, with the help of magic, the rebuilding speed would be much faster, but in any case, it is quite troublesome to renovate a house made of brick and stone.

But right then and there, in the sight of these three elves, the villagers went straight to the street corner and summoned a wooden figure.

The wooden figure slapped its palms onto the house, and the wooden house immediately began to grow again. It was at this moment that the three elves realized that what they were seeing was not a brick or stone house at all; the so-called brick or stone appearance was just a special wood grain.

In just five breaths, the two-story house had grown into a three-story building, and its exterior had changed from red brick to a blue brick color scheme similar to that of a city wall.

"Thank you, Your Holiness the Pope."

The villagers didn't even cheer; they simply expressed their gratitude to the wooden figure. The leader of the villagers even rolled his wooden emblem into a thin wooden board and then cut something for the wooden figure.

"It should be the cost of repairs, but the amount is not much, it doesn't seem too expensive."

The monk with good eyesight saw the writing on the wooden board.

"This kind of strength..."

The three elves looked at each other.

Immediately afterwards, they confirmed one thing.

That is, this place has absolutely nothing to do with the Demon King's Castle.

Putting everything else aside, just consider this incredible construction technique. If that undead demon king who wreaked havoc on the elves had this level of power, his undead army would probably have already stormed into Sun City—he could erect a siege tower on the spot in just a few breaths, and even the most fortified city couldn't stop such a monster.

"So...where exactly are we?"

It was at this moment that the three elves realized that this land was probably far more complex than they had imagined.

Unfamiliar land, unfamiliar environment, eerie wooden figures, and incredible construction techniques—everything seemed to be telling them about the strangeness of this place.

But at that moment, the elven priest in the group suddenly showed a look of joy.

"I've made contact with the ancestral spirits!"

The elven priest opened the holy book at his waist.

(End of this chapter)