Let's start over, Your Majesty.

Chapter 287 The Azure Tree
"Does Muirna even have any family members still alive?" Caesar wondered.

She had mentioned before that her parents were both researchers who stayed in the heart of the Arctic, and that she had never revealed any information about her family in all this time.

Or perhaps it's a less conventional kind of relative?

Following Muirner, we headed towards the more central area of ​​the Ecological Institute.

They entered a semi-circular building, which was almost empty and quiet, with only a few emergency lights on.

“I’m the only one who comes here normally,” Muirner said. “In fact, this whole building was built just for me.”

Caesar surveyed his surroundings. Apart from a few solitary pillars supporting the structure, he could see the walls on all sides, and the entire interior space was clearly visible. There were no stairs leading upwards; it appeared to be a single-story building.
He currently does not know where the family Muirner wants him to meet is.

Muirner walked to the center, and before anyone could see what she did, a futuristic blue light screen unfolded in front of her. She pressed her slender fingers against the screen, and a moment later, a downward staircase appeared beneath her feet.

"So it was underground?" Caesar wondered.

"let's go."

Muirner said to him,
The staircase is wide enough for three people, spiraling downwards in a circle.

Caesar noticed that the walls on either side of the staircase seemed to emit a self-illuminating, gentle, natural glow.
We walked downwards for about ten minutes before reaching the end.

What appeared before Caesar was a tall gate made of thick, twisting vines, tightly sealed shut.

Muirner suddenly turned around, took Caesar's hand, and then a warm current flowed through his palm.

After a moment, Muirner opened his eyes slightly, then smiled with relief.

"It seems my actions were unnecessary."

"What's wrong?" Caesar asked.

"Only those with the core royal bloodline of the elves can enter here. However, human bloodlines are relatively weaker. I can temporarily use my aura to overpower them and let you in, but..."

“Perhaps because you’ve been with Little Lia for so long, you’ve already developed the aura of the elven royal bloodline within you,” Muirna said.

Caesar touched his chest in surprise. Had he unknowingly had his bloodline altered by Yumilia? He himself hadn't even realized it.

"Okay, let's go in."

Muirner placed a hand on the thick vine, and then all the vines seemed to come alive, trembling, twisting and retracting, opening up the path ahead.

A semi-transparent light screen appeared before Caesar. Behind the screen, he could vaguely see green grass and trees, and even hear the clear chirping of birds and the babbling of flowing water.

Muirner led the way through the light barrier, and Caesar hesitated for a moment before following closely behind.

The moment he passed through the light barrier, a strange feeling rose within him, as if he had been completely exposed, naked.
That gaze vanished in an instant, and the next moment he stood on the soft grass.

He guessed that the light curtain at the entrance was a spiritual extension, and the source of this light was in the inner world.

Looking around, he felt as if he had entered a dense forest. The ground was covered with soft, green grass, and lush trees covered most of the area. He could even see animals moving among them: deer, short-eared rabbits, foxes, and black-bearded horses.
A slender lamb with short horns and black and white stripes suddenly rushed out of the woods and circled around them.

"Good boy." Muirna gently stroked its fur.

"This is... the zebra-horned sheep that's on the verge of extinction, as described in the book?" Caesar recognized it.

“Yes, this is probably one of the few left in the world. I have a pair here, and a female, but she’s too shy to come out often,” Muirna said.

Caesar looked up.

The ceiling, seemingly created using some kind of magic, displayed the same azure sky as outside, complete with realistically drifting clouds, but the "sun" genuinely radiated light and heat upon this world.
“That’s an artificial sun,” Muirner explained.
"Made from tens of thousands of light algae crystals, it can provide light and heat for this place for five hundred years. It was originally built to research new energy sources, and it took hundreds of researchers from the Magic Energy Research Institute decades to build it. Unfortunately, it is still only a semi-finished product."

"A semi-finished product? Is some step still incomplete?" Caesar asked. "Because its internal structure is still unstable, and there's a risk of it exploding at any time," Muirner said casually.

"Huh?" Caesar's eyes widened in surprise.

“Just kidding.” Muirna stuck out her tongue at him.

“Mainly because this is still just an experimental subject, it’s currently with me, so it’s essentially a long-term experimental project,” Muirner said.

This area is roughly the size of two football fields, and it forms an independent ecosystem with the sun, trees, streams, and animals.

“Welcome to my secret base, which I call the Forest of Drunkenness,” Muirna said with a smile.

"How long has this place existed?" Caesar asked.

“About three hundred years,” Muirner said after thinking for a moment.

“It’s incredible,” Caesar exclaimed. “I never imagined that completely independent small ecosystems actually existed.”

His memories from his past life still told him how difficult it was to establish such a complete, independent, and self-sustaining ecosystem. It was an extreme challenge even for modern technology in his previous world, yet it was achieved here.

“According to conventional theory, it is indeed impossible,” Muirner said. “However…”

She smiled gently and beckoned to Caesar: "Come here, I told you, I'm taking you to meet my family."

She walked ahead first, with Caesar close behind.

The scenery he saw along the way was exactly the same as in the forest: fresh, earthy air, birds chirping in the branches, small creatures occasionally darting through the bushes, and fish leaping in the stream. He even forgot that he was standing beneath a reinforced concrete building.

“Now my understanding of the Institute of Ecology’s technological level has been refreshed again,” Caesar said.

Muirna smiled faintly: "Actually, the Drunken Forest came first, and the Ecological Institute was built on top of it later."

Caesar seemed to have thought of something and looked at Muirner: "Here."

“This used to be my home,” Muirner said.

"Then I'm sorry to bother you," Caesar said.

Muirner smiled slightly and said to him:

“You know what? Little Sa, in over three hundred years, you are the only outsider to have come here besides me. Well, this is the first time in over three hundred years that I have truly invited someone to my home.”

Caesar sensed that Muirna seemed a little nervous, just like a child bringing a friend to his home for the first time.

After walking for more than ten minutes, thick tree roots appeared on the ground, winding and covering a large area. The vegetation became sparse, but the top of our heads was still covered by lush tree canopies.

Muirner stopped, and what appeared before Caesar was a gigantic tree that was almost ridiculously large. Its canopy formed a dome that covered the entire overhead area, with vines hanging down from the branches. A trunk so thick that it would take fifty or sixty people to encircle it extended countless branches and leaves, and even a large area of ​​the ground nearby was covered by its roots.

The tree exudes unparalleled vitality; its entire trunk radiates an incomparable life force.

Caesar also noticed that the tree branches and leaves were green with a slight bluish tint, and the artificial sun overhead cast a blue hue over the surrounding environment.

"The Azure Tree?" Caesar looked at Muirna.

Muirner nodded and said softly:

"And also, my sister."

(End of this chapter)