God-Tier Extraction Talent: Reincarnated in a Game-like World!

”Your mother... who is she?”

The elder elf did not speak loudly, but the moment the question left her lips, the forest, which had already been unusually quiet, seemed to fall into an even deeper silence, and even the elves who had just lowered their bows turned their attention toward Sophie almost simultaneously.

Sophie clearly had not expected such a question.

She looked at the elder standing before her and was silent for several seconds before slowly shaking her head.

”I don’t know.”

The elder elf frowned slightly.

”You don’t know?”

”I’ve never met her.”

Sophie’s tone remained calm, but as she spoke, a faint and almost imperceptible change appeared deep within her eyes.

”Ever since I was old enough to remember anything, I’ve never seen my mother. My father never told me who she was either.”

Sophie lowered her gaze slightly.

”The only woman people in the palace ever publicly called Queen was my father’s second wife. But everyone knew the title was mostly ceremonial. She had status, attendants, and a seat beside him during formal occasions, but she was never my mother.”

Sophie’s expression became more complicated.

”That was all we knew. Whenever Evelyn or I asked about our real mother, the servants would become nervous, and they would change the topic.”

She gave a faint, humorless smile.

”I’m older now. And I still know almost nothing about her.”

After a brief silence, Sophie looked toward the depths of the forest.

”Sometimes I wondered whether she was dead. Other times, I wondered if she simply abandoned us.”

Her fingers slowly tightened.

”But after everything that has happened with my bloodline and the World Tree... I’m starting to think there was another reason no one wanted us asking about her.”

No one around them spoke, yet the moment Sophie finished those words, Gabriel clearly noticed the expressions of several older elves nearby change at the same time.

The elder standing directly in front of Sophie reacted most noticeably.

She did not continue questioning her. Instead, she remained less than three meters away, studying Sophie’s face again and again as though trying to find the shadow of someone who had long since been buried within her memories.

Before long, something seemed to occur to her.

”How old are you?”

”Eighteen,” Sophie answered.

Eighteen... The fingers wrapped around the elder elf’s ancient wooden bow suddenly tightened.

The movement was extremely subtle, but Gabriel caught it.

More importantly, the instant Sophie revealed her age, a silver haired male elf standing behind the elder also seemed to realize something. His previously calm expression changed abruptly, and he instinctively stepped forward.

”Elder, could she be...”

”Silence.”

The elder cut him off immediately.

The male elf froze.

The younger elves around them exchanged confused glances, clearly having no idea what the two elders were thinking.

Gabriel said nothing throughout the exchange. He simply stood beside Sophie and quietly observed every change in their expressions.

Eighteen years old.

A mother whose identity was unknown.

Possessed by the fragments of the World Tree.

And now, the reaction of these elves.

Any one of those details could still have been dismissed as coincidence, but once all of them were placed together, the answer was beginning to become increasingly obvious.

Sophie’s mother had some connection to this place.

And she had almost certainly not been an ordinary elf.

While Gabriel was considering this, the elder finally spoke again.

”What is your father’s name?”

This time, Sophie did not answer. She looked at the elder, and the calmness on her face gradually gave way to a trace of caution.

”Why do you want to know these things?”

The elder fell silent.

Sophie continued.

”Did you know my mother?”

The atmosphere around them subtly changed after that question.

Even the younger elves now seemed eager to hear the answer, because by this point they had already realized that the human girl who had suddenly trespassed into the Sacred Forest might not be as unrelated to them as they had originally believed.

The elder looked at Sophie for a long moment before finally speaking.

”I cannot be certain yet.”

”Why?”

”Because if my suspicion is correct...”

She paused briefly.

”Then this is no longer something I have the authority to decide.”

Sophie frowned slightly.

At that moment, Gabriel finally spoke.

”The World Tree.”

The instant he said those words, the expressions of hundreds of elves changed almost simultaneously, and several of the younger elves who had only just lowered their bows immediately tightened their grips on their weapons again.

”Outsider! How do you know about the World Tree?”

”Who told you?!”

The tension that had only just begun to ease returned almost instantly.

The elder raised one hand sharply.

”Enough.”

The voices around them quickly died away.

For the first time since she appeared, the elder shifted her attention away from Sophie and looked directly at Gabriel, while a clear trace of scrutiny appeared within the green eyes that seemed to have witnessed countless years.

”Human. How did you learn of the World Tree?”

Gabriel turned his gaze toward Sophie.

That gesture alone told the elder everything she needed to know.

She looked at Sophie once again.

Sophie did not attempt to conceal the truth.

”I can feel it.”

”...”

”Even when we were still very far away, I could already feel something calling to me, and the closer we came to this place, the stronger that feeling became.”

Sophie raised a hand and pointed toward the depths of the forest.

”It’s there. I can feel it.”

This time, the elder was not the only one whose expression changed.

Several older elves who had managed to remain composed until now visibly lost their calm.

Being able to sense the World Tree might have meant little to an ordinary human, but to the elves standing here, those words carried an entirely different meaning.

The World Tree was far more than an ordinary tree, and even describing it simply as a living being would fail to capture what it represented.

According to the oldest history of the elven race, the World Tree had existed upon this land since an age so ancient that even their earliest records could not describe its beginning. Its roots reached thousands of meters beneath the earth, while its enormous crown covered the deepest region of the Sacred Forest, and the reason the elven race had been able to survive and prosper across countless generations was inseparably tied to its existence.

Even so, not every elf was capable of sensing the will of the World Tree.

Most elves could live their entire lives feeling nothing more than the unusually dense natural energy that filled the Sacred Forest, while only a very small number of individuals carrying special bloodlines could establish a genuine connection with the World Tree itself.

And now a human girl had sensed its call before even entering the inner region of the Sacred Forest.

Something like that should have been impossible.

Unless....

The last trace of hesitation disappeared from the elder’s eyes.

She turned around and gestured toward Sophie.

”Follow me.”

The surrounding elves froze.

Even Erin, the young elf Gabriel had captured earlier, was visibly stunned.

”Elder, they’re outsiders!” Erin spoke up. ”According to the laws of the Sacred Forest, no outsider is allowed to enter the inner region!”

The elder stopped walking.

”I know the rules better than any of you.”

Erin could not help speaking again.

”Then why...”

”Because she heard the Mother Tree calling her.”

Those words instantly silenced Erin.

The surrounding younger elves fell quiet as well, and the way they looked at Sophie changed completely.

Only moments ago, their gazes had been filled with vigilance, hostility, and even killing intent.

Now disbelief had overwhelmed almost everything else.

The call of the Mother Tree.

Every elf born within the Sacred Forest understood what those words meant.

The elder offered no further explanation.

”Return. Inform the Grand Elder. And...”

She paused for a moment.

”Do not alarm the rest of the clan.”

The silver haired male elf immediately nodded.

”Understood.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he leaped onto a nearby ancient tree and vanished into the depths of the forest, using the tangled network of branches to move with astonishing speed.

Gabriel watched him leave without interfering.

The elder resumed walking.

Sophie, however, remained where she was.

”You still haven’t answered my question.”

The elder stopped.

”What question?”

”Did you know my mother?”

A brief silence followed. Then the elder finally answered.

”If you truly want to know, then come with me.”