Shota's Isekai NTR Adventure Chapter 2058: Stronger connection

The elder gazed at me with a face full of shock and bewilderment.

Yet despite the elder's stare, I still had no clue about what they meant.

A hush hung in the atmosphere for a moment until the elder spoke up at last, "You truly have no knowledge whatsoever?"

A bitter grin crossed my lips as I replied, "I honestly don’t understand a thing about this situation. I’m clueless about the rock elementals or this location. I merely obeyed a divine oracle from the gods, who instructed me to aid someone here, yet I remain utterly lost on the details."

A peculiar expression formed on the elder's features alone, spreading to all the accompanying rock elementals.

Their gazes suggested they assumed I’d grasp every secret of this realm already.

Still, no matter how they eyed me, I wasn’t about to suddenly comprehend the insights they yearned for me to possess.

In the end, the elder took it upon themselves to clarify the circumstances.

"This realm stands as a divine gift forged by the gods for our rock elemental clan once the gods' war concluded. It served as our reward for the aid we provided them throughout that conflict."

This revelation left me utterly stunned for a heartbeat. Regaining my composure, I squinted my eyes toward the elder.

I’d never imagined encountering a being who endured those ancient days. Ultimately, though, such hopes proved mere fantasy.

"Though our rock elemental tribe boasts extended lives, that hardly implies we endured that battle firsthand."

The elder appeared to pierce my thoughts through my stare, leaving me uneasy.

Ignoring my discomfort, the elder pressed on, "Yet in this realm, nothing endures eternally, and even godly might wanes over time."

Shifting their gaze to the rock pillar, the elder added, "That pillar embodied the god’s essence here. It sustained this land’s vitality and nourished it for our kind, yet it’s dwindled to such a diminished form..."

As the elder’s words faded, an odd expression crept onto my face.

My eyes avoided the elder, fixing instead on the central rock pillar in the village.

Soon enough, the true problem dawned on me, drawing my sight to the evident marker of this realm’s transformation.

That marker was the ring encircling the rock pillar.

Rather than marking a forbidden area, this barren ring illustrated the pillar’s former grandeur.

Examining the earth nearby, traces of erosion became visible. It resembled marks from something hauled over the surface.

It felt like some covering had once blanketed that soil and was now stripped away.

Such a shift fit if the rock pillar had receded.

But precisely what role did they envision for me with this rock pillar?

Divine energy emanated from it, detectable to my senses, yet that power by itself couldn’t uphold the pillar. Nor could divine energy alone spark vitality.

Maybe if sourced from Vivrum... though it didn’t seem like that was their expectation of me.

Following a brief pause, the elder went on, "Regarding our nature as rock elementals, we’re merely beings shaped from raw elemental essence fused into form."

The elder delivered this as if it were common wisdom, yet grasping it eluded me so simply.

This portrayal echoed that of spirits, though I recognized the distinction.

Spirits lacked substance and didn’t qualify as solidified elemental essence.

Spirits directed the world’s elemental flows, enabling those bonded to them to wield elemental magic.

Upon reflection, these rock elementals clearly diverged in essence.

Rather than merely steering elemental forces, they embodied them outright.

Though I’d yet to witness their abilities in action, I surmised they could imprint permanent marks on reality, unlike spirits. Spirits merely shaped elemental flows to their will.

Without direction, such forces wouldn’t persist indefinitely, as elemental energy would revert to the wild.

Only mighty spirits, like the Spirit Kings, could reshape the world enduringly.

For these rock elementals, the thriving village stood as irrefutable evidence.

After pondering briefly, I redirected my focus to the village’s core rock pillar.

Defining the rock elementals precisely could wait; time for that would come later. The priority lay in my purpose here, centering on the rock pillar as the likely cause of my summons.

Gazing upon the rock pillar, a subtle anomaly stirred within me.

The familiar bond with divine-infused objects persisted, yet an additional layer lingered.

A deeper link appeared to bind me to this rock pillar...