"It's still too early to be surprised." Slekpnir shook his head when he saw the looks of disbelief and surprise on the faces of the group of humans. "I have yet to tell the reason why our gnome race hates and distrusts humans so much."

Xie Feng took a deep breath before nodding slowly to indicate that he was listening attentively. The story wasn't over yet but the surprises he had received in terms of information was the biggest since he arrived in Samsara world. He had no idea how big the surprise would be when the gnome elder finished his tale.

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"After the Starless Night Clan was defeated and before the elders of the Bright Light Clan perished completely due to their incurable wounds, they, who had won, declared before all that the Starless Night Clan had colluded with forces from other continents to attack and destroy the peace of the Adastreia Continent in an attempt to become the absolute rulers... But many were skeptical... No matter what, the Starless Night Clan had protected these lands for countless generations, it was not so easy to destroy the people's trust in them... Unfortunately, as the saying goes 'the winner is the king and the loser is the thief'". Slekpnir sighed and continued: "Even if the words of the Bright Light Clan were not entirely true or even if they were a complete fallacy, they were the most powerful ones standing, so the weaker races could not oppose them in any way. What sense was there in opposing the word of existences that could obliterate them in a single night?"

"Heh..." Xie Feng couldn't help but sneer. What sense was there in opposing the word of existences that could obliterate them in a single night? Those were nothing but excuses. Although he had yet to hear the rest of the story, seeing the appearance of the gnomes, he was able to roughly discern what happened next.

"The elves and humans finally sided with the Bright Light Clan." Slekpnir revealed. "No one knew the reasons why the Bright Light Clan and the Starless Night Clan actually started a war with each other, but the winner had been decided and no one in their right mind wanted to oppose the only ones with the power to protect these lands from invasion. Therefore, after years of consideration, the humans and even the peace-loving elves began to hunt down the now known Moon Devil Clan... However, not everyone took that decision."

Slekpnir paused slightly before resuming: "The dragon race declared that they would not get involved in wars and, with existences like the Light Saint Dragon and the Dark Demon Dragon protecting them, not even the weakened Bright Light Clan dared to say anything about it... On the other hand, our gnome race ancestors decided to side with the Moon Devil Clan since our elders did not believe that they, who had protected us for who knows how long exactly, would suddenly decide to attack for no apparent reason."

Xie Feng simply nodded inwardly and was not surprised at what he heard. He had already expected this.

"At first, the Moon Devil Clan did not attack the humans and elves, focusing only on running away. After all, their elders had been protecting both races for far too long. However, as the deaths on their side grew and the years passed, the following generations no longer felt any right or yearning to protect two races that hunted them as if they were dogs... After centuries of being hunted, twelve people with unimaginable talent were born among the remnant members of the ancient Starless Night Clan... These twelve existences were known as Twelve Demon Protectors! Each of them possessed the power of a God... It was then that the Moon Devil Clan began to not only defend themselves, but they also began to counterattack!"

Xie Feng's eyes flashed imperceptibly after hearing this. Earlier, he still had many doubts about Slekpnir's story; after all, he had only known the gnome elder for less than an hour, it was impossible for Xie Feng to suddenly trust him completely. However, the latter half of Slekpnir's account matched all too closely with the words that the Beginner Village Guardian had said to him back then, only with slight differences. Therefore, although Xie Feng still had his doubts about it, at least he was no longer so skeptical as before.

Without knowing Xie Feng's thoughts, Slekpnir continued with the narrative: "The Goddess Protector of the Adastreia Continent did not want to continue the war, this could be seen since she never claimed the life of any human or gnome with her own hands.... Unfortunately, she had to respect the wishes of her deceased parents and elders, so she did not make any effort to stop the bloody battle either, which indirectly stained her divine pure hands with blood...

When the Twelve Demon Protectors appeared on the battlefield, Goddess Protector Mei Hen finally moved, holding back the twelve powerful Gods by herself.... Perhaps the Twelve Demon Protectors knew that they could not defeat her, so they just used all their strength to stop the mighty Goddess Mei Hen. The Moon Devil Clan's army, who were stronger by nature, along with the support of our ancestors and powerful artifacts, finally began to defeat the humans and elves. However, things were not so simple...

Just when the battle was tilted in our favor, only a few years later, those who were known as Heroes by mankind appeared... Ten powerful humans with their strength in the Heaven rank. With the union of the ten of them, the battle found itself in a stalemate".

Slekpnir's dialogue stopped there, confusing them all. Xie Yao. who like Gu Qianxue and the rest was only hearing such a story for the first time, couldn't help but ask: "So.... What happened next?".

"Unfortunately, our ancestors left no records of it." The white-bearded gnome shook his head and sighed: "The only thing we know is that the Protector Goddess Mei Hen cast a curse on our gnome race, which caused 80% of our bodies to turn into stone. As a result of the curse, no gnome could create any more artifacts anymore since our movements become too stuck, we can no longer move with delicacy. With no other option, our ancestors hid in a special dungeon that practically no one could reach, and created this little place for us to survive."

Xie Feng had his eyes closed, carefully contemplating everything he had just heard. To say he wasn't surprised was lying, but even so, he didn't know if he should believe the gnomes or the humans; he knew that his race was selfish, but for better or worse, he was human too. Still, he admitted that the old gnome's tale made a lot of sense and many answers he had previously had were answered.

For the first time since he arrived in this world, Xie Feng finally knew the name of the currently most powerful existence of mankind but who was missing; Goddess Mei Hen, a powerful existence with the strength of a Saint, capable of rivaling terrifying beasts like the Light Saint Dragon. Thanks to the story of the white-bearded gnome in front of him, Xie Feng also knew that Goddess Mei Hen was actually not on the side of the humans, she did not want the war to continue but out of respect for her slain family, she could not do anything about it either.

Perhaps, that mysterious woman the Village Guardian was talking about back then; the woman who defeated the Goddess Mei Hen in one strike... Perhaps, she knew that the Goddess Protector of Adastreia Continent was suffering from her own internal battle, so she simply defeated and wounded her to give her time to think and clear her own feelings, taking her away from everything related to the race war.

Xie Feng did not know if everything he had heard was true, there was probably a lot of information to know yet... But at least he could draw some logical conclusions from what he had so far. This was very important for him, since something was telling him that soon, he would have to make an important decision... A decision that could change his destiny and the destiny of those close to him forever.

"Now do you understand the reason for our distrust of humans, the reason for our anger?" Slekpnir looked at Xie Feng with a gentle smile and asked in a low voice.

Xie Feng sighed and nodded softly. How could he not understand?.... According to the tale of the gnome in front of him, the humans and elves hunted them for trying to protect those who once protected them. The gnomes, who did not shine in battle, were of course cruelly slaughtered without mercy and then, to top it all off, practically completely turned into stone dolls.

"But... there's something I don't understand." Xie Feng suddenly noticed something strange and frowned. "Earlier, you said that Elder Daroock was the best artifact maker of all time, didn't you? But, with the stone curse on you..."

Although Xie Feng did not finish his speech, everyone in the room understood what he meant. In fact, it wasn't just Xie Feng; Xie Yao, Gu Qianxue, Hu Chen and the rest also had that doubt.

"Hahaha!" Slekpnir laughed out loud, worthy of a gnome who doesn't hide his emotions. "Daroock, show our guests!"

The red-bearded gnome, who had been silent all this time, nodded and silently placed the zither he was holding on the table.