"Can’t you teach them how to deal with the monsters in the Great Nam Ocean?" Amare asked with a raised eyebrow.
Rui huffed. "I’m not even sure I can deal with all the monsters in the Great Nam Ocean. I don’t have much experience fighting underwater. And I don’t have techniques or systems that can effectively deal with underwater opponents. That is a big problem that I will need to overco. I even got scolded for it recently."
He hadn’t forgotten Jormungandr’s words.
They bore down on him heavily.
"What about the therianthropes?" Rui turned towards Veruschia with a pointed gaze. "I believe you dark elves have a friendly relationship with them, do you not? They probably have their own marine clans over at Kiriket."
"They do," she admitted. "And they are certainly more equipped to handle this problem than we are. However, their thods and solutions will undoubtedly be centered around their path and their zoological biotechnology. We don’t have either, and thus it is very unlikely that we will be able to implent their solutions."
Rui stirred at those words silently.
There wasn’t really anything he could offer in the way of a solution, unfortunately.
At least, nothing that he could think of right away.
For the most part, he suspected that the elves would simply have to grow stronger if they wanted to endure and survive the monsters of the ocean. That was the rule of the jungle, after all, survival of the fittest.
The conversation continued as they traveled across the vast gap between the two continents, as Veruschia gave Rui a brief breakdown on the structure of elven civilization. Just as he had expected, the elves were quite diverse, living in tribes that numbered from anywhere between a thousand to even millions, spread across the vast expanses of the forests, jungles, and even savannahs of Genora. Even within the two broader racial groups within species, each tribe was slightly divergent from the rest and was unique in its own way.
Each tribe spoke a dialect of the elven language with its own unique traits, having developed over eons in their tis across the Genoran Continent. They wore their own garbs and attires and worshiped their own goddesses.
However, despite this diversity and granularity, they were still beholden to a sort of ’Elven Common Law’ and laws of nature that they all universally seed to agree on. This ford the basis of a legal structure that enveloped all elves that resided in Genora.
Yet, despite this, they did not co together to form an actual polity.
There was no ’Greater Elven Empire’ or anything of the sort.
"We do not regard the distinction between species and civilization to be a aningful one," she inford him. "We are simply elves. Or dark elves. Anything more specific, and we will co to a specific tribe that an elf is from. We don’t feel the need to adopt a cumberso centralized political structure that binds us. Each tribe values its autonomy and freedom. We still have laws within our tribes and across our species. We also have institutions in place that maintain the acceleration of our technological developnt. And that is enough for us."
It was no wonder that their exploration party and their delegation to the Panama Continent were so strangely non-official in a sense. The elves were really just about doing whatever they pleased, rather than following stuffy protocol with a centralized state that held a monopoly on violence.
"It is quite remarkable that you elves are able to develop such a sophisticated botanical biotechnology sector without any state system," Rui murmured with a stunned tone. "Generally, maintaining technological systems, sectors, and industries requires a system of protocols, laws, rules, and regulations."
"That is indeed sothing that you will see more of across the true world," the older woman inford him. "In Genora, we simply follow the principle of ’su gie hayryr sac eaara hayry.’"
The words she uttered were different from standard elvish.
A more ancient form that reflected the age of the saying.
Nonetheless, the translation entered his mind imdiately.
"’To be given as you give.’" Rui murmured aloud.
She nodded. "Every contribution every elf makes to their tribe is compensated accordingly. And every contribution that every tribe makes to elves a whole is compensated accordingly. We trust each other and our connection through nature allows us to ascertain each other’s hearts. We don’t need any other system in place thanks to this."
"Incredible..." Rui murmured. "You elves must be extrely cohesive and united."
Veruschia’s expression grew complicated.
"I wish I could earnestly agree with those words," she heaved a soft sigh. "The truth of the matter is that we elves are indeed more cohesive and united than most. However, that does not an that we are free from tribalism or the in-group-out-group ntality. Our connection through nature can aliorate this to an extent, but..."
She heaved a deeper breath.
"It is not perfect."
Rui raised an eyebrow.
He felt like she was holding the elves to an impossible standard.
Human beings had done all sorts of things to other groups of human beings, in comparison to human civilization’s bloody history, the elves seed almost utopian.
Still, he kept the thought inside him as they drew closer and closer to West Genora.
He would find out for himself soon enough.
The sun had completely set as darkness took over the skies and the oceans.
The cool, chilly breeze of the night swept over them as a large swathe of land began erging from beneath the horizon.
"Look!" Amare exclaid as leaned forward. "We have arrived!"
Rui drew closer to get a look at the approaching continent as his eyes lit up with eager excitent.
His first destination in the true world.
Having already crossed into the domain of the true world, he could already feel the environntal differences caused by departing from the Panama Continent.
It truly was an environnt that was devoid of any esoteric substances.
It was an itchy yet exotic sensation in and of itself.
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