People grow old, and wizards are no exception. An ancient queen of a wizarding kingdom faced this very problem regarding her renowned beauty.
To preserve her looks, she meditated and prayed daily, hoping the gods in Heaven would grant her guidance.
Finally, one day during meditation, she entered the Realm of the Divine. The gods told her that at the end of the Celestial River stood a Tree of Life, and the fruit of this tree could grant her wish.
Following the divine guidance, the queen journeyed to the end of the Celestial River.
There, she found not only the Tree of Life but also a Tree of Spirit and a Tree of Wisdom. Each tree was laden with glowing fruit.
The red fruit was the Fruit of Life, granting immortality and eternal youth.
The white fruit was the Fruit of Spirit, granting the embrace of light.
The blue fruit was the Fruit of Wisdom, granting wisdom equal to the gods.
Three trees, three different fruits, yet she could only pick one.
The Fruit of Life could grant her wish, but a single fruit was not enough to grant eternal life to both her and her lover. So, the queen decisively chose the white-glowing Fruit of Wisdom.
She was already a wise woman. With the addition of the Fruit of Wisdom, she believed she could find a way for both of them to live forever.
After consuming the Fruit of Wisdom, her intellect rivaled that of the gods. Heaven rewards the faithful; after years of effort, she finally gathered rare ingredients and brewed two vials of the Elixir of Life, though they were slightly flawed.
However, by this time, the queen's beauty had faded. Her lover, seduced by her handmaiden, had long since had a change of heart. The two conspired, stole the queen's potions, and fled together.
The story did not have a happy ending. Although titled "The Fruit of Life in the Kingdom of God," it was essentially a tragedy about the queen's love life.
Rey didn't care about the romance. His focus was on the three trees in the Divine Realm: Life, Wisdom, and Spirit.
If this story were true, what Rey wanted was the Fruit of Spirit. That had to be the pure Light power of Heaven.
"Heh. Wishful thinking."
Rey shook his head, mocking himself. Setting aside whether the story was true, even if it were, he had no clue how to enter the "Kingdom of God."
Furthermore, the queen in the story obtained the fruit under divine guidance. Rey didn't believe there was no price to pay.
There are no good people in Hell, and the gods in Heaven shouldn't be philanthropists either. How could they give such an important fruit to a human so easily?
These stories were indeed just myths of the wizarding world, with no practical reference value.
Rey sighed. He didn't plan to read any further. There were likely many more stories like this in the back, and reading too many would just dampen his mood.
Thinking too much about things that don't exist only creates desperate longing. It makes one naive while simultaneously intensifying desire.
Such books were suitable for young wizards; adults were better off avoiding them. Once you took one of these stories seriously and tried to get to the bottom of it, you'd be chasing shadows forever.
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"Oh? You're reading this book?"
Just as Rey was about to put the book back, Helena appeared beside him, unnoticed.
"You know this book?" Rey held it up and asked.
Helena took the book from Rey's hand and replied, "Yes, I read this when I was five. How far did you get?"
"I was reading the third section, 'The Fruit of Life in the Kingdom of God'."
"Really? That was my favorite story. I read it so many times back then."
Helena flipped to the third story and began to savor it again, as if recalling the feeling of reading it as a child.
"The ending isn't exactly perfect. You read it that many times?" Children usually prefer perfect fairy tales; few kids could really get into a tragic myth like this.
Hearing Rey's skepticism, Helena looked up and smiled. "Perfect stories are for little children. Besides, I wasn't a child."
"Ah! ..."
Helena's statement was a bit rich. Rey found it hard to believe. In his heart, he immediately retorted, Sister, you were five years old at the time, okay?
Although Rey didn't voice his thoughts, his exclamation said it all.
Helena rolled her eyes, lifted her exquisite chin, and said proudly, "I could communicate fluently at one, started practicing basic magic at two, and by three..."
Such a prodigal history was indeed worth showing off, especially in front of Rey.
Helena went on and on, starting from age one all the way to her current age of thirteen, where she had successfully mastered long-distance Apparition.
Rey was speechless. The more he listened, the more ashamed he felt. Compared to Helena, he was trash—and the bottom-of-the-barrel kind of trash at that.
"Why did you like this story?"
A five-year-old girl liking a story without a happy ending seemed like an anomaly to Rey, so he was curious.
"Because this story is very close to reality!"
Helena answered simply and casually. But this casual answer made the corner of Rey's mouth twitch.
"How is this story close to reality? does the Kingdom of God exist? The Fruit of Life inside can make people immortal—don't you think it's just a story to trick kids?"
Rey's rebuttal made Helena blink several times in surprise.
In her mind, Rey was a very mature person. Hearing such a shallow rebuttal, Helena asked with a look that suggested her teeth were on edge, "Is your reading comprehension that superficial? This story recounts actual events."
"Actual events?!"
Hearing this answer, Rey was shaken. He grabbed Helena by the shoulders, his expression agitated.
He never expected Helena to say this was a true story. If that were the case, hadn't he just found a clue to the power of Light?
"Helena, please tell me more legends about this story!"
"Why are you so excited?" Helena asked, confused.
However, a second later, she couldn't help but giggle.
"I just realized that you have a naive side too. I said the story is true, but I didn't say the fruits in the story are real."
Helena laughed happily, while Rey felt incredibly embarrassed. He realized he had misunderstood.
The little Lolita didn't care if Rey was embarrassed; seeing Rey in such a flustered state was a rare treat for her.
"Don't you think the themes are realistic? The queen had wisdom, but she lost her beauty as she aged. Her handmaiden and the person she loved betrayed her. Aren't there many examples of this in the real world?"
Helena wasn't old, but her analysis was logical, drawing reality from fiction.
Rey was completely stumped.
However, as a man, he couldn't just admit defeat like this. So, he immediately countered, "You were only five back then. Don't tell me you figured all those things out by yourself."
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