Chapter 110: Desert

The three of them moved to the Sand Willow Zone.

Under the influence of the healthy sand willows, the desert soil had improved to a certain extent and was no longer as loose as before.

When stepped on, it now had a firm, packed feel.

Looking from afar.

Five or six of the stronger-growing ones had spread out a thin spiritual barrier, keeping the corrosive wind and sand outside.

Dimia stared at the scene before her in astonishment.

She immediately turned to Lady Kali, her face alight with pleasant surprise.

"It worked?"

"No."

The elf replied with a sour expression.

A feeling of unwillingness welled up inside her heart.

God only knew what that human had done—he had somehow managed to grant the trees the potential to absorb spirituality without altering their traits in the slightest.

This had already pushed the upper limit of the sand willows sky-high.

One had to understand that even high-level breeding mages might not necessarily be able to complete this kind of research.

Awakening a tree with no potential was nothing more than grafting other high-level plants that did possess potential, but that would directly fuse the low-level plant into it, and what grew out would still be a high-level plant—a name without the reality, nothing more.

There was another method: fusing the spiritual organs of animals or insects.

Insects were the best, since plants had a relatively low rejection rate toward them.

But even so, most of what one got were grotesque things sprouting jointed limbs.

Fifty years ago, a mage had actually made such a plant-insect, and during an accident it caused a leak in the laboratory.

This plant-insect then got outside.

A new species with no natural predators and capable of self-reproduction—how terrifying that was went without saying.

It directly led to a small nation's decline due to food shortages.

"Huh? Then these—?"

The witch found the elf's answer utterly baffling.

"Ask him."

"Him?"

Dimia looked toward the forester her finger was pointing at.

Her expression was strange.

To tell the truth, a spiritual warrior really had nothing to do with spell experiments on modifying plants.

Although from experience it seemed unlikely, her elven friend was not the type to lie.

"A little trick."

Rod, sensing her gaze, replied with a modest smile.

His smile, in Lady Kali's eyes, was extremely punchable.

"So this is Mr. Rod's handiwork!"

A girl's voice came from behind.

The dog-girl of the Demon Control Union, Sharon.

She was carrying a large briefcase, and the close-fitting professional attire she wore gave her a distinctive charm.

The seven days had already passed; she had previously made an appointment with Rod to come test the concentration of malignant factors.

"Sharon, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon."

The dog-girl beamed a sweet smile at Rod.

The upper echelons had already approved the application and decided to recruit this forester with ultra-high spiritual resistance into the Demon Control Union.

If the invitation succeeded, the recommender would also receive a decent amount of internal points.

These internal points were one of the assessment metrics for her promotion—undeniably important!

"Oh~ so it's little doggy Sharon, where's your tongue? It's hot out, you should be panting it out."

The witch Dimia, upon seeing Sharon, smiled very gently, but anyone could see the displeasure hidden beneath.

"You exhibitionist witch—when you awakened back then, did you melt your brain and stuff garbage in? How is it you only know how to talk trash."

"You—!"

The two glared fiercely at each other, sparks seemingly flashing in their eyes.

Tally had appeared at some unknown point beside Rod, her face full of excitement.

She clapped her hands gleefully: "Good, good, good! I love watching women argue and fight the most!"

"…Didn't I tell you to stand guard? Where's Vivian?"

Originally the succubus had been assigned to the Sand Willow Zone to clear magical beasts, so as to share some of Little Little Bangde's workload.

But the two of them turned out to be gluttons for laziness, sneaking off together to nap in a tree, so he could only have Vivian come over to help.

"She went to check on the remnants of the Emerald Tree, looks like it's not doing too well."

Tally spoke while watching Sharon and Dimia bicker.

She laughed merrily.

Speaking of which.

The current state of the Emerald Tree remnants was perhaps too poor—even 【Growth Spirit】 couldn't find its target, and it simply wasn't being recognized as a thing at all.

For now, they could only rely on whether Vivian could keep it alive.

Rod approached the elves and asked in a low voice:

"What happened to those two?"

"I heard they were students who entered Bahadur Magic Academy in the same cohort and later dropped out together. As for what happened, I don't know. Could you not stand so close to me?"

Lady Kali could feel his warm breath blowing against her ear.

An elf's ears are very sensitive; perhaps it was also because things hadn't finished earlier, this sudden closeness made her mind go chaotic.

"Uh..."

Being scowled at and rejected by the girl, Rod felt a bit uncomfortable.

True to form as a succubus who always watches over her master, Tally immediately came over, smiling, rose on her tiptoes, and patted his head.

"It's okay, Tally loves cuddling with Master~"

"... Today, I'll reward you with an extra meal."

"Yay!"

Soon, the bickering over there temporarily stopped.

Lady Kali asked Dimia about going out to purchase materials.

Who knew she wore a face full of distress.

"They were supposed to return a week ago. The batch of spell materials I ordered at Coral Bay encountered problems because the Heavenly Court Flower Kingdom blockaded the shipping lanes, so the merchant ships couldn't come."

"Later, I heard the merchant ships paid a price to get passage, but then the Sirens' riot happened; they established a no-go zone on the shipping lanes, demanding they throw off a sufficient number of sailors."

"I don't know if the merchant ships threw off sailors or not; anyway, the ship docked, and then it was the golems on land starting to attack the harbor. Well, well, count it all as my bad luck; even when I was nearly at Shi Ying Town, I ran into an accident. That gang of mine rats actually robbed me!"

The witch expressed feeling utterly exhausted.

Simply fetching some materials, and yet she encountered so many things.

"In the end, it's still a problem of insufficient manpower and declining kingdom deterrence. The Snow Hill Evening News says most regions of Aethelorn are facing this situation."

Rod said.

"Perhaps. Don't look at how the kingdom is now open and inclusive toward many races, but actually, in the past, the handling of many intelligent races was not very proper; the seeds of disaster were sown back then."

She shook her head.

The canine person Sharon interjected: "If you ask me, it's because your Aethelorn was too domineering when you rose to power back then, which provoked so much dissatisfaction."

She was not from Aethelorn but was born in a small country called Monte Carlo.

Nowadays, there are still territorial disputes between Monte Carlo and Aethelorn.

Dimia did not deny her statement.

Instead, she looked at Lady Kali and said:

"Since Mr. Rod has a way, shall we continue our research?"

"Of course. The purpose of spell research is to break through oneself, not to fight for superiority."

While speaking, the elf's gaze toward Rod always carried a sense of unwillingness.

Rod smiled and was about to speak.

The bracelet sent by Miss Xiao Ke emitted a slight vibration.

He felt something in his heart and hurriedly climbed the high slope to look out.

Amidst the sky-filling yellow sand, a heavy black mass carried a desolate killing intent as it slowly approached.

As expected, the tide of monsters from the sand tornado was nearly at the forest's edge.

(End of this chapter)