Chapter 144: Guesses

In the end, Selena still communicated with the monster.

Indeed, the monster's intelligence was severely limited, its utterances chaotic and devoid of logic.

Yet even so, Luo De extracted key words from it.

Namely, "storm" and "birth."

Not "storm birth"—these two words were clearly separated, referring to two distinct events.

Luo De told everyone what he had heard.

Falshad and Prula thought he was making it up, but Saiher had become a devoted fan, blindly believing every word he said.

Facing skepticism from her teacher and brother, she fiercely defended Luo De.

Selena, a paragon of rational thinking, cross-referenced her twenty years of notes and experience, confirmed the translation was valid, immediately discarded all prejudice, and meticulously recorded every word Luo De spoke.

"By 'storm,' it likely means the Aether Storm—a violent atmospheric phenomenon from another dimension, extremely destructive. It makes sense they fled from it."

She frowned slightly.

"But 'birth'—I can't make sense of that."

This reminded Luo De of what the scorpion woman Hera had mentioned to him before.

Cosmic beings are formed from the emotions and spirits of the material plane; when a unified belief reaches its peak, a cosmic being rivaling a god may be born.

He didn't dwell on it.

Such a world-shattering disaster was far beyond the scope of someone like him.

At this point,

Everyone had lost interest in continuing to train the two tieflings.

After swiftly dealing with the monster,

they headed toward the exit of the monster's nest.

As for this human mage, Selena,

Luo De considered her usefulness.

Due to recent spikes in expenses and failed investments in the farm, his cash had dwindled to less than one hundred Jin Along.

Without money, he felt deeply insecure.

Moreover, he had never mastered the crafting method for the Overload Ring found among the remains of Lu En, the fourth-rank mage who died in the Open Maze.

It wasn't his fault—he was, after all, a warrior.

He had chosen to study it himself because none of his enslaved servants were experts in this field.

So now, he needed an enslaved person who could help him earn money.

Look:

The succubus, lazy as a dog except in bed; the dim-witted treant; the immature pony-girl; the ghoul skilled only in summoning spells; the female beastkin who couldn't cast a single spell; the incorporeal dragon soul; the deceitful banshee.

None of them were suitable.

But this Selena, with her keen spirit of inquiry, was an ideal candidate.

After an hour,

Falshad, Prula, and Selena jointly sealed the dimensional void deep within the monster's nest.

The nest would no longer produce monsters.

The crystal-wing boy Siti buzzed excitedly, flying around everyone's heads.

The group spent nearly two more hours exiting the nest.

Crystal-wing folk who had heard the news rushed forward to thank them.

Fatima, the tribe chief and Siti's mother, personally handed each person a spell satchel filled with generous rewards.

As the primary contributors, Falshad and Luo De were granted artifacts bearing authority over the 【Crystalline Stone】 domain.

Additionally, the crystal-wings used the maze's power to grant each of them a new spell.

For Prula,

they granted him the skill 【Forced Focus】, which enhances casting speed.

Saiher, the tiefling sister, received the combat skill 【Soul Incarnation】.

In a way, this compensated for their respective weaknesses.

Luo De received 【Resonant Strike】.

A skill where every strike releases shockwaves that peel away an enemy's defenses layer by layer.

Better than nothing.

Of course, these rewards excluded Selena entirely.

They didn't question the human mage's origins.

Fatima secretly fluttered to Luo De's ear and invited him to a private victory banquet tomorrow night—just the two of them.

Luo De laughed and politely declined.

It wasn't that he didn't want to try the fairy's flavor.

He and Siti were friends; the crystal-wing fairy gave him a good impression.

To have something with his friend's mother? That was just too grotesque.

Luo De was a man of propriety—he simply couldn't accept it.

When Luo De emerged from the maze, he found dawn had broken.

They had spent the entire night inside.

Before leaving, Siti and Fatima invited him to visit often, assuring him the Crystal-Perfect Grounds would always keep its gates open for him.

But after the monster nest incident, Luo De's resistances had risen dramatically.

Returning to the Crystal-Perfect Grounds would now be merely for leisure.

Back outside the Windwall Forest,

he immediately saw several low-rank mages casting purification spells on Henry's Farm.

Pan Ni stayed far away.

As a ghoul, the purification effect could harm her.

The farm had been ravaged by the ghoul's plague aura—it truly needed cleaning.

"Master!"

Pan Ni ran over.

Her eight characters still flapped wildly beneath her white robe, making Luo De dizzy—he feared her corpse's muscles might snap and fall off.

"Finally got around to hiring help?"

Luo De smiled.

"No, Master—it was the witch Dimeya who helped us for free."

Pan Ni looked delighted.

Only now did she realize how stingy she'd been; hearing someone would help for free and save her money, she'd been so excited last night she nearly missed her meditation.

"I'm only doing this because of you, Luo De."

Witch Dimeya walked over from nearby.

She still couldn't forgive the ghoul for harming her comrades.

But shifting her perspective, the ghoul was now Luo De's possession—she wasn't helping the ghoul, she was helping Luo De.

Luo De was not only the town's benefactor, but also Daphne's benefactor.

Helping him made perfect sense.

Then she noticed the two-faced Selena beside Luo De.

She frowned slightly.

You brought back something this ugly?

"Mr. Luo De, I must remind you—bringing a girl to live in the forest requires a temporary residence permit from the town hall."

"This is Selena. I specifically brought her back to help me develop spells."

Luo De waved his hand.

Earlier in the nest, it hadn't been noticeable, but now under sunlight, her bluish skin was visible.

"A living dead?"

Pan Ni was astonished.

As another human-turned race, she easily sensed the woman's condition.

But why was Selena's skin in such excellent shape?!

No dehydration, no wrinkles, no decay!

Why?!

Why, despite my meticulous care, does my skin still rot?!

That's why my Master won't even touch me!

Wait—

Could this zombie be my replacement?

Pan Ni's gaze toward Selena slowly filled with hostility and envy.

Beside her, Dimeya sighed and rubbed her temples.

"You should be seeking a normal human girl, Mr. Luo De… judging by this, the intelligent races of the continent will eventually all end up in your collection."

(End of chapter)