Chapter 233: Entering the Cave

Cat Spirit!

Rod was slightly surprised.

Although he had seen them a while ago and established a master-servant relationship with one of them.

But after all, such intelligent creatures are rare on the continent; seeing one again in such a short time, it was inevitable he felt unaccustomed.

"Little Orange is here~~"

The orange cat spirit made a cute yet pretentious pose, scissors hands by her eyes, with an exaggerated girl's voice.

"Little Kali~~ Long time no see~~"

"Ahem, ahem."

Kalist scowled, coughed lightly twice, and introduced:

"This is my friend, Little Orange, a seventh-tier Druid. You may call her Miss Orange. Little Orange, this is... my trading partner, the Forest Warden of Windwall Forest, named Rod."

What kind of trading partner is that?

Rod chuckled in silence.

He didn't mind much and greeted that cat spirit.

Little Orange looked at Rod in wonder: "A male human? And the source within his body is this abundant? Little Kali, have you finally awakened? Finally broken off the engagement with that sissy Farshad? Just so! I told you long ago to follow your heart; if you don't love, you don't love; what's the point of forcing an old-fashioned engagement..."

"Ahem!!"

"Is your throat uncomfortable? How about you lick my fur? It has a cough-suppressing and phlegm-resolving effect! By the way, back to this human."

She looked at Rod again, sizing him up.

"Hello, Rod~ You're truly handsome; I knew this would be Little Kali's type, uh!"

Kalist grabbed her by the scruff.

"Shut up!"

Watching the elf, as if overturning her image, play around with the tiny cat spirit.

Rod couldn't help but smile.

Speaking of which, after the 【Cat Spirit Paradise】 expedition, he specifically flipped through the chapter on this race in 【Research on Native Spiritual Arts of Alien Races】.

One could only say, as expected, it is a mysterious and rare race.

It recorded only two native spiritual arts: 【Rodent Intimidation】 and 【Spirit Cat Steps】.

【Rodent Intimidation】, a sort of aura skill.

It can cause rodent races to fall into negative states such as fear and weakness, and grants the owner a noble special attack attribute against rodent races.

Kalist pushed Little Orange away with a scowl.

"A while ago, when we were subduing the plague mage Amel, Little Orange was preparing to advance to the seventh tier, so we didn't call her over."

Hearing this, Little Orange's face lit up with surprise as she leaned in again:

"You're explaining to him? You're actually explaining to a human?!! How strange! Where did our proud elf Kalist go??"

Kalist stiffened.

Her scowling expression turned as cold as frost.

"Say one more word, and I'll banish you back."

Little Orange's smiling face faded reluctantly; she knew this was her childhood friend and close sister's way of showing anger.

She decisively backed down, hunching her shoulders and standing aside:

"Sorry~"

Rod smiled: "I truly envy you for having such a close friend."

"Hmph!"

"But to be honest, cat spirits are indeed rare."

The Group's Weight restarted.

Moving forward in the direction guided by the Banshee Chris.

Kalist nodded: "Cat spirits are almost the rarest communal intelligent race on the continent; it is said their numbers are fewer than 500..."

"Why? I think a cat spirit as majestic and heroic as Miss Orange couldn't possibly be so rare."

Rod asked a question he already knew the answer to.

Moreover, he used "majestic and heroic" instead of "cute" as an adjective, after all, he knew cat spirits are a race that dislikes "cute."

The cat spirit Little Orange was indeed very pleased.

She gave Rod a sweet smile, her eyebrows lifting with joy.

"You don't need to know."

Kalist snorted lightly, then said seriously: "Also, absolutely do not tell anyone you have seen Little Orange."

From her attitude, it was not hard to see she knew something.

However, knowing the special nature of cat spirits, she still summoned Little Orange here; she must trust Rod very much indeed.

"No need to be afraid, Little Kali~"

Little Orange on the side said with a smile, "Mr. Rod has already seen cat spirits, because I smelled the scent of my own kind on him, and not just one."

Kalist frowned, casting a cold glance at him.

As if asking, "Why didn't I know?"

Rod smiled bitterly: "I encountered them during a business trip last time... you know, cat spirits can't be spoken of casually... Also, Miss Orange, since you are a Druid, I suggest you change your form."

"Little Orange doesn't want to~ Maintaining 【Wild Shape】 is too tiring~"

For some reason, she felt this cat spirit Little Orange should be able to chat well with Tally.

But even so, Little Orange still transformed into a cute orange little snake, coiling around Kalist's arm.

The group pressed deeper along the way.

They soon found a pit left behind from the old era's labyrinth craze.

They had been winding down through the narrow tunnels for roughly half an hour.

The view suddenly opened up, and they arrived at a space of about a hundred or two hundred square meters.

Here, there were obvious traces of Tu Mu Fa.

The walls and floor of the space were riddled with countless dim caves, no one knew where they led.

The one the group was in was one of them.

The banshee leading the way, Chris, held the group back from advancing further.

"There will be sentries ahead, there are too many caves, I can't pinpoint the exact location."

Scouting and perception had never been Rod's strong suit.

So he looked toward Xiang Kali.

Just as the elf was about to cast, the little orange snake on her hand — Little Orange — spoke up:

"Let me do it."

She knew she had just angered her sisters, so now she wanted to make up for it.

"Are druids very good at perception?"

Rod asked.

Druid was a class, not a race — that fell under the ranger's knowledge blind spot.

"Extremely good. If you were to pick the ten people on the continent most skilled at perception, a druid would certainly have a place among them."

The elf replied.

The next moment, a figure leapt out of Rod's shadow.

Tally, transformed into a petite human, landed silently, a massive 【Reverse-Bladed Scythe-Claw】 slung over her shoulder, five fresh goblin heads trailing from shadow ribbons in her hand.

Facing everyone's gaze.

She smiled shyly: "How about I put their heads back, so you can go through the motions one more time?"

Little Orange's snake face showed a very human-like look of surprise.

"Who is this person? I didn't even notice her!"

"Hmph, just the succubus this ranger keeps." Lady Kali said coldly.

Little Orange stared at Rod in astonishment.

Then looked at her own good friend.

"What's going on? Isn't this pure love?" she muttered, too low for anyone to hear.

Tally paid them no mind, coming over to take her master's outstretched hand.

She narrowed her eyes like a little cat and nuzzled against him.

"Master~ while hiding in the shadows just now, Tally saw something interesting~"

"Oh?"

"It's not just goblins in here — there's a human mage helping them. You may not have met this person, Master, but his name will certainly sound familiar — I heard him call himself Wen Yi Fa Amel."

The expression on Rod's face instantly chilled.

"Don't worry~ it's not the same Amel we've met before, his mana accumulation is different."

(End of chapter)