Chapter 240: Dragon and Visitors

The spirit seed's origin was the shared skill 【Daphne's Spirit Seed】, which had grown from Rod's body.

Perhaps precisely because of this, after activating spirit and flesh, it caused Rat Girl Number Thirteen to feel an abnormally close affinity toward Rod.

Lady Kali's expression was not very good.

Because in every respect, it gave her the feeling that something had been stolen from her.

So much so that all the way out of the ratfolk nest, she never said a single word to him.

She simply pulled Number Thirteen forward without looking back.

And on Number Thirteen's dazed little face, there was nothing but reluctance to part from Rod behind her.

Rod watched, caught between laughter and tears.

They boarded the sky sail.

While Lady Kali was piloting the sail, Number Thirteen seized the chance to throw herself into Rod's arms.

She hugged his bear-waist tight and took a long sniff.

Her steel-like rat tail wagged wildly in the air with excitement.

Lady Kali saw it and gave a cold snort.

The Banshee asked curiously from the side: "Why do you girls all like smelling him so much?"

Chris stated that she was undead and did not have much sense of smell.

"Because Master's scent is really nice~"

Tally answered.

Saying so, she hugged Rod from behind, deliberately pressing her chest against him, squeezing back and forth.

Even the cat-sprite Little Orange nodded: "Not only for humans, but across the entire continent, the body scent Mr. Rod gives off is extremely pleasant. Clearly fresh yet alluring — the number one body scent on the continent. Cat-sprites and elves both care a lot about scent, right, little Kali?"

"."

The elf Lady Kali refused to answer; she would never admit that she had once buried herself against him and smelled him for an entire night.

"Is that so?"

Chris shifted into a physical form and brought her head close, sniffing him over and over.

Rod felt it was a little strange.

He pushed her away with one hand.

This special body scent was most likely an effect brought by 【Alluring Bodily Fluid】; he hadn't really noticed it before.

The black night at the horizon gradually faded.

Facing a breeze carrying a hint of warmth, the group prepared to watch the sunrise of a new day.

Rod and Lady Kali discussed the debuff 【Unknown Ratfolk's Gaze】.

"A type of Astromancy Observation. The astromancy of that female ratfolk you killed was probably marked by someone. Once that astromancy goes out, that person will know immediately."

Lady Kali rubbed her chin. "But can a single gaze bestow 【Focus Decay】? A spell like that could almost ruin any mage with low focus."

"That strong?"

"Eighth-tier or ninth-tier. Ninth-tier is more likely."

"Ah, this…"

"Don't worry, the effect was resisted. Only a very faint mark remains, like a scar after an injury. No mage can remotely locate a target through a scar… Of course, unless they see the target with their own eyes."

You really did plant a huge flag on me.

Rod was helpless.

After chatting for a while, the black night had already been pushed back more than halfway by the sun.

"Are you sure you want to watch the sunrise like this?"

Lady Kali's face was sour.

Rod held Rat Girl Number Thirteen in front and Tally behind.

Both girls wore rather thin clothing, and with their outstanding, eye-catching figures, they pressed alluring curves against his solid body.

Elves were a race that revered nature, and they held sunrise and sunset in equal reverence.

The three of them desecrating it like this made her very unhappy inside.

Right.

It had to be for that reason.

Rod also felt it was improper.

Because the two girls kept squirming about, causing him to react a little.

His "skyrocket" was pressed against Number Thirteen's navel; she couldn't speak yet and didn't know what it was, so she just kept twisting about.

Rubbing up and down against her clearly defined abdominal muscles felt rather uncomfortable.

He hurriedly pushed both girls away.

Just at that moment.

Whoooosh—

A fierce gust surged in midair.

A powerful surge of spiritual energy appeared in the distant sky.

Rod's expression changed; he quickly found his target on the horizon — a giant dragon with wings spread, soaring aloft.

In the reflection of the rising sun, one could see its smooth, vivid red scales.

This was a red dragon, infamous for its brutality.

This was nothing like that bronze dragon from Emerald City; chromatic dragons were far more brutal and evil than metallic dragons.

Watching the red dragon land at the edge of Coral Bay town in the distance.

The expressions of everyone on the sail immediately grew heavy.

Giant dragons are rarely active in the Twilight Hills; the fact that one clearly landed there means someone summoned it.

"Is it that group of Dark Elves?"

That afternoon.

Rod patrolled the forest while training with the 【Tongue of the Gravity Frog】.

When he returned to the borders of Shi Ying Town in the morning.

He had intended to notify the witch Dimia at the City Hall first, then return to the Ranger's Cabin with Tally to rest.

Unexpectedly, after notifying her, Tally could not resist her desires and began kissing and licking on the main street.

With no choice, the two rented a temporary room at an inn in Shi Ying Town and made a complete mess for the entire morning before returning to the forest.

At this moment, Tally, suffering from food coma, was hiding in the shadows and sleeping soundly.

Soon.

The tree patrol ended.

Compared to before, Rod now no longer needed to spend much time patrolling the forest.

With the help of 【Growth Spirit】, he successfully cultivated quite a few trees possessing the 【Disease Warning】 skill.

This was equivalent to watchtowers observing for him.

He only needed to check the prompts from these trees with 【Disease Warning】 and then simply take a visual sweep.

At this moment, he happened to arrive at the Metasequoia area.

Rod went straight to the place where the Emerald Fragment was being cultivated.

From a distance, he saw the Tree Spirit Vivian casting 【Fountain of Life】, watering the fragment.

The skills of the Flower Fairy Nicoll are indeed excellent.

Over the past half month, the Emerald Fragment has already recovered its health.

Perhaps it won't even need to wait until spring to regain its new radiance.

As the weather grew colder, at Rod's request, Vivian put on a long skirt and a scarf.

Her entire demeanor appeared much more tranquil and elegant.

Although she was not very willing, she expressed a desire to wear Rod's clothes.

"Vivian."

The Tree Spirit turned around at the sound.

Her large eyes, glowing with white light, still revealed no emotion.

Without speaking, she opened her arms and obediently entered Rod's embrace.

He patted her small head.

"Are you used to the clothes?"

Tree Spirits need to frequently let their bodies contact nature and sunlight; this helps their spiritual growth.

Wearing the minimum amount of clothing has always been their rule.

Perhaps this is photosynthesis in another world, Rod guessed.

Vivian pointed to the small jacket.

"I don't like it."

"If you don't like it, take it off."

Smiling, he took off her thick jacket.

Inside was still Rod's loose short shirt; the grooves of appropriate depth swayed back and forth between their movements.

With excellent elasticity, they pressed against Rod's arm.

"What about the long skirt? Will it affect your spiritual growth?"

"Stuffy."

"Understood."

Rod then used his long sword to slit the long skirt starting from the thigh, revealing snow-white and slender legs.

Immediately, it became much more transparent and ventilated.

Vivian took a few steps, then spun around.

She nodded at him.

"As long as you like it," Rod smiled.

Thus, the winter Tree Spirit, fresh out of the oven, wearing a linen short shirt and a neck scarf on top, and a long skirt with a high slit on the bottom, was ready.

Just as he was about to ask her what she had exchanged with the elf Lady Kali.

Pan Ni sent a message via the 【Chain of Far Speech】—strangers outside the forest.

(End of this chapter)