Chapter 242: Insight

Night.

Forest ranger's cabin.

Luo De had finished his dinner for the day.

Tally wore an unsatisfied expression.

Wobbling her plump cheeks, she crawled over and lay atop his chest, lightly teasing.

Luo De still adhered to his rule of one meal per day for the succubus.

He ignored her.

Just now, Tally's spiritual accumulation had successfully reached the high stage of sixth rank.

For a lazy succubus, this pace was astonishingly fast.

Their lifespans were far longer than humans', yet their efficiency in absorbing spirituality was much lower.

Reaching the high stage of sixth rank in such a short time was entirely due to Luo De's half-year of hard labor and all-night alchemy.

This was even after he deliberately limited the frequency.

"Master, I'm almost at seventh rank~"

"What big talk—you just reached high sixth stage."

"Naughty~ I mean I'm starting to develop the 【Pleasure Party】 now~"

Luo De hadn't forgotten this.

Tally's seventh-rank path centered on the 【Pleasure Party】—each time a fun game was played during the party, everyone present gained a permanent minor buff.

Before reaching seventh rank, she indeed needed to host at least a few to experiment.

He'd originally thought that once Amy woke up, the 【Pleasure Party】—requiring at least four people—could succeed.

But now she'd contracted Bestiality Disease; who knew how long the observation period would last?

"Guess I'll have to target Pan Ni after all."

Luo De thought to himself.

"She acts like she's seen a ghost whenever she sees me," Tally complained.

"Don't worry. Your matters come first—we'll force it when the time comes."

Just as he spoke,

he suddenly remembered he hadn't checked the dimensional stone notebook he'd confiscated.

Since he didn't want to get out of bed, he had Tally use shadow ribbons to fetch the spell satchel from the sofa.

He took it out and began reading.

The dimensional stone notebook had a hardcover shell; its pages were dry and stiff, hard to turn.

Tally pounced on him without hesitation.

Luo De wanted to follow his own rule of "one meal per day," but his hands were occupied by the notebook—he could only be overwhelmed as she frantically drained his essence.

"The most basic use of dimensional stone is weapon crafting and equipment enhancement; it can also serve as a source of magical energy, an alchemical ingredient, and... as ratfolk currency."

Is this vibranium from Wakanda?

He ignored Tally, who was violently shaking behind the book.

Luo De continued reading.

"Turn lead into gold? Cure terminal illness? Create something from nothing? This is getting ridiculous."

The notebook's praise of dimensional stone was wildly exaggerated.

The use of dimensional stone had undoubtedly created a foundational cult-like reverence among the ratfolk.

But Rat Woman No. 13's Routichuangsheng certainly couldn't have happened without dimensional stone.

"There's also power from another dimension—if my people can master it, weapons alone will see a qualitative leap."

Moreover,

【The Discussion and Speculation on the Land Naga Spiritual Art: Battle Soul】 had mentioned a clever but dangerous way to grant Battle Soul extra abilities: by tapping into the spiritual energy of another dimension.

This might be a good way for Luo De to quickly create Battle Souls with extra abilities.

The 【Far-Speech Chain】 transmitted a voice.

【Selina: The first batch of overload rings has been developed.】

"Reliable."

Luo De couldn't help smiling.

These past days, Zombie Selina had barely slept, working through the night to fine-tune the overload rings.

It didn't matter.

After all, she was a zombie—immortal body already.

He had no intention of letting her rest; next came dimensional stone research.

Immediately after, another cold voice came through the 【Far-Speech Chain】.

【Kalist: Make your succubus quieter! Xiao Ju heard you!】

Ah.

The cat spirit Xiao Ju was said to have spent a full half-year in seclusion to ascend to seventh rank; friends who hadn't seen each other for long often stayed over, and she'd remain in the forest for several days.

"Be quieter."

Thwack—

Luo De slapped Tally's rabbit ears.

"Ahhn~~~"

He didn't care.

He pulled another emerald-green dimensional stone from the spell satchel.

No spirituality, no magic, not even spiritual energy.

It felt more like a mixture of everything.

Strange.

Luo De didn't know how to describe it.

But he unmistakably felt a shocking sensation, even a faint electric jolt.

Its aura carried chaos, unease, even evil, with a hint of foul odor.

【The Will of the Azure Sky】's high mental resistance reported repeated mental shocks related to it.

Tally on him was even worse.

She lost control of her transformation, instantly reverting to her true succubus form, her eyes turning red, her movements growing more violent.

She squeezed him fiercely, as if trying to crush him in half.

"Affects the mind? I like this trick."

No sooner had he spoken than a click sounded in his mind.

He felt something connect.

【Gained partial authority of the 'Infatuation' Domain】

【Infatuation Domain: Stirring the target's inner emotions, enhancing spiritual spells' effects】

【Gained partial authority of the 'Plague' Domain】

【Plague Domain: Deeper understanding of regeneration and decay; gained skill 'Ferment-Unity'.】

【Ferment-Unity: Regenerate and decay simultaneously—at your will.】

Oh!

Two domains at once!

The Spirit Seed's limitless enlightenment boost wasn't just empty talk!

Still, Luo De sealed it back into the spell satchel.

Tally was still moving—he couldn't let it affect her.

The 【Far-Speech Chain】 buzzed with several more messages.

【Pan Ni: Master, I bought a new nightgown—will you come over tonight?】

【Kalist: QUIET!】

【Vivian: Luo De, I miss you.】

【Bond: Luo De Luo De Luo De! I found Sister Xiao Ke hiding in her room—making muffled noises, like she's hurt! Oh, and I caught a big worm—can I eat it?】

Luo De replied one by one:

Not coming.

Okay.

I miss you too—come to me, wear the outfit you wore today.

Don't bother her. Don't eat it.

Luo De propped his hands behind his head, gazing at the seductive, unrestrained Tally on him.

He couldn't help sighing.

Another pleasant night.

The next morning.

Luo De and Vivian walked through the forest, chatting idly as they picked up fallen twigs.

Heading toward Zombie Selina's lab.

As for Tally.

After being fed, she always hides in the shadows to slack off.

Today was colder than yesterday, so Luo De planned to gather some firewood.

He could simply use dead trees that had fallen on their own—there were plenty in the forest.

For this, Vivian, as a tree spirit, was relatively sensible and didn't mind much.

After all, when a tree dies of old age, there's nothing to be done; its ashes can nourish other trees.

But some extreme tree spirits couldn't accept it—not even dead trees.

If you so much as touch one, they'll cut you down.

(End of Chapter)