Chapter 334: Heroes and Branches

"Actually, why did he insist on coming over from the other dimension?"

"A cosmic being's body is quite decent spellcasting material, let alone one who possesses a true name."

"Several mages gathered together to discuss the division of the corpse."

"Rod hated the stench on the Gorgon and kept well away."

"The Gorgon has obvious injuries, and from the look of it they were inflicted before he entered the rift — he may well have been fleeing for his life and bolted without thinking." The rabbit-person Ona replied.

"Yes, the recent rampage of aetheric storms in the other dimension has thrown cosmic beings into utter chaos. It's not just our material plane in disarray — the other dimension is the same."

The witch Dimia said with a bitter smile.

"Speaking of which, isn't that legendary elder over at Silver Hoof Deer Valley the one who prophesied six 【Heroes】 would appear to save the world?"

The star-spirit Hayli, even while watching the Gorgon's corpse, chose a spot directly facing Rod.

"Whether intentional or not, when she leaned forward to look, she exposed a broad sweep of translucent blue chest to Rod — the cleavage was extraordinarily deep."

"Heroes?"

Rod voiced his confusion.

"Some self-directed farce put on by the half-deer-folk."

Sharon gave a cold laugh, unimpressed: "The half-deer-folk's specialty is seizing moments of upheaval to spread all manner of prophecies across the continent, then sending their own kin to take part and rake in fame and fortune."

That much couldn't be denied.

Around the leadership of every major power on the continent, there was bound to be at least one half-deer-folk advisor.

Though this race professed faith in a life of poverty, unlike the elves they didn't force every clansfolk to abide by it.

Plenty of half-deer-folk would, while young, head out to wander the continent and pursue fame and fortune.

The half-deer-folk Miss Xiao Ke in the forest was an oddity.

Her socially anxious personality had basically cut off any chance of her going out to make her way in the world.

Come to think of it.

For someone as socially anxious as Miss Xiao Ke to actually take the initiative to go out and visit a friend who had just moved —

that was quite something.

Wait — could it be that childhood-sweethearts, boy-meets-girl kind of thing?

Just to be safe, Rod decided to ask the female beastman Amy, who was traveling with her, for some information.

Not because he was feeling uneasy, but purely out of worry that Miss Xiao Ke might be taken in by someone.

【Amy: Female. Her cooking is just as bad as Miss Xiao Ke's. I want to go home.】

He got the female beastman's reply.

Rod breathed a sigh of relief, told her to be careful on the way back, and cut the connection.

After a while.

The division of the corpse up ahead was also finished.

Sharon, using mage's hand, held up a brown spiral wooden spike — over a meter long.

"This was pulled out of the Gorgon's body. Must be the wound he took while being hunted before he came in. It's a decent piece. We've discussed it — as long as we get the corpse, this is yours."

"They have no objections?"

Rod glanced at the spiral wooden spike.

Black qi drifted off its surface; it hadn't been elaborately carved, and though it was wood in texture, one glance told you it was extraordinarily hard.

"Just take it. If I'm not around later, what will you do if you can't protect yourself?"

Sharon looked around and saw that Dimia wasn't looking this way.

She reached out and affectionately ruffled Rod's head.

This spiral wooden spike was arguably the most valuable thing on the Gorgon's body. She had originally wanted to give up her share of the spoils to trade it for Rod.

But Ona and Hayli had already been keen to curry favor with Rod and didn't care about such a trifle; Dimia went without saying. So her share of the spoils was divided as usual, and the wooden spike went straight to Rod.

The matter was concluded.

Before the group left.

They went to the other side of the fork, where they discovered a large number of corpse-mushroom corpses from the mycelium clan.

The mushroom corpses were mingled with fragments of cosmic beings like phantom fungi; mycelium as clearly segmented as prayer beads spread outward, trailing spores and a miasma of rot.

Mushroom corpses on their own would have been fine — at the end of the day they were a kind of plant — but the cosmic beings mixed in were an uncontrollable factor.

Worse still, Sharon sensed the makings of a plague brewing here.

Reluctantly, the group cleared the place before dragging the dazed Noah and the Mushroom King out of the cavern.

The star-spirit Hayli would take Noah and the Mushroom King back to the mushroom clan, and they'd sort things out once the two came to.

After passing through Claw Valley Highlands.

Sharon and Dimia parted ways with them.

Rod first went with Ona to look for a spot in Windwall Forest where the mushrooms could recuperate.

Ideally underground — mushrooms didn't much care for sunlight, and lately the surface had grown a bit dry on account of sandstorm weather.

Next best was an underground river, even a faint trickle would do.

They first had a look around an abandoned mine pit, but it was too dry and the soil wasn't good enough.

In the end they planned to search the forest.

Windwall Forest covered a large area and had no shortage of pits and hollows, but Rod had always paid more attention to the trees and had never recorded the locations of any hollows.

Unexpectedly, it was the big squirrel Cui Qian — who often slipped through the forest looking for snacks — who came in handy.

She and the little pony-girl Little Little Bangde had wandered all over the forest before, exploring plenty of underground hollows. After the two of them spent over an hour searching without success, it was on her recommendation that they finally found a suitable underground cave.

The spot was in the forest's redwood section.

That makes one more resident—should be two, actually; Ona will probably be staying for a while too.

【Selina: You're back?】

A message suddenly came through the Far-Speech Chain.

Taking advantage of the sunlight growing softer as dusk approached, Rod had originally meant to head over to the hospital cabin to check on the spider-turned-sprite Una's condition.

The matter of Gorgon calling him "Rosse's lapdog" earlier had left him a little worried.

Rod was also planning to find her and get a better understanding of the situation.

【Rod: What's up?】

【Selina: The ritual for transplanting Emerald Tree branches has been fully developed.】

That efficient?

He'd only been away for two days, and it's already been developed?

Back at the Dawn Redwood District again.

From afar he spotted the short zombie Selina in her black robe, with the little pixie Tammy perched beside her shoulder.

"Lord Rod!"

The moment Tammy saw him, she lit up with excitement and hurried right over to him.

"Young Lady Selina is amazing! She went snap! And then thump! And just like that she could cut the Emerald Tree's branches off without damaging their spiritual essence!"

The little pixie spoke excitedly, gesturing with both hands and feet—very cute.

Selina, however, kept a blank expression and handed over a pale green wooden box, inside which lay the severed branches.

"The spell materials and data Lady Kali provided were very thorough—she anticipated almost every situation, which saved a great deal of work. Also, Tammy helped out."

Rod smiled.

He patted the zombie on the head, then tapped the little pixie's cheek with his fingertip, coaxing giggles out of her.

"Good work. What rewards would you two like?"

The little pixie Tammy was the first to raise her small, fair arm high.

"Please go ahead."

"I want Mr. Rod to come visit me and the Emerald Tree more often!"

"I will, but you can also come find me on your own."

"Really?! You won't think I'm too small, or too annoying?!"

"Of course not—Tammy is very cute."

The little pixie froze for a moment, then her face flushed bright red in an instant, with scorching steam rising off it.

Even the sparkle in her eyes was blurred and dulled by the heat.

(End of chapter)