Chapter 4: Learning New Techniques

The next morning, Luo De stood before a massive rock.

He was drenched in sweat, revealing a balanced, explosive musculature.

“Huh~”

“Strength and speed have increased by at least double.”

Luo De plunged his steel sword into the ground and traced the fresh blade marks on the rock’s surface.

On the continent, adventurers’ power is ranked from first to ninth tier.

After the Second Heart’s transformation, Luo De had firmly advanced from second tier to the peak of third tier.

“Plus the enhancement from the Spirit Seed.”

Luo De raised his left hand and aimed it at the rock.

White light flared in his palm.

“Repel.”

A powerful magical force erupted from his palm like a bomb.

Boom!

The rock shuddered violently.

Shards of stone shot out from both sides of Luo De.

When he looked again, the rock bore a shallow crater the size of a washbasin.

Luo De was satisfied.

He had learned this Repel spell surprisingly fast—only about an hour.

Creak—

The forest warden’s cabin door opened.

Tally stumbled over, yawning, and threw herself into Luo De’s arms.

“Where’s your clothes? And no true form.”

“I haven’t woken up yet, just a little longer~”

Luo De shoved her away without mercy.

Tally clung back to him.

“By the way, where are the Tree Spirit and the Half-Deer?”

“They left early this morning; they couldn’t get used to it.”

“Perfect! Let’s pick up where we left off last night.”

Tally beamed and reached for Luo De’s clothes.

Luo De grabbed her wrist.

“Stop it. Today we’re going into town.”

Perhaps because the Windwall Forest had no trace of civilization.

The sight of pedestrians passing by and merchants hawking goods along the street gave Luo De a sense of having stepped into another world.

Tally had transformed into a woman in her thirties, wearing a plain, loose skirt, utterly fascinated by everything around her.

They walked slowly, stopping often, until they reached the town hall.

Luo De presented his forest warden credentials and smoothly collected 200 copper Along from the finance window.

That was his weekly pay.

Add in monthly falsified expenses—horse feed, health fees, tree-care potion costs—and his monthly salary reached two silver Along.

It was a very good salary.

For comparison, dockworkers earned 80 copper Along per week.

“Hey, Luo De.”

A bearded man in light armor approached.

This was Captain David, the town constable.

He grinned and elbowed Luo De in the abdomen.

“Where’s your succubus bride? Why isn’t she with you?”

Clearly, rumors had spread throughout town.

Luo De simply pointed at Tally, too lazy to explain.

David glanced over.

Saw a plain young peasant woman.

“Average.”

He didn’t believe Luo De actually kept a succubus.

Succubi were creatures that noble lords needed three men daily just to feed.

Luo De? If he really kept one, he’d be dead by now.

He preferred to believe Luo De had simply married a woman.

Luo De ignored his wild speculation and immediately told him about the uninvited guests in the forest.

David grew serious.

After carefully studying the drawings in Luo De’s notebook:

“Looks like the symbol of the Igo Cult.”

“Igo Cult? The Igo tribe’s religion?”

That giant bug?

“Not the Igo tribe—those who worship the Igo tribe.”

“So it’s just a pure cult?”

Luo De frowned.

“That’s the weird part,” David sighed.

He continued: “The National Assembly approved the Igo Cult, personally endorsed it, called it ‘freedom of faith.’”

Luo De stared blankly, like an old man watching his phone.

The Igo tribe terrorized the Atheron Kingdom three hundred years ago—now the kingdom is building them a religion?

What the hell is this?

“Just be careful. Igo preachers have been entering town for days. Don’t fall for their tricks.”

They didn’t talk further.

Each went their separate ways.

Luo De felt deeply uneasy about the Igo Cult.

His sense of security was severely lacking.

Without delay, he went to the nearest Spiritual Arts Guild and spent all his savings on suitable spiritual techniques.

【“Chang En Seal, third-tier technique.”

“Creates a spiritual membrane over the body for defense.”

“Thunder Blade, fourth-tier sword art.”

“Infuses the blade with spiritual lightning.”

“Minor Body Enhancement, third-tier technique.”

“Temporarily boosts physical attributes.”

“Atheron Flash, fifth-tier sword art.”

“The kingdom’s signature sword art—strikes with extreme speed.”】

These techniques drained all of Luo De’s savings.

He had hoped to find racial-specific spiritual techniques, but the guild was built by humans and contained only techniques usable by humans.

For others, mastering these techniques might take a long time.

Luo De had been enhanced by the Spirit Seed’s spiritual boost and the Second Heart’s physical reinforcement.

As long as he didn’t sleep or rest, he believed he could master them all quickly.

After returning to the forest warden’s cabin,

Luo De entrusted Tree Spirit Vivian to monitor the trees’ condition, then immediately entered seclusion.

It was tough on Tally.

Once in seclusion, Luo De strictly limited himself to one meal per day.

Tally didn’t care about his studies—she devised new ways every day to seduce him.

Sometimes, he couldn’t resist and took her on the spot.

Interestingly, whenever Luo De failed to resist, Tally’s obedience always rose by one or two points.

Half a month later.

“Daphne is missing?”

Luo De exclaimed in surprise.

David nodded, his face tense.

“She vanished yesterday evening. The Lord suspects she was deliberately kidnapped, but no ransom demand has been made. We’re assembling search parties.”

“I know there’s a Tree Spirit in the forest—can you contact her? We’d like to try using tree-sensing to locate Daphne, at least narrow down the search area.”

Luo De nodded.

He told Tally to contact Vivian.

After saving the half-deer person, they had built a friendship and thus established a means of contact.

Moments later.

The tree spirit Vivian arrived at the ranger’s cabin, and after a brief sensing, found no trace of Daphne.

David felt a slight disappointment, but immediately shook it off.

“Luo De, it’s unsafe lately—I feel more strange things are coming. Be careful.”

With that, he hurried away.

Luo De frowned.

Since that incident, he had not seen Daphne again.

But he held a favorable impression of the young lady, and couldn’t help feeling deeply uneasy for her.

“How bold—to dare kidnap the lord’s daughter.”

Unfortunately, Vivian had found nothing.

He had no means of locating her either.

Tally wrapped her arms around him.

“Do you like this type of young lady?”

She transformed into Daphne’s form, cheeks flushed, eyes seductive.

“Stop it—Vivian’s right here.”

“What’s to fear? Tree spirits are all wooden things without desire—they won’t care.”

True.

At that moment, Vivian widened her eyes, glowing with pure white light, showing not the slightest discomfort.

Honestly, Vivian’s eyes did possess a pure, beautiful quality.

Unlike other races with layered eye colors, her entire eye sockets were filled with uniform radiant light.

Her figure was good too—balanced and natural.

Tally was exceptionally skilled at reading expressions.

Seeing Luo De’s gaze wander,

she smirked and shifted back into Vivian’s form.

Her lips pressed against Luo De’s chin, her pure white eyes half-lidded, fixed intently on him.

Oh.

It actually does look good.

Vivian raised her hand.

Luo De quickly pushed Tally away, a pang of guilt rising in him.

Even if the other lacked desire, one still shouldn’t act so freely in front of her.

“Sorry.”

“Human.”

“What?”

“Four, humans, one, halfling, entered, forest, fire!”

When she spoke the last word, Vivian became extremely urgent.

Luo De’s expression grew cold.

Slowly, it turned icy.

(End of Chapter)