Chapter 505: Participation and Integration

Half-elf Lily's hair was dyed chestnut and slightly curled, likely done by the witch Dimia or some girl in the forest.

Now tied into a neat ponytail, she looked even more like a girl than before.

Rod smiled and propped up his pillow to sit upright.

—Early this morning, the arachne Watching Yuna came to deliver breakfast, untied the spider silk, and took the tree spirit Vivian away with her.

"Coincidentally, there's another cool thing I need your help with."

"Oh? What is it?"

Lily's eyes sparkled, and her feet dangling from the chair began to swing rapidly.

Rod didn't speak directly but said five words in the 【Chain of Far Speech】: "The Dragon's Vault."

The half-elf girl paused for a moment, then excitement overflowed on her face.

But she immediately raised a question in the 【Chain of Far Speech】.

【Lily: Why must we say it here?】

【Rod: Someone is hiding in the shadows eavesdropping; there are listening spider threads under the bed, by the doorframe, and along the window edges; outside, a light spirit is stealthily hiding on the roof.】

Lily silently used magic to scan the area and indeed found it to be true.

But she had not detected anything in the shadows.

For a moment, she was greatly alarmed, as if facing a formidable enemy.

【Lily: Has the dragon's power already expanded into the forest?】

【Rod: Not exactly; just one troublemaker seeking redemption and two girls worried about my injury going out to cause trouble again.】

"."

Lily looked at him strangely and secretly cast a spell to conceal the eavesdropping.

Only then did she speak helplessly:

"Making it sound like I'm just a mischievous friend joining in the nonsense."

"Just say whether you're going or not; let me remind you... it's not just one place; now I know the locations of both dragon vaults in Coral Bay."

"Hmm!"

Lily's clear, bright eyes began to shimmer with light.

But she quickly calmed down.

"First, Rod, I need to figure out where your information comes from; it's not that I don't trust you, but such rumors often circulate in Waterdeep; it's precisely that cunning, bloodthirsty old green dragon releasing false vault information to lure and kill greedy adventurers."

"You can rest completely assured; my source of information comes directly from these eyes."

Rod immediately activated the 【Insight Demon Eye】.

There was no need to hide anything from a comrade-in-arms; besides, it was merely a domain skill; anyone with talent could potentially acquire it.

It wasn't on the level of a Nu Yi Zhou.

"Domain."

Lily exclaimed in wonder.

Then she immediately praised him, "As expected of you, Rod; I knew you could master more than one domain."

During the previous expedition to the open-air labyrinth, Rod had demonstrated the use of the 【Sustained Domain】 before her.

"Hahaha—"

Rod, gazing into her pure, large eyes, felt his spirits lift; "This domain derivative is called 【Insight Demon Eye】; it can see through various magical transformations, high-level darkness, illusions, and so on..."

As he spoke,

his gaze fell upon Lily; the power of the demon eye instantly penetrated the dark red leather armor on her chest.

Beneath the plain magic breastplate, a pair of giant rabbits, vastly disproportionate to her petite body, pressed against the black inner shirt.

Rod's eyes widened instantly.

Lily, still smiling and pondering his words, suddenly noticed the man staring straight at her chest.

"Ah!"

Thinking of all the capabilities of the other's demon eye, how could she not understand? Her face instantly turned bright red.

She crossed her arms to protect herself and quickly turned her body away.

"Rod!"

"Ah, ah, sorry..."

Both turned their faces away.

The atmosphere became somewhat awkward for a moment.

Rod was the first to break the silence.

"So, will you participate?"

Lily pondered for a moment.

Then she compromised at light speed: "Wait until your injury heals before going; I don't want Miss Xiao Ke and Watching Yuna glaring at me secretly..."

"You don't understand; Miss Xiao Ke is fine; even when she glares, she looks pitiful and harmless, like a little deer; but Watching Yuna is different; she appears obedient and gentle in front of you, but actually, when encountering a threat, her gaze is as fierce and ruthless as a spider looking at its prey..."

"Hmm, that works too; they're just superficial injuries; anyway, it's only a day or two... By the way, remember to go with me later to pick someone up from out of town... the sister from her dog-kin tribe that Dimia mentioned last time."

The jade tree on Sharon's dog-kin side should be settled within these two or three days; after looting the dragon vault, we can conveniently go check the situation.

"Alright; Faye is the origin and stronghold of the Wen Yi Fa; I'll use these two days to prepare as well."

Since everything was settled,

and having just experienced another awkward incident,

Lily felt too embarrassed to stay long and soon took her leave.

Rod, left alone, felt bored.

He began his intensive research on 【Judian's Ice Blade Domain】.

After all, he had also obtained 【Frost Affinity +1】 from forging the war soul of an ancient white dragon, so it would be a waste not to refine this eighth-tier ice-type spiritual technique he had on hand.

Rod's current use of 【Judian's Ice Blade Domain】 was just very straightforward and brainless spreading of frost and freezing.

Since the name contained the words "Ice Blade," it naturally also related to sharp spiritual energy.

During trial use, it would naturally coordinate ice crystal spiritual energy with sharp spiritual energy.

Against seventh-tier and below enemies, the power was naturally decent.

But now the tier of enemies Rod faced was gradually climbing upward, so naturally it was starting to fall behind.

It was time to strengthen it a bit.

Unlike 【Giant Slash】 and 【Aethelon's Flash】, these two, though not high in tier, honestly speaking both belonged to the type that enhanced basic attacks.

The higher Rod's basic attack power, the higher they naturally became.

He even had the idea of fusing the two together for use.

Twenty-four 【Giant Slashes】 from 【Slashing Burst】 — just hearing it sounds terrifying.

But the spiritual energy consumed was also a bit terrifying.

So on the refinement path for 【Judian's Ice Blade Domain】, Rod also wanted to take the approach of fusing existing skills.

The targets for fusion had also been thought out.

【Plague Domain】 + 【Judian's Ice Blade Domain】.

"No time to lose."

Taking advantage of the fact that there weren't many people in the medical station treehouse, he immediately spread both hands.

One hand held yellow-green stinking plague, the other held a translucent azure ice crystal vortex.

【Myriad Phenomena Furnace】.

Yes, the Myriad Phenomena Furnace was a wondrous thing that could even fuse energy together.

Come on, begin fusing.

More than half a day passed.

Rod went from half-lying to sitting upright.

On the left side of the ground was a large puddle of half-Newtonian fluid mixed with ice shards, like mud.

On the ceiling floated a green cloud made of plague, slowly descending onto ice spikes covered in fresh green thorns.

In the corner, there were even several twisted humanoid corpses with snapped necks — these things were made of frost, held together by vines grown from the plague.

It was actually a magical creature with life activity.

Rod scratched his head, racking his brains.

It hadn't succeeded.

"Feels a bit contradictory."

If the power of Plague Domain was too strong, the frost spiritual energy would easily lose its form.

If the frost spiritual energy was too strong, the Plague Domain would easily lose its activity.

It felt like the two were clashing with each other.

(End of this chapter)