Chapter 554: Memories and Scarlett

Luo De raised an eyebrow.

He quickly scanned the memories returned by Shi Laimu.

He had assumed Bishop Arturo's rank was low, so 【Memory Devour】 would work better.

Shi Laimu should've been able to swallow as much memory as possible.

But the presence of a mental construct had interfered.

The memories he obtained were still incomplete.

Such was fate.

"Hmm, so it really is Igoh's mental construct technique."

In the memories:

Bishop Arturo had little understanding of mental constructs; he didn't even consider them magical creations, but rather a blessing bestowed by the union of Holy Fire and Igoh.

There was no memory of the implantation process.

From the fragments, it felt like being anesthetized and wheeled into an operating room.

One blink, and the Igoh cultist with his face hidden in shadow told him the blessing was complete.

Not just him.

All members of the Holy Fire sect had undergone this blessing procedure.

"Squeak-squeak—"

Tally arrived upon hearing the noise.

She simply sat down on the carpet in front of him.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

The succubus pouted.

"Do as you like."

He stopped caring.

He continued examining Bishop Arturo's memories.

Soon,

he understood the function of the mental construct.

That is: "Through collective prayers and shared belief, resonate with the blessing within the skull to request 【Holy Fire】 to grant power."

These were the exact words of the Igoh cultist who performed the blessing on Bishop Arturo.

It confirmed what Kali Site had said.

—That the more users involved, the stronger the effect.

Bishop Arturo himself was not a particularly knowledgeable man.

He never questioned it or dug deeper.

His mind was filled with excitement over being able to cast healing magic without incantation or cost.

This further solidified his faith in Holy Fire.

Though his memories contained little knowledge of mental constructs,

Luo De still had some guesses.

Especially regarding the ability to cast spells.

It was simple enough.

Since magic rings and spell inscriptions exist, it's safe to assume Igoh cultists had inscribed spells onto the mental constructs.

Not mysterious at all.

Ultimately,

the most puzzling point was the nature of this new energy and the structure of the mental constructs.

That would require Kali Site and Sharon's assistance later.

After a while,

Luo De lay back.

"Besides that, there's the question of why the 【Mark】 is recognized and hated."

The extradimensional space and Igoh—

their relationship remains unclear.

It's a great pity.

Memories on this topic are missing.

He only knew that the Holy Fire sect and other corpse-burners truly only intervened to prevent plagues, and operated with the ultimate goal of eradicating them.

Had he misunderstood them?

Should he repent?

Luo De shook his head. He'd been too rigid in his assumptions, firmly believing Igoh had ill intent.

If he had indeed been mistaken,

he'd deal with it later.

Luo De pulled out the drowsy Shi Laimu.

He looked at Tally: "It's dark. You should leave."

"No, Master~~"

Tally paused.

She pouted in annoyance.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she raised her hand sharply, her chest heaving.

"I—I have a report!"

"Go on."

"When I came over, I spotted this thing sneaking around. I ask you to help me deal with her!"

As she spoke,

Tally cast a shadow spell.

The ground's magical darkness writhed, thickening into ink-black density.

Then a ribbon of shadow rose, dragging up a bound figure.

Spores drifted.

A backward-swept, umbrella-like silver hair fell over a slender waist.

The skirt-like gill folds had become a short skirt, beneath which long legs were sheathed in translucent mycelium.

Fungus-being Scarlett.

She glared defiantly at Tally.

"Stupid succubus! You ambushed me! That doesn't count—let's fight again!"

Luo De smiled.

This thing was fourth-rank—purely a novice.

Not only did she dare challenge the female beastwoman Amy, she even went after Tally.

The little thing yowled in pain, glaring fiercely at him.

"What?! You wanna fight!? Others fear you, but I don't!"

"Why are you out so late? Go back and rest."

Luo De scolded her in the tone of an elder.

Scarlett's guardian, the rabbit-kin Aona, had left the forest two days ago due to an incident with the Magic Control League, and before leaving, she had asked Luo De to look after this one.

"No!"

Perhaps because Scarlett had never consumed hallucinogenic spores,

she seemed more energetic and emotionally intense than ordinary fungus-beings.

She stuck out her neck, glaring at Luo De with the stubborn, sullen expression of a teenage girl.

Luo De sighed.

Lin Saixier was also a teenage girl, and a tiefling with demonic blood.

But she was sweet, obedient, and endearing.

This one, though,

despite being a fungus-being, acted like a rebellious, spiky-haired teen.

Completely different.

"Aona's gone—I came here specially to play that game with you!"

"..."

Still,

the same was true: both had a heart bent on overthrowing Luo De.

Tally blinked: "That game? What game?"

She stared at Luo De in disbelief, as if saying, "You went out to play with women and didn't even invite me?"

Luo De had no intention of continuing the two girls' conversation.

Play with that?

Oona just told me to look after Scarlett—now I'm taking her to bed?

What face will I have left?

No, absolutely not!

At least not on the first try.

I'll wait until she asks three times, and I refuse three times, then we'll see.

"Take her back to the cave. Sleep with her tonight—so she doesn't come bothering me again."

Luo De waved his hand at Tally.

Tally pleaded, "Huh?"

Scarlett snapped, "I'm not going back."

"."

Luo De felt a pounding headache.

He didn't want to deal with the two quarreling girls.

At that moment.

The panel's 【Far-Speech Chain】 trembled slightly.

Luo De waved the two girls out of the forest guard hut and opened it.

It was a message from the elf Kalistra.

Simple.

Only five words.

【Kalistra: Come catch frogs.】

(End of Chapter)